Category Archives: On record

Switched On: Green-House: A Host for All Kinds of Life (Leaving Records)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Green-House is a project begun by Olive Ardizoni but now a duo featuring her long-time collaborator and confidant, Michael Flanagan.

Their music is indelibly associated with the natural environment, and especially its disappearance – asking how we can address the hollow feelings we have at its destruction, and pass those on to future generations. The Six Songs for Invisible Gardens EP addressed this in part at the start of the pandemic in 2020, a cassette release that included wild flower seeds for the listener.

The series of releases continued with Music For Living Spaces in 2021, the first full length Green-House LP, but now it has a sequel in the form of A Host For All Kinds Of Life. This is on a bigger scale to the previous album, functioning as a suite of discreet instrumental songs that have at their heart a powerful message, continuing to express joy at the environment even in the wake of its continued destruction.

What’s the music like?

Green-House make music that works on two levels – the listener can take in the context above and hear it in a deep and meaningful sense, or they can retreat a little to observe as ambient music. Either way it works, for these instrumentals are rich in creativity and colour, presenting positive moods with verdant textures.

There is an Eastern feel to Coquina, with its persuasive flute line, that suggests we are in a garden full  of bright flowers – and this is a vision that continues through the album. Lichen Maps, as its title suggests, is a little more mysterious, while Desire Path wends its way through flowing lines.

The musical statements become more thoughtful for Castle Song, but then a good deal more playful for Far More Other. Most meaningful of all is the enchanting title track, which twinkles at the treble end while a gently rocking statement on keyboard plays out beneath.

Many Years Later – looking a generation beyond, perhaps – has a sepia tint, its pitch wavering as it looks to sum up what has gone before.

Does it all work?

It does – though be careful you listen on the right audio equipment, for Green-House make treble rich music. This responds well on headphones especially.

Is it recommended?

It is. Ambient music is often the most thought provoking – and that is certainly the case here. Green-House make conscious music that delivers its message with subtle power.

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Switched On: Xingu Hill: Grigri Pavilion (Subexotic Records)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Xingu Hill is a pseudonym from the extremely prolific John Sellekaers, the Canadian-born musician and producer who lives in Brussels.

With Grigri Pavilion his aim was to ‘build a dreamscape, albeit a slightly uncomfortable one’. He recorded the album during the heat-soaked French summer of 2022, before a detailed rework and completion in his Brussels studio.

What’s the music like?

There is indeed an undercurrent of unease to the music here, in spite of its overall ambience. This is in part a reflection on the feverish climate in which it was recorded, with an edgy feel to a number of the mid or lower-range riffs Sellekaers uses. Indeed, when the music is stripped back to its drum track and the motif sits lower in the pitch range, there is the sense of danger around the corner.

Tracks like Eye Contact are a little easier, where the sustained harmonies bring extra depth to the music. Conjectures does the same, but its riff is an insistent, dominating one. While some of Sellekaer’s music brings solace, the likes of Nightcraft explore the shadows, finding industrial processes left on or slightly malfunctioning.

The rhythm tracks hold the key to Girgri Pavilion. Byways & Tunnels is particularly good, channelling mid-90s exploration and a little Cabaret Voltaire through dubby confines. Electrographic Dreams has a similar, low-slung profile but more kinetic energy.

Does it all work?

It does, and is held together well to make a cohesive half-hour suite of electronic portraits and vistas.

Is it recommended?

Yes. Like all Sellekaers’ work, there is plenty of interest here – and his various pseudonyms show an ability to move between a number of different electronic music styles with instinctive ease.

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Switched On: Ellie Wilson: Memory Islands (Bigo & Twigetti)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The striking artwork on Ellie Wilson‘s new album is a key for what lies within. Memory Islands explores the power or spirit of remembrance, drawing on a number of first hand sources for inspiration.

The most pronounced of these is a recording of Wilson’s grandfather reminiscing about his experiences and lost years as a Navy seaman in World War II (By the Time I Got Back Pt 1). Other pieces explore the behaviour of the brain when waking from a coma (Delta), or the disappearance of words from our language, as noted by Robert Macfarlane (Unnamed Unseen). Looking forward – in a sense – is Will I Dream, inspired by the film The Year We Make Contact – specifically the moment the onboard computer HAL 900 confronts his digital ‘mortality’– all memories erased.

What’s the music like?

Extremely evocative. Wilson’s twin disciplines are the violin and electronics, the ideal blend of past, present and future to support the album’s themes – and both are used in support of memories lost and regained.

