Test Dept 
Industrial Overture Studio and Live Recordings 1982-1985 
(Artefact)                                                    
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

PUNK emerged in 1976 forged by discontent and a need to replace what was regarded by many as a music industry entirely out of touch. What emerged was a culture of rebellion, although musically essentially using the tradition of rock. Test Dept, a south London band formed in 1979, strove to create a new industrial noise ethic combined with high political values.

This four-disc collection is of early releases, live recordings and John Peel sessions. First is the restored cassette-only 1983 release Strength of Metal in Motion. Last Rites is a sonic onslaught that fuses forthright hunting bugle, and industrial fog-like layers. Shockwork fuses metallic percussion and belted vocals. Prokofiev’s Dream slows the tempo pointing to more ambient tones.

The Peel Sessions demonstrate equally thrilling experimentation. More recently their Disturbance album from 2019 demonstrated techno leanings and the same political drama. A new album is in the works for this year.

Madli Marje Gildemann 
Dream Sequence of an Ancient Forest
(Kairos)
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

CLASSICALLY trained Estonian Composer Madli Marje Gildemann’s new album is a triumph of radical thinking, bold experimentation and gifted composition techniques. It builds on the concept of a dramaturgical journey that starts with the invisible processes within plants and trees, continues with the nocturnal journeys of birds, dreamlike soundscapes of the forest and culminates with the mythological transformation of a human-made machine.

Three Studies on Plant Biology opens. Slow, plucking string sounds are based on the popping sounds inside trees that are going through a period of drought, then Gildemann takes ideas into poetic soundscapes as piano and low-bowed strings up the drama. The sonic palette is unique.

Nocturnal Migrants, a work for violin, viola, cello double bass prepared piano and percussion is an equally haunting journey, building in intensity. Apache concludes, a cacophony of modern voice collage and bursting throat-singing and violin before calm emerges. The works were recorded with the Ludensemble, a contemporary music ensemble from Estonia. Hugely recommended.

Heinz Holliger and Marie-Lise Schupbach
con slancio 
(ECM New Series)
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑

HEINZ HOLLIGER is a Swiss composer, oboist and conductor whose involvement with ECM goes back 40 years. His partner is Marie-Lise Schupbach, a renowned Englischhorn, cor anglais woodwind performer. Part of the album is a tribute to her and the way in which both their instruments combine. The album includes recordings of six Holliger compositions as well as strongly contrasting pieces dedicated to him by fellow composers.

A core theme in Holliger’s composition, has been his exploration of speech in sound and its complex rhythmic variations. That’s reflected in the opening track, con slancio, written for solo oboe. 

Next up is Toshio Hosokawa’s Musubi, an evocative duet for oboe and Englischhorn. Another highlight is Gyorgy Kurtag’s concise and witty con slancio, largamente, an uptempo playful work. Concluding is Robert Suter’s Oh Boe Fur Oboe solo, that demonstrates masterful rhythmic complexity and locked melodic intent. Recorded at Zurich’s DRS Studio, the detail capturing both instruments frequency range is exceptional.