The Leaf Label launches offshoot, Odda Recordings, inaugural release from Flaer arrives in August

08 June 2023

The Leaf Label has been dazzling us for years and years with its beautiful releases from incredible artists and bands. So we’re over the moon to know they have a new offshoot called Odda Recordings and the first signings have now been revealed. Flaer, the moniker of Leicestershire-based artist, pianist and cellist Realf Heygate, will mark Odda’s inaugural release with a mini-album titled Preludes. On the upcoming release, “Flaer explore[s] themes of memory and the pastoral uncanny”,as the press release describes, “channelling the tension and unease between the pastoral idyll of the English countryside and the darkness which lurks beneath the surface”.

Preludes will see the light of day on August 4th and ahead of it Flaer has unveiled the first gorgeous and gentle single, ‘Follow’. and an accompanying video created by himself. Watch it below.

Watch Divide And Dissolve’s video for new single ‘Indignation’

02 June 2023

Photo: Yatri Niehaus

Systemic, the new album Divide and Dissolve, is set for release on June 30th through Invada and back in April they shared the beautiful, powerful and gripping lead single ‘Blood Quantum’. As we get closer to release day, Divide and Dissolve are teasing the album again with a poignant and potent new single titled ‘Indignation’. The track is “a prayer that land be given back to Indigenous people,” explained saxophonist and guitarist Takiaya Reed. “A hope that future generations no longer experience the atrocities and fervent violence that colonisation continues to bring forth.” ‘Indignation’ is offered with a video directed by Sepi Mashiahof and Reed had this to say about it:

“In reflecting on the powerful and vital messaging found in Divide and Dissolve’s music: decolonization, the destruction of white supremacy, and liberation from oppressive structures—this video is about the collective grief we experience about the lives we all could have were it not for the cruel and arbitrary systems of power that impede each and every one of our potentials. The potential to truly love ourselves and each other is distorted by the agendas of vicious capitalist vultures who seek to emaciate our joys, bonds, and communities for their own gain. This video depicts an abstracted portrait of what suffering under these accelerating conditions feels like. Technology, dysphoria, dream-form sentience, transaction, and depersonalization constitute the thematic palette, laid upon the hope of shedding our current forms and transcending into boundless, beautiful ether.”

Watch the video below.

John Carroll Kirby shares new single ‘Sun Go Down’ from upcoming album Blowout

01 June 2023

Photo: Sela Shiloni

LA based producer, composer and keyboardist John Carroll Kirby is gearing up to release a new album later this month. Entitled Blowout, the album germinated during his stay in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica in 2021, where he was filming an episode of his travelog Kirby’s Gold with the Kawe Calypso Band. Hermeto Pascoal’s legendary performance of ‘Música Da Lagoa’ is cited as a key influence, and Kirby added he was also inspired by “failed utopias” like the Heaven’s Gate cult and Fyre Festival, and the myths that followed. He comments:

“I’m trying to use imagination in music to create my own myths, and keep things playful and funny and not too sanctimonious.”

Blowout arrives on June 30th through Stones Throw but we can already hear the joyous and shimmering ‘Sun Goes Down’. It comes with an accompanying video directed by Zach Sulak and you can watch it now.

Chupame El Dedo release new 7″ single ‘Mi Rehabilitacion’ / ‘No Seas Malo’

30 May 2023

Chupame El Dedo are back with their bonkers and bizarre mix of traditional Colombian music, tropical grindcore and black metal, all well-seasoned with satire. The duo of psychedelic cumbia masters Eblis Alvarez (Meridian Brothers) and Pedro Ojeda (Romperayo) released last Friday a 7” single, Mi ‘Rehabilitacion’ / ‘No Seas Malo’, through Bongo Joe Records. Dive into their musical madness now with ‘Mi Rehabilitaci​ó​n’.

Nadah El Shazly teases new album with new single ‘Bānit’

25 May 2023

There’s wonderful news from Egyptian composer, producer and vocalist Nadah El Shazly who is teasing a forthcoming album with a new single called ‘Bānit’. Haunting and bewitching, ‘Bānit’ conjures up emotions through her sensual and powerful voice. The track comes in the shape of a video performed live at Colors Studio. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more info but for now watch the video below.

Watch Tagua Tagua’s video for ‘Colors’

25 May 2023

Hot on the heels of releasing his album Tanto, Tagua Tagua has shared a video for the sprightly and soulful ‘Colors’. Speaking about the track, musician and composer Felipe Puperi, the man behind the project, explained “it carries a nostalgic wave of a love story that passed and that allowed things to be lived at full power”. One of the last tracks Tagua Tagua wrote before finishing the record, ‘Colors’ radiates a feel good vibe. Rollinos directed and animated the video and you can watch it below.

Tagua Tagua’s Tanto is out now through Wonderwheel Recordings