Experimental music

Refree: El Espacio Entre review – Barcelona producer’s haunting minimalism
Worked up from two film soundtracks, this atmospheric concept album features piano, guitar, Monteverdi and radio static
Neil Spencer
28, Jan, 2023 @4:00 PM

‘Humanity hit a brick wall’: John Cale on the Velvets, Nico, Covid and a gun-ridden world gone bad
As he hits 80 and releases a softly raging album inspired by the ugliness of the pandemic years, the ever restless and eternally avant-garde musician unburdens himself
Chal Ravens
18, Jan, 2023 @4:09 PM

‘I want an indescribable feeling’: composer Kali Malone on her search for the sublime
The US minimalist, acclaimed for her organ works, on moving beyond the instrument, the science of sound – and taking inspiration from the mountain ranges of her Denver youth
Jennifer Lucy Allan
18, Jan, 2023 @3:30 PM

Mette Henriette: Drifting review | John Lewis's contemporary album of the month
The Norwegian saxophonist is joined by cellist, Judith Hamann, and pianist, Johan Lindvall, for her long-awaited second album
John Lewis
13, Jan, 2023 @9:00 AM

Rian Treanor and Ocen James: Saccades review | Ammar Kalia's global album of the month
The presence of James’ bow complements Treanor’s dense compositions, creating the latter’s most melodic and dancefloor-adjacent work to date
Ammar Kalia
06, Jan, 2023 @9:00 AM

DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ: the cheeky dance producer who’s been mistaken for Aphex Twin
The pseudonymous dance producer’s sample-dense beats cast a spell in the pandemic that’s set to last
Shaad D'Souza
04, Jan, 2023 @10:00 AM

New music for 2023: Nyokabi Kariũki, the Kenyan composer using field recordings to conjure Nairobi from afar
Kariũki’s intimate music summoned her home while she was stuck in the US during lockdown – and her darker new album delves into her experience of long Covid
Tara Joshi
03, Jan, 2023 @10:00 AM

New music for 2023: George Riley, the R&B songwriter and club kid who is switching on the joy
Her acclaimed debut album came out of a dark place – but the experimental London musician has a new lease of life for 2023
Christine Ochefu
02, Jan, 2023 @12:00 PM

The 10 best global albums of 2022
Musicians mixed the old and the new, with vocals from Indigenous American tribes and flute music from the ancient Mayan courts among the year’s album highlights
Ammar Kalia
29, Dec, 2022 @12:00 PM

Moin: Paste review – taking a craft knife to 90s indie
The band create sinewy post-punk grooves with layers of vocals, samples and drums in their most fully-realised album
Tayyab Amin
28, Dec, 2022 @8:00 AM

The 10 best contemporary albums of 2022
The year’s most cutting-edge sounds included ambient Americana, Ethiopia’s ‘honky-tonk nun’ Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Alice Coltrane disciple Surya Botofasina and field recordings of goats eating mangos
John Lewis
27, Dec, 2022 @12:00 PM

Fiona Soe Paing: Sand, Silt, Flint review – startling Scottish balladry with a global scope
The Scottish-Burmese singer evokes history, folk tales and atmospheres in this nicely uncanny set blending electronics and field recordings
Jude Rogers
21, Dec, 2022 @8:00 AM
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