Tyondai Braxton is back with fifth album, Splayed Werks

19 May 2026

Photo: Ebru Yıldız

News of a new album from Tyondai Braxton fills us with excitement. The prodigious composer and producer has announced his new album Splayed Werks, marking his first full-length release since his 2022 symphonic record Telekinesis, as well as his first release on The Leaf Label. Braxton, who’s one of the most daring, ambitious and brilliant artists out there, boasts an incredible body of work, both solo and collaboratively, including Battles, a duo with Philip Glass, commissioned work for Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Alarm Will Sound, Third Coast Percussion, Brooklyn Rider, Kronos Quartet, New York’s Wordless Music Orchestra, and Yarn/Wire, amongst many other projects.

In the course of fifteen tracks and over 70 minutes of electronics and sound design, we are taken for a wild stroll drawing influences from Aphex Twin and Autechre, to Mica Levi and Laurel Halo, and also a few of his collaborators, like Kieran “Four Tet” Hebden, Jeffrey Cantu-Ledesma and Ben Vida. As the press release describes, “it’s a world in which the multitude of dirty rhythms strays far outside club-land’s big rooms”. Splayed Werks features mostly newer compositions but also some pieces composed over the last decade. With his new album, Braxton ventures boldly into even more ambitious sonic territory. He comments:

“My philosophy on releasing music has changed a lot, but also my idea of what it means to be an artist. The important part of the artist’s job is to archive what you’re doing—what you’re excited about, what you’re dealing with, what you’re reacting against—putting that in a form that documents your life… At the moment, we’re all looking out into the world, dealing with the helplessness in a time of war, media over-saturation. What’s the role of the artist in that? I think the archiving of any particular creative idea in the moment is one of the most significant things an artist can do now. Things I previously thought were important—’this piece means so much to me,’ or ‘listen to how this chord arrived’—are actually much less so.”

Braxton’s sonic world is a fascinating one, evolving in an adventurous and compelling way. He says:

“Every record I’ve ever finished, I’ve been shocked with what it is. I’ve never known it was finished until it was. Then you get to learn about it retroactively. If I’ve done it right, the finished thing will feel like its own personality, its own being, its own vibe. [Splayed Werks] included.”

Get ready for the absolute banger that is lead single ‘UnFS’, serving as a tantalising introduction to the album, ahead of its release on August 21st. Braxton describes the track as “a Rubik’s cube of sound, rough hewn samples fashioned into a functionally impaired dance track.” Take a listen now.

Alexander Noice returns with new album Perpetually and Forever

18 May 2026

Photo: Lisette Duran

We’re a little late on this one, but as soon as we pressed play on the new material from Alexander Noice, it grabbed our ears and hearts instantly. We knew it would! He released a wild and extraordinary self-titled album in 2019, which made it to our Album Picks of the Year. The brilliant and endlessly inventive composer, guitarist, producer and bandleader is back with a new album titled Perpetually and Forever. Arriving on June 12th through Orenda Records, the latest chapter in Noice’s wide and ever-evolving world finds him continuing to explore new musical horizons. As the press release describes, the record blends “glimmering synth textures, heavy 808-driven beats, processed pianos, pitch-shifted woodwinds, and inventive timbral manipulations into intricate layers that move between intimacy and expansiveness”. Encapsulating different feelings, the album “captur[es] the collision of past promises and present truths, nostalgia and disillusionment, despair and perseverance.”

Ahead of the album’s release, Noice has teased the album with two singles, ‘Frank Defends Himself’, and more recently ‘Ayler in Loghaven’. Unique, rich and enthralling, both tracks display the boundless scope of the upcoming Perpetually and Forever. Take a listen below.

To tide you over until the album’s release, check out the excellent guest mixtape Alexander Noice put together for us back in February 2020.

