Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • Huey and the New Yorkers – The After Hours EP (groove rock)

    Huey and the New Yorkers – The After Hours EP (groove rock)

    Fun Lovin’ Criminals were a major part of the sound of the ‘90s for me; this was the decade in which I had my 20s, achieved my ambition to become something tangentially similar to a professional musician, met my now wife, and became, to my lasting amazement, father to the most intellectually impressive entity I’ve… Read more

  • Steve Lawson and Daniel Berkman – Finger Painting (improvisation)

    Steve Lawson and Daniel Berkman – Finger Painting (improvisation)

    Steve Lawson has spent much of his career exploring the front edge of musical and technological possibility, in terms of the sounds that one bass player can make, the ways that musical recordings can be constructed, the ways that musicians can talk to listeners, and the ways that recordings can be distributed to them. He’s… Read more

  • Various Artists – Album Roundup

    Various Artists – Album Roundup

    When we get to the fourth track, ‘Womb’, we learn that Cthulhu Detonator is capable of changing tack. There is still noise, in the sense of forcefully stochastic elements within the timbre of the music, but the principal sound is tonal, sonorous and enveloping. ‘Blinding White Light’ takes a similar approach, as does the mid-section… Read more

  • The Inner Road – Ascension (progressive rock)

    The Inner Road – Ascension (progressive rock)

    Steve Gresswell is a prog auteur of the old school, producing music that is not particularly progressive stylistically, but which makes use of a sophisticated and complex approach to composition and orchestration. I’m familiar with two of his projects, this one, and Coalition, a band with a similar sound that incorporates vocals; in both cases… Read more

  • These Curious Thoughts – Building Mountains From The Ground (roots rock)

    These Curious Thoughts – Building Mountains From The Ground (roots rock)

    The internet is full of interesting long distance collaborations; since everyone got broadband, audio files have been flying back and forth like nobody’s business. Obviously digital music production is most amenable to this approach, but it’s equally feasible for an ensemble recording to be assembled from separate performances in the participants’ own studios/bedrooms/wherevers. Mixing, and… Read more

  • Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    What I know about Alun Vaughan is limited: I reviewed a very nice solo bass performance album of his, and an EP in a similar vein, and I gather he gets up to quite a lot of jazzy malarkey. This short EP bucks that trend just a little bit. The dominant sound is a raw,… Read more