It’s been a while since our last Weirdo Rippers communication, but it’s been a little bit by design.
With so many new releases in the experimental space towards the end of this year, the thinking behind 2026’s final edition was of the bumper variety instead of two separate editions so close together as we did last year.
Despite this expanded edition, even as I write this missive, new submissions for the November and December are flying through the door, confirming one thing: this never ends.
The composition of our latest feature may be a little lopsided in terms of recent releases compared to those that dropped at the tail end of summer. However, as most regulars are already aware, these things have never been of great concern to us. With so much out there, it’s so easy to get lost in the jungle that is the new music landscape. If something we write about was released four weeks or four months ago, it matters little. It’s all a part of the same story.
Looking ahead, and we’ve got a busy schedule until the year is out, but what’s new? With our end of year features and several interviews in between, we’ll be welcoming in 2027 before we know it. And with that, we still somehow exist in a world that is slowly falling apart.
For now, though, enjoy our last Weirdo Rippers of the year. An edition that contains both artists new and familiar to regular readers of the site. Be safe, and we’ll see you back here in January.
Steve Bates: An Infinite Antenna
Constellation
There are always releases that land out of left field and Steve Bates’ An Infinite Antenna is one of them.
Also of the post-rock collective, Black Seas Ensemble that features Timothy Herzog and Sophie Trudeau of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bates carves out stunning results on his latest solo endeavour. His electro-acoustic workouts, brimming with one-of-a-kind ideas that entwine with the feeling of euphoria.
It’s not a world away from that feeling you get when listening to a Fennesz record. But An Infinite Antenna comes on a little more delicately, and alongside Andrew PM Hunt, Bates is the conjurer of some of finest work this year in the electro-acoustic space. An Infinite Antenna, a must listen.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
James Bernard: In a Small Room, Decades Ago
Past Inside the Present
In the first of several releases from the vastly underrated Indianapolis label, Past Inside the Present, James Bernard takes us back to the ’90s. In a Small Room, Decades Ago , something inspired by sitting in chill rooms during the height of rave culture.
Through these atmospheric peace-scapes, on In a Small Room, Decades Ago, Bernard captures these moments as vividly as anyone. The artist, crystallising times when things were simpler and carefree.
It’s been a solid year for Bernard who alongside life partner in Marine Eyes’ Cynthia Bernard (more on her in a bit) and Kenneth James Gibson, produced more sonic splendour as Almost An Island. In a Small Room, Decades Ago is something that reaches for those same heights.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
James Blackshaw: Fractures on the Horizon
Amish Records
After a lengthy hiatus, U.K. experimental guitarist, James Blackshaw, returns for his second LP this decade, Fractures on the Horizon.
Blackshaw’s latest journey sees him moving the needle in which he reaches the most obscure terrains yet. Consisting of two compositions, the first, a beautiful woodsy affair that guides you through the briars, it’s the second piece where Blackshaw flips the script. With a sequence of device wrangling, it’s incongruous noise akin to recent Amish label mate, Bill Nace.
The experimental landscape is always better with Blackshaw in it, and on Fractures on the Horizon, whilst understated, it holds an escapist, aloof quality. Quite ripe for these times really, so with that, it’s simple: get it in your life.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Christer Bothén / Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin: Serpentine
Black Truffle
Preceding Oren Ambarchi’s latest solo cut, Cooked (read all about it here), the Australian experimentalist started his latest two-month tourism of sound alongside regular studio dwellers, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin.
On Serpentine, the trio move beyond their Ghosted albums, I, II and III, by spicing it up a little bit alongside Swedish multi-instrumentalist, Christer Bothén. And what an understated release it is; the trio-cum-quartet, taking afrobeat through a kaleidoscope of new sounds and ideas.
Led by Bothén whose clarinet is like a new voice that captures unique inflections, it’s a frightening boon to this already well-oiled machine. Serpentine, hopefully the first chapter in this journey for the dangerously good quartet.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Drew Gardner Interview: “Music can take on a life of its own if you let it”
Bu.re_: Seasons in Migration
AKP Recordings
While Google won’t be Bu.re_ greatest ally, Devin Blair’s project may just be yours. The Los Angeles producer, arriving at the perfect time as the nights draw in with Seasons in Migration.
It comes as advertised really. Blair, taking the atmospheric elements of jazz, hip-hop and ambient music to conjure up the perfect moodscapes to combat this time of year.
