Hello people.
Here's my latest roundup of some of the latest greatest sound art that I've been listening to, and thoroughly enjoying. A non-musical feast for the ears...
As usual - if you like what you see/hear, please considering supporting these great artists & labels by buying their albums and following them on Bandcamp and/or social media.
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Mountain Laurel - Visions
(Blorpus Editions, 2025)
Mountain Laurel (a.k.a Grace Papineau-Couture) is a Canadian artist that's currently based in Chicago. Working across sound, performance and installation - Mountain Laurel conjures haunting audioscapes through disintegrating tape loops, field recordings, handmade instruments and live audio mixing.
'Visions' is an electroacoustic drone album consisting of eight sound compositions, focusing on themes of ritual and mind-bending acoustic ecology.
It begins with a series of eerie shuffling sounds and dark rumbling noises that eventually morph into puttering rhythmic patterns, low fuzzy groans and tortured squeals from (what I think may be) a violin, creating an atmosphere of damage, destruction and slow decay...
After that you will hear a static machine-like drone, accompanied by ominous saw-like scraping noises that ring out in long desolate echoes.
Throughout the rest of the album you will hear mesmeric crunching textures, deep growling noises, ghostly wails, sinister rumblings, windy whooshes, menacing booms, decaying frequencies, shimmering bells, atonal drones, percussive sistrum rattles, eerie water trickles, metallic scrapes, fragile audio glitches, steel chimes and haunted ambiences - floating and swirling through these unsettling barren environments... The sound and overall effect of Mountain Laurel's work is pretty abstract and impressionistic, allowing the listener's imagination to paint their own individual images and stories, which I love...
'Visions' is an album of dark ominous drones, spectral ambience, lo-fi field recordings, mesmerizing sound art and ritualistic noise experimentation. Papineau-Couture's hypnotic sound sculpting and drone-building makes for such a wonderfully bleak and cathartic listening experience. I love how she creates these menacing and cacophonic noisescapes using such minimalistic approaches, and without the whole thing crossing into that sickening (and tiresome) harsh noise territory. A hauntingly beautiful work of art.
Stream/Buy/Download :
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Greg Hooper - inside
(leaf /// wave sound, 2025)
Greg Hooper is an Australian experimental musician, sound artist & retired neuroscientist whose work tends to focus on drone-based soundscapes, field recordings and free improvisation.
'inside' is a release consisting of one (almost) 40-minute long sound composition, created from field recordings and various methods of electroacoustic improvisation.
It begins with the sound of distant footsteps and objects being moved around an empty indoor environment, which is soon accompanied by a series of atmospheric atonal drones, rippling frequencies, quiet muted thuds, and miscellaneous bursts of soft noise. This ghostly ambience almost gives you the sensation of something that's alive and breathing...
After that (and throughout the rest of the piece) you will hear other subtle audio phenomena, such as fragments of TV broadcasts, shimmering bell-like tones, human shuffling, twittering birdsong, various room tones, airy ambiences, glitchy electronics, vocal murmurs, objects being scraped along surfaces, mysterious vibrations, soft rattles and low rumbling drones...
'inside' is a fascinating and immersive sound collage comprised of delicate indoor field recordings, eerie ambiences, ominous low-frequency drones and haunting environmental sonic phenomena. Hooper's subtle yet intriguing sound sculpting, and the ghostly atmospherics he's able to capture within this quiet and confined space makes for a beautifully mesmerizing listening experience.
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a.hop - a tape
(presses précaires, 2025)
a.hop is the collaborative sound collective of nine different sound artists from around the world. Instigated by Verónica Cerrotta and Anne-F Jacques in Valparaíso (Chile) - the collective expanded to include Lynette Quek, Bonnie Han Jones, suzueri, Elizabeth Millar, Valentina Villaroel, Ryoko Akama & Liew Niyomkarn.
'a tape' consists of two longform sound collages, comprised of exchanged audio scraps and fragmented field recordings that were exchanged within the group. Scores were written with these generated materials, and then performed live Valparaiso by Verónica Cerrotta and Anne-F Jacques.
'Side A' begins with warped fragments of rhythmic trip-hop style music, spoken word samples and television sounds. Then you will start to hear a field recording of some kind of urban street environment, with snippets of conversation, bicycle spokes rotating, vrooming traffic noises and airy ambiences. Throughout the rest of the piece, you will hear a collage of frictional sounds, atmospheric slide guitar, strange fluttering noises, tape warbling, bits of percussion, melodica (?), faint distant strains of music, sweet birdsong, chirpy crickets, barking dogs, vocal fragments, ambiguous drones, vibrating objects and all kinds of unidentifiable rattling textures and stuttering tones...
