The unusual, the odd, the exciting, the weird: outliers converge in our Experimental section, which gathers those with avant leanings under a single banner. From music that is creative yet accessible to that which tests even the hardiest listener, this article has it covered.  Every artist here marches to the beat of their own drum (even if they don’t have a drum; and some only have drums).  If you’re more interested in the outskirts than the mainstream, this is the place to peruse.  As always, we’ve divided this preview into two sections: Jazz and Improvisation and Electro-Acoustic and Fields Afar.  We hope that you’ll be challenged, but also enthralled!

Our featured image is taken from Patricia Brennan‘s The Near and Far (Pyroclastic Records), covered below.

Electroacoustic and Fields Afar

Hatis Noit has recruited an astonishing array of artists on Aura Reworks, ranging from William Basinski to Jlin.  The album can now be heard in an entirely new light (Erased Tapes, September 26). Vocalist Hollie Palmer works with a variety of guests on the aptly titled Metamorphosis, processing and pulling her voice in multiple directions (Colorfield, September 12). Vocal yet wordless, the all-female quintet IKI presents Body, which is sure to draw attention for its visuals.  We hope that prospective listeners delve deeper to explore the experimental textures (Tila, October 17).

Roméo Poirier celebrates the unheard moments of recording studios, from outtakes to lost conversations, creating an amusing and enlightening collage.  Off the Record may be the Spinal Tap of experimental albums … but it’s all real (Faitiche, October 10).  dj sniff‘s Turntable Solos is exactly what one might expect, albeit a bit more abstract; the hip-hop era still manages to shine through (Discrepant, September 7).

Marja Ahti‘s Touch This Fragrant Surface Of Earth started as a tape piece, and is now a full album.  The two long tracks meld struck metal and found sound, from deep low to piercing high, with guest appearances on clarinet, cello and percussion (fönstret, September 12).  Undertow is the fourth collaborative album from Eventless Plot, each with matching artwork, this one recorded with Spyros Emmanouilidis and Savvas Metaxas.  Voice and tape join live instruments on this mysterious journey (Innovo Editions, September 5).

Persistence of Sound is offering the quite amazing The Persistence of Sound Collection, compiling its first sixteen releases on six LPs or ten CDs (September 26).  It’s a great way to catch up before the release of two new albums, Brunhild Ferrari‘s Errant Ear, an impressionistic work that combines light field recordings and dark drone (September 19) and Annette Vande Gome‘s Tutti Frutti, collecting decades of electro-acoustic works composed for sculpture, dance, theatre and more (September 26).

Imagine walking around Brussels for a month, listening to small sounds and conversations, feeling at times as if one is eavesdropping but at other times feeling fortunate and blessed.  Such recordings lie at the heart of Mark Vernon‘s Magneto Mori: Brussels, an intimate recording that feels like a sonic postcard (Flaming Pines, September 12).  On Asterisk Fields, Michael Cloud Duguay focuses on the sound of eight residential blocks around his house, adding complementary music that is often performed by the residents of the neighborhood, imitating a block party or a street fair, teeming with local flavor (Watch That Ends The Nights, September 5).  The fourth album in forms of minutiae‘s glacier series, Cheryl E. Leonard‘s near the bear, folds field recordings and object percussion (driftwood, bones, sand) into the mix.  The album is out September 26, and will be followed by Pablo Diserens‘ concluding chapter as the year winds down.

Forgetting Is Violent, proclaims Patrick Shiroishi, but remembering is divine, which is what the composer does on this evocative album.  Addressing racism head-on, Shiroishi enlists a list of impressive collaborators, including members of BIG | BRAVE and SUMAC, who help to underline his point (American Dreams, September 19). A potpourri of timbres inhabits knot of meanings, in which Nobukazu Takemura wrestles with technology while attempting to “rebuild his relationship with God.”  The stained glass artwork is a physical representation of the refracted tones (Thrill Jockey, September 26).

One would usually expect to find Bruno Duplant in our Modern Composition section, but his collaboration with Judith Wegmann is astonishingly experimental.  Univers Parallèles – Des Nuits Et Des Jours is a single extended piece with pointillist leanings, as precise as it is abstract (MFR Contemporary Series, September 26).  Also on Moving Furniture, Fani Konstantinidou presents Undertones, in which small sounds are given space to echo and decay and the ringing of a bell is often set against longer reverberations (September 26).

Call London’s Beachers what you will; just don’t get them confused with the alt-rock group of the same name.  Horns of Death is experimental, electronic and drone (ineffectual suns, September 12).  Home recordings are the basis of BBJr‘s The Antique Heartbeat, an abstract offering that at different times approaches ambient, drone, jazz and rock.  Every time one thinks the music has traveled too far afield, it returns, only to wander again (No Part Of It, September 1).  background corn is as eclectic as it gets.  After rediscovering a tape about seals recorded by his 11-year-old self, matt robidoux turned it into an experimental electronic album, originally released as a wristband with a phone number.  For the cassette, go to Already Dead Tapes; to hear the full album, just call 1(888) 409-5815 (September 12).

