Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Sissters – There’s A Party In My Mouth But You’re Not Invited (post-punk/ noise rock/ art-punk)

    Sissters – There’s A Party In My Mouth But You’re Not Invited (post-punk/ noise rock/ art-punk)

    The word experimental is over-used in descriptions of avant-garde music, and is not always meaningful: who are we as listeners to judge whether an artist is conducting an experiment, or whether the sounds we hear represent their mature practice? However, experimental or not, There’s A Party In My Mouth And You’re Not Invited contains a… Read more

  • Monday Musings: What Do Musicians Mean, And Does It Matter?

    Monday Musings: What Do Musicians Mean, And Does It Matter?

    Music fans very often want to know something about the author of their favourite sounds. It is a widespread assumption that details of an artist’s biography or personality can provide an insight into their art: while this may or may not be the case, it is undeniable that the idea of the artist, as it… Read more

  • Saturday Summary 014

    Saturday Summary 014

    This is my first separate weekly post of links and news: it’s number 14 because there were thirteen earlier posts that were joined on to my series of pompous essays (still known as Monday Musings). Read more

  • lextrical – Deletia (electronica/ indie/ folktronica)

    lextrical – Deletia (electronica/ indie/ folktronica)

    Deletia opens with ‘Lunchbox D’, which begins with an obviously electronic backbeat; this is joined a bar later by a saturated, analogue sounding synth melody, and simultaneously by a guitar. This sets the pattern for the album: it is a predominantly electronic construction, but it is a highly organic one, and stylistically it looks toward… Read more

  • Cockdaughter – Cockdaughter (noise rock)

    Cockdaughter – Cockdaughter (noise rock)

    In 1917 Marcel Duchamp put a pissoir in a gallery: unfortunately, nearly a century later, many people still don’t get it. Those people will have trouble with the presentation of something as deliberately shambolic as Cockdaughter’s eponymous debut as a finished artwork; but it’s precisely to challenge that sense of the polished and refined as… Read more

  • pje – hidden stone (ambient)

    pje – hidden stone (ambient)

    The sound of pje can be uncontroversially described as ambient, but it explores a number of avenues under that rubric. ‘diffract’ has strong drone elements, while ‘scattered’ incorporates a strummed acoustic guitar pattern, and ‘memory key’ is characterised by percussive elements, in a beat that is never quite fully articulated. There is an element of… Read more