Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Kevin Pearce – Matthew Hopkins And The Wormhole (indie)

    Kevin Pearce – Matthew Hopkins And The Wormhole (indie)

    There’s a lot of quality songwriters out there, ones that write sincere and sophisticated songs, and that, without necessarily straying too far from the kinds of musical materials that audiences find digestible, manage to say something particular and illuminating. Trouble is, they all sound the same. I mean, however good the material is, and however… Read more

  • Various Artists – Album Roundup

    Various Artists – Album Roundup

    Richard Pinhas and Yoshida Tatsuya are legendary figures in the French and Japanese experimental rock scenes, respectively. ‘Experimental’ is a term that implies a bit of diversity, and the projects they’ve been involved with have covered quite a range of approaches, so there is nothing predictable about this record, and nor would there have been,… Read more

  • Regal Worm – Use and Ornament (avant-prog)

    Regal Worm – Use and Ornament (avant-prog)

    ‘Detail’ seems to be the watchword by which this album was conceived and constructed; I hesitate to say that it’s all about the arrangements, as it’s clearly about much more, but a conspicuously enormous amount of effort has gone into them. Ideas abound in every area, in an album which is clearly a paean to… Read more

  • Paragaté – Pattern Of Light (experimental)

    Paragaté – Pattern Of Light (experimental)

    Paragaté is a fluid ensemble; its two permanent members are Tim Risher and Tom De Plonty, both of whose names may be familiar to you from the reviews I have written over the past few years, but the ensemble has a number of other creators associated with it, and a history measured in decades. Earlier… Read more

  • Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Kibou Records is everything I talk about but don’t actually do. It’s a totally independent, DIY music label and online distributor, dedicated to uncompromising underground music, of the noisy punk variety. It’s basically the Revolution, as described by French anarchists The Invisible Committee, a parallel structure that is a challenge to the status quo simply… Read more

  • Abstractive Noise – of the Adder’s Bite (post-ambient)

    Abstractive Noise – of the Adder’s Bite (post-ambient)

    Woman as symbol figures prominently in the conceptual scaffolding of this album; this is something about which I have certain reservations. ‘Woman’ has been employed as a metaphor for many things in the creative languages of men: the imaginative faculty, the creative spirit, material aspiration, fields of endeavour, country or native soil… the list goes… Read more