Mat Muntz Leads a Band of East Coast Luminaries with an Astonishing Album Driven by a Unique Croatian Bagpipe

Bridging the worlds of contemporary composition, classic free jazz, and obscure folk traditions, Phantom Islands employs diverse sounds to construct a unified, ethereal landscape. The record is the leader debut of New York-based composer, bassist, and bagpiper Mat Muntz (of The Vex Collection), whose use of the unique Croatian bagpipe primorski meh serves as the music’s centerpiece. The instrument’s brazen timbre and alien tuning are anchored by ghostly, microtonal orchestrations for winds, guitar, and percussion, executed with sensitivity and dynamism by a skilled cast of improvisers.



The band features up-and-coming luminaries of the East Coast scene, including Yuma Uesaka on clarinet (Marilyn Crispell, Anna Webber, Ocelot) and Xavier Del Castillo on tenor sax (Adam O’Farrill’s Stranger Days). Guitarist Alec Goldfarb, oboist Pablo O’Connell, and drummer Michael Larocca complete the sextet to create richly textured collective improvisations.

The title Phantom Islands refers to nonexistent landmasses which were recorded on nautical maps for centuries, often with bizarre, “here be dragons” associations. By using this concept of “haunted geography” to channel maritime mythologies from around the world - Croatia, Bahrain, Okinawa - Muntz’s compositions render a correspondingly haunted musical vocabulary: a folk music from nowhere.

Dark Ambient Electric Guitar Duo KillDry Release "Pool of the Black Star"

KillDry is the dark ambient electric guitar duo of Nicholas Deyoe and Jay Sorce. In the Spring of 2021, utilizing low-latency networking software Nicholas in Los Angeles and Jay in New York began to play together in real time. After recording their first few sessions, they realized they’d stumbled on to something that felt very special to both and has become a creative focus in the time since.

The name KillDry is taken from the term as it is used in effects pedal jargon, when the dry signal (the unprocessed guitar sound) is removed completely leaving only the ‘wet’ sounds - the cavernous ambience of a reverb or the warbled disembodied sound of a modulated delay. In KillDry, the pedalboard becomes a fully realized musical instrument, expressively manipulated in real-time. By carefully routing the guitar signal, often in several parallel effects chains, the sound captured, refracted, manipulated, deconstructed; the effect is like a moving sculpture, with the guitar sound as the tactile raw material.

Pool of the Black Star is a four-track double LP of slowly-developing dark ambient guitar-driven landscapes. Using guitar pedals, bows, preparations, and non-traditional guitar construction and techniques, KillDry creates an otherworldly sonic space that often bares little resemblance to “guitar music.” Pool of the Black Star combines droning landscapes with ethereal textures and unexpected melodies by layering, looping, and manipulating what is available on their pedalboards and by reconsidering the personal approach to their instruments.

Pool of the Black Star was recorded by KillDry in Los Angeles and New York in May and June, 2021. Mixed by Nicholas Deyoe and Mastered by Daniel Eaton at Little Castle Mastering 

Ethereal Experimental Artist Rose Haze Release Instrumental Album "Contemplations in the Desert"

Contemplations in the Desert is an instrumental album born amidst the sweltering sun, dust, and nothingness of Southern California. Kate Ramsey and Ruben Gonzales of Rose Haze set out for nowhere to record a fully improvised collection of tunes using all analog gear.

Unsurprisingly, the desert was a pretty brutal environment for doing much of anything, much less recording an album, but that’s precisely what intrigued the duo. The idea sprung from their desire to satiate a pandemic ennui and escape for a bit. While battling heat and fatigue, and running from rattlesnakes and swarms of bees, they found sanctuary. Freely writing and recording music out in the wild frontier was an unforgettable experience punctuated by an absolute tranquility.

The duo brought two guitars, one harp, several effects pedals, a vintage synth, a video camera, and a two-track recorder. With no preconceived notions, they tracked the experience as it felt, looked, smelled, tasted, and sounded, off and on throughout the two slow-moving days. Weeks went by with each dense hour. Their studio was a small teepee on a ranch. A few guests milled about the area enjoying the music but keeping their distance. The duo ran a long extension cord from the main house to power their musical mission. The sessions began with serious meditation, but as they continued recording, Kate and Ruben began to shift into more humorous and light-spirited sounds as they grew in delightful delirium.

Between tracking music, Ruben filmed Kate wandering the grounds swinging a katana dressed in a suede fringe jacket, cowboy boots, and a stetson, playing harp in a random boat on top of a plateau, or dancing around on stilts with the mountains in the distance. Why? Because they could.

The days were filled with music, art, and contemplations. Contemplations of dreams, childhood, romances, hardships, moments in time. Contemplations of self. Contemplations on how our ancestors may have lived. Contemplations on how Hollywood shaped history. Contemplations of existence. Contemplations of gratitude in music. And at night, contemplations while gazing up at the brightest of stars in the desert.

Rose Haze is the ethereal experimental music project of Kate Ramsey. Ever-evolving over the years, the group has encompassed a vast array of sonic soundscapes and undergone several supporting lineups. Elements of ambient drone, dreampop, shoegaze, psychedelic rock, post-rock, and soulful jazzy expressions all make an appearance in Rose Haze compositions and performance. Based in Oakland, CA, Kate is supported by Ruben Gonzales (guitar and bass), Yoko Miyakawa (viola, electric violin, and bass), and Dustin Coker (drums).