In many ways, Season in Migration embodies the spirit of AKP Recordings. The Los Angeles label are having their best year so far, and Bu.re_ is the to stretches out the label’s sound world to places that are beginning to both sound and feel limitless.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Anna Butterss, John Raymond, Ben Lumsdaine: Beginningless
Northern Spy Records
A trio formed across many state county lines, Anna Butterss, John Raymond and Ben Lumsdaine orchestrate ideas between Los Angeles and Bloomington, resulting in their new collaboration, Beginningless.
This is the kind of atmospheric jazz in the same vein as The Drift. While while the latter is sorely missed these days, Butterss, Raymond and Lumsdaine fill the void very well indeed, with seamless compositions that immediately stick to the mind.
It’s the more traditional side of jazz in which the trio harness on Beginningless, and it’s no bad thing. This, an all-purpose concern for many different moods, places and times.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Calm Pieces: Suburbia, Still
Whitelabrecs
Like Steve Bates, Valencia’s Rafa Ramos Sania’s solidifies all things electro-acoustic in this latest WR dispatch with his latest release, Suburbia, Still.
And what a wistful journey this is. Through these compositions, the experimentalist does a stellar job of intersecting drone and neo-classical elements, bringing some street-level homespun warmth into the mix.
While different in approach, those previously immersed in the world of A Winged Victory for the Sullen will find some comfort in Sania’s recordings. On Suburbia, Still, he finds a middle ground between beauty and darkness. Ultimately, it encompasses what this feature is all about.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Giacomo Zanus: Wandering Away is Safer Than Getting Lost on Your Own
Loren Connors & David Grubbs: Somewhere in the Wind
Room40
On their third duo release, Somewhere in the Wind, Loren Connors and David Grubbs bring us their best so far.
Like they always do, Connors and Grubbs’ compositions sneak up on you like a wild animal hunting its quarry. These soundscapes are knotty, yet somehow atmospheric. The subtilties in texture and tone, illuminating the album title itself.
Connors never fails, and in fairness neither does Grubbs who on his preceding release with the wonderful SQUANDERERS (Bright Madness), has marked another fine year with Somewhere in the Wind. A release that should be reaching far more ears than it likely will.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Stuart Cook: Flower Blocks
Dustopian Frequencies
Like artists trying to outgun AI, Stuart Cook exists to transcend the modular synth. On his latest release, Flower Blocks, the Bristol experimentalist takes a cut and paste approach. His sound collages, some of the most outrageous, abstract noisescapes you’re likely to hold an ear to this year.
Should we be surprised? No, because Cook has always thrived in the more obscure corners of experimentalism. And with the help of Thomas Ragsdale from behind the mastering board, he stretches things out to new, almost incomprehensible levels.
Yes, on Flower Blocks, this is gadget wrangling at its extreme, almost to the point where, indeed, Cook is the chief Weirdo Ripper. The gauntlet has been thrown down.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Giovanni Di Domenico / Manos Barkatsas / Aleksandar Škorić: Deep Is the Sea That Lies Above Me
Tombed Visions
The Necks may have had a fallow 2026 (don’t worry, they’re back next year!), however the trio of pianist Giovanni Di Domenico, guitarist Manos Barkatsas, and drummer Aleksandar Škorić fill the void on Deep Is the Sea That Lies Above Me.
Recorded during a residency at the Brussels jazz club Sounds, on Deep Is the Sea That Lies Above Me the trio deliver something with a little more cosmic panache. Through the quieter passages, there’s a dark thread that operates beneath the surface here.
Deep Is the Sea That Lies Above Me is composition that doesn’t combat A.M. dread. It’s actually inspired by it. It’s not something that will lighten up your day, but these days aren’t so light, making it the perfect time to engage with it.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Randall Dunn: Manifold of Partially Actualized Realities
Kou Records
On Manifold of Partially Actualized Realities, Randall Dunn claims that “this is my version of science fiction music”.
He’s right, too, and not withstanding the album’s two spoken-word pieces (featuring Jim Jarmusch reading poetry from Philip K. Dick and Laima Leyton reading some Robert Graves), Manifold of Partially Actualized Realities goes beyond many things. Including science fiction!
From neo-classical drone to no-wave infiltrating cinema, Dunn is at his bombastic best on Manifold of Partially Actualized Realities. Each movement, so contrasting from one to the next, and as every listen reveals something new, it unfurls into something not just tailored for these times, but the well beyond them, too.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
E-Clark Cornell Interview: “I believe that true art uses the human being as sort of a lightning rod”
L’eveil: Wars of Abstraction
Self-released
L’eveil is the conjurers of the kind of dark energy that you wouldn’t often associate from the rust belt states. Perhaps better known for the darker corners of punk, L’eveil delivers something a little woodsier on Wars of Abstraction.
