Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Future Gibbon – Begin Tofu Rub (jazz/ fusion)

    Future Gibbon – Begin Tofu Rub (jazz/ fusion)

    The entire fusion/ jazz dichotomy has always been a bit of a spurious one. Sure, there are acts that are very clearly fusion, such as Weather Report, or Tribal Tech, and those that are very obviously acoustic jazz, such as, well, any of the huge variety of famous and unknown, creative and cookie-cutter bands that… Read more

  • Monday Musings: Aesthetics And Meanings, Or How To Value Any Sound

    Monday Musings: Aesthetics And Meanings, Or How To Value Any Sound

    Looking back at the variety of reviews I’ve written in the past few months, variety is the principal thing that strikes me. There are stylistic tendencies, but they have come about through natural enough processes, such as artists who know one another sending me their music to review: as far as my own proclivities are… Read more

  • Saturday Summary 015

    Saturday Summary 015

    Freemium, and streaming models that offer entirely chimerical value are struggling this week. Which is nice. Pointless middlemen are finding it harder to get by in a market where they can no longer control access, and where ideological control structures are slipping away (or are starting to reflect a reshaped power structure). Oops, did I… Read more

  • Word Or Object – They Shoot Horses, But Why? (dark ambient/ drone)

    Word Or Object – They Shoot Horses, But Why? (dark ambient/ drone)

    The cover of this release shows a dead horse still harnessed to the broken cart before which it met its demise. This is a different sort of horse shooting than that referenced in the title: this beast was (one presumes) executed for its usefulness to its killer’s enemy, or simply killed as a byproduct of… Read more

  • Chattabox And Samuel Otis – Hard Graft (hip-hop)

    Chattabox And Samuel Otis – Hard Graft (hip-hop)

    Thankfully it’s no longer necessary to pretend to be American to be taken seriously as a rapper, Brains McCloud & Silibil notwithstanding. Now you can spit lahk you be comin’ from sahf London unarmeen? Or you can ignore the scene’s prescriptions, and do what comes naturally. A big part of this album’s appeal (and it… Read more

  • datapuddle – MonkeySkyMonkey (indie/ folktronica)

    datapuddle – MonkeySkyMonkey (indie/ folktronica)

    This is an entertaining and individualistic album, that makes you laugh one minute, with its absurdist, science-fiction tinged humour, and then, while your mouth is still open, slaps you with something altogether less superficial. This is music with something to say, and it says it without going to either extreme, of ramming it down your… Read more