Articles
Spotlight 15
Favourite Labels 2014

Albums
Poppy Ackroyd + Lumen
Avec le soleil sortant ...
Balmorhea
Brooklyn Rider
bvdub
Cern
Del Sol String Quartet
Nick Gill
Stefan Goldmann
Hammock
Chihei Hatakeyama
Robert Honstein
Jonas Kopp
David Lackner
Last Ex
Neil Leonard
Little Phrase
The Mark Lomax Trio
LA Percussion Quartet
Manual
Near The Parenthesis
Newman and Cox
Nuage
Pan & Me
Bobby Previte
Marc Sabat
Hein Schoer
Wadada Leo Smith
SPC ECO
Subotika
Tape
Templeton + Armstrong
Ken Thomson
Ulterior Motive
Joris Voorn
Andrew Weathers
Ezra Weiss Sextet
Stefan Wesolowski
Keith Worthy

Compilations / Mixes
Aphelion
EPM Selected Vol. 3
Universal Quantifier

EPs / Cassettes / Mini-Albums / Singles
Balmorhea
Blu Mar Ten
Michael Jon Fink
Oceanic Triangulation
Northumbria and Famine
Total Science
Simon Whetham

Little Phrase: Find Your Sense
Nature Bliss

Perhaps the multi-hued image on the cover of Little Phrase's sophomore album Find Your Sense has been chosen for something more than visual effect. Certainly the dozen tracks constituting the forty-two-minute collection are a kaleidoscopic bunch that suggests that labeling the Japanese quintet post-rock while not incorrect isn't quite enough. This well-crafted follow-up to 2009's debut album Landscape is a satisfying affair that speaks strongly on behalf of the group, especially its talent for elevating its material with scenic detail, melody, and, yes, colour.

Credited to Little Phrase members Toshihide Hashimoto (guitar), Fumitaka Kouno (bass), Hiroki Tsunami (drums), Takahiro Hashimoto (guitar, keyboards, programming), and Tatsuya Matsumura (VJ, artwork), Find Your Sense is distinguished by the way the group uses acoustic, electric, and electronic sounds as well as samples and field recordings (typewriter clacks, footsteps, crowd noise, etc.) to create melodious sound paintings designed to lift the spirit.

Drenched in the sounds of crashing waves, “Seashore” inaugurates the album with a jubilant overture that builds from rich acoustic scene-painting into rousing post-rock. “Typewriter” receives a boost from the violin contributions of guest Shushiro Nagata, whose strings sweeten an already full-bodied arrangement heavy on electric guitars and buoyed by drums and keyboards. Nagata re-appears on the wistful “December,” with this time the violin adding a melancholy presence as a lead instrument before being absorbed into the group's high-intensity attack. With DJ arigato on hand as a remixer, “Candle” changes things up by showing a stutter-funk side of the band, while “HANAMI by the river” likewise shifts the focus from conventional post-rock to a funky, downtempo swoon.

November 2014