15 h. ago Phase Space: Degrees of Freedom review | Safi Bugel's experimental album of the month

(Phase Space)Switching wonky techno for spacious abstraction, Gwenan Spearing debuts a new alias on an EP of uncanny generative electronicsAfter establishing herself as a techno DJ in some of the wonkiest corners of underground dance music, Gwenan Spearing has spent the last few years settling into slower, more abstract territory. Alongside her club sets, she co-organises an ambient deep listening series in Berlin and spends her spare time experimenting with modular synthesis. Phase Space is the latest expression of this interest, a project rooted in generative electronics and real-time responses.Degrees of Freedom is Spearing’s first outing under this new alias: an EP of meandering ambient tracks that blur the lines between electronic and acoustic as instruments are sampled, warped and overdubbed through her synthesiser. On the subaquatic opening track Sync, cowbells are stretched and delayed beyond recognition against a pulsing analogue rhythm. Towards the end of Some Pluck, a den...

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4 d. ago Sabrina Carpenter may be ‘highly sexualised’ – but that’s not what is most provocative about her | Zoe Williams

The superstar singer is being used in an argument about sex, pornography, the male gaze, female desire and blond hair that has been going on since before her grandmother was born. Meanwhile, her autonomy is overlookedThere are some hot takes on feminism that it’s better to bow out of when this isn’t your first rodeo. The reveal of Sabrina Carpenter’s album cover, which landed last month, was such an event. The photograph shows Carpenter on her hands and knees, with her hair being pulled by (presumably, as you couldn’t see his face) a man. The Daily Mail reported that “over-sexed Sabrina Carpenter” had been “roasted by fans” for her “highly sexualised and provocative album art”.Could we prove that she wasn’t being criticised by people who hated her already, while her fans understood something different from “sexualisation” and were not provoked? Never mind. When you are in the business of slating young women, the onus isn’t upon you to explain what the problem is, or whether it’s you...

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7 d. ago Daytimers: Alterations review | Ammar Kalia's global album of the month

(Relentless Records)The UK collective have been reimagining south Asian music since 2020, and their new compilation splices junglism and Afro-house onto gems in Sony India’s catalogueSince their formation in 2020, the Daytimers collective have been trying to establish a new imagining of British south-Asian music. Taking their name from the daytime parties held by second-generation immigrants in the late 80s and 90s, Daytimers have spent the past five years throwing raucous parties of their own, with residents such as Yung Singh, Rohan Rakhit and Mahnoor mixing everything from jungle and Bollywood vocals with dubstep, grime instrumentals and Punjabi folk for a new generation born and raised in the UK.Following in the footsteps of their Asian underground forebears such as Nitin Sawhney and Talvin Singh, who mixed the sounds of 90s Britain with the south-Asian music they grew up listening to, Daytimers’ latest compilation has 13 south-Asian producers remixing Bollywood hits from the So...

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2 w. ago Joshua Redman: Words Fall Short review | John Fordham's jazz album of the month

(Blue Note)The US saxophonist pulls back the vocals of his last record to present a new ensemble and all-original repertoire, resulting in an ideal balance of ingenuity and rapportJoshua Redman has been such a brilliant saxophone improviser for more than three decades that his unerring flawlessness at a spontaneous art almost becomes a tic. But his playful delight in music-making, a quality that swept from his eponymous debut release in 1993, has never faded. Redman’s 2023 first album for Blue Note was the covers-packed Where Are We, his first predominantly vocal venture, featuring the frail, borderline-tearful voice of young New Orleans-based singer Gabrielle Cavassa, herself a new Blue Note signing.Perhaps to deflect this from looking like a label-steered career reset, Redman has cannily entitled its successor Words Fall Short, and included only one Cavassa vocal. Even more smartly, he has introduced a terrific new young road band on an all-original repertoire, and added acclaimed...

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2 w. ago Sabrina Carpenter says alternate album artwork has been ‘approved by God’ after divisive original cover

‘Espresso’ singer faced criticism earlier this month when she released provocative artwork for her next album ‘Man’s Best Friend’

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2 w. ago ‘If men couldn’t have sex with me, they didn’t know what to do with me’: Alanis Morissette on addiction, midlife liberation and the predatory 90s

She made her name with rage-fuelled anthems – and sold 75m records in the process. Now, with a highly anticipated Glastonbury slot, the California-dwelling earth mother is ready to let rip again Alanis Morissette asks which version of her I wish to hear from: “The hormonal bitch who has a lot to say? The people-pleasing, kind, amenable part? They’re all here.” It’s 9am in sunny Los Angeles and the ­Canadian-born singer-songwriter is ­wearing a slouchy top, her wavy hair loose. She’s long been aware of these different “parts”, that her life is full of contradiction. “I have 14 different opinions about one thing.” It’s why, aged 19, she wrote Hand In My Pocket (lyrics include: I’m high, but I’m grounded / I’m sane, but I’m ­overwhelmed), one of several anthems on Jagged ­Little Pill, the album released 30 years ago this month. Back then, in the unenlightened 90s, people found this sort of talk unnerving. “They were like, ‘Whoa, that’s scary. What are you talking about?’”“They cal...

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4 w. ago Dâdalus & Bikarus: Off the Shelf review | Safi Bugel's experimental album of the month

(Lío Press)Zurich-based musicians Benedikt Merz and David Hänni meld krautrock, punk and big beat into tripped-out, swampy grooves that reach dizzying heightsAfter almost three decades of friendship, Zurich-based musicians Benedikt Merz and David Hänni moved into a studio together in 2019. They found common ground over their shared love of psychedelic music and spent long, woozy nights jamming together. But while one wanted to focus on live electronics, the other secretly wanted to start a band. The outcome was Dâdalus & Bikarus, a project which sits somewhere between these two worlds, welding elements of krautrock, punk and big beat into tripped-out dancefloor rhythms.Their second album, Off the Shelf, captures the obsessive energy of those early nocturnal experiments, which they’ve since built a reputation for in their live shows. Anchored by drawn-out loops, each track slowly builds tension to dizzying, near-erotic heights. On Erebros, this takes place across a hefty 11 minut...

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