It’s kind of roadhouse Americana for the life-damaged. Those lonesome travellers flitting from once place to the next, the music L’eveil dispenses is like a soundtrack to the nomadic ways of life.
It’s solid stuff, and on the back of Wars of Abstraction, I’m hoping there’s more of it in the future. Within the more obscure releases in this feature, L’eveil provides a exquisite leveller.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Light Conductor: Sequence Three
Constellation
The Besnard Lakes’ Jace Lasek and Young Galaxy’s Stephen Ramsay return for their third edition of the Light Conductor experience with Sequence Three.
And it’s a bit of a curve ball from their excellent Sequence Two. The first of two compositions, featuring Lacek’s Besnard Lakes bandmate and life partner, Olga Goreas, who brings new elements into the fray.
Which in turn sees Light Conductor follow new paths. The more you listen to Sequence Three, the more it’s apparent that those paths illuminate to a place where most of us wish to go. A place of serenity, which encompasses this collaboration in what is another wonderful moment for all concerned.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Le Motel: Pozo de Agua
Constellation Tatsu
The Oakland, CA label has had a flagship year, and the backend of 2026 sees them cap it off. Le Motel’s Pozo de Agua, one several excellent releases within the label’s arsenal.
Le Motel is the project of the anonymous Brussel-based producer, who provides a series of floaty collages inspired by the dream state.
In many ways, it’s an archetypal Constellation Tatsu release. Le Motel, teleporting you to a world where worries essentially don’t exist. These compositions on Pozo de Agua, resonating with deep possibility and hope. The latter, something this world needs now more than ever.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Marine Eyes: Hidden Hour
Cloud Collecting
Following her recent collaboration releases, firstly the above-noted Almost An Island release alongside life partner James and Kenneth James Gibson, then with zakè (Still Beauty), Cynthia Bernard returns with her latest Marine Eyes long-player, Hidden Hour.
Her fourth album under the moniker and first for Cloud Collecting, Hidden Hour sees Bernard guide her listeners down secluded paths within the ambient sound world. The results, like soft reflections off the sun glinting off the ocean.
As one composition seamlessly runs into the next, this the most calming release among all of these releases. It’s essentially composition for the angels. The hour, indeed, hidden.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Dean McPhee: Northern Earth
Bass Ritual
You know when you hear a Dean McPhee composition. There’s just something about the tone and unique ringing out of the speakers that is, well, supremely Dean McPhee!
On Northern Earth, the U.K. experimental guitarist teleports his listen to the more rustic corners of the north, which, in this climate of dread, is very welcoming indeed. (And of course, the compositions hold up. Which is nothing less than you would expect from McPhee at this point in his career.)
While there are many experimental guitarists dotted all around the country, few are as compelling up here in the north as McPhee. Northern Earth, exactly what its title suggests.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Noh Age: The Long Ear
Kou Records
With a name that inspired the very moniker of this feature, before you ask, it’s not that No Age. It’s Noh Age! The new trio featuring Kou Records co-founder Charmaine Lee, Li-Chin Li and John McCowen who together whip up an absolute maelstrom on The Long Ear.
Producer by fellow Kou Records co-founder Randall Dunn, while The Long Ear is inspired by Japanese theatrical forms, there’s some serious neo-classical noise folk assaults going on here. Lee’s wordless vocalisations, colliding with organ madness and Li’s sheng workouts.
It’s noise from new depths, and as each composition is vastly different from the next, The Long Ear feels like one of those underground tour-de-forces that is bred from your nightmares.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Charlemagne Palestine / Oren Ambarchi / Daniel O’Sullivan: KKAAREENNIINNAA
Black Truffle
The second of two new releases in the Oren Ambarchi odyssey to feature here finds the Australian peering east. This time, taking Charlemagne Palestine and Daniel O’Sullivan along for the ride on KKAAREENNIINNAA.
And what a ride it is. Palestine’s performance transcends a wave of Ambarchi and O’Sullivan’s sun-cracked drones in something that is like spiritual hypno raga that, with headphones, is fierce tonal overload.