'Side B' begins with the rhythmic croaking of some kind of exotic insect, ubiquitous cricket sounds and peaceful environmental ambience. Then you will begin to hear what sounds like tiny objects being shaken and rattled within a hollow receptacle, as static noise and whooshing traffic sounds paint the backdrop, intensifying more and more as the piece progresses. The soundscape gradually fills with nice environmental sounds, such as buzzing flies, gentle breezes and beautiful cacophonous birdsong.
Throughout the rest of the piece, you will hear rapid metallic rattles, dissonant ambient tones, body movements, various objects being played with, steel clatters, papery crackles and a series of murmured voices, religious chants, wailing sirens and atonal drones - all within the familiar (and sometimes unfamiliar) sounds of urban hustle bustle...
'a tape' is an intricate yet delicate album of skillful audio collaging, created from vibrant field recordings, fragmented performances and mesmerizing sonic experimentation. It's very easy to identify Anne-F Jacques's creative involvement in this project, but it's wonderfully colored and fleshed out by all the other talented contributors - most of who I'm personally unfamiliar with.
The sprawling range of intriguing textures, tones and frequencies found amongst the airy environmental ambience makes for a strangely compelling listening experience.
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Koenraad Ecker - Raw Materials
(LINE Imprint, 2024)
Koenraad Ecker is a belgian sound artist based in Berlin. He is fascinated by the dialectic interplay between the acoustic environment and the social relations contained within it ; by the magic of the ordinary and the ordinariness of magic.
Characterized by an unorthodox use of foley, extensive field recording and a love for electro-acoustic hybrids, his work attempts to make the empty spaces in between things heard & felt, and to find a delicate balance between the fragile and the visceral.
'Raw Materials' is an album consisting of three sound compositions, centered around recordings of (as the title suggests) raw materials...
'Transparent Bodies, Submarine Roots' begins with a haunting splash of crashing water, coated in cavernous reverb. Then you will begin to hear layers of dark ghostly drones, slowly drifting around the soundscape, along with some eerie crackling textures. As the track progresses, you will be fully engulfed by monstrous crashing sea waves, subtle electronics, warped vocalizations and lots of gurgling liquidy tones - dancing dreamily within this strange oceanic audio environment.
'Furniture Rebellion' begins with the sound of quiet footsteps, tinkling keys, soft creaking noises and static ambience. Then you will hear a series of frictional sounds, dial tones and a chaotic collage of objects being shuffled, scraped and dragged over surfaces...
'Heart of a Stone' begins with the delicate crunching sounds of rocks being rubbed against each other. Then you will hear the emergence of some deep ominous drones, desolate reverberations, scraping noises and cold howling ambience...
'Raw Materials' is an album of brooding dronescapes, haunting sound design and mesmerizing sonic experimentation. Throughout these three pieces - the depth, richness and vibrancy of the sounds that Ecker has collated and electronically transformed makes for such an atmospheric album cinematic listening experience.
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E.Jason Gibbs - Fish Point
(Unfathomless, 2025)
E Jason Gibbs is an experimental guitar player and field recordist. His compositions are built from field recordings, and explore the relationship between the built and natural worlds and how humans impose themselves on environments.
'Fish Point' is his latest album, released as part oF the Unfathomless series. It consists of two longform sound compositions, created from recordings collected at the Fish Point waterfront in Portland (Maine) and its surrounding drainages, vent pipes, docks, electrical boxes and surfaces of steel & concrete structures...
'1' begins with the cacophonous sound of warped birdsong, twittering in a dizzying delirium of shrill cries, which is quickly replaced by close mic'd recordings of gurgling water in (possibly) some kind of piping system, along with electrical glitches, distant metallic knocks and faint industrial ambience. Other sounds constantly weave in and out of the mix, including murmured voices, busy harbor sounds, low atmospheric rumbles, steel clangs, ghostly resonances and a sonic plethora of watery tones and liquidy frequencies from various settings...
'2' begins with the slow quiet emergence of eerie atonal drones, soft crackling textures, electrical static and tiny frictional noises. Then you will hear a series of squeaking sounds, creaking objects, dark underground trickles and squawking seagulls. As the pieces progresses, you will also hear the subtle sounds of machinery, passing traffic and the familiar bustle of human activity... which all ends with some quiet shortwave radio experimentations.
'Fish Point' is a compelling album of vibrant site-specific field recordings, hypnotic drones, atmospheric sound manipulation and exquisite acoustic ecology. Gibbs' skillful collaging techniques, along with his keen attention to the subtle details found within this unique Portland waterfront environment makes for a rich and mesmerizing listening experience...
