The Zips

It’s been a decade since we last heard from Marnie Stern, and in her absence, the indie music world has become overrun with an army of anti-Marnies i.e. corporate clones making banal playlist rock lacking in the whimsy, creativity, and virtuosity that made Stern’s take on rock music such a singular sound in the late 2000s. But when Stern’s guitar bursts in like a shower of stardust on The Comeback Kid, her long-awaited follow-up to 2013’s The Chronicles of Marnia, it’s like no time has passed. Marnie Stern is back—and not a moment too soon.

Aussie concrète innovator James Rushford continues to scrape the outer rim on 'Turzets', coughing alien text-to-speak voices into meditative piano phrases and tweezed electro-acoustic drones on the first side, then deconstructing medieval organ music on the flip, combining gusty archaic melodies with sci-fi tinted Yamaha CS-80 zips. Mind-boggling stuff - RIYL Oren Ambarchi, Sam Kidel, Jim O'Rourke or even OPN.

Another Mind is the debut release from Hiromi Uehara, a jazz and jazz fusion pianist. It was released in 2003 and received the award for foreign jazz album of the year in the 2004 Japan Annual Gold Disc Awards. Peter Marsh of BBC stated "Surrounding herself with a cast of young, gifted musicians, 24 year old Hiromi Uehara's music is audacious, hyperactive stuff. Sticking mainly to acoustic piano, her approach is reminiscent of Oscar Peterson on steroids. Few of the instrument's 88 keys remain untouched for long".