Album Review : Mohammad Syfkhan –‘I Am Kurdish’ : Bouzouki driven song and dance soul- music which makes a mighty impression.
Singer/ bouzouki player Mohammad Syfkhan’s bio underlines the fact that some back stories are more important than others. His journey to the release of his debut solo album ‘I Am Kurdish’ on Nyahh Records, while clearly fuelling his joyous North African electric dance sounds, has significance that extends far beyond music. Syfkhan began playing the …
Premiere: Art-Rock non-conformists Be Kind Cadaver preview epic EP with title track, ‘The World’s Greatest Mind’.
Avid Backseat Mafia explorers might remember this name (although it’s hard to forget) Be Kind Cadaver and their attention seizing EP from last July ‘Post Partum’ (re-check the review HERE ). A set that pulsated to an angsty industrial soundtrack with shoegaze shards and a leaning towards the cathartic chorus, these were songs that didn’t …
Album Review : Champagne Dub – ‘Rainbow’ : Space-dub and cosmic grooves with a distinct kick.
There are ‘drummers’ and there are ‘more than drummers’. ‘Drummers’ play the drums very well as they move from gig to gig, band to band, session to session. ‘More than drummers’ can also do this but they naturally do the ‘more’. Composing, producing, band leading, improvising, collaborating and beyond, think Charles Hayward or Jim White …
Track/Video: A statement of scale and integrity – Montreal ensemble FYEAR preview the dramatic ‘Pt.1 Trajectory’ from upcoming debut album.
So the presser says “FYEAR interrogates our present and future post-capitalist polycrisis“. Any creative project aiming to probe into that vortex would require scale, focus, finesse and integrity, which are exactly the qualities that this Montreal convened collective possess. Led by composer/ saxophonist Jason Sharp and poet/novelist Kaie Kellough, FYEAR have been sculpting their resonant …
Album Review: Ëda Diaz– Suave Bruta : electro – Colombian rhythms and song for today.
Bridges are not just about the places and people they connect, crossing them is an experience in itself. Colombian singer/bassist and song-writer Ëda Diaz’s music is a thrilling reminder of the wonders such a journey can deliver. As a child she shuttled regularly between Paris and Medellin with her French Colombian family, absorbing the languages, …
Track/Video : Bristol’s mysterious Claude Cooper returns with the stomping retro-blast of ‘Stay A While’
So Claude Cooper is back with us. You should remember a couple of years ago this illusive, apparently Bristolian producer and Bedminster beatmaster delivered the essential ‘Myriad Sounds’ LP, a rugged funky jazz extravaganza that took the Rip Rig and Panic spirit to new levels of potency. The clues to the greatness were always there …
Track/Video : More dazzling Brazilian alt pop – Arthur Melo delivers ‘Na Avenida com Benito’ ahead of new album.
The wave of new Brazilian pop continues to swell without any sign of crashing. Last year Bala Desejo and Ana Frango Elétrico hit pundits and punters’ ‘Best of 2023’ lists with albums that brought a fresh burst of creative abandon onto the scene. So what of 2024? Well alongside the whispers of that other front-runner, …
Track/Video : Ambient/ Post-classical composer Madeleine Cocolas previews new album with the tidal power of ‘Bodies II’.
The sound of music or the music of sound? Australian composer and producer Madeleine Cocolas has always been an artist who finds no need to differentiate in her inspired post-classical/ambient work. Her 2018 album ‘Metropolitan’ wove the sonic pulse of software as it analysed artworks from the New York Met into a musical homage to …
Track/Video : Heavy doom protagonists The Body & Dis Fig preview new collaborative album with the explosive ‘Dissent, Shame’.
‘Collabs’ – are they anything more than product placement these days? Well in some worlds driven less by the algorithm, collaboration still has a meaning and a purpose. Step forward the indispensable Thrill Jockey Records and news of an incoming album ‘Orchards of a Futile Heaven’ due 23rd Feb, from the artistic coupling of The …
Track/Video : Singer/composer Erika Angell previews the intense ‘One’ from her bold new album ‘The Obsession With Her Voice’.
Wow this could be cathartic and courageous. As the catalyst to fire her debut solo album Swedish born now Montreal based vocalist, composer and producer Erika Angell reaches deep into her childhood memories and the first time she sang, aged four. ‘The Obsession With Her Voice’ will be released through Constellation on 8th March and …