April 30, 2026
Here is a round up of recordings I enjoyed that were released in January through March. As usual, comments in quotes are lifted from their own PR or from reviews, and artist names in bold have a strong connection to the Pacific Northwest.
Alial Straa (Olivia Block, John Grzinich, Seth Nehil) - Live @ the Candy Factory
"Alial Straa was a collaborative experimental music ensemble comprised of Seth Nehil, Olivia Block and John Grzinich from the mid-1990s in Austin. We were mostly engaged in performing improvised mixtures of instruments (trumpet, clarinet, found objects), tape multi-tracking and effects (pedals and rack mount units)."
Vic Bang (Argentina) - Oda
"Victoria Barca is a composer and sound artist from Buenos Aires. Her work captures the sounds of the world into digitally-sculpted compositions...the sound world here feels concentrated and cohesive, built from a limited set of elements that gradually reveal themselves. Melodies unfold without too much fuss, textures repeat and mutate very subtly and the whole record holds together like a single extended thought."
Leila Bordreuil & Kali Malone - Music for Intersecting Planes
"Recorded at night by candlelight in the Temple of La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland, Music for Intersecting Planes captures the immediacy of sound in space. Cellist Leila Bordreuil and organist Kali Malone join in a work of austere, ritualistic presence, where the granularity of air, the vibration of strings, feedback, and subdued sine waves intersect in sculptural form. Minimal in means yet expansive in effect, the music slowly unfolds like beads on a thread, punctuated by silence and deep breaths."
Every (USA/Croatia) - Tried in the Fire
"Every is a project by Brooklyn-based pianist, composer, & bandleader Mara Rosenbloom and Croatian singer and researcher of traditional music Barbara Majnarić. [The] project presents songs from the Sevdah tradition (a lyrical form, which can be found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia). Every chose this collection of songs, written during the long period of Ottoman rule, because they center humanity amidst times of strife and loss. These songs contain wisdoms that remain as vital to our current time as they were to communities in the past."
Stephen Fandrich - Sweet Water
This Seattle pianist’s music "defies category...His music draws on...his study of classical repertoire and jazz improvisation. He is also an inventive instrument maker and fine singer, with a virtuosic mastery of di-phonic singing. His long-time study of Javanese gamelan has also influenced his sense of time, space, and rhythm. Within this framework he creates a music of beauty, serenity and expressiveness."
Gamelan Pacfica - Umbaran
A truly beautiful new release by this venerable Javanese/American gamelan based in Seattle. "The recording features three new works commissioned specifically for this album from Wahyu Thoyyib Pambayun, Marguerite Brown, Peni Chandra Rini, and includes other works by Jarrad Powell, Lou Harrison, and Carter Scholz (arranged by Stephen Fandrich)."
Ómar Gudjónsson (Iceland) - 210
I did not see this one coming. Very sweet but odd pedal steel guitar music. From Iceland. "...nine original compositions, each named after a memorable person or place from that formative period in Ómar’s life. This nostalgic yet forward-thinking project explores identity and memory through a unique sonic concept: two trios recorded live together in the same room, creating a dynamic and immersive soundscape. Ómar leads both trios from the center of the sound field, surrounded by an exceptional lineup of musicians."
Doug Haire - Long Goners
My occasional bandmate (assuming that the Seattle Phonographers Union still exists) is one of the most inventive field recordists working, and yet he seems to be little acknowledged outside of Seattle. So I guess I'll just keep bragging on him myself. On this one he employs a bit more electronic funny business than usual, but it's still grounded in sounds of the real world. It's just that sometimes the real world gets pretty weird if we listen long and hard enough.
Daniel Menche - Sleeping Ink
"Ink paintings converted to sound using image-sonification software" by this veteran noise artist from Portland. I don't really understand exactly how that all works, but the results are mysteriously beautiful. And what's wild is how much this sounds like it's related to the Doug Haire album I just mentioned above, even though their processes couldn't be more different. An inadvertent double bill of sorts.
Fabiano do Nascimento & Vittor Santos Orchestra (Brazil/US) - Vila
On the surface this album may seem light and breezy, but as in Eno's definition of Ambient music, it can easily work as pleasant background but also reward active listening. Nascimento grew up in Rio and lives in L.A, where he works with more avant folks like Carlos Nino. He's clearly a very skilled guitarist, but never flashy. Santos is a trombonist and arranger in Brazil. His string arrangements here are lush and sparkling, really gorgeous. The rhythm section gives it all a buoyant, jazzy tinge. It's the perfect thing for when I want to imagine that I'm a sophisticated adult.