An “electro-acoustically expanded drum kit” makes Extrametric II even more diverse than the premiere installment.  Katherina Ernst explores polyrhythms and enhances them with electronics and voice (Extrametric, September 12).  In the hands of Nathan Sherman / Alex Petcu, viola and percussion create Archeypes, an experimental set that borders on modern composition (Diatribe, September 21).  A fascination with industrial noise inspired will sōderberg to create let the machines sing… [2] of desire to salvage, which is far more subtle than one might imagine, incorporating tiny sounds that bubble and pop (Machine Records, October 17).  Will Glaser‘s double album Music Of The Terrazoku, Ethnographic Recordings From An Imagined Future takes place after an environmental collapse; the ocean reclaims its own while Glaser and a cavalcade of guests mourn the last new normal (Not Applicable, October 24).

Jazz and Improvisation

The “father of ethic-jazz,” Mulatu Astake, returns with the self-referential Mulatu Plays Mulatu.  The playing is loose and liberated, filled with Ethiopian instruments such as the krar, masenqo, washint, kebero and begena (Strut, September 26).  Partially inspired by North African gnawa music, Toronto dectet Dun Dun Band releases Pita Parka Pt. II, the sequel to a live album released in July.  The new set includes members of disparate bands united for a common cause (We Are Busy Bodies, September 12).

Modular synth and viola are the basis for an extended improvisation on Matthew Ryals‘s Exalge, recorded live in Milan.  The LP also includes a bonus Brooklyn live track (Infrequent Seams, September 5).  Jazz, chamber music and synth fill Compost Karaoke, a subtle set inspired by film scores.  Matt Bachmann calls it “the score to his latest life transition” (Orindal, September 12).

Out of Your Head Records already has four releases in the pre-order stage.  Live at FEMA is the fourth in the OOYH Beacons series, launched this summer, a live performance from Gray / Pirog / Ballou (September 12); Tomas Fujiwara presents Dream Up, written for percussion quartet and featuring Patricia Brennan on vibraphone, whose own LP is listed below (September 12); Webber / Morris Big Band are Unseparate, and the band is indeed large, with at least 17 participants.  Just don’t expect traditional big band music (September 26).  And even though it’s a vocal album, we don’t want to leave Laura Ann Singh out; Mean Reds alternates between heartfelt vocals and vibrant instrumental interplay (October 24).

577 Records shifts into autumn mode with Matthew Putman, Hill Greene, Francisco Mela‘s Believe That Was Me, recorded in a single day, capturing a bit of synergy (September 5).  Then the attention shifts to Eva Novoa‘s The Freedom Suite, Novoa / Carter / Mela Trio, Vol. 2, whose graffiti-filled cover evokes a certain time and place (October 3).  On October 24, it’s Ben Stapp‘s turn with the self-explanatory Uzmic Ro’Samg (Live Solo Tuba, followed a week later by bass clarinetist Leandro Cardenas‘ spiritually-toned, Afro-Cuban Against the Jazz Police.

Shifting Paradigm‘s fall slate launches September 26 with Heirloom‘s Familiar Beginnings, the Milwaukee quartet’s debut album, colorful and vibrant in hue. Then on October 24, Atlantis Quartet presents Live at Berlin, which ironically is not located in Germany, but Minneapolis.  Pyroclastic Records releases double versions of each of their albums, one in hi-res.  Ned Rothenberg starts off the season with Looms & Legends, playing 
alto saxophone, Bb and A clarinets and shakuhachi (September 5); Chris Taborn, Nels Cline, Marcus Gilmore form a Trio of Bloom, an aural reflection of the floral cover (September 26); and vibraphonist Patricia Brennan assembles a dectet (plus conductor) for The Near and Far, which blends jazz and modern composition in a fresh fashion (October 24).

Earshift Music has already announced four albums for fall, with a couple more on the way.  Saxophonist-composer Tessie Overmyer debuts as the leader of a septet on Tidelines, partially inspired by the New Zealand coast (September 26).  Sam Gill’s Coursed Waters is a quartet that is coincidentally also led by a saxophonist-composer.  Sensemaker will be released on October 24 (pictured right).  James Bowers‘ My Quartet Album imagines the musicians as happy dogs on the cover, all having a wonderful time (October 10), while Potentially Interesting Jazz Music is a series of improvisations by the “stable quartet” I Hold the Lion’s Paw (September 26).

Free Country (IV), featuring Hank Roberts, Jim Yanda, Drew Gress & Phil Haynes wants Liberty Now!  (So do the rest of us!)  Pairing new compositions with American standards, the quartet emphasizes the good in a nation gone bad (Corner Store Jazz, October 1). The debut album from Mexico’s Los Cinco Cardones is funky, lively and upbeat. El Quinto Cardón may be filled with improvisations, but the quartet acts like a jam band, shifting time signatures on a dime (Some Other Planet, October 3).

Three trumpets grace Alloy, and that’s only half of Dave Douglas‘ sextet.  The album, released on Greenleaf Music, drops concurrently with the return of the trumpet-happy FONT Festival in NYC (September 5).  The natural world inspires guitarist Rafiq Bhatia, who folds field recordings into the music of his jazz trio, which also includes trumpet and percussion.  Environments is released on Anti- Records on September 12.