Blind Yeo set to release debut album, The Lemoine Point

14 May 2026

Photo: Ellie Ramsden

Blind Yeo have announced their debut album The Lemoine Point, an eight-track release drawing on various genres and influences, including psychedelia, folk, desert blues, Krautrock and North African trance-rock. Based in Falmouth on the Cornish coast, the band have become closely tied to the town’s creative community, growing around local venue The Cornish Bank. Founded by singer and guitarist Will Greenham, Blind Yeo work more as an ever-changing collective of multidisciplinary musicians than a fixed band, with different collaborators passing through the project over time. The Lemoine Point explores themes of grief, spirituality and connection, but there’s also a strong sense of joy running through it all.

The album arrives on August 28th through Bongo Joe Records and as an exciting introduction to it, Blind Yeo have shared lead single ‘Colour Pillow / Kologo’, an hypnotic, warm and rhythmic track, inspired in part by the sound of the kologo, a traditional instrument from Ghana often played during funeral ceremonies. That contrast between mourning and joy sits at the centre of the song, and it captures what Blind Yeo do so well. As Greenham puts it, the project exists to “remind ourselves, and anyone listening, that there are things which connect us… even when everything around us is trying to divide us.”

‘Colour Pillow / Kolog’ comes with an accompanying video directed by Ruby Ingleheart and you can watch it below.

Rizomagic announce new album, Cumbión Planetario; share lead single ‘Plutarco (ft. Conjunto Media Luna)’

11 May 2026

Colombian duo Rizomagic have announced the release of their new full-length album, Cumbión Planetario. Rising out of Bogotá’s fertile experimental scene, Rizomagic are Edgar Marún and Diego Manrique, who first connected in 2020 while studying music. The pair combine cumbia, dub, downtempo electronics and psychedelic experimentation into something they describe as “Psychotropicolombian Futurism.” On the forthcoming Cumbión Planetario, Rizomagic draw inspiration from Cumbia Rebajada, but instead of slowing tracks down after recording, they compose directly at lower tempos. The record also pulls from a wide range of influences and traditions, including Indonesian gamelan, East African mbira music, Colombian Currula, Tanzanian Singeli and experimental electronic styles, all filtered through Bogotá’s contemporary underground scene. Edgar and Diego comment:

“In Rizomagic, cumbia and tropical Colombian rhythms are approached not as a fixed genre but as a living, evolving system — a sonic flow that branches, mutates, and connects with other musical languages. Through the lens of rhizomatic thinking, we weave Colombian tropical traditions with soundscape textures and electronic processes, creating a Pangean-futurist sound where diverse knowledge and cultures coexist without hierarchy.”

Much of the record took shape during a residency at La Becque in Switzerland, where the surrounding landscape became a major influence on the music. Diego explains:

“Nature, and especially birdsongs, guided us in finding melodies. On the album, you will find melodies that are birdsongs heard daily in La Becque, which was also a strong influence on composers such as Olivier Messiaen and of many cumbia composers as Andres Landero (Example: La Pava Congona).”

There’s also a fascination with tuning systems and resonance running through the album. Rizomagic developed parts of the music using planetary tuning concepts inspired by Swiss physicist Hans Cousto, based on cosmic vibrations. The group explains:

“We’ve found that this system induces really calm and trance-like peaceful states of mind, while still rooted in rhythm and dance, we’ve found that this tuning system helps us relate ancestral knowledge with a broader cosmic awareness.”

We’ll have to wait until June 26th for Cumbión Planetario to be out though Soundway Records, but we can already get an hypnotic introduction to it with lead single ‘Plutarco’ featuring Conjunto Media Luna on accordion. Take a listen below.

Akusmi teases second album, Terra Incognita, with lead single ‘Anima’

06 May 2026

Photo: Dan Medhurst

Akusmi, the brainchild project of French-born, London-based composer Pascal Bideau, has announced the release of his second album, Terra Incognita, following 2022’s Fleeting Future. Across seven tracks, Bideau blends global and spiritual jazz with minimal repeating patterns, taking cues from Afrobeat, Highlife and electronic Afro-pop. Terra Incognita expands his palette into something more open and tactile, built around layered rhythms and shifting patterns. A feeling of discovery is central, as Pascal explains:

“It’s probably the feeling I love the most in life. It pushes you into a state of wonder and naivety that brings you back to how everything felt when you were a child.

