Microtonal folk music mixed with electronics and noise.
The first record was rave-reviewed.  ‘I was transported to secluded valleys where age old traditions are the passionate expressions of a community, here re-energized by the chillingly sensitive electronic wizardry of Anders Hana and Morten Joh’ (Songlines). At home in Norway even the tabloids picked it up: ‘Gorrlaus has the same intense and monotonously suggestive sound hunt as early Kraftwerk, at the time they played Ruckzuck’ (VG).
And now II is a next step further in the same direction, more deeply attuned to diverse materials derived from field recordings and other research, with finer nuance and detail… and more fiddle.

‘The French jazz magazine Citizen Jazz acclaimed Marthe’s debut album Asura, in 2021, singling out her ‘ability to hold disparate idioms together, to mix a whole bunch of influences (musical or not) in the crucible of her own personality, of her own history, to bring out a great personal and extraordinary whole, a fresh and singular music which belongs only to herself.’
‘This follow-up maintains the same life-affirming energy. It explores new nooks and crannies in the same wonderful universe. Again, it ranges widely, with the same free approach to composition. Some of the tracks make it impossible to keep your dancing feet still, while others give room for introspection and reflection.
‘Herlighetens Vei — Path of Glory — conveys a humble and respectful attitude to Life. It avers that human existence is sacred and mysterious. Keep an open and alert mind, and the mystery will naturally unfold before you.’

‘The saxophonist leading a septet into fascinating, playful and sparky combinations of contemporary music, avant-garde jazz, techno, and improv; a kind of seance summoning the wailing fairy of Irish folklore, a shrieking harbinger of death.’

Three ravishingly soulful, wondrous ragas in the Hindustani Indian classical manner, superbly played on sarod and tabla.

Mohini is an enchantress, sometime slayer of demons.

‘Hans Hulbækmo and Egil Kalman have long been a playful and creative rhythm section, with one foot in free jazz and the other in folk music. They’ve played together in the Marthe Lea Band and other projects, and since last year they’ve delved into the folk music of Norway and Sweden — all set in an experimental duo format. Drums and jaw harp (Hans) meet modular synth and double bass (Egil).
‘Unit of Time draws from the rhythmic details of folk music, as the basis for minimalist compositions full of improvisation. It’s not all about the groove, though. Some melodies are interpreted straightforwardly enough, but the unconventional instruments give the music a new depth. Unusual timbres and sonic phenomena emerge, mesemerizingly.’

The Chicago-based poet and singer heads up a spicy gumbo of jazz, folk and soul.
‘By merging ferociously honest poetry with various black musical traditions, Tate stands as heir to Chicagoan Oscar Brown Jr., the veteran urban griot whose lyrics long have decried racism and social injustice’ (The Chicago Tribune).

‘Strung between Cambien’s razor-sharp prepared piano, and drummer Andersen’s surgical pointillism, Nergaard grounds the music in fresh bass science. The trio transitions fluently from enveloping drones — drawing from British improv — to ecstatic grooves that nod towards free jazz.
‘Though a debut album, the sound is exceptionally well-balanced. An energised calm fills the music with nerve and momentum, combining contemplativeness and expressivity. An extraordinary sense of consonance and texture creates an inviting tactility; something you can dive deep inside. The music sounds mature, but not remotely complacent. Rough and direct, yet eloquent and generous; both patient and restless, it stands firm.’

‘Warm, mysterious and alluring, the Trio’s debut album maintains a balanced interaction at once intimate and almost limitlessly expansive. The leader’s unmistakable tone and improvisational verve are naturally a focal point, but there is no doubt that we are dealing with a proper band. Cellist Joel Ring and drummer Øystein Aarnes Vik are masterfully light-footed and tight, calmly driving the music forward, filling it with colour and texture… and still there is room for the influential Norwegian pianist Jon Balke, who guests on three tracks.
‘The compositions are strong, immediate and captivating. For all its eccentricities, the music has a broad, timeless appeal, running from the distant past far into the future. It takes you by the hand, to show you that the world is still a magical and enchanted place.’