Homer is the first single from In the Garden, from saxophonist Alison Shearer.  The album is part tribute, part “coming of age,” sprightly and hopeful throughout, fleshed out by a small ensemble (Pinch, October 10).  Saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh reunites with his quartet for the first time in a decade, and it sounds like no time has passed at all.  The guitar adds a wailing rock flavor to Stand Up!, whose singles can be previewed here (Analog Tone Factory, October 17). Feedback sax is the secret weapon on the ironically titled SAME, from jazz-rock trio Phenomenal World (September 13), while basement sax and electronics grace Bryan Eubanks‘s Songbook, a decidedly abstract affair (Sacred Realism, September 3).  We’re always interested in “objects” when they are listed as an instrument; the Treen trio plays with such things, while highlighting the saxophone of Amalie Dahl.  Kaikō is out Friday on Sauajazz.   Anna Högberg Attack resurrects the alto saxophonist’s ensemble as a double sextet.  Dedicating to her late father, Ensamseglaren is an explosion of energy and a wild exhalation (Fönstret, 3 October). Tenor/baritone saxophonist Isak Ingvarsson leads a trio on The Calling, the set influenced by his Catholic faith and the voice of God (Haphazard Music, October 24).  We wonder at the cover image of Goose Green‘s Ganso Verde; could it represent the three players of the group, or is it meant to suggest an olive?  Either way, it makes us want a martini (Nakama, September 5).

International traveler, saxophonist and flautist Chip Wickham leads an ensemble of ten on The Eternal Now, whose spiritual underpinning and slightly funky vibe betray the fact that he once toured with Nightmares on Wax.  Punctuated by occasional vocals, the album exudes a peaceful vibe (Gondwana, September 5).  Are you ready to Love All Day?  The label is releasing Volume 2 of Secular Music Group‘s surprisingly spiritual music, which makes their moniker all the more fascinating.  Using only 70s equipment, the band takes fans back to a simpler time (September 5).

Iceland’s Ensemble Adapter & Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson create their own Clavis Metrica, inspired by the ancient poetry of their land, shifting and undulating like free verse (September 12).  Stefan Goldmann, Ensemble 180° “translates electronic music into acoustic music for human players.”  On Input (The Sofia Versions), he works with a trio of composers to present multiple points of entry (Macro, October 10).  Composed for piano and electronics, Per Bloland‘s Shadows of the Electric Moon was inspired by a dystopian novel by Juan Rolfo.  The plot may be linear, but the architecture is not (New Focus, September 5).

Vibraphonist Yuhan Su expands to an octet on OVER the MOONs, the avant capitalizations a metaphor for the music, which is bursting at the seams (endectomorph, October 17). Vibraphone, guitar, marimba, contrabass and violin each stand out on David Occhipini‘s Camera Lucida, the guitarist leading a small ensemble (Elastic Recordings, September 12).  An image comes to mind when one sees cello and guitar as the featured instruments, but Tristan Honsinger and Riuichi Daijo are not typical instrumentalists.  In fact, they haven’t even met yet; according to the wormhole title, We Met Tomorrow (DPS Recordings, September 15).

Drummer Tom Skinner shares his Kaleidoscopic Visions, one side instrumental, one side vocal, calling on a host of high-profile collaborators that include Adrian Utley and Meshell Ndegeocello.  The guests may make the music accessible, but it’s certainly not mainstream (International Anthem, September 26).  We love the title of The New Awkward, from Johnny Richards & Dave King.  Sometimes the awkward is worth doing, and seldom has awkwardness – jagged melodies, jumbled time signatures – seemed so instinctive (False Door, September 5).  Neti-Neti (Amirtha Kidambi and Matt Evans) create an unusual style of world music with percussion and wordless vocals.  Echo of Being/Grace in Rot sounds like a a tribal session deep in the heart of the forest, although it was recorded in a West Village studio (Dinzu Artefacts, October 10).  Yea Big and Greg Saunier offer No Timing, a heavily percussive album that often sounds like more than the work of a duo (Yea Big is Stefen Robinson).  The album is out September 26, sporting a cover reminiscent of underground comics (Personal Archives).

It’s safe to say that we’ve never encountered an album based on “the wilderness of a fungus-growing ant population” before.  Arnold/Schwer‘s Terra Formica is that album.  The drummer and guitarist create an intricate score for miniature populations (September 12).  One might pair the album with Not Normal from octet Modærn Qualitet, led by trombonist Emil Bø, due to the enticing mushroom shown on the cover (Sauajazz, October 17).  Four artists in tune with the earth combine forces on For Real Life and Other Worlds, a percussive set with sparse vocals and a trance-like allure (Shiny Boy Press, September 5).

Hand drums, sax and bass make Nuke Watch a fun trio.  The free improv band adds a touch of modular synth and some diagonal layering to Grave New World to make it seem as if more musicians are hiding in the wings.  Fun fact: they are also known as Beat Detectives (Post Present Medium, October 3).  Is Chris Cochrane really Unhinged?  The guitarist assembles a nonet for his new recording, eventually using a dozen musicians in all.  In similar fashion, the music is always on the move (September 5).  The Cosmic Tones Research Trio imagines interstellar sounds on its self-titled album, simultaneously digging into world music and music that’s out of this world (Mississippi Records, October 3).  Perhaps the season’s most out-there release comes from improvisors DNA?AND? and Lampeknusekontoret, whose crazy name should be a dead giveaway.  Hot Hot Hot has no relation to the hit singles by The Cure or The Merryman.  Sure, there’s percussion and vocals, but that’s where the similarities end (Den Pene Inngang, October 3).  Blow It Up With Dynamite! says the eleven-strong Hill Collective, who makes a funky racket on its debut album, leaning in the direction of freeform rock, but with a myriad of other influences (October 7).

