Good Experimental Music: May 2026

Marc Masters

29 May 2026 • 12 min read

Welcome to the first-ever monthly roundup of Good Experimental Music! I hope you'll like this one and stick around for more. This time around we have some head-clearing solo sax, improvisations on a pair of snare drums, long-form composition for solo flute, and music that evokes the Residents in both sound and form. Plus a ton more! I present them to you in alphabetical order by artist. (And scroll down for a bonus list of 10 more May releases I dig!)

This post is free for anyone to read, so please pass it around if you dig it!

Lea Bertucci
The Days Pass Quickly Immersed in the Shadow of Eternity
(Cibachrome Editions)

At this point it seems almost disrespectful to expect Lea Bertucci to do something wholly new. Her discography explores all kinds of tones with all kinds of instruments, and all kinds of compositional and improvisational processes. But I've heard most (maybe all?) of it, and I don't remember anything like The Days Pass Quickly Immersed in the Shadow of Eternity. I'm not even sure I totally understand what she's done here (note: I wrote that sentence before Peter Margasak's nice feature on the album, so now I understand it a bit more). It's a composition she wrote for flutist Norbert Rodenkirchen, but she also provided pre-made samples of five different instruments (including swan bone and sheep bone) with which he could interact. The result is a remarkably enveloping 34-minute swirl of notes, drones, and breaths, perhaps comparable (as Bertucci herself notes) to the long pieces of Phill Niblock, but a bit more energizing. I settled in a few times when I first heard it, but it made me want to stand up and move around too, as if I could somehow walk through it all.

Kyle Eyre Clyd
The Sound Outside
(Sweet Wreath)

On her first album in seven years, Kyle Eyre Clyd reconnected with her full stash of gear: guitar, synth, pedals, mics, whistles, bowls, and tons more. You won't necessarily identify all those instruments on The Sound Outside, but that's not the point. Clyd's arsenal is deployed in service of making compelling sound, not demonstrating versatility. Opener "scored in the style of Forrest Bess" is an oscillating drone that's solid but deep; you can almost hear the room around her. The 27-minute "scored after Antonin Artaud" is more varied sonically, but just as focused, as Clyd veers from high treble to bird-like ringing to crunchy, rattling noise. It's tempting to say this is where The Sound Outside really goes outside, but that would be oversimplifying Clyd's work, which teems with purpose and demands attention every second of the way.

Concrete Fantasies
Miserere
(Drowned by Locals)

I love the mystery of Miserere, the fifth Concrete Fantasies release that was "recorded in a workshop for grave fabrication," whatever that excellent phrase might mean. I know the label it's on, Drowned By Locals, is located in Amman, Jordan, but I'm not sure if that's where Concrete Fantasies lives, or who exactly Concrete Fantasies is. Anyone can withhold information, of course, but the reason I find that especially enticing here is that the music is even more hard to pin down. Ostensibly this is noise, but it's so disturbingly metallic that it feels truly alien. The relentlessness of the shrieking sound is brain-pummeling; just try attending closely to the 17-minute centerpiece "SIN TÍTULO" and see what kind of sentences you can form afterwards. I'm probably painting this as more excruciating than artful, but there's lots of careful creativity happening here too, not unlike the layered waves of Metal Machine Music. The band claims to be equally channeling Keiji Haino and John Lee Hooker, so, I dunno, you figure it out.

Corrado Maria de Santis
Threshold of Light
(Lost Tribe Sound)

Threshold of Light is an apt title for an album of purely liminal sound spaces, the kind of music that feels so untraceable it might as well be a spectre. Every track title works well too: "Fading Nightfall," Awakening Skies," "Distant Radiance," "Nocturnal Lull," "Morning's Veil." Of course, there's a risk here of hitting everything too hard on the nose, but Italian sound artist Corrado Maria de Santis makes his sounds so subtle and retreating, there's almost no way for any of it to be blunt. I'm especially impressed by de Santis' use of an odd static, a kind of sifting, steamy sound that envelops far-off drones in a rising fog. Now maybe I'm hitting things too on the nose, but such is the impact of Threshold of Light: its powerful tones and ever-morphing shapes can make you feel pretty florid.

Khôra & Mas Aya
Primordial Mind
(Marionette)

There's such a calm aura on Primordial Mind, as if the duo of Mas Aya and Khôra (aka Canadian artists Brandon Valdivia and Matthew Ramolo) are simply sitting face to face and letting the sound flow through them. I'm probably being too New Age-y in that description, since the eight songs here aren't exactly what you'd hear in a crystal shop (are there still crystal shops?) But then, song titles include "Sacred Void," "Cosmic Fire," and "Sutra." Don't try meditating to this music thought, since Valdivia and Ramolo are primarily focused on percussion, with subtle but solid rhythms that keep each track moving forward. You can imagine the pair clicking away in a shiny studio, or rattling on in a dark forest. The key for me is how Primordial Mind sounds so...mindful. There's no rushes, no big showy turns, no jump-scare volume shifts. Valdivia and Ramolo trust that their simple, steadfast sounds will carry you somewhere, and they're right.

