Sun 13

With fluid checks, brooms and beeps, on Elegant Automobile, the second song from American Cream Band’s latest release, Twin, Nathan Nelson and Liz Buhmann ask the question, “Let’s see how fast this thing can go?” The answer is far. The Saint Paul, Minnesota duo, backed by a Springsteen-like array of musicians, lead the way for a journey where the is destination unknown. Twin doesn’t transcend countries and continents: it’s a bridge that connects them all.

Sandy Chamoun has been among the most crucial voices out of Lebanon during this decade. The country, entrenched in turmoil where every day circumstances change within the blink of an eye. It’s hard to believe, given Beirut’s a vibrant music in particular. Led by Chamoun’s SANAM, who have been making some of the most forward-thinking music out of the region, with last year’s Saemtou Sawtan the collective’s best release yet, welding Middle Eastern traditions to modern-day electronica.

Some things just land at the perfect time. The trite saying, ‘Everything happens for a reason’? Well, maybe it isn’t nonsense? For the last couple of weeks, it’s not only felt like a slog finding new full-length releases, but also and writing about the few which have resonated. Is it summer burnout? Maybe, but apart from the releases in our latest Weirdo Rippers column and coupled with getting annihilated by the gale-force of Sunn O))) last week, everything else has felt somewhat fallow.

As Sunn O))) tore through town last week, it got me thinking: are they the bastion of experimentalism? Galvaniser’s of worlds, as metal and experimentalism coalesce. It’s quite astonishing for a band who has been the apostle of drone to reach such heights. People from all backgrounds and musical tastes converged for a performance that, judging by many of the comments since, was arguably the best of their U.K. tour. Experimentalism and fandom are a funny thing.

Post-rock from Chicago is immune from failure. All killer, no filler, and Sick Gazelle are the latest at making every post a winner. Formed by Bruce Lamont (Bloodiest, Yakuza), Eric Block (Veloce) and regular gun for hire, Steve Shelley (Winged Wheel, Sonic Youth, Disappears), following their 2019 debut, Odum, Sick Gazelle draft in bassist and Chicago post-rock legend, Douglas McCombs, for their follow-up, Veld.

Gayle Brogan, Nick Jonah Davis and Elizabeth Still have spent years carving out their own sonic niches across the U.K.’s DIY experimental landscape. Brogan’s endeavours, through the lens of Pefkin and Burd Ellen, where she has paired drone with mediative field recordings to great effect. The peak, via the former’s Unfurling (Morc Records), released earlier this year. Meanwhile, Jonah Davis and Still have evoked similar feelings through their art, albeit via different paths.

Emmaleen Tangleweed’s songs creep up on you like a spectre from the deepest parts of the night. First coming to attention via Cruel Nature Records’ re-issues of her first two albums, The Sun will Still Shine when you Die and Songs from the Unseen, the Unsaid and the Unborn last year, the Western Cape, South Africa based songwriter spins the kind of yarns that leave permanent marks.

In 2022 at the Porto edition of Primavera, on the hilltop watching Karate cherry-pick from their esteemed body of work confirmed just how blues-laden slowcore was tailor-made for sunsets. It was a beautiful moment, and one that I instantly thought of when hearing The Pines of Rome’s excellent new LP, When You Are as Full as the Moon.

The Black Drumset, the project of multi-instrumentalist Brian Willey, has announced details of their third full-length release. Following the project’s self-titled debut (2009) and Charged (2019), Friends In Dark Places will be released on July 17. Exclusive to Sun 13, be the first to listen to From a Difference Place. It follows the hypnotic lead single, The Ice Melted, We Had to Swim. A collision of synths and guitar that make their way through the briars that lead to psychedelia.

BIG|BRAVE are one the most potent experimental acts on the planet. The Montréal band’s collision of metal, post-hardcore and folk, one-of-kind, reaching the apex on their excellent 2024 release, A Chaos of Flowers. For all its inventiveness and eternal power, at the time it felt like one of those generational underground releases that would be a key reference point in decades to come. And two years on, that consensus remains. It felt like a moment where BIG|BRAVE’s hard work had paid off.