Listen to Matt McBane’s new single ‘Arpeggiator’

21 January 2025

Photo: Tommy McAdams

We’ve been eagerly waiting for the release of Matt McBane‘s Buoy since the composer, electronic musician, and violinist announced its release at the tail end of last year, alongside the immersively gorgeous and engrossing single ‘Eleven Eleven’. A record of patterns and ambience for synthesizers and violin, Buoy marks McBane’s first electronic album and first solo album and it sprouted from a 2020 performance at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust curated by Laurie Anderson and Arto Lindsay.

Ahead of the album’s release on February 28th through Gradient Music, McBane has shared a new single titled ‘Arpeggiator’. Speaking about the track, he comments:

“With ‘Arpeggiator’, I imagined an intersection of the classical minimalism of Philip Glass and the minimalist techno of Robert Hood. The result is a continuous flow of repeated arpeggios on the violin and synthesizer over drum machine patterns. These all follow strict additive and subtractive processes, moving from patterns of 3 to 4 to 5, etc and back again. The name ‘Arpeggiator’ is a reference to a standard function of synthesizers to automatically arpeggiate held chords — an easy way to create a seemingly virtuosic cascade of notes. In my piece, these arpeggios are played on the violin (in addition to synthesizer) for an actual virtuosic feat of stamina and concentration imitating the machine-generated notes.”

Listen to ‘Arpeggiator’ below and get ready for an exhilarating and kaleidoscopic ride.

Violeta García shares video for lead single ‘IN II’ off upcoming LP IN / OUT

21 January 2025

Photo: Guillermina Muller

Buenos Aires born, Bern based cellist, composer and curator Violeta García has recently announced the release of a new album titled IN / OUT. Releasing on March 7th through Bongo Joe, the forthcoming album was recorded in a cave in Geneva which used to be the city’s water reservoir. Using the natural acoustics of the space, and through extended techniques and prepared instrument, García melded improvisation, composition and new sounds. She explains:

“On ‘IN / OUT’, I delved into compositions exclusively crafted for the violoncello, exploring the concept of recording in a unique location outside of a traditional studio setting. We took all the technicalities underground to an immense tank in Geneva, that once held the city’s water reserve. This innovative proposal to compose and record in this space was suggested by my record label, Bongo Joe.”

García also sheds some light on the creative process:

“In these compositions, I’m focusing on harmonics of the cello with specific tunings, microtonality, and extended techniques, playing with the resonance of the space and the length of the reverberation, which allows for compositions that sound as if they were written for multiple ensemble of cellos. I draw inspiration from composers whose work delves into sacro minimalism and acoustic music, such as La Monte Young, Jürg Frey, Eliane Radigue, Arvo Pärt, among others.”

Alongside the album announcement, García shared the the first single, ‘IN II’, and now she has paired it with a video made by Martin Carpaneto. Watch it below.

Ciao Kennedy announce debut album, Solarium, and share first single ‘Nothing’

19 January 2025

We’re always excited about new releases coming out through Sdban Records, and there’s plenty of good reasons for that in their rich catalogue. Brussels-based quintet Ciao Kennedy is one of the latest bands to join the label and prick up our ears. Hailing from the Namur region, childhood friends Samuel du Fontbaré (guitar), Léopold de San (guitar), Louis Gaillard (keyboards), Gaspard de Bellefroid (bass) and Simon Boonen (drums), formed the band in 2018, releasing three EP’s in the following years, as well as being featured on the compilation Lefto presents Jazz Cats Vol. 3 last spring.

Marking the fruition of two years’ worth of musical experimentation, Ciao Kennedy are gearing up to release their debut album. Entitled Solarium, the album arrives on March 21st and they are teasing it with lead single ‘Nothing’, a “track born out of a moment of collective reflection in a rehearsal room bathed in the fading light of an autumn afternoon in Brussels”. Mesmeric, infectious and immediately enjoyable, ‘Nothing’ distils the group’s essence, “mixing modern electronics with nostalgic post-rock guitars, thriving on hypnotic rhythms and lush textures, crafting and layering instruments into soundscapes”. If ‘Nothing’ is anything to go by, we just can’t wait for March to come. Take a listen now.

Black Flower preview forthcoming album, Kinetic, with second single ‘Synesthetic’

11 January 2025

2025 is gearing up to be a wildly exciting year in music with album drops from artists and bands we love like Black Flower. At the tail end of last year, the Belgian quintet had already announced the release of new album Kinetic, and shared then the brilliant and boisterous lead single ‘Monkey System’. They have now unveiled a treat of a new single called ‘Synesthetic’. Saxophonist, flutist and composer Nathan Daems, who helms the band, describes the inspiration behind the track:

“One morning around 5am, I was lying in bed, my eyes still closed but no longer fully asleep. I heard two birds improvising rapid melodies that became vividly visual. Lines, shapes, and colors appeared instantly, representing the sounds with astonishing detail and complexity.”

Black Flower then explored that imagery channelling it into the vibrant, joyous, and energized ‘Synesthetic’. The single is offered with an accompanying video made by visual artist and video director Philippe Werkers. Watch it below and watch out for the release of Kinetic on January 31st through Sdban Ultra.

Listen to TUKAN’s third single ‘Blinker’

10 January 2025

We’re only a couple of weeks away from the release of TUKAN‘s upcoming album Human Drift, and the Belgian quartet had already shared the riveting and pulsating ‘Pluck’ and the radiant and energized ‘Roda’. As if weren’t excited enough for this release, they are teasing the album again with a new single called ‘Blinker’. An incessantly danceable synths and drums track, the textures on ‘Blinker’ are inspired by sampling. Listen to it below and grab the album when it drops on January 24th through Magma.

David Longstreth and s t a r g a z e set to release Song of the Earth in April

08 January 2025

2025 is starting on a high with Song of the Earth, the newly announced collaborative album from producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter David Longstreth and Berlin-based experimental ensemble s t a r g a z e. A song cycle for orchestra and voices performed by Longstreth with his band Dirty Projectors – Felicia Douglass, Maia Friedman, Olga Bell – and s t a r g a z e, and conducted by André de Ridder, Song of the Earth also features a stellar cast of guest contributors including Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Steve Lacy, Patrick Shiroishi, Anastasia Coope, Tim Bernardes, Ayoni, Portraits of Tracy, and the author David Wallace-Wells.
The first draft of Song of the Earth was written by Longstreth over the course of six “manic” weeks for a commission arranged by s t a r g a z e, in a period where he had to coordinate the pandemic madness, new fatherhood and writing for a large ensemble for the first time. Longstreth comments:

“The need for this music arose in a few days in Fall of 2020, when T was pregnant with our daughter. The fires in California were insane, as they are right now. We got on an empty flight to Juneau. It was the middle of the pandemic; no one was flying. The irony of escaping the fires by burning more carbon.”

According to him, Song of the Earth “is not a ‘climate change opera” but he wanted to “find something beyond sadness: beauty spiked with damage. Acknowledgement flecked with hope, irony, humour, rage.”

Song of the Earth arrives on April 4th through Transgressive Records (UK) and Nonesuch/New Amsterdam Records and we can already get a first marvellous taste from it with album track ‘Uninhabitable Earth, Paragraph One’, taken from the opening paragraph of Wallace-Wells’ 2019 bestseller The Uninhabitable Earth. The single comes with an accompanying lyric video featuring drone footage of Lake Tulare in California, which dried up in the 1880s from agricultural irrigation but has reappeared during periods of wet weather. The video was shot by Jake Longstreth and you can watch it below.