Richard Allen

Positive reviews for the remake of Naked Gun share a similar theme: the times are so bad that moviegoers simply needed a reason to laugh.  A similar thing can be said about electronic music: in the current climate, we all need a reason to dance.  Fortunately, this year’s fall slate provides a full spectrum of beats, from chill to IDM and everything in-between.  Several imprints are also celebrating anniversaries this season, from DJ-Kicks to Timedance, while classic producers are returning with fresh sets and renowned artists are changing up their timbres.  Whether you’re feeling nostalgic this fall or want to hear something fresh, there’s some great electronic music on the way!

Our cover image is taken from Auntie Flo‘s Birds of Paradise, covered below.

Album titles often draw our attention, and in that category, Okkyung Lee‘s ambient-electronic  just like any other day (어느날): background music for your mundane activities is a clear winner.  We also love the track title “lying here half awake, i hear kids outside laughing with their hearts and i think this must be the end then…”  The mallet-happy music is gentle and sweet, enacting just what the title says (Shelter Press, September 5).  Here’s one we didn’t expect: Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) + William Tyler‘s 41 Longfield Street Late 80’s, which mixes ambience and electronics in a seamless, engaging fashion (Temporary Residence, September 19).  Also splitting the difference between electronic and ambient, Takao returns with The End of the Brim, a melodic release that features organic instruments, with vocalists on three tracks (EM, September 19).

Ørdop Wolkenscheidt‘s The Years of Rain and Thunder is a meditation on the fragility of our changing environment and the array of potential human responses.  The artist keeps the timbre light and hopeful, a calm encouragement (September 5).  The warm, enveloping self-titled album from Verses GT is mostly instrumental, so it’s a light surprise that the key track, “Feel Your Light,” contains vocals.  The track was released in summer and has a mid-season feel; and we could all use a little more light (LUCKYME®, September 12).  Daniel Avery may be shifting more to the vocal realm, as his new album features copious guests, but we suspect there are also a few engaging instrumentals on Tremor (Domino, October 31).

Lowercase trip-hop beats and samples populate Don Philippe‘s velvet breaks, which hearkens back to a golden era, with a nostalgic tint (Sonar Kolletiv, October 10).  We’ve already featured a track from Sven Wunder‘s Daybreak in our article, Ten MORE Tracks That Sound Like Summer.  The full album has a chill, throwback vibe, referencing the daisy era (Piano Piano, September 26).  Auntie Flo‘s Birds of Paradise has a happy, tropical vibe, reflecting its Goa origin.  To listen is to return to a time not too long ago when we felt that things were moving in a positive direction, realizing that the world was one (A State of Flo, October 23). Listening to the beachy “Skylarking,” one can imagine a tropical paradise; it’s a slight irony that Bitchin’ Bajas‘ new record is called Inland See (Drag City, September 26).  Robin Richards of Dutch Uncles is set to release solo debut Taproots, featuring an array of honored guests including GoGo Penguin pianist Chris Illingworth.  The music has a warm, upbeat vibe despite its occasionally dark themes (PRAH, September 19).

After two EPs, Lyndhurst is releasing its hotly anticipated debut album.  Tapes pushes the duo’s sound deeper into gorgeous textures and enticing rhythms, while preserving a sense of flow (September 5).  Combining piano and electronics, Grandbrothers produce an inviting, crossover sound. Elsewhere is released September 26, but still sings of summer’s joy (_and_others).  Superpoze returns with Siècle on October 3, preceded by the ambitious title track, which places piano and strings in an electronic setting (Grand Musique).  Sam Prekop continues to evolve, drawing a clear line between his solo work and The Sea and the Cake.  Open Close is a bubbly exercise in modular synth, developed live on tour (Thrill Jockey, September 26).  It’s hard to call The Wonder Of It All (music for a performance by Daniel Linehan/Hiatus) a change-up from Rutger Zuydervelt, as the artist has so many timbres at his disposal, but this one does sound different.  A slowly-developing, slowly recessing, hour-long dance piece, the center is awash in club rhythms and New Order-esque guitar (September 9).

Liquid Center is Elektro Guzzi‘s eleventh album, an amazing achievement; even better, the group remains relevant, with engaging rhythms and sub-textures (palazzo, October 24). Warm beats inhabit Nocturne, which also exudes a summery vibe: a surprise, as MARINI & Purple Ice‘s EP is out on Halloween (Egoplanet).  Lord of the Isles tackles “anomalous phenomena” on Signals Aligned, suggesting a dance floor version of the X-Files (September 12).  Lukid‘s loops and beats return on Underloop, each snippet lovingly woven into the mix (Death Is Not the End, September 26).

Aeropsia is a brand new word for us, but not a new experience; it’s the illusion of seeing things floating or shimmering in the air due to atmospheric conditions. Steve Hauschildt translates this phenomenon into music with tracks that imitate the effect (Simul, October 17).  Another new word for us is Oneiric, which “refers to things connected with dreams.”  (Give yourself mad credit if you knew both of these words!)  The new album from Norway’s Rural Tapes sounds like a reverie, and includes guest appearances from members of Hot Chip and The Ladybug Transistor (Clay Pipe Music, October 17).  Old school synth is enhanced by Moog, clarinet and trombone on Kaukolampi‘s Synestopia Variations 1-4 (Öm-Sound, 5 September)!