Ambarchi has had another grand year. KKAAREENNIINNAA, his most understated release, but perhaps the most pertinent one. Wrap your ears around it and be the judge yourself.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Heikki Ruokangas: I Do Believe There’s A Ghost In My Pipe
Ramble Records
In the world of mythology, if ever there was an annual gala for Weirdo Rippers alumni, then Heikki Ruokangas and his trio would undoubtedly be the house band for it.
On their I Do Believe There’s A Ghost In My Pipe, Ruokangas alongside Eero Tikkanen (double bass) and Teemu Mustonen (drums), bastardise the notion of lounge country with a soft jazz hyrbid that washes over you like a radiant sound bath.
Themes aside (as its title implies, these recordings were ghost-inspired), if suit and ties aren’t your thing, I Do Believe There’s A Ghost In My Pipe is just as adequate for a candle light dinner. Yes, this is something for serenading, and the more you stick with it, the more it becomes baked into your mind.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Luca Cimarusti Interview: “Your best teachers are going to be your collaborators”
Dino Sabatini & Luigi Tozzi: XAMAN
Outis Opera Series
Those wanting some techno peppered with some IDM will find the perfect poison with XAMAN. The excellent collaboration between Italian duo, Dino Sabatini and Luigi Tozzi.
If you wanted to condense Autechre’s body of work into a compilation for newbies, then don’t bother. Just delve into Sabatini and Tozzi’s world, because, well… all bases are well and truly covered.
Over the years, the Europeans have maintained an astonishing aptitude for techno and electronica at large. Moreso than anywhere else in the world, with a real purity through the sound, whereby it’s almost like clubland soundsystems are teleported into your home. That’s what XAMAN is all about, but how Sabatini and Tozzi accomplish this is quite remarkable.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Shuddering Cloud: Caught Between Two Fires
Ramble Records
If there’s been a better post-jazz record than Shuddering Cloud’s Caught Between Two Fires released this year, then I’m yet to hear it.
The collaborative project between multi-instrumentalist, Lucas Brode and Colin Fisher, Caught Between Two Fires is like jazz at high altitudes. Recorded remotely in their respective homes of New York’s Hudson Valley and Toronto, ON, the space in these recordings is chasm-level.
While so much space, yes, however somehow it feels like the duo has recorded this in one room together. Caught Between Two Fires, the embodiment of meticulous crafting and maximum results. Alongside Elori Saxl and Henry Solomon, they’ve nailed the atmosphere in jazz and experimentalism this year.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Tenebrae Annex: The Rise Of Psychic Violence I
Philip K. Discs
As its title suggests, the Jeremy Hunt-founded label has been representing the exiled across the experimental landscape. And continuing their quest in these shadowy enclaves, Tenebrae Annex is the latest to expose the horrors in such places.
The Rise Of Psychic Violence I is like escaping some madman attacking you with acid. The soundscapes, akin to be anchored to a nightmare, which really zeroes in on mental health and wellbeing.
Whether that’s the intention, in many ways The Rise if Psychic Violence I really underlines the human aspect of sci-fi-inspired noise. It’s an album for a certain time, but when that time comes, I don’t really know how, but it works.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Andrew Tuttle & Darren Cross: AT/DC
Room40
With his open guitar wanderings that have birthed two albums over the last 12 months, Darren Cross continues to scour the field, this time finding Brisbane experimentalist, Andrew Tuttle, with the pair derliving AT / DC.
This is a wonderful excursion of sound up and down Australia’s Eastern seaboard, as Cross retreats from his more rustic climes into Tuttle sparkling beddings of sound. And it’s here where the duo thrives.
If anything, it’s closer to the more atmospheric adventures Cross’ Gerling explored at the beginning of the century. However, Tuttle refines these soundscapes, and together on AT/DC, the duo are the orchestrators of a rolling bliss-scape.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Tyresta: Nothing Is Hidden
Past Inside the Present
At this point in this edition of WR, the Past Inside the Present takeover is in full swing – Tyresta’s Nothing Is Hidden, the latest release from the label to enthrall.
The project of Chicago experimental guitarist, Nick Turner, under the Tyresta moniker, his work has been a mainstay under Indianapolis label for years now. His latest, undulating with a series of soundscapes of the blissful variety.
Nothing Is Hidden sounds expansive, and is enhanced by Turner’s guests. Featuring the likes of Sharon Udoh (piano), Scott Rubin (viola), Ben Zucker (trumpet), Patrick Shiroishi (saxophone, vocals), and Leon Todd Johnson (piano), it’s these voices that help guide Tyresta to more new places in his peaceful sound world.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Mathias Villard: Past Radiance
Affin
French-born Düsseldorf-based artist, Mathias Villard, is the latest to join the Affin roster, and what a gem the Joachim Spieth-founded label has unearthed here.
