Oliver Arditi

Blog archive

  • The Chewers – Every Drop Disorganized (avant-rock)

    The Chewers – Every Drop Disorganized (avant-rock)

    Absurdity in the arts is usually associated with comedy and satire; it is certainly true that much humour is absurdist in character, and that there is something about an incongruity that seems to tickle us. The mechanics of humour are doubtless complex, and they are not a topic I have spent much time thinking about,… Read more

  • Daniele Camarda – Sound Act (solo bass guitar)

    Daniele Camarda – Sound Act (solo bass guitar)

    Daniele Camarda effectively straddles two zones of musical practice, invoking two distinct sets of assumptions about sound, art and how they relate to each other. He is a solo bass guitar performer, employing an advanced technique on an extended range (seven string) instrument; this is an unusual thing to be, but not unprecedented, and for… Read more

  • Various Artists – Album Roundup

    Various Artists – Album Roundup

    at one with the machine is the sophomore release and point of exit for Jason Norwood’s studio powernoise project code 000. Two albums have evidently been enough to scratch that creative itch for him, but he has made good use of his time in the world of electronic distortion and jackhammer beats. Powernoise is a… Read more

  • Beattrix – Take It Back To Bring It Forward (hip-hop)

    Beattrix – Take It Back To Bring It Forward (hip-hop)

    ‘Our story of music begins in the dim distant past,’ announces the sample with which this album commences; it’s followed by a boom, and shortly thereafter, by a bap. This is twenty-first century music, today’s music, produced with today’s tools, with a sound that is distinctly located in the now, but it situates itself proudly… Read more

  • Urban Homes – Centres (electronica)

    Urban Homes – Centres (electronica)

    Altin Village & Mine sent me some great CDs for Christmas… well ok, it was after Christmas, and they sent them to me to review, but you get the picture. This is the third and last of that batch (and looking through their recent release schedule it appears that I’ve reviewed the label’s entire output… Read more

  • Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    Various Artists – Singles and EPs

    There are ‘pieces’ that are undeniably rap, and definitely not poetry, such as The Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’, and there are others that are undeniably poetry, and definitely not rap, such as John Donne’s Elegy XIX: To His Mistress Going To Bed. This emphatic distinction is a matter of customary usage however, not of hard… Read more