After a year of releasing singles, avant harpist Kety Fusco is finally ready to unveil her full-length debut, BOHÈME. The album includes a surprising guest appearance from Iggy Pop and exudes a late-night, dim-lit sensibility (A Tree in a Field, September 12). “Dissociative dance music” is the description of Rian Treanor & Cara Tolmie‘s Body Lapse, rife with spoken word and vocal improvisations (Planet Mu, September 12).  CxBxT is a new trio of Adrian Corker, George Barton and Tujiko Noriko.  Their album .After (yes, there’s a period before the word, that’s not a typo) pushes experimental pop to its outermost limit, within an electronic frame.  Vocals are present, but seldom straightforward (Constructive, October 31).  Ben Chatwin is the rare artist to appear in three different categories in our reviews.  The Sleeper Awakens (2025 Edition) is a remastered edition of a decade-old album, released with a bonus disc of alternate interpretations, existing in the liminal space between electronic, experimental and drone (September 5).  Those who like polyrhythms should head directly to Blessed Planet, a solo album from goat’s Nabob Tespo (Takafumi Okada).  The album tingles with life and pulses with vibrancy (South of North, September 8).

Venera‘s Exfinite is dark, mysterious and cinematic, influenced by producers such as Ben Frost.  The duo’s second album reflects the filmic background of one of the composers, and includes a guest appearance from FKA Twigs (PAN, September 12).  Suspense film scores are referenced by Dictaphone on Unstable, a moody album enhanced by guest musicians on saxophone, clarinet, violin, trumpet and spoken word (Denovali, September 26).  Unearthing a decade-old imaginary film score, Maps wants to make sure your Halloween is properly soundtracked.  The spooky first chapter of Welcome to the Tudor Gate almost convinces one that the film is real (Mute, October 31).  Torpa‘s New Low is tailor-made for the cinema, with tracks that dip into film noir, suspense, espionage and more.  A light trip-hop vibe is also evident, especially on “In Search of Another Distance” (September 5).  Wataru Abe composed Oblivion as the score to a fictional sci-fi film; the industrial beats and claustrophobic atmosphere suggest Alien: Earth (October 8).  Skambidt‘s Abstraktionens Essens is moody and confined, a slow-churning maelstrom that unfolds like a film, including the end credits (Vicious-cph, September 5).

We don’t receive many albums involving radishes (last year we received only one, in our Field Recording and Soundscape section), so The Reliable Radish may end up being our Radish Album of the Year.  Melding wild samples, trippy rhythms and a tongue-in-cheek approach, Jetski makes vegetables sound more fun than they are (Hausu Mountain, September 2).  Also on Hausu Mountain, Pulse Emitter releases Tide Pools, a turbulent and energetic set that includes some playful titles, including “Jellyfish and Friends” (September 26); and then Melvin Gibbs‘ Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 unites 12 musicians (like Jesus!) for a series of beat-laden, abstract jams (October 14). The video for Characo Orb looks like an extract from a trippy children’s show; the full album, Spots, as just as playful, the work of duo Joasihno, whose music is infused with 8-bit energy (Alien Transistor, November 7).  Even more video game-esque is BPD SUPERSTAR ULTRA, a flamboyant offering from hyphyskazerbox that boldly pushes the levels of distortion (Suite 309, September 26).

Ugif_notfound‘s Postulate may sound brutal, with harsh guitars and slow, tough beats, but it’s only a reflection of life during wartime, when a bomb could fall any minute, anywhere.  The album is unveiled September 9 on I Shall Sing Until My Land Is Free.  A similarly dark mood visits Richie Culver‘s I Trust Pain, obvious in the title, cover art and release date (Supernature, October 31). Alexander Tucker enlists the aid of Justin K. Broadrick  on Microcorps, the daunting lead single from Clear Vortex Chamber.  The sense of menace is palpable (Downwards, September 19).

SYBAX uses movie and dialogue samples, a la Public Service Broadcasting, and ventures into post-rock and industrial music on TWIN, splitting the difference between light and dark (TC Prog, September 26).  Speaking of Public Service Broadcasting, the band is the latest to offer an entire album to remixers.  Night Flight – The Last Flight Remixes is the result, released October 10.  SCALER occasionally uses guest vocalists on Endlessly, but the dark instrumentals really get the pulse going, “Broken Entry” a club banger with a surprise guitar solo (Black Acre, September 26).  Industrial distortion permeates TRSXX‘s A Mass Deliberately Deprives Itself of Reason, which pulsates with a techno undercurrent, yearning to break free (Wodawater, September 15).

pdbq offers healthy slices of electro magic on the EP Sermons of the Electrifying Messiah, which contains a couple remixes to round out the package.  The pretty teal vinyl is available September 19 on Synaptic Cliffs.  Tom Jarney‘s daybreak alternates tempos and styles, including breakbeat and house, featuring occasional snippets of voice (intercept, September 12). Psych and disco collide on The Downey Groove, which has nothing to do with Iron Man and everything to do with underground clubs.  Elninodiablo is releasing the album on his own label, El Niño Diablo Music, on September 19.  Moscow’s The Diasonics loves birds and disco-funk.  Ornithology has a throwback vibe, and a danceable flavor (Record Kicks, October 3).  The title Norwegian Electronic Folk Music is fairly self-explanatory; Kenneth Lien & Center of the Universe inject a happy club vibe (Hello, September 19).

