NTS Sessions

Released

Let’s get it out of the way up front: This is an 8CD box running roughly as many hours. It’s a lot. So maybe break it up into two-hour chunks, as it was originally broadcast live on the UK’s NTS radio in 2018. Each set has a flow, even a plot; the very first track, “t1a1,” comes drifting in slowly on waves of static, and the intensity builds gradually from the ominous vibes of “debris_funk” to the skittering, thumping “north spiral.” Many tracks are extraordinarily long; the second set ends with the 21:30 “turbile epic casual, stpl idle,” a cloud of shimmering tones that prefigures the last track (indeed, the last disc) in the box, the 58:22 “all end,” an extraordinarily beautiful piece that sounds like they’ve left you drifting at the bottom of the ocean, with a note saying they’ll be back later.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Ritual cover

Ritual

Jon Hopkins
A  Heart From Your Shadow cover

A Heart From Your Shadow

Michael Beharie, Teddy Rankin Parker
Godbluff cover

Godbluff

Van der Graaf Generator
Jewels of Thought cover

Jewels of Thought

Pharoah Sanders
Théâtre Garonne, 2008 cover

Théâtre Garonne, 2008

David S. Ware New Quartet
SuperBigmouth cover

SuperBigmouth

Chris Lightcap
The Dark Tree cover

The Dark Tree

Horace Tapscott
Bedehus & Hawaii cover

Bedehus & Hawaii

Trond Kallevåg Hansen