Album Review: Star Feminine Band – In Paris : Afro-pop energy from Benin’s ‘band like no other’.
If you missed catching onto the joyous pop of Star Feminine Band when their self-titled debut burst onto the scene a couple of years ago, then now is the time to get connected with their second album ‘In Paris’ available from 7th October through Born Bad Records. This all-girl, teenage group from Natitingou village, Benin …
Album Review: Jessica Moss – Galaxy Heart: art-rock atmospheres with an enduring soul.
What will we think of lock down records when we listen back to them in years to come? Introspective music from a time of looking inwards because the outside world just stood still? Or maybe there was more space to dream, to take more risks, to break free from constraints because everything ahead was unknown. …
New Track/video: More bumping 80’s funk: Soundway preview ground-breaking Argentinian electro compilation ‘Sintesis Moderna’ with single ’Como Son Los Retratos’.
A few weeks back those flawless global beat curators at Soundway Records announced the 21st October release of their next ‘must have’ artefact ‘Síntesis Moderna: An Alternative Vision Of Argentinian Music 1980-1990‘. Meticulously put together by Argentinian DJ/ producers Ric Piccolo and Ariel Harari, a pair of tireless crate diggers turning the spotlight on their …
Track/Video: ‘Go-to’ instrumentalist Amir Yaghmai slips into the solo spotlight with ‘White Turtleneck’ from soon come debut ‘Go Bozo’.
Don’t you just love labels that do things differently? LA’s Colorfield Records are on a mission driven by the search for spontaneity, coaxing consummate musicians from session and backing bands to step out of the shadows themselves and record their own music. Plus to add more energy to the proceedings, the debutants are encouraged to …
Track/Video: Sao Paulo soul on the rise -Tagua Tagua releases sultry cut ‘Tanto’ ahead of new album announcement.
It feels like a new wave of Brazilian pop is about to break. This year we have seen Sessa’s lush neo-tropicalia impress widely with the release of his beguiling ‘Estrella’. Now comes news from renowned global dance pace-setters Wonderwheel Recordings of the spring album release by Felipe Puperi (a.k.a Tagua Tagua). Acclaimed in his home …
Album Review: Sam Wilkes & Jacob Mann – Perform the compositions of Sam Wilkes & Jacob Mann: weird and wonderful nu-jazz connections.
You know the crusty old adage ‘it’s a small world’, well tired as it might be it still has resonance for musicians. Take L.A. underground experimenters Sam Wilkes and Jacob Mann, they go back a long way. Meeting as students at USC music school, bass playing, multi-instrumentalist Wilkes and keyboard-centric Mann have been crossing musical …
Album Review: Steve Bates – All The Things That Happen: Elemental sounds for a wild world.
Some ‘ambient music’ can often come across as ambivalent, leaving the listener floating but uncommitted, relaxed but possibly underwhelmed. ‘All The Things That Happen’, the debut solo album from Canadian musician and sound artist Steve Bates (available from Constellation 23rd September), could superficially pick up the broad ambient tag except this fine record gouges out …
Track/Video: Supersonic jazz groove machine Edrix Puzzle fire off ‘V 11’ and announce debut album ‘Coming Of The Moon Dogs’
For a go-to drummer like Nathan ‘Tugg’ Curran (see Basement Jaxx, Kano, Gorgon City and more) those recent pandemic times could have felt like a grinding pause but rather than kicking back he used the space to re-energise his own music. From Curran’s foundations of dancefloor syncopation, techno templates, future jazz visions and funk fuelled …
Album Review: Nyati Mayi & The Astral Synth Transmitters -‘Lulanga Tales’: electro- African fusion that reaches higher.
Some people are extraordinary singers and some people have extraordinary voices. As a vocalist Nyati Mayi probably falls into the latter bag, able to project a stunning range of notes, tones, textures and feelings often within the same song. The thing with an extraordinary voice is that sometimes it needs grounding, a foundation that prevents …
Track/Video: Art pop partners Flash Amazonas release surf punk agitator ‘Ululo’, ahead of their ‘uva-uva’ album
Convention doesn’t extend to the art pop mission of Flash Amazonas. The loose partnership between Madrid based alt-pop purveyor Julian Mayorga and Japanese producer/instrumentalist Ryota Miyake has gradually morphed into band form since their encounters at the Red Bull Music Academy in 2015. Exchanging wonky WAVS and sketchy CD-Rs before returning to their respective homes …