Dub techno and IDM are influences on Ixona, from Chicago’s Lynyn (Conor Mackey).  The music is warm and inviting and synthetic, inviting one to dance or flow (Sooper, September 5).  Throwing Snow recalls 2010’s London on Jackals, an EP influences by the subcultures and clubs of the era (Mesh, September 12).  GRDN. translates particles, course into IDM textures, clean and pristine, working on “the outer edges of electronic sound” (Wandering Astray, September 26).

Capacity precedes Casha Mour‘s AAOO, a dance set with a subtle ambient underpinning.  The quieter “Silver” was unveiled a month later, and the album is released today!  Semtek offers Four More Dubs for those who enjoyed the earlier ones; on this EP, tiny vocal snippets join steady house beats (Don’t Be Afraid, September 19).  Guentner Spieth blends ambient and dub on Conversion, deliberately composed to be played “after hours” (Affin, October 3).  Pure dub fills the grooves of Dubs from Vortex Beach, a trumpet-laden album from the sci-fi loving Alien Trackers.  Our only caveat: we wish the album had been released in summer! (Jahtari, September 25).

We’re amused at the description of Silvestre‘s work as “moronic dance music,” and hope that the artist doesn’t get in trouble for the sample at the beginning of Dead feat. Oneofunderworld, but it’s definitely a curve ball!  Fantasma is out on Studio Barnhus September 26.  Ebi Soda is similarly playful, as one can hear on “when pluto was a planet and everything was cool,” one of the preview singles from frank dean and andrew, which contains helpings of jazz, rap and lounge, a true outlier with a really fun cover and sticker pack (Tru Thoughts, September 19).

Can be-bop and techno get along?  We’re about to find out.   Mateusz Kowal sprinkles T-Bop: Prologue with a healthy dose of trumpet along with other organic instruments and a lot of verve (Lamour, October 7). Jung Ar Tagen takes a different approach, mixing Otoacoustic emissions with techno on Revenge of the Speaker People, opening up the second disc to a wide variety of remixers (Editions Mego, September 26).  On Recycler, Brandon Juhans saves money while proving that one can sample one’s self to come up with new material.  The practice of “extreme sampling” often obscures the identity of the pre-existing material (Relaxin, September 5).

Until the End of the World is the lead single from John Tejada‘s The Watchline.  The track has a lovely build, more romantic than apocalyptic (Palette, September 5).  Techno synth inhabits Reset, an EP from Netherlands artist Identified patient (Dekmantel, September 19).  Boasting a harder edge, the four track Radiance EP from Swarm Intelligence uses steady beats and distorted chords to extend the energy (Natural Selection, September 19).  Culmine de la Conciencia is billed as a dialogue with machines, but the message seems to be that machines really like to dance!  There’s little to fear in Rxxchx‘s future, and only beats to gain (Subsist & Faith Disciplines, September 5).

Already making waves on techno dance floors, Nastia Reigel‘s Identity is poised to push the artist to the next level.  The Berlin DJ knows the scene inside out, and her confidence shows (Infrastructure New York, September 26).  A Rhythm Protects One  is a mix CD from Call Super, a fluid collection that will introduce listeners to some exciting new names.  The music has a pleasingly intentional feel (Dekmantel, September 28).  The latest installment of the DJ-Kicks series comes from Modeselektor, who stitches together tracks from Aho Ssan feat. 9T Antiope, Ben Klock and more (!K7, September 12).

The massive 23-track TD10 celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Timedance imprint, showcasing brand new techno tracks from label founder Batu, Jasss and more.  Happy anniversary to the label whose output encourages those who can’t get to the club to dance at home (October 10)!

Richard Allen

Miguel Arroz (Mastodon):

PaperVault stores information as sequences of QR Codes you can print and scan easily, protected by a password only you know. Data is secured using industry-standard robust encryption algorithms.

[…]

Vendor lock-in is a bad thing. Your data is yours and I don’t want to hold it hostage. Therefore, I’m publishing the data format used when printing to QR Codes. View the data format technical documentation ≫

Neat idea, seems to be easy to use and thoughtfully implemented, and it’s free. Scanning—and verification—can be done using an iPhone controlled from the Mac via Continuity. Larger documents get split into multiple QR codes, printed in a grid, but I was surprised how much one QR Code can store.

In the ’90s and early 2000s I worked for UserLand Software — Dave Winer was founder and CEO — on a Mac app called UserLand Frontier.

The app was a scripting system and hash-table-oriented database that powered the early blogging and podcasting worlds. (That sounds grand, but it’s probably an understatement — but this post isn’t all about Frontier’s impact on the web, so I won’t go into details.)

The app was implemented in two pieces:

• The kernel, written in C, implemented the database, networking, inter-application communication, various built-in data types, script compiler and evaluator and debugger, and so on
• The scripts used the kernel and implemented most of the actual app behavior

Since it was an app, it had plenty of UI — menus, contextual menus, buttons, larger UI components, and so on. What was brilliant was that you could, for instance, add and edit menus, and when you chose a menu command it would run your script. (Or when you clicked a toolbar button, etc.)

You could write an entire static blog publishing system and the UI to go with it without ever restarting the app. Click a thing, then see what happens in the app — and if it’s not right you’d edit the script, which would be automatically recompiled when called the next time.

In other words, there was absolutely no friction when it came to iteration. Write some code without restarting and see your changes immediately.

How good was this really in practice?

You might imagine that we could do this for an hour or so before having to make changes to the kernel. Not so.