Leverton Fox
Eternal Gong Bath of the Sunbed Mind
(Not Applicable)

In the notes for their ninth, awesomely-titled Eternal Gong Bath of the Sunbed Mind, the UK trio Leverton Fox reference the Residents and how they made an album similarly (forgetting about it before rediscovering and releasing it). But now I can't un-hear the sonic likenesses; this album has a lot of the sense of wonder, humor, exploration, and playfulness of some of the best Residents releases. With electronics used by all three members – Alex Bonney, Tim Giles, and Isambard Khroustaliov (aka Sam Britton) - plus some drums and trumpet, Eternal Gong Bath weaves a dream-like pattern of rhythm and accents, feeling simultaneously from outer space and from under the ground. Track titles like "Seals for Spronky" and "Socrates the Quail" only add to the absurdity, but – as any Residents fan knows – it takes some serious work to sound this out there, and by the time the album closes with its most active track, "Speculative Aerodynamic Problems of a Human Headed Winged Lion," you might still be laughing, but you won't be taking it lightly.

Brady Matteson
Solaris
(self-released)

Sometimes it's easy to dismiss drone or ambient music as been-done. Sometimes it's even easier to praise it just because drones rule, so why nitpick? For me the best stuff of this ilk hits a sweet spot in between, finding new things to say with held tones without forcing variations just to look different. Count Solaris, the eighth album from Chicago composer Brady Matteson, strikes that mark. Over four tracks lasting 45 minutes, Matteson is not afraid to simply ride a big, unwavering sound, nor is he above dissolving down into spacey pulses. But he makes sure to shift when he needs to and curve when you might expect a straight line. I especially love the way "Gates of Time" builds imperceptible arcs, sometimes feeling like it's gonna mass into noise, other times like it's retreating from view.

Etienne Nillesen
Twee
(SOFA)

Cologne-based artist Etienne Nillesen works with snare drum – two snare drums, to be precise. He approaches this closely-tuned pair, according to text on his site, "not as a rhythmic instrument, but as a resonant body." That certainly comes through on Twee, a 36-minute single piece that vibrates, reverberates, and elongates the space around it. At times you can tell that Nillesen is rubbing sticks on his snares, but for the most part identifying the techniques that created this wall of wriggling sound is impossible. What matters is that Twee sounds physical, visceral – a human effort to push air around in patterns that the ear can absorb and the mind can process. As Twee progresses, I find myself feeling kind of like a receptive tuning fork, as if my nerves are aligning to Nillesen's waves. Perhaps that's a bit melodramatic, but it's pretty hard not to let Twee expand your receptors and heighten your emotional state.

'Til They Stop Dropping Bombs Ensemble
Repeating Chords For 8 Acoustic Guitars For Ever
(Negative Capabilities)

Back in early March, some musical compatriots gathered at The Golden Owl, a book and coffee shop in New London, Connecticut, to play a new composition by guitarist Michael Slyne. Dubbing themselves the ‘Til They Stop Dropping Bombs Ensemble, they included Slayne, Nicholas Capozza on double bass, and eight acoustic guitarists. The resulting half-hour recording, Repeating Chords For 8 Acoustic Guitars For Ever, opens with a welcoming five minutes of drone and rattling, as if the group is warming up. Then a two-chord acoustic strum enters, and the rest of the piece is an evolving study of that simple figure. The group sometimes veers into jammish psych; at other times they wash the chords in noise. Throughout, there's a minimalist loyalty to the strummed chords that feels nearly religious (in a good way!) It's a kind of exorcising of anger over the state of the world, that for me makes listening to Repeating Chords For 8 Acoustic Guitars For Ever quite cathartic.

Amelia Ya'el
Voices I
(Signbearer)

I like my solo horn music to be a roller coaster ride. I want to hear all kinds of notes, noises, and shrieks, and want them doled out filled jolts, jerks and free falls. Usually improvisation is the best way to achieve this kind of amusement, but composition can get there too, as evidenced by Voices I, a set of four pieces played by Amerlia Ya'el on baritone saxophone. After first listens, I wasn't shocked to find out these tracks had some pre-planning involved, as there are some discernible patterns in Ya'el's playing. But everything still has the thrill of a wild race, due in part to Ya'el's ability to find interesting note figures that bear repeating – some of them are even kinda catchy – while simultaneously diving into the sax to find as many timbres as humanly possible. Listen to Voices I next time you want to do some cheap flight simulation.

You, Me, + the Whales Sextet
You are in a Kitchen Filled with Plants as the Sun Streams Inward
(self-released)

Often in experimental music, as with many more-defined genres, crossing or hybridizing styles is not super common. It happens, for sure, and probably way more than I know. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd want it to happen more; the collage whiplash of slamming styles together is fun but pretty hard to pull off. But here's an album that does what I'm talking about, and does it in a remarkably organic way. A lot of it is basically jazz, but then around the edges and sometimes even in the middle there are abstractions and kitchen-sink sounds and surprising atmospheres. The You, Me, + the Whales Sextet, led by brothers Zac Burgenbauch (guitar) and Devin Burgenbauch (bass), is pretty adept at swinging around the stylistic spectrum in ways that are thoughtful rather than splashy, and ultimately, maybe all of a piece. See what you think!

BONUS!
10 MORE GOOD EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC RELEASES FROM MAY 2026

Eric Arn
Over Maribor
(Soundholes)

Boduf Songs
Selected Instrumental Works
(Bluesanct)

Columbia Icefield
A Silence Opens
(Out of Your Head)

Luca Cimarusti
Repetition, Resonance
(Island House)

Francis Heery
Garry Kasparov vs Deep Blue
(Flaming Pines)

Eva-Maria Houben, Harmjan Roeles
Given
(Sawyer Editions)

Francesca Naibo & Theresa Wong
Weather Eye
(Kohlhaaas)

Plant 43
Spells For Warding Off Evil
(Silver Threads)

Potliquor
All I Know in the City
(Amalgam)

David Torn
now i imagine a place not the same
(Kou)

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