Stream/Buy/Download :
https://unfathomless.bandcamp.com/album/fish-point-
IVY NOSTRUM - Your in My Heart
(Minimal Resource Manipulation, 2025)
IVY NOSTRUM is Paul Margree - a sound artist and experimental improvisor from London. He blends explorations of everyday objects with feedback systems to explore ideas of instability and stasis. His work produces uneasy states of listening verging from deep, haunting drones to the delicate and nuanced exploration of daily minutiae.
'Your in My Heart' is his latest release, consisting of six sound experiments created from electronics, tapes, objects, feedback, guitar and field recordings.
It begins with a singular tone of high-frequency feedback. At first this tone seems to be static, but the longer you listen to it - the more you realize it's actually subtly fluctuating. Then you will start to hear some intimate shuffling noises and room sounds, which constantly fracture and glitch, along with quick bursts of miscellaneous noise, like something trying to burst through the surface...
Eventually you will hear a distant looped guitar melody, trembling away continuously... and towards the latter section of the long opening track - more layers of squealing dissonant feedback weave in and out of each other. The whole ends with a gentle cacophony of tinkling bell-like percussion - possibly coins or miniature toy bells...
Throughout the rest of these pieces you will hear frictional wooden rattles, stuttering vibrations, soft swells of feedback, languid guitar plucks, tape hiss, clanging bells, hollow percussion, quiet airy field recordings and bizarre sonic manipulations.
'Your in My Heart' is a restrained and minimalistic album of hushed improvisations, eerie electronics and quiet sound experimentations. Margee's ability to create these hypnotic atmospheres using very little is pretty incredible. An intriguing and strangely soothing listening experience.
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Eleonora Kampe - Breath. Play.
(Cruel Nature Records, 2025)
Eleonora Kampe is a voice artist and avant-garde singer living in Latvia and Estonia. She has been practicing voice art since 2009 and uses her voice as a versatile instrument in various formats, including sound art, installations, free improvisation, noise music, and as a singer in an avant-garde blues duo.
'Breath. Play.' is an album consisting of six compositions, created as ''an attempt to explore and pass one through voice art emotional states and how they exist in the body.''
It begins with atmospheric swells of shimmering vocalizations, eerie growls and textural breath sounds. As the piece evolves, it gradually intensifies and mesmerizes with its interweaving layers of unsettling and animalistic vocal sounds, filling the soundscape with an eerie spacious ambience...
Throughout the rest of the album, Kampe slowly lures you into her strange world of dark abstract atmospheres, in which her voice is the central (and only) guiding force.
Sometimes upfront and intimate, and at other times distant and ghostly - Kampe's spellbinding vocals swirl, drift and ricochet throughout these desolate environments. You will hear all kinds of humming, growling, droning, whistling, sighing, whispering, tortured choking sounds and deep guttural noises strewn throughout these ambiguous compositions...
'Breath. Play' is a mysterious album of haunting vocalizations, physical performance art, primal expression and abstract sound experimentation. Kampe's stunning vocal range, and the deep raw emotion she's able to conjure up from within her own body during these performances makes for tense eerie atmospheres, and a strangely cathartic listening experience.
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Quantum Sufficit - The Winds of Winter
(self-released, 2025)
Quantum Sufficit is the artistic moniker of Katja Babicz. It's an amalgamated information entity that explores the effects of various waveforms & quantum indeterminate noise on the organic processing brain. Abstracted experience has led to a necessity for sonic experimentation, ranging from dark ambient and noise to extremely experimental field recordings...
'The Winds of Winter' is her latest release, consisting of four experimental noisescapes.
It begins with the airy ambience of an outdoor field recording that's been subtly manipulated and processed with delay, and some sort of swirling phaser effect. Then you will start to hear some gathering swells of whooshing noise and ominous rumbles, which ebb and flow in various states of intensity...
Throughout the rest of these pieces, you will hear a series of howling winds, decaying drones, crunchy explosions, ambiguous noises, and a variety of other weather-related sounds and environmental sonic phenomena - all caked with the same constant and continuous effects, which creates such an immersive and mesmerizing atmosphere...
'The Winds of Winter' is a short and fleeting yet riveting album of wonky field recordings, hypnotic drones and damaged ambience that sucks you into its unique whirlwind of atmospheric atonal noise. A captivating and trance-inducing listening experience.
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Cody Shaffer - A good place for it
(un poco fría, 2025)
Cody Shaffer is a Chicago-based experimental musician & sound artist interested in perpetual care, objects, intention and ghosts.