‘Luminous meshes of colours and textures, vaulting between free jazz, dub, raga, ambient, and ritual music. Riveting polyrhythms underpin towering arrangements for flutes, synths, and processed acoustic instruments. The drumming and psychoactive, ceremonial melodies evoke the fourth world of Don Cherry, Jon Hassell, Popol Vuh et al. An alchemical, Buddhist/Taoist/Hindu slant guides the narrative.’

For John Corbett ‘one of the most luminous albums of creative music ever made’, this forty-minute work by the four-piece — Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors — is surely the apex of the fourteen studio albums recorded by the Art Ensemble during their two years’ sojourn in France.
‘Still-startling music, which uses space, dynamics, and a wide range of emotions expertly’ (AllMusic).

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet.

‘Among the most influential European ensembles of the 21st century, this chamber group’s work on ECM and Hubro has redefined the boundaries between jazz, contemporary composition and folk music, developing a highly distinctive language built on restraint, timbral nuance and collective interplay…
‘Over time, the Ensemble has developed a language that is immediately recognizable — marked by reduction, clarity and a deep attention to sonic detail. While each release has its own character, the underlying aesthetic remains consistent: a focus on the inner life of sound itself. Rather than foregrounding gesture or virtuosity, the music draws the listener toward the smallest elements, where meaning emerges gradually through texture, spacing and timbre. The listening experience becomes one of concentration and proximity, where each sound carries weight, and the accumulation of detail forms a larger whole. References may be sensed — to early polyphonic music, Norwegian folk traditions, or more recent experimental practices — but these are absorbed into a singular musical language that resists categorization.
‘Non Sonett advances the group’s integration of electronics as a fundamental part of the sound world. Each musician engages with electronic elements alongside their acoustic instruments, creating a layered and dynamic sonic environment. At times, this leads into extended, exploratory passages reminiscent of analogue musique concrète; at others, electronics operate almost imperceptibly, subtly altering and extending the acoustic textures in real time.’

Soulful, lo-fi, Casiotone renditions of Amharic folk songs and lullabies, Tigrinya love songs, Gurage and Oromifa popular songs, and hits like Tilahun Gessesse’s Tiz Alegne Yetintu.
A landmark recording from Ethiopia’s vibrant 1980s cassette culture.

”Instrumental music, for me, is a space of reflection. Without words, the listener is invited to remember, imagine, and feel freely. In Resonance of Time, I hear my own musical philosophy: respect for Ethiopian kignit, careful dialogue with Western harmony, and a deep trust in melody as a storyteller.”

Roman Norfleet from the Cosmic Tones Research Trio and Andre Raiah from Brown Calculus. ‘Esoteric texts, sacred imagery, and mystic thought feed into spare diagrams of sound as space, tone, and pulse, drawn by saxophone, keyboard and percussion.’
Warmly recommended; check it out.

Nine tunes copped from the archives of the legendary 78s collector Harry Smith — ‘pointedly taken from regions shaped by major US conflicts since Anderson’s birth in 1970. While her fascinating liner notes track what is lost and found when trying to translate these compositions, their universal musicality still cuts through. Opener Quodlibet is beautiful: an intricate, minor-key medley of Uzbek tunes originally performed on the dambura (a fretless lute), on which Anderson adds bluegrass techniques to counter her inability to play quarter-tones on her guitar. Her take on a qawwali vocal tune, Hamd, is also a highlight, her stacked guitar layers ringing with warmth and emotion. Gisela Rodríguez Fernández adds violin to Sarvi Simin, a shimmering tune from Soviet-era Afghanistan, while a Yemeni tune, Zar, intended to exorcise evil spirits from the sick, sees Anderson and Fernández constantly rearranging five notes without repetition. Dark ambient moods are also conjured in Pair of Duduk, on which Anderson shifts the drones of Armenian woodwinds on to reverb-heavy guitar and bassy synths, while in Vietnamese tune Whistle Song, transferred from bamboo flutes to electric piano, the composition’s closeness to minimalism sings out.’

Wonderful. Here’s to volume two.