In fact, for the first three years I was there (might have been longer), I never even saw the kernel code. I worked all day every day as a professional developer at the script level, never having to restart the app. Just iterating like this all day long.

You might also imagine that the app was sluggish and slow since much of it was scripts instead of C code. It wasn’t! Scripts could be slow for the same reasons any code could be slow (I/O, of course, and algorithms and data structures not suited to the problem at hand) — but the app never felt slow.

I’ll remind you of the timing: this was the ’90s. We worked this way for real, and we were amazingly productive.

A scripting language plus key bits implemented in C was more than fast enough for an app. Even all those years ago.

A scripting language built for productivity

I’m not writing this article to praise Frontier — I’m talking about it to make a point, which I’ll get to.

But I wanted to bring up a second aspect to this: it’s not just frictionless iteration that was so great, it was also the scripting language and environment.

One of the best parts of this was how easy persistence was. I mentioned the hash-table-based database. Hash tables could contain hash tables (Swift developers: picture a Dictionary inside a Dictionary, and so on).

(We just called them tables for short — but remember that these are hash tables, not tables in a SQL database.)

In any script, at any time, without any ceremony, you could read and write from the database simply using dot notation: user.prefs.city = "Seattle" would set the value of city in the prefs table which was contained by the user table. This value would persist between runs of the app, because it was stored in the database.

(You could also pass around addresses of things too — it was quite common to pass the address of a table to another script, so that the other script wouldn’t need to hardcode a location.)

It was utterly automatic. And it meant that while we did have to choose where in the database to store things, and how to structure our storage, we didn’t have to choose a storage mechanism. It was the database.

(Note: of course we could read and write files, and did so when necessary. But the point is that the database handled almost all our persistence and in a super-easy way.)

(Also note: the database had a UI. It was visible and browsable. You could and often did hand-edit it. Even the scripts lived in the database, and were addressable via dot notation, like everything else.)

We had nice things!

I’ll say again — this was in the ’90s, more than 25 years ago, and it was a great way of working on an app.

I’m not saying apps these days need to be Frontier-like in any details. But it seems absolutely bizarre to me that we — we who write Mac and iOS apps — still have to build and run the app, make changes, build and run the app, and so on, all day long. In the year 2025.

And it seems retro in the worst way that we’re still using anything other than a scripting language for most of our code. We should be using something simple and light that can configure toolbars, handle networking callbacks, query databases, manage views, and so on. And maybe with a DSL for SwiftUI-like declarative UI.

Almost none of that code needs to be in a lower-level language like Swift or Objective-C. It really doesn’t. (I say this as a performance junkie!)

It could be in Ruby, Lua, Python, or JavaScript. Better still would be a new language invented specifically for the problem of writing apps, something designed to make the common challenges of app writing easier.

We did have this stuff decades ago. Not for app making in general, sure — but now it’s 25 years later, and a company like Apple could make this real for all its app makers.

It’s easy to see why things are the way they are right now, and you can point to a string of good decisions. No doubt.

But we can think outside of what we have now and ask: what would make app writing easier? What would make it a better experience? How could we get more done for our users with fewer bugs and faster turnaround?

I’m not saying that Frontier’s specific choices are the answer — I’m saying that the combination of frictionless iteration plus a purpose-built scripting language was extremely powerful, and we could use those things now.

And at some point I suspect these things are going to be table stakes for any platform that wants to attract developers. If you were a new developer right now, would you pick Xcode’s build-and-run, edit, build-and-run, edit — plus the growing complexity of Swift — over something like Electron and JavaScript?

Random notes

Yes, I know about PyObjc and RubyCocoa. Without first-class support in Apple’s developer tools, these were never going to work as popular alternatives.

I also know about (and use) Swift playgrounds and SwiftUI previews. Neither of these are as satisfying to use as I’d like, and neither of these are nearly as great as frictionless iteration in the actual app.

I also remember Xcode fix-and-continue, which didn’t work well enough to solve the problem of frictionless iteration.

Anyway… One more thing about Frontier: we had a system where people could get updates to the app automatically via the web. Those updates were just serialized versions of scripts at various database locations, which would get unpacked and stored in each user’s database. (Those who opted-in, of course.) The app would not have to be restarted to get bug fixes and new features! And of course the updates were very small, since they didn’t include the entire app. This seems so futuristic, but we had this in 1999. Why couldn’t we have this now?

One of the most exciting additions in macOS Tahoe is Shortcuts automation, which (among many other things) allows Shortcuts to act when things move or change in the filesystem. More than two decades after Folder Actions brought those features to Mac OS X Jaguar, Apple has built a modern take on the feature that’s been popularized by third-party utilities like Hazel.

Unfortunately, Apple’s implementation of this feature is pretty basic—it’s a trigger that fires off a Shortcut and passes it all the information about what’s changed in the filesystem. The job of parsing, filtering, and acting on that information is entirely in the hands of the shortcut itself. This means that to take advantage of this feature, users will need a grasp of some Shortcuts fundamentals.

That’s what this article is for: to provide a quick guide to building a shortcut that acts on the contents of a folder when items are added to it. In this case, we’ll create a drop folder that moves Markdown files elsewhere when they’re added.

To get started, open Shortcuts and click on the Automation item in the sidebar. Then click the plus button in the top right corner. For this example, we’ll be choosing a Folder automation. In the ensuing dialog box, you’ll pick the folder you want to act on—mine’s called Drop It Here—and then check the box that specifies our shortcut will only run when an item is Added to that folder. I’m also going to click the Run Immediately option and uncheck Notify When Run, because I like my automations to run silently, like a submarine.