'A good place for it' is an album consisting of two sound compositions, which were comprised from field recordings captured at two locations within The Windy City (Chicago).
It begins with a cacophony of murmured voices in an indoor public setting, which gradually intensifies into a fuzzed-out soundscape of squalling noise and rippling howls of high-frequency distortion.
Throughout the rest of the album, the sonic harshness ebbs and flows, and you will hear a series of rhythmic knocks, unsettling bangs, various room sounds and manipulated voices desperately trying to pierce through the layers of squealing noise and rumbling atonal ambience.
The last few minutes of the album ends with windy whooshes that are violently booming the mic of the recorder, crunching footsteps and dizzying tones of beautiful birdsong.
'A good place for it' is a simultaneously peaceful and frightening aural excursion through the unique bowels of The Windy City. Shaffer's ability to transform and transmute these simple field recordings into growling/terrifying soundscapes of brutal harsh noise never ceases to amaze (and appall) me.
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Amit Kalra - Eulogiae
(self-released, 2025)
Amit Kalra is a transdisciplinary audio/visual artist - born near San Francisco and currently based in Brooklyn, New York.
'Eulogiae' is a 1hr & 15min long sound composition. It begins with the captivating sound of ominous quivering drones and slowly-swirling frequencies, which creates a uniquely confined and cavernous space for the listener to be immersed in its eerie stillness.
Throughout the duration of this lengthy composition, nothing much happens on the surface, but if you listen closely and allow your mind to drift within its haunting atmosphere - you can hear slight fluctuations and variations in the subtle harmonics of the piece. There are mysterious dissonances and beautiful overlapping tones within the slowly-evolving waves of abstract shimmering sound. A great soundtrack for deep uninterrupted thought patterns. A quietly mesmerizing and captivating listening experience.
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Peter Wullen - Master Of Inertia
(self-released, 2025)
Peter Wullen is a Belgian poet, writer, sound artist and field recordist. He has released a variety of works (both solo and collaborative) - independently and through various labels.
'Master of Inertia' is a kind of (if I understand correctly) a cross between a sound art experimental and a one-man/one-act stage play, based on Samuel Beckett's ''Knapp's Last Tape''. The album consists of seven tracks, created from field recordings taken on Zebrastraat in Gent, Belgium. It's worth reading the descriptive text on Bandcamp before listening to this, in order to have a better understanding of what you're hearing...
It begins with a quiet eerie soundscape filled with rapidly stuttering drones, hissing electrical static, distant knocks and ominous vibrations that swirl slowly and moodily around this dark abstract environment.
Different sounds and textural layers weave in and out, and if you listen closely - you will hear a variety of intriguing background noises, all of which make the whole thing rather trance-inducing...
After that you will hear wooden creaking noises, mechanical ambience and the faintest wisps of some kind of beautiful distant music emerging through the mix...
Throughout the rest of the tracks, you will hear a series of mesmerizing rattles, altered frequencies, wailing police sirens, soft crunching noises, atonal ambience, trembling tones, haunting drones and subtle environmental sounds...
'Master of Inertia' is a spellbinding album of eerie field recordings, atmospheric dronescapes, haunting vibrations and abstract sound manipulation. The mood of these pieces are lonesome and troubling, yet oddly comforting. A wonderful slice of absurd realism, and a highly engrossing listening experience...
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Makhun - Episodes From An Ensuite
(self-released, 2025)
Makhun (a.k.a Ronilia Makhun) is a Filipina sound artist living in the UK that practices intriguing audio experimentation with minimal field recordings.
'Episodes From An Ensuite' is an album of nine raw sound compositions, based on a collection of field recordings that the artist captured in and around a hotel they were staying at in the south of England, while waiting for news about her delayed flight out of the country.
It begins with the lone mechanical churning of some kind of machine located somewhere in the aforementioned hotel, of what kind - I can't say... but it sounds like some sort of mechanical rotary device that's attached to a hollow device, with something rattling around inside it. Very intriguing...
Throughout the rest of the album, you will hear nine fragmented audio collages comprised of fuzzy waves of static, moaning traffic sounds, airy ambience, crunching sounds, growling atonal drones, quiet water drips, whooshing winds, clattering bangs and lots of crackling, crunching, rumbling textures that drift, swirl, haunt and mesmerize...
'Episodes From An Ensuite' is a strange sound documentation that strangely (and effectively) depicts the boredom and frustration of waiting in a hotel room for news of a delayed flight. These raw lo-fi field recordings and Makhun's atmospheric audio manipulation techniques makes for a bizarre yet evocative listening experience.
Stream/Buy/Download :
https://makhun.bandcamp.com/album/episodes-from-an-ensuite-
