UnQuiet #1 (June 2024)
Greetings!
Welcome to the first ever issue of UnQuiet!
I’m Ollie, and I’m an experimental musician and audio engineer based in Italy. I’ll be publishing this short newsletter rather sporadically, with the aim of sharing highlights (both new and old) from my recent listening.
I’ve wanted to write about music since time immemorial, but I could never quite figure out a platform that worked for me. I spent a long time trying to dream up an interesting angle (new releases only? certain genres only?, etc.), and toying with different formats (physical zine? full-on website? instagram account?, etc.). Recently, it finally dawned on me. Since the start of 2024, I’ve been keeping a semi-regular journal of albums I’ve been spinning (including new releases, new discoveries, and albums I’ve revisited after many years). I realised that this very journal could be my main point of departure: every now and then, it would be fun to share a couple of lines about the stuff I’ve been enjoying the most. No lofty themes, no waxing lyrical. Just a few spontaneous thoughts about records that caught my attention, for those who are crazy and/or bored enough to take my advice.
For this first issue, I’ve chosen 10 albums that I’ve marked down as “favourites” over the past 6 months or so. The accompanying bits of text are lifted directly from my personal listening journal.
The album covers below contain Bandcamp/Spotify links where available.
(Many thanks to those who turned me onto these - you know who you are!)
Giusto Pio - Motore Immobile (1979)
drone, contemporary classical, italian minimalism
https://soave.bandcamp.com/album/motore-immobile
This one is absolutely astonishing. Italian drone/minimalism from the late 70s, expertly produced by Franco Battiato. Waaaaaay ahead of its time. I love the harmonised hums, which subtly poke between the layers of organ & piano. A friend of mine mentioned that this record probably inspired Talk Talk’s later stuff - you can certainly hear it. Really, really, really good stuff.
Keiji Haino - Tenshi No Gijinka (Seraphic Impostor)
noise, dark ambient, ritual, free improv
Keiji Haino’s steadfast inventiveness never fails to impress me. I particularly love the hand percussion, vocals and ritual aspects on this one. It reminds me of South Korean shamanic music (Kim Seok-Chul, etc.). A beautiful - if often terrifying - journey.
Microstoria - init ding + _snd (2024 Reissue / Remaster by Rashad Becker)
glitch, minimal, IDM, electronica
https://oval.bandcamp.com/album/init-ding-snd-remastered?from=embed
What a fascinating pair of albums. Pure glitchy sonic bliss. The sheer range of different moods and tones achieved here is astonishing; at any given moment there are hundreds of fascinating little slivers of sound floating around. The new remasters are delightful too (Rashad Becker is king).
Chico Buarque - Construção (1971)
MPB, samba, bossa nova
I've loved this album for a long, long, long time, but for some reason it started hitting in a different way recently. The horn arrangements on the title track are sublime. I also love how many of the tracks are through-composed, rather than following a strict verse-chorus-verse format - everything seems so adventurous on one hand and carefully-constructed on the other. “Cotidiano” is another highlight. A pretty much perfect album overall.
Animal Ghosts - Swell (2024)
shoegaze, dream pop
https://animal-ghosts.bandcamp.com/album/swell
This one took me by surprise. It manages to sound exciting and fresh, while simultaneously demonstrating expert knowledge of all the tenets of the 90s shoegaze we know and love (there’s more than a nod to Loveless-era mbv). The production is spot-on too - the guitars are layered beautifully. The tracks “Wonder” and “Everything” are highlights.
Spinebreaker - Cavern of Inoculated Cognition (2023)
death metal, hardcore
https://spinebreaker.bandcamp.com/album/cavern-of-inoculated-cognition
As their name would suggest, Spinebreaker produce ridiculously heavy death metal. This one has some highly inventive riffs, throat-ripping vocals and even some hardcore influences (which isn't surprising considering most of the members are also in Gulch). Brutal.
Various Artists - European Primitive Guitar (1974-1987) (2024)
primitivism, folk, free folk
https://n-t-s.bandcamp.com/album/european-primitive-guitar-1974-1987
A new(ish) NTS compilation that sheds light on some wild forgotten European primitivism. I was particularly stunned by the first track (“Conte Xinés” by Albert Giménez). It’s honestly one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve heard in years - “ethereal” would be an understatement. The lovely stereo delay on it creates all kinds of weird rhythmic shifts. The whole album makes me want to start playing acoustic again (it's been a long time).
Kjostad - Warlord (2021)
noise, field recordings, industrial, power electronics
https://newforces.bandcamp.com/album/warlord
Some really unique noise/industrial from Williamstown, Massachusetts. I was especially struck by the inventive use of field recordings throughout; ambient environmental recordings are spliced, distorted, pulled apart, and pushed back together to a truly disorientating degree. As the album’s liner notes astutely claim: “The noise clatters, clangs, and grinds across six tracks that investigate a violent past while anticipating an even darker future.” I couldn’t agree more.
{scope} - Nightcap (2024)
free improv, free jazz, musique concrete
https://kohlhaas.bandcamp.com/album/nightcap
Absolutely bonkers! Free jazz meets musique concrete, recorded in a disused club in Bari. I can honestly say I’ve never heard anything quite like this. I first heard this record at a Kohlhaas event in Rovereto last month, and it blew my mind. Carried along by a bubbling array of glitchy effects, layers upon layers of shifting sound particles continually interrupt and intersperse with one another. Sometimes times deeply groovy, sometimes delicately airy, sometimes plain crazy. Always fascinating.
Alucinações Sônicas - S.F.F. (2024)
avant-garde, sound collage, noise, post-industrial, power electronics
https://hospitalproductions.bandcamp.com/album/s-f-f
A highly erratic and exploratory tape which effortlessly meanders between dark ambient and all-out harsh noise. The first track is a sort of false introduction - a brooding post-industrial soundscape underpinned by a rolling drum machine and a glassy-yet-playful synth line. Then the chaos really begins: tracks 2 and 3 offer a barrage of mangled, overlapping feedback; pulsating sheets of stinging noise which are nicely described as “voices of circuitry” on the album page. This one is also notable for the bizarre “constructed hanging metal package” it comes with. Great stuff from Hospital as always.
A quick note about internet radio:
If, like me, you’re always on the hunt for interesting music, please consider supporting the invaluable work done by radio stations such as:
EHFM (Edinburgh)
Subcity Radio (Glasgow)
Lahmacun Radio (Budapest)
Subscribing to UnQuiet is completely free. However, if you’d like to support my work in a more material way, consider buying me a coffee!
Ollie Turbitt is a Scottish-Italian musician, sound artist, and audio engineer based in Trento, Italy. He runs the experimental net label Dead Hound Records & works in freelance mixing/mastering.
https://ollieturbitt.tumblr.com
ollie@turbitt.co.uk