On Past Radiance, Villard channels ambient drone through the wide screen. Cavernous soundscapes for surround sound, in many ways it could have been the score to Silo, as Villard’s beautiful noise washes over every inch of the room.
It’s composition that is immersive, swelling with the kind of cerebral cadence of fellow ambient touchstones, Fennesz and Tim Hecker. The recent lull in their respective bodies of work, having created a vacuum for the likes of Villard to fill. And fill it he does, as Past Radiance makes the ambient landscape of experimentalism a stronger one.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Adam Wiltzie & Jóhann Jóhannsson: Friendship Survival Guide
Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Berlin
Having first met in Prague in 2007, after years in the vaults, Adam Wiltzie brings his wonderful collaboration with the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, Friendship Survival Guide, to the people.
Using archived studio recordings that the pair recorded between 2013 and 2017 prior to Jóhannsson death in 2018, Wiltzie brings to life a collection that sparkles. It’s droning psychedelia with rich tone, and the more one stays with these compositions, the more they become burned into the soul.
Given the circumstances, naturally there’s an emotive element behind Friendship Survival Guide, and with the utmost care and precise plotting, Wiltzie does this collaboration every bit of justice. It’s simply beautiful.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Windy & Carl Meet Optigan Conservatory: Windy & Carl Meet Optigan Conservatory
Kranky
Following their excellent and very much understated 2000 release, Consciousness, Windy & Carl have been a peripheral figure. Until now, of course. Their return, resulting in a collaboration alongside the Optigan Conservatory for Windy & Carl Meet Optigan Conservatory.
It’s slightly removed from your standard fare Windy & Carl, too, as the duo submit to minimalism alongside their latest collaborators. Deep-listening at the heart of these six tracks, taking you further into the Windy & Carl sound world.
And with the guidance of Optigan Conservatory, it’s place where Windy & Carl have not travelled before. These recordings, not instant, but by sticking with them, it becomes apparent that they are a great source. The very kind you don’t want to live without.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Worriedaboutsatan: Outland
Constellation Tatsu
Gavin Miller’s worriedaboutsatan odyssey is a good fit for Constellation Tatsu, and not for the obvious reasons. Miller’s ability to shape-shift probably makes him a good fit for most experimental labels, but on his latest release, Outland comes at the right time of year.
Miller gives it a bit of the floaty atmosphere treatment on Outland. Those synth-led glider-like sonics that are to be indulged with headphones in solitude. Not only is it a fitting end to the year for Miller, but for Constellation Tatsu, too. Both, having enjoyed a stellar year.
Where the former is concerned, he is fast becoming the master of the blissscape, and on Outland, there are plenty of them.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Xeeland: Laws and Triangles (Music Inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker)
God Unknown Records
The project of Jason Stoll (KLAMP, JAAW and formerly of Bonnacons Of Doom), Xeeland returns for its third instalment, Laws and Triangles (Music Inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker).
As he’s always done with the project, Stoll is constantly moving the needle, and on Laws and Triangles (Music Inspired by Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker), he creates a kind of minimalism that finds you almost encased in someone else’s mind.
It’s cerebral, but immediate. The undercurrent of drone breaking through the fourth wall in which it feels like these pieces have been conceived. While Xeeland’s self-titled debut was an ode to kranky and Master Builder felt like a score to a J.G. Ballard novel, Laws and Triangles finds Stoll flourishing in minimalism.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Zakè: Revector
Past Inside the Present
It’s fitting that we culminate the last Weirdo Rippers of 2026 with zakè – one of the most prolific producers out there this year.
With another album that dropped last Friday (Statica Memoria – Affin), prior to his wonderful release alongside Marine Eyes (Still Beautiful – Past Inside the Present), Revector was another collaborative affair. Featuring Benoît Pioulard, anthéne, Purl, Marc Ertel and hoax, the 10-track hour-long release is like a rolling dreamscape brimming with emotional force.
The thing with a zakè composition is that it hits every time you listen to it. His methods, seemingly on a swivel, tailoring to whatever your mood may be. And Revector captures this as good as anything the Indianapolis producer has released this year.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Previous Weirdo Rippers:
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#22
#21
#20
#19
#18
#17
#16
#15
#14
#13
#12
#11
#10
#9
#8
#7
#6
#5
#4
#3
#2
#1
