Chihei Hatakeyama
Minima Moralia
Kranky (2006)
Minima Moralia is ambient artist Chihei Hatakeyama's debut solo album, with his prior musical output coming via his electro-acoustic duo Opitope and the improv group Copa del Papa. Additionally he co-runs the Kualauk Table record label and helps organize the "continuous live performance event" (i.e. "music festival") Kuala Mute Geek. All of this means absolutely nothing to me. If it … Read more
Deerhunter
Microcastle
Kranky (2008)
Dear 1992, Wow. It's really been a long time. I bet you're kind of surprised I'm writing to you at all. We didn't really know each other when you were around. But I was pretty busy. I had that gig taping firecrackers to GI Joes and that other one where I kept buying six soft tacos, no cheese, at taco … Read more
Demen
Nektyr
Kranky (2017)
To get a label's attention in this age is hard. Especially trying to do so through the traditional email approach. But for Demen, that method worked, and the folks over at Kranky were taken aback by the solo project of Irna Orm. Not much is known about Orm, other than she is behind the solo project Demen, and that she … Read more
Disappears
Irreal
Kranky (2015)
Fifth album for the rock band from Chicago, and they are still at it, blending the elements of shoe gaze and kraut rock in their alternative rock base. Irreal is an album that finds Disappears pushing their sonic identity to extremes, with the dark quality of the album remaining always present as does their search of finding the most intriguing … Read more
Grouper
Ruins
Kranky (2014)
Though I’ve been familiar with the name Grouper for some time, perhaps it’s not entirely coincidental that the solo project from Portland, Oregon-based artist and musician Liz Harris has never quite made an impression on me. While many of today’s groups strive to work their way into a listeners head, Grouper almost seems to be trying to achieve the opposite, … Read more
Grouper
The Man Who Died in His Boat
Kranky (2013)
The Man Who Died in His Boat (released February 2013) is a collection of songs by Grouper, a.k.a. Liz Harris, one-woman ambient/noise/folk/dream-pop impresario of Portland, Oregon. Harris has been active since 2005, the year of her first full-length release, and projects since then have included numerous collaborations, EPs, splits, etc. on multiple labels. Her latest work (from Kranky Records) is, interestingly, … Read more
Justin Walter
Unseen Forces
Kranky (2017)
Trumpeter Justin Walter is mostly known through his works in experimental jazz/fusion collective NOMO, his collaboration with Brian Case (of Disappears) in Bambi Kino Duo, and his contribution to works of His Name Is Alive and Colin Stetson. What is constant in all these instances, is the depth of his exploratory playing, something that whets the appetite in seeing him … Read more
Niecy Blues
Exit Simulation
Kranky (2023)
The allure of ambient music and its applications in pop structures has always been an important topic for Niecy Blues. It has been a conjunction that the artist has been playing with on shorter releases, in both the 2020 EP CRY and the 2021 single Bones Become The Trees. But, it is with this full-length in Exit Simulation, that Blues can fully dive into … Read more
Pan American
The Patience Fader
Kranky (2022)
Sonic maturity is not always reached by further augmenting one’s sound. It can also arrive when the artist understands what is important. What it is at the core of the project that makes it unique. Mark Nelson has taken such a journey with his project, Pan•American. In the early days, Pan•American relished the experimentalism of drone music, the ethereal quality … Read more
Stars of the Lid
And Their Refinement of the Decline
Kranky (2007)
When it comes to currently running ambient acts, they do not get any more prolific than Stars of the Lid. Having released material since 1995, the duo made up of Brian McBride and Adam Wiltzie have relocated since releasing their last album and absolute masterpiece The Tired Sounds Of... and found themselves living more than 6,000 miles apart. This distance … Read more
