Back catalogue: Experimental/Electronic

Review: Diagonal celebrates its 13th anniversary with a 4x12" release, highlighting both long-time label artists and notable collaborators. LP1 kicks off with a dark, atmospheric remix of Russell Haswell's 'Heavy Handed Sunset' by Autechre, transforming their 2016 version into something more intense. Label boss Powell joins forces with Turner Prize winner Wolfgang Tillmans for a quirky pop experiment, while NHK and Viviankrist deliver moments of striking beauty. Russell Haswell's nod to Cybotron rounds out the set, embodying the boundary-pushing, eclectic spirit that Diagonal has championed for over a decade.

Review: New York artist Aaron Landsman and former Swans guitarist Norman Westberg kept vigilant watch with Night Keeper, a full nocturne named after Landsman's play of the same name. First performed in Spring 2023 at The Chocolate Factory Theater in Queens, with performer Jehan O. Young serving as narrative steward, the original piece filled the space with spoken word, projections, choreography, and music, moving between dim light and darkness. Now the recorded version posterises the performance, as Westberg's original texture-scapes come raggedly coiled around sombre loops and samples, as Young's laryngeal monologues course across the record's rough 44 minutes worth of gloaming. Inspired by sleepless nights and the wandering of the mind, Night Keeper lifts the lid on the wee small hours as would a well camouflaged nightjar, inviting listeners to embrace the subdued chaos of the dark.

Review: Noton Records - an outfit dedicated largely and almost solely to the output of experimental electronic / minimal legend Alva Noto - here presents the full 10" box set version of Infinity, the mammoth set of originally 72 (here just 50) "sound graffities" commissioned to the artist by contemporary art exhibition Documenta X. The aim of Documenta X was to abstract the member of the public from their everyday lifeworld, exposing them instead to bare sonic spaces in which modernist sound fragments were played back, expressly challenging the collective listener's cochlear gaze. None of these pieces amount to full songs on Noto's part; instead they serve as auditory "throw-ups", to borrow from graffiti parlance, mirroring the unconscionable nature of certain visual or aural perceptions - public art works, gradual alterations in the environment, etc. - as we perceive them only intuitively, only in passing, as we submit to the daily bustle of the street. It comes as no surprise that many of these pieces were also played in public spaces outside the white cube, such as airports and public spaces: the tracks squeeze and bend time-space with twinging noisebursts and glitching digital scuzzes; cortically, convexly, chirally inverting the dysthymias of urban life and transience.

Review: Chicago-based composer and underground mainstay Rob Mazurek has teamed up with modular synth expert and light artist Alberto Novello for this new collaboration on Hive Mind. The music was recorded in a single afternoon at Dobialab, an experimental artist space in Northern Italy where they cooked up an immersive, improvised journey into uncharted musical dimensions. Across all the coherent pieces, Novello provides a rhythmic and timbral foundation while Mazurek weaves delicate trumpet harmonies, bells and samples to build an atmospheric soundscape. The results veer from new age to psychedelic and are truly mesmerising, like an intense space ritual that explores new realms.

Review: This expansive 2CD collection from Nurse With Wound compiles a range of experimental works from 2008-2011, offering a glimpse into their cut-and-paste sonic universe. Opening with the jarring 'Cruisin' For A Bruisin'', the set quickly plunges into a diverse array of sound, blending drones, rhythms and odd vocal samples. The first disc is split into 'The Bacteria Magnet' and 'Rushkoff Coercion', while the second features 'Erroneous, A Selection of Errors,' likely showcasing unreleased material. The music constantly shifts, moving from chaotic big band absurdity to African-inspired polyrhythms, cold techno and smoky ambient passagesiall within moments. Though the collection lacks a unifying theme, its disorienting patchwork of textures offers plenty of intriguing moments. As with any NWW release, it's difficult to categorise, but it's a skilful, unpredictable exploration of sound that keeps listeners engaged despite its ever-changing nature.