
Album Review: Seljuk Rustum – Cardboard Castles : melodic, mischevious and magical, fresh soundscapes and songs from Southern India.
Womad used to run the strapline ‘bringing you the best music you’ve never heard’. Well the sonic explorers at Hive Mind Records are working on their own version of the same mission. Theirs is an internationalist mindset, navigating the rich expanse of contemporary global music and sharing the work of forward thinkers with a similar …

News/Tracks: Coming soon – two lo-fi funk lost gems ‘Thrust’ and ‘Thrust Too’, kickstarting an overdue retrospective of Wilbur Niles seminal grooves.
A label that does the crate digging for you, Toronto’s We Are Busy Bodies have announced a gold dust reissue series shining a light on the work of guitarist/producer Wilbur Niles. Much sampled but seldom celebrated this lo-fi funk luminary based in Cleveland, Ohio made infectious groove music crackling with unrestrained soul, jazz and rock …

News/Track – Ambient composer Matthewdavid presents the ‘On Mushrooms’EP, electronic collages with a celestial energy.
Los Angeles located Leaving Records have never followed the record label template. It’s more a community of experimental who see releasing music as part of their reaching out. Matthewdavid has been at the hub of this wheel of creativity since 2008, co-founding Leaving with artist Jesselisa Moretti and steadily releasing his own music via the …

Album Review: Fågelle – ‘Den svenska vreden’: Experimental, poetic songs of inner rage and soaring beauty.
It’s no lazy shortcut to describe Fågelle’s arresting new album as ‘quivering with rage’ as this phrase captures the record’s emotional complexity with chilling accuracy. ‘Den svenska vreden’, available now on Medication Time Records, finds experimental dark pop communicator Klara Andersson (aka Fågelle) expressing her own seething inner tensions in songs of raw beauty and …

Album Review : New Age Doom & Lee Scratch Perry – Remix The Universe : a daring excavation of The Upsetter’s parting gift.
This is exactly how Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry would have liked it now that he’s left us. Not just commemoration with a stream of inevitable reissues or out-take raids from his archive but something more vibrant, new music with him providing its soul. Dial back to November 2021 when the legendary Upsetter performed as the inspirational …

Track: Sao Paulo’s Tagua Tagua delivers natural nu-soul vibes with ‘Colors’, a taster from new album ‘Tanto’.
Signs are that Sao Paulo singer-songwriter Felipe Puperi (a.k.a Tagua Tagua) is really finding his groove. Known in Brazil for his sharp production work and fronting the slick alt-rockers Wannabe Jalva, his debut solo record, 2019’s Inteiro Metade, turned the spotlight on Puperi as a crafter of fresh tunes leaning in a soul pop direction. …

News/Track/Video : Jazz-funk fusionists Caixa Cubo preview new album ‘Agôra’ with hot-stepping single ‘Sábado’.
Need pepping up then Sao Paulo trio Caixa Cubo may help with the sharp grooved energetic funk of their new single Sábado. Channeling the racy pace and dynamism of their home city, Henrique Gomide (keys), João Fideles (drums) and Noa Stroeter (bass) never look back as they switch and swerve through this bustling jazz fusion/samba …

Track/Video: Geneva’s own lo-fi mini choir Alice preview new album ‘L’Oiseau Magnifique’- avant-folk with art-punk edge.
As sixties singer-poet Pete Brown maintained ‘Things may come and things may go but the art-school dance goes on forever’. Well Genevan trio Alice would definitely go down well at that kind of hop. Formed in 2018 to perform at the Swiss city’s Deviant Art Festival by mother and daughter Yvonne and Lisa Harder plus …

Track/Video : Revered pianist/composer Neil Cowley previews ‘Ticker Tape’, a spirit raising burst from incoming album ‘Battery Life’.
From banging out hymns at his school assembly to playing Shostakovich (with Orchestra) on a South Bank Centre stage as a 10 year old to filling the keys’ seat through the nineties and noughties for the Brand New Heavies, Zero 7 and a bit later someone called Adele, Londoner Neil Cowley’s piano skills have taken …

Track/Video: Lo-fi soul-jazz voyager Lionmilk releases ‘no question/shaneen’, the opening communication from incoming album ‘Intergalatic Warp Terminal 222’
To label LA based musician/ producer Moki Kawaguchi’s work as Lionmilk a solo project is something of a paradox. Yes his music focuses on a singular pursuit, an exploration of sounds, loops, spoken word, electronic experiments and brief improvisations recorded lo-fi and alone for inner contentment. ‘Music to feel less whack to’ as he puts …