The open strings of the violin on Unnamed Unseen inevitably hark back to time spent learning the instrument but also express a powerful simplicity, her experience in folk music yielding strong communication from the off. The use of rapid pizzicato is especially effective when describing Delta‘s emergence from a coma, its pitter-patter countered by rustic double stopping.

The electronic Mindpop harnesses its power through a rolling drum track, while Will I Dream? has intriguing effects that play with aural perspective.

As you might expect, the tones of Wilson’s grandfather on By the Time I Got Back Pt 1 are particularly moving, complemented by urgent phrases from the violin. The second part spins a web of ideas against a tick-tock rhythm, an open-ended conclusion to the album.

Does it all work?

It does. The album is effectively a seven-part suite of studies on memory, and its half hour fairly flies by, leaving you wanting more.

Is it recommended?

Very much so. If you enjoy music where folk and electronic intersect, then this is definitely for you – and more besides, since Memory Islands tells a series of vivid tales. Given its value for money through Bandcamp, there really is no excuse!

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Switched On: Captain Mustache: The Super Album (Kompakt)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

We last encountered Captain Mustache two years ago, as part of the excellent Quattro Artists collection released by Bedrock. His contribution was Indigo Memories, where the intersection between techno and electro functioned particularly well.

Now we find him returning to the Kompakt label with an imagined an imagined ‘whole day for party people’, with a raft of guests in tow.

What’s the music like?

The captain delivers a captivating blend of darkness and light in the course of the day. The darker stuff is the four to the floor electro and techno workouts, some really well produced numbers that hit the floor without any nonsense. These include the instrumental cuts Laser Me, Clair-Obscur and Galaxian Symbiosis, the last two of which would be more than half Detroit-based if you cut them open. Acapulco Citron has a chunky bass profile, as does Pulsions Organiques, which pans out a bit to softer electro up top.

Then we have the more humourous tracks such as the vocal playful Gimme Your Mustache or Shifting Basslines, where Chicks on Speed work particularly well. The Arnaud Rebotini collaboration I Love Watching U is excellent, too.

Does it all work?

It does – the album has a really satisfying ebb and flow.

Is it recommended?

Indeed it is, another fine opus from the man with immaculate facial hair.

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On Record – Mirror Tree: Mirror Tree (Innovative Leisure)

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by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

The tale of Michael Gold is a compelling one. The singer-songwriter, who records as Mirror Tree, is a pilot, flying a 737 for a major airline out of Los Angeles. Yet he also belongs to a musical family tree of impressive lineage, his mother being Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Sharon Robinson and his godfather a certain Leonard Cohen.

For a while his route into music looked unlikely, with pilot duties taking him into remote Alaska – but it was while flying across the remote American wilderness that he began to hear music afresh, and in particular bands such as Stereolab and Broadcast.

Returning to L.A., Gold began writing and recording, working with former Poolside bandmate Filip Nikolic. The two dragged Gold’s Farfisa organ out of storage, and it became an integral part of the album’s sound.

What’s the music like?

The Farfisa makes all the difference. With clever use of reverb and perspective, Gold and Nikolic use it to add perspective but to add a layer of musical dust to each track, the listener almost shaking sand off their shoes. This feels like outdoor music as a result, and with a lovely sheen and hints of psychedelia added to the production, the sound is an extremely pleasant one.

The clincher, however, is Gold’s voice, an easy-going instrument that is slightly husky and delivers the lyrics with warmth and a little charm. Another Day is a beauty, dappled sunlight sneaking through the trees as a backdrop to the vocal, while Echoes Competing is similarly sunny, its coda a singalong moment. The hooks Gold uses can pass the listener by on the first one or two listens, but give it time and the album really starts to make its mark.

Let It Go looks up at the moon and stars with tired eyes and an old piano for company, while during the carefree Tuesday it’s easy to imagine Gold soaring above the clouds. Similarly with Along For The Ride, which takes to the wing on vocals that could have been crafted as part of late-1960s psychedelia. The Stereolab and Broadcast influence can be heard in a good way, and the Farfisa creates a series of musical mirages.

Elsewhere layers of guitar create a warm musical bed for songs such as In A Day, where the organ is manipulated to sound like a flute ensemble. Meanwhile 300 Miles bends the sound off pitch slightly, creating a distinctly Eastern feel.

Does it all work?

Largely, yes. This is charming pop music with pastoral and psychedelic overtones. The album threads its themes together nicely, and while occasionally it’s a bit too woozy – and maybe a song or two long – Gold spreads the warmth of his music a long way.

Is it recommended?

It is. Mirror Tree uses a combination of thoughtful and often blissful songwriting with imaginative instrumentation, and it proves difficult to resist.

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