Lingyuan Yang
Cursed Month (败月)
out: August 15th, 2025 on Chaospace (CD/DL)
genres: avant-jazz, progressive rock, microtonal
LINGYUAN YANG: lingyuang.com | lingyuanyang.bandcamp.com | @ylylyl________
CHAOSPACE RECORDS: www.chaospace.org/records
Just before departing New York City to continue his studies in the Hague, guitarist and polymorphous composer Lingyuan Yang recorded his debut release, Cursed Month (败月), alongside in-demand drummer Asher Herzog, and acclaimed pianist Shinya Lin (whose improvisational style Downbeat touted “analytical yet unrestrained,” praising his moving “deftly between organic melodies and experimental tone poems.”)
Yang’s trio plays a decidedly heavy iteration of jazz but often not at all in the way that one would anticipate. Though Yang’s compositions are brusque and brimming with bold angular rhythms, he steers clear of overdriven tones despite being the traditional agent of heft in the project. Instead, he lets his bandmates create massiveness via a mix of precision and weighty abandon. Yang, meanwhile, opts for intensity of a different kind with skittering microtonal figures and occasional but drastic electronic manipulation.
The album’s title is telling, drawing on terminology from Chinese astrology whereby each of the Zodiac’s twelve animal signs is said to have a corresponding inauspicious month—a time considered unlucky to be born. This conceptual and structural anchor for record engenders a world that’s unsettling and inscrutable, yet teeming with violent youthful fervour.
The release is due out via Chaospace’s in-house imprint on August 15th. The Chaospace initiative, which Shinya Lin co-manages, is larger project dedicated to supporting Asian artistsin all disciplines through performing series, events, and recordings.
COVERAGE:
Year-End — The 20 Best Jazz Albums of 2025, PopMatters
Year-End — Sergio Piccirilli, 5 álbumes de 2025: Sergio Piccirilli (honorable mention), El Intruso
List — Agosto 2025 – Le uscite discografiche, Jazz in Family
List — Upcoming Releases, A Closer Listen
List/ News — Steve Smith, For the Record: Aug. 15, 2025., Night After Night
List/ News — 16 more highlights for the second half of August!, The Progspace
List/ Newsletter — A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #88, A Closer Listen
News — Viva Scene
News — Retrofuturista
News — Eksperiment
News — Jazz Music Blog
News — Gpoint Audio
Info — Exposé.org
News/ Social Media — Donos kulturalny
Interview — 15 Questions
Article — Lawrence Peryer, Heavy Tonal — Lingyuan Yang’s Harmonic Friction, The Tonearm
Picks — AMN Picks of the Week, Avant Music News (July 10, 2025)
Picks — Friday Five: August 15, 2025, The Moderns
Picks — CD of the Week, Donos kulturalny
Review — Chris Ingalls, Popmatters
Review — Mike Borella, Avant Music News
Review — Nick Ostrum, Free Jazz Blog
Review — Peter Thelen, Exposé
Review — Emanuele Pavia, Livore
Review — Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz
Review — Eyal Hareuveni, Percorsi Musicale
Review — Émile, Goûte mes disques
Review — Susan Frances, Jazz2Love
Review — David Reed, Belleville Intelligencer
Review — Joseph Neff, The Vinyl District
Review — Greg Burk, Metal Jazz
Mini-Review/ Socials — Clair & obscur
Review/ Round-up — Gianluca Diana, Gli Ultrasuonati #153, Il Manifesto
Review/Round-up — Fabricio Vieira, O que vem por aí…, FreeForm FreeJazz
Review/ Round-up — ALBUM ROUNDUP WEEK ENDING 15 AUGUST 2025, Silent Radio
Round-up/ Mention — Dave Sumner, The Best Jazz on Bandcamp, August 2025, Bandcamp Daily
Round-up/ Mention — Pressing Concerns: Dragnet, Carson McHone, Miss Bones, Dan Darrah & The Rain, Rosy Overdrive
Round-up — 12 album prossimi venturi, Tracci Di Jazz
Round-up/ Socials — Outside Noise (Instagram/ TikTok)
Playlist — Recap 2025 Sesta Parte, Livore
Podcast — Freeform Freakout FFFoxy Podcast #268
Podcast — One Man’s Jazz #1419
Podcast — The Moderns, Ep. 380
Podcast — World Of Jazz #751
Radio/ Chart — Top 10, Jazz, CJSW (October 8, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Top 10, Jazz, CJSW (October 2, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Top 10, Jazz (#2), CJSW (September 25, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — !earshot, Weekly National Jazz Chart (September 23, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30, CJSW (September 18, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Top 10, Jazz, CJSW (September 18, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Top 10, Jazz, CJSW (September 11, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Top 10, Jazz, CJSW (#1) (September 4, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — !earshot, Weekly National Jazz Chart (September 2, 2025)
Radio — No Apologies, WUSB (December 13, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Expresso, Sants 3 Radio (December 9, 2025)
Radio — The Bonsulator with DJ Bonce, WFMU (December 3, 2025)
Radio — FFFoxy Podcast, KMSU (November 17, 2025)
Radio — Currents With Brian D, WFMU (November 15, 2025)
Radio — FFFoxy Podcast, KMSU (November 11, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (October 30, 2025)
Radio — Mooncake, 3RRR (October 9, 2025)
Radio — The Brewing Luminous, WCSB (October 2, 2025)
Radio — (((tone.bender))), MetRadio (September 28, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Tracks, KSQD (September 25, 2025)
Radio — The Brewing Luminous, WCSB (September 25, 2025)
Radio — Alternative To What?, CJSW (September 25, 2025)
Radio — (((tone.bender))), MetRadio (September 21, 2025)
Radio — Breaking The Tethers, CJSW (September 15, 2025)
Radio — Hardly Strictly Americanan, KCSB (September 14, 2025)
Radio — (((tone.bender))), MetRadio (September 14, 2025)
Radio — Conference of the Birds, WRFI (September 12, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (September 11, 2025)
Radio — Rabble Without A Cause, CKCU (September 10, 2025)
Radio — Co w jazzie piszczy, Radio JazzKultura (September 10, 2025)
Radio — Noise, CJSW (September 4, 2025)
Radio — Flight Risk, KOPN (September 3, 2025)
Radio — Breaking the Tethers, CJSW (September 1, 2025)
Radio — Down By The Cuyahoga, WRUW (August 29, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (August 26, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Bazar, CKIA (August 23, 2025)
Radio — Noise, CJSW (August 21, 2025)
Radio — What’s Your Niche?, CJSW (August 21, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (August 19, 2025)
Radio/ Podcast — The Jazz Disturbance (August 18, 2025)
Radio — Hardly Strictly Americana, KCSB (August 17, 2025)
Radio — On The Corner, XRay FM (August 15, 2025)
Radio — Electric Sense, CIUT (August 14, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (August 12, 2025)
Radio — Jazzmanía, RADIO UAQ 89.5 (August 7, 2025)
Radio — Jazzmanía, RADIO UAQ 89.5 (August 6, 2025)
Radio — Jazzmanía, RADIO UAQ 89.5 (August 5, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (August 5, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (July 29, 2025)
Radio — Journey Into Mystery with DJ Stealth, KMNO (July 24, 2025)
Radio — Other Aspects, WAYO (July 20, 2025)
Radio — Department Uno, CJSF (July 4, 2025)
Radio — Conference of the Birds, WRFI (July 4, 2025)
Radio — Electric Sense, CIUT (July 2, 2025)
Radio — It’s Complicated With Dave Mandl, WFMU (June 30, 2025)
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