It’s the sensation you get when you visit a place you’ve never been before, where nothing makes sense and everything needs to be learnt from scratch. There are no cultural references, no familiarity, just a constant flux of new colours, smells, social and moral codes.”

To bring the album to life, Bideau enlisted a stellar cast of contributors, including virtuoso tabla player and drummer Sarathy Korwar, Senegalese musician Dudú Kouate, longtime collaborator Daniel Brandt, and Marysia Osu of Levitation Orchestra, alongside Lluís Domènech Plana. Bideau plays a wide range of instruments, with the alto sax remaining pivotal. As Bideau explains, “It’s the link that connects everything together, half-narrator, half-explorer, ambling along and reacting in real time”.

Improvisation also plays a key role in the upcoming album, with parts layered and reworked into dense and rhythmic compositions. The result is a record that treats sound as a shifting landscape, as Bideau puts it:

“This album is a travel diary from an unexplored land: experiencing something never encountered before and the excitement that comes with it.”

Terra Incognita arrives on July 3rd through Tonal Union and today, alongside the album announcement, Bideau has shared the lead single ‘Anima’. Bright, entrancing and uplifting, ‘Anima’ will undoubtedly spruce up your spirits. Here it is.

Nana Osei Twum Barima set to release debut album, Journey to the Unknown, in June

04 May 2026

Ghanaian singer, multi-instrumentalist and seperewa player Nana Osei Twum Barima has announced his debut album Journey to the Unknown, a record informed by his move from Ghana to Belgium, his family’s musical lineage and a period of major personal change. Blending traditional Ghanaian forms like Kunduma and Nwomkro with influences picked up in Europe, the upcoming album has a strong focus on acoustic storytelling. The seperewa, a traditional harp-lute tied closely to Nana’s heritage, is central to the project. “I’m keeping the tradition, but also playing it my way,” he says. The album also features collaborations with Belgian blues veteran Roland Van Campenhout and Antwerp-based sitar player Nicolas Mortelmans.

Journey to the Unknown reflects a leap into the unknown, just like the one Nana took. Moving to Belgium without a clear plan, Nana found himself navigating a completely new environment alone. “I didn’t really have a concrete plan, that’s why it’s a journey to the unknown. I just knew I wanted to build my own world,” he explains. That sense of uncertainty runs through the album, alongside a more hopeful perspective as he puts it, “Sometimes you are lost, but maybe you are lost in the right direction.”

His connection to music goes back generations, but committing to it fully only came after the death of his father in 2017. “I lost my dad on the 1st of January 2017,” he recalls. “It was very shocking. We are five siblings, so after that I had to become a man.” A vivid dream ultimately changed his direction toward music, as he explains:

“I had a dream that I was in a forest, and I was looking for a tree to make an instrument. Then I saw my great grandfather, and he handed me the perfect piece of wood. When I woke up, I knew I had to follow music.”

Nana was also encouraged by his grandmother, also a musician, whose support helped him commit fully. “When I told her I wanted to continue with seperewa, she told me, ‘Now I can die in peace,’ and then she blessed me,” he says. “She started recording stuff for me, because she wanted to give me all the information before she died.”

Ahead of the album’s release on June 12th through Zephryus, Nana has shared two singles. The first, ‘Belgium and Rain’, features Roland Van Campenhout, and draws from his arrival in Brussels and how a difficult first night gradually took on new meaning: “I realised it’s going to rain anyway, so I just have to learn to love it.” The latest single to emerge, ‘Message to My Ancestors’, captures a difficult moment of doubt and questioning, as he explains, “I wrote this when I was really struggling. I am asking my ancestors, Is this what life is about? Why didn’t you tell us?”. Listen to both tracks below.