When that’s all done, you’re given the option to pick an existing shortcut, but I recommend choosing to make a new one that’s explicitly tied to this action. (It just keeps it tidier. And if you have a routine that you want to call from within the action, you can always use the Run Shortcut block!) With that, a new window will open containing a blank shortcut other than the first step, which is Receive Folder Change Summary As Input. That’s the step where the system will pass a Folder Change Summary item to your shortcut. The rest is up to you!

The simplest way to deal with this input is to add a Repeat With Each block, so the shortcut can loop one by one through all the added files and process them individually. Instead of acting on the raw shortcut input, click on the Shortcut Input field that’s automatically filled into the Repeat With Each block and, from the parameters offered by the Folder Change Summary variable, choose Added Files.

If your goal is to take every single item dropped in the folder and then act on it in some way, we’re done. You can delete them or copy them or zip them or move them, all within the repeat loop, and it will happen.

In this example, I want to take it a step further by applying a set of rules so that only certain files are acted upon. This being shortcuts, there are numerous ways to filter the list of added files to include only the ones we want. For very simple sets of rules, the easiest way to do it is probably to use the Filter Files action to act upon the Shortcut Input, and then set the Repeat With Each action to act on the filtered files.

Another approach is to use an If statement within the repeat block, and use that statement to test for the same attributes you’d use in the Filter Files action—in this case, I’m filtering on the File Extension being md for Markdown. Filtering files at the start is probably more efficient, but it doesn’t allow for some complex situations that I’ll address later.

You can also mix and match these approaches, doing basic filtering up front and then performing more specific tests down below. The goal is to, ultimately, have your shortcut only process the right kinds of files, as defined by you.

A complication: subfolders

Now here’s where it gets tricky. Apple’s automation doesn’t offer any choices regarding processing subfolders within your folder—any changes, any level deep in a subfolder hierarchy, will trigger the automation. Dan Moren and I spent some time working on this problem, and while the right solution is for Apple to offer a checkbox so users can decide if these automations should include subfolders, there are a few other ways to approach the situation. (Another alternative would be for Apple to supply the path of the folder the automation is acting on as a variable so that we could test against it.)

Dan’s approach is to strip the filename off of the incoming path using a regular expression and then strictly filter against the exact path of the top-level folder:

Mine takes more steps but is a bit more Shortcuts-y. I split the path of the incoming file by the slash character, creating a list containing all items in the file’s path. The last item will be the file’s name, but the next-to-last item will be its enclosing folder. (C’mon, Apple, why is enclosing folder not a variable available to me?!) Unfortunately, you can’t tell Shortcuts to get item -2 from a list like you can in Python, so instead I count the items in the list, subtract one from that number, and then get that item:

Once that’s all done, I can use the If statement to compare that enclosing folder to the name of the top-level folder I’m filtering, and only proceed if the file is in the top-level folder.

The bottom line

Automations for Shortcuts in macOS Tahoe really open up a lot of possibilities. I’ve built a half-dozen of them already. Yes, Apple should really make it easier, but once you get the hang of processing the folder change summary, you can really do amazing things. Here are some of the actions I’ve already built:

• Reveal files in the Finder when items are added to my Dropbox
• Copy files to my Desktop when the Upgrade MP3 files are added to Dropbox by our editor, Jim Metzendorf
• Convert certain image files to JPEG when they’re dropped on my Desktop or added to my Downloads folder
• Delete that Zoom installer that Zoom keeps downloading at the moment when I click on a web link before it launches Zoom
• Convert Southwest Airlines ics files into a proper format via a Python script before adding them to my calendar

Once you get used to building filters and using Repeat With Each Item blocks, this is a feature that can save you a whole lot of drudgery. And isn’t that exactly what user automation is supposed to do?

Devin Davies, the developer of Crouton whom Federico and I interviewed after he won an Apple Design Award in 2024, has released a new app called Cassette. It’s an app for browsing videos from the photo library on your iPhone or iPad that has a fun design twist.

Leaning heavily into the nostalgia of watching old videos of friends and family, Cassette sorts your videos using a VCR metaphor. Videos are organized by year and by collection, with video cassette art and a label identifying each. At the top of the screen is an old CRT TV with a built-in VCR. Tap a year or collection, and it loads into the TV with satisfying haptic feedback on the iPhone.

Videos running full-screen.

Tap the virtual TV, and the video goes full-screen with date and location data that’s reminiscent of a VCR’s UI. While watching videos, the app offers standard playback controls along with a shuffle button, buttons to share and favorite videos, and an eject button to return to your video collections.

Videos cycle from one to the next and then loop back to the beginning, where playback continues. You can also swipe through videos TikTok-style, skipping over any you don’t want to watch. Finally, there’s a ‘Take Me Somewhere’ button at the bottom that drops you at a random location in your video collection, eliminating the need to pick something yourself.

Most of the functionality found in Cassette is available in other video players, but that doesn’t make it any less fun or delightful. What sets the app apart is its focus on design and framing. From the drop, Cassette is designed to transport you to the past with its VCR-inspired UI and singular focus on videos, transforming into a sort of handheld time machine.

Cassette is available on the App Store as a free download. Certain features are only available via a $0.99/month or $5.99/year subscription or a $7.99 one-time payment.

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