Album Review: The Circling Sun –‘Orbits’: the spiritual jazz collective return refreshed and vital as ever.
The ever-orbiting Aotearoa/New Zealand based cosmic jazz big band The Circling Sun are clearly on a roll. After building a live reputation on the NZ scene for well over a decade, their first album ‘Spirits’ appeared in 2023 and made some commotion beyond their home shores. Here was a massive new sound, a fermentation of …
Album Review: Charbel Haber, Nicolás Jaar and Sary Moussa- ‘Crashing waves…’: A breath-taking electro-acoustic journey which reaches beyond the moment.
Disseminating experimental/alternative music from the myriad of vibrant scenes across the SWANA region to the wider world has been Ruptured Music’s generous undertaking for over fifteen years. Its creative source keeps giving and its curational insight keeps providing. Enter amongst the label’s significant June releases, the poignantly titled ‘Crashing waves dance to the rhythm set …
Track/Video: Tape looping soundscaper Blank For.ms previews incoming album with the gently powerful ‘Formed By The Slide’.
It seems a long way from big band composition to becoming a tape loop/analogue wiz but that’s the trajectory Brooklyn based musician Tyler Gilmore aka Blank For.ms has journeyed. Schooled in jazz he moved to New York where he hooked up with Conservatory buddy and pianist Jason Moran to work on large ensemble arrangements. But …
Album Review: Universal Affirmation Ensemble – ‘Unconditional Propositions’: Daring experimental rock inspired by Gamelan’s rich intensity.
The second release of the venerable Katuktu Collective’s spring offering sees the Californian label open our ears to some new sonic adventures with drummer and composer Justin Devries. For his solo debut ‘Unconditional Propositions’ the Vancouver-based musician has gathered together the Universal Affirmation Ensemble, a group of players from across Canada, like-minded in their boundary …
Album Review: Me Lost Me –‘This Material Moment’: Jayne Dent’s avant-folk takes another great leap forward.
As the Broadside Hacks/ Shovel Dance Collective avant-folk momentum rolls on, it does well to remember that Newcastle’s Jayne Dent aka Me Lost Me has been stretching those traditional boundaries since the release of her inspired debut ‘Arcana’ way back in 2018. An album set in a trad frame but with a feisty experimental intent, …
Album Review: Franz Von –‘Take What You Want’: Conscious hip hop on the fusion front foot.
If you’re a gig goer who’s ever crossed paths with the fusion blast of TC & The Groove Family or going back further been levelled by Kweku Sackey, aka K.O.G, in his Zong Brigade days, then the chances are you’ve encountered Franz Von, out front in full flow. That sharp delivery, those spikey, incisive rhymes, …
Album Review: I Am Fya – ‘Homeland’: A future dub, avant pop, deep searching story that makes for vivid listening.
Manchester’s I Am Fya’s new audio-visual album ‘Homeland’ is a project that’s been evolving for some time. She swaggered into the electronic, avant-pop arena with the punchy ‘A Womxn’ debut in 2019, a dark dub, twitchy glitch, post-mod RnB drill down into socio-sexual dynamics. It was some announcement followed up by a string of forceful …
Album Review: Madalitso Band-‘Ma Gitala’: More pulsating, street band afrobeat from the unstoppable Malawian duo.
Obviously no-one has told the irrepressible Madalitso Band about the third album wobble. The Malawian roots duo, Yosefe Kalekeni and Yobu Maligwa, are a partnership who take everything in their stride, including their steep rise from years spent busking on the Lilongwe streets to delivering knock-out sets at recent Roskilde and WOMAD fests. Supported by …
Album Review: Tavare-‘Too Small To Be So High’: A delicate and solemn slow core triumph.
Trying to keep track of Canadian experimental guitarist and composer Aidan Baker’s recorded output since his first release in 2000 is an almost impossible challenge. The Discogs bible lists around 170 albums under his name and that’s not including the stuff he’s created as part of bands like Arc and Nadja. Baker has become a …
Album Reviews: Nadah El Shazly -‘Laini Tani’: The evocative voice of Cairo’s leftfield scene delivers a soul-searching stunner.
Where is Egyptian-born, Montreal-based producer, vocalist, composer, Nadah El Shazly likely to be heading with her second solo album ‘Laini Tani’ (out now on One Little Independent)? From a starting point in the Egyptian capital’s only Misfits cover band to a debut album, ‘Ahwar’ which placed her at the centre of the Cairo leftfield scene, …