Kate Olson - So It Goes
The saxophonist/composer is a force to be reckoned with in the Seattle jazz/creative music scene, showing up in bands of various types all around town. Her first album as a bandleader under her own name showcases her (mostly) "chordless-quartet": Olson (soprano sax), Conner Eisenmenger (trombone/trumpet), Tim Carey (electric bass/guitar), and Evan Woodle (drums), with Geoff Harper (acoustic bass) and Wayne Horvitz (piano) guesting on a few cuts. The uptempo pieces are solid post-bop in the lineage of Steve Lacy (and so harkening back to Monk), with quirky, angular melodies and off-kilter rhythms. I'm especially fond of the more subdued latter half of the album, starting with the spiritually-inflected title track, followed by a fearless Alice Coltrane cover and two lovely ballads.
Miyako Otsuki (Japan) - No Nihon Minyo Latin Feeling
My old pal Tony VIck recently pointed me to the Sound Fuji label out of Japan, which has been reissuing tons of stuff from the King Records catalog from the 1960s and 70s. Much of this is a style called min'yo, a type of folk music that seems to have evolved into a type of easy listening pop music more like enka. Much of it is a bit too cheesy for my taste, but there are some gems. This one from 1973 sets the songs to Latin rhythms that would fit nicely in a Wong Kar Wai soundtrack. It's still pretty cheesy, but also charming.
Kyle Preston - Music for Disappearing Coastlines
A quite prolific Seattle composer who, surprisingly, I've not heard of until now. "...a neoclassical/ambient meditation on loss — of memory, of the selves we shed with time, and of the shorelines slowly swallowed by the sea. Built around live string performances and two minimalist piano pieces, the record unfolds with the restrained intensity of a slow-moving storm. Musically, the genre sits between classical minimalism and ambient — neither narrative nor purely textural. It offers an invitation to sit with impermanence, to witness beauty precisely because it’s slipping away."
Hans Reichel (Germany) - Dalbergia Retusa
In the pantheon of improvising guitar weirdos, the late German guitarist Hans Reichel ranks in the upper echelon for me. He was truly an innovator, essentially reinventing the instrument, or at least pulling it apart and reassembling it in unusual ways. This compilation, lovingly assembled by Aussie guitarist Oren Ambarchi (no slouch himself), provides a perfect introduction and deep dive into Reichel's remarkable body of work released on the FMP label between 1973 and 1988.
Sarah & Melody (Japan) - Sound of Pacific
Another one from the above-mentioned Sound Fuji label. Originally released in 1970, this has two women singing in English (quite well) with arrangements that remind me a bit of Brasil 66 but with 70s synths and wah-wah pedals. And interesting percussion breaks - cymbals solo, anyone? The opener is built on the "Day Tripper" riff but then goes into a story about a gangster falling in love with a cop's daughter leading to a triple suicide. I'm guessing the lyrics are all translations from the original Japanese folk songs, but the English versions are so odd as to be great. Again, borderline too cheesy but charming enough to be enjoyable.
Christopher Shultis - Waldmusik
My old compadre from Albuquerque days has a lovely new album out, with pieces for Korean Gayageum ensemble, piano (solo and with percussion), and solo tamtam/gong, interspersed with subtle use of field recordings and electronics. Chris is a Cage scholar, but I hear echoes of Ives here as well. "The album documents Shultis’s transformation as his daily practice of “sauntering,” inspired by Henry David Thoreau, quieted his mind and allowed the sounds of the natural world to become the music itself."
Wilson Tanner Smith (USA/Finland) - Perpetual Guest
Really beautiful minimal pieces recorded in an abandoned textile factory in Estonia – three long-ish works for an old, semi-restored harmonium, interspersed with two shorter pieces for cello. The organ pieces especially hit the warm and droney sweet spot for me. "It creaks, squeaks, buzzes, breathes, and sounds just as it does. Improvisations lean into the characteristics of its reeds and levers, its material and history—human and non-human..."
Various (Indonesia) - Insitu Sessions Volume 7
A very satisfying collection of short kreasi baru ("new creations") for Balinese gamelan by the late I Made Subandi and five of his students, recorded at Museum Wiswakarma in Desa Batubulan, Kab. Gianyar, Bali. Most of these pieces are short – the whole album is only about 36 minutes long – but there is no shortage of interesting ideas here. I appreciate how these pieces honor the tradition while actively challenging it.
Daniel Villareal (Panama/USA) - Panamá 77
Originally released in 2022, this album by the Panamanian drummer was recorded over many sessions in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Panama with a host of ace musicians from all three scenes. It's "a vibrant and verdant suite of multi-textural, jazz-laced psychedelic instrumental folk-funk... Villarreal has long been a widely known and beloved character on the Chicago music scene...playing drums with Dos Santos, Valebol, The Los Sundowns or Ida y Vuelta (all bands he co-leads), or sitting in with Wild Belle or Rudy De Anda."