Skyjack’s fourth album, Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet, out now

14 July 2026

Photo: Jeremie Luke

We’re a little late catching this one, but Skyjack‘s Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet is simply too good to let slip by and it has now firmly settled into our hearts. Formed in Cape Town in 2013, Skyjack is a five-piece collective spread between South Africa and Switzerland, featuring Kyle Shepherd (piano), Shane Cooper (bass), Jonno Sweetman (drums), Andreas Tschopp (trombone) and Marc Stucki (saxophones). Released earlier this month through Kujua Records, Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet brings together South African jazz traditions, European improvisation, chamber music, deep grooves and an adventurous spirit. “This record is a very articulate representation of our sound, having grown deep roots into the earth with high branches reaching upward and outward”, says bassist Shane Cooper. “My desire is always to create sonic universes that can envelope the listener.”

After exchanging ideas remotely across two continents, the group reunited in Johannesburg, developed the new material on tour across South Africa, and then headed to a secluded studio outside Stellenbosch, where most of the album was recorded live in first takes. Across twelve pieces, the music moves effortlessly between meditative passages, rich orchestration and exhilarating improvisation, inspired by South Africa’s cultural and natural landscapes.

For a taster of what’s on offer here’s two sublime and exhilarating tracks, the title track and ‘Radiate’.


Trá Pháidín announce new album, Cloch ‘s Claí, and share first single ‘An Béal Bocht’

13 July 2026

Photo: Sara Leslie

Trá Pháidín have unveiled details of their forthcoming album, Cloch ‘s Claí (Stone & Wall), due for release on September 25th through World of Echo. Formed in 2019, the ever-shifting collective brings together musicians from across Ireland, who draw from Irish traditional music, and various other influences like jazz, folk and krautrock. Deeply rooted in Gaeilge and the culture of the Gaeltacht, they’ve become one of the most distinctive and adventurous voices to emerge from the contemporary traditional scene.

Marking their first release for World of Echo, Cloch ‘s Claí takes Ireland’s dry-stone walls as both its inspiration and central metaphor, using them as a lens to explore the Gaeltacht, the Irish language and wider social themes. Across ten tracks, the album embraces the improvisational nature of traditional music, with each performance taking on a different shape.

To herald the announcement, Trá Pháidín have shared the first single, ‘An Béal Bocht’, an exuberant and jubilant track inspired by Myles na gCopaleen’s 1941 classic novel An Béal Bocht. The single comes with an accompanying video directed by Peadar Tom Mercier, and you can watch it below.

Devendra Banhart, Gyan Riley & Noah Georgeson team up for new project HUG; announce self-titled debut album

13 July 2026

Photo: Christian Stavros

HUG is the new trio bringing together Devendra Banhart, Gyan Riley and Noah Georgeson, a joining of kindred spirits whose musical paths have been intertwining for decades. Riley, the son of minimalist pioneer Terry Riley, and Georgeson grew up together in the artistic community of Nevada City, California, where a shared obsession with classical guitar first brought them together. “Being thirteen and completely obsessed with classical guitar,” he says, “there were few people I could bond with over that… Basically just my teacher and Noah.” Georgeson and Banhart have been close collaborators since the early days of Banhart’s career. Speaking about the project’s beginnings, Banhart recalls: “Everything was sparkling and I felt like a little kid, and so I knew—we must play.”

Those long-standing connections have now yielded their self-titled debut album, arriving on September 11th through Luaka Bop. Although the record was written and recorded in just a few weeks, it draws on years of friendship and creative exchange, with the three musicians moving effortlessly between folk, ambient and experimental sounds.

Leading the album announcement is ‘Cow With Half Moon Parasol’, an utterly beautiful, enchanting and absorbing track that cuts right to the heart. The single is offered with a visualizer and you can watch it below.

Charlotte Greve set to release debut solo album, Waterbodies, in October; shares lead single ‘Membranes’

08 July 2026

Photo: Annika Nagel Photography

Five years on from the release of Sediments We Move, German-born, Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer and singer Charlotte Greve has announced the release of Waterbodies, arriving on October 2nd through New Amsterdam Records. The record marks the first release under her own name, following nine albums released through various band projects and collaborations.

Produced by Shahzad Ismaily, the album features an impressive group of collaborators including the New York-based vocal ensemble KHORIKOS and the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. Written while Greve was pregnant with her first child, Waterbodies finds her bringing together the many different sides of her musical life, “shifting from spoken word to a full symphony orchestra, improvised jazz to bizarro synth-pop, power ballads to the serene, arpeggiated album closer”, as the press release describes. Charlotte comments:

“Although this is my 10th release, in many ways it feels like a debut. It captures the full range of what I’ve been drawn to musically. Rather than narrowing things down, I wanted to open them up, placing these disparate influences side by side and trusting their connection would come through because they’re all channeled through me.”

Soon after finding out she was pregnant, a friend encouraged her to record the album before the baby arrived, leading Greve to capture this particular moment in her creative life, resulting in a record that moves through many different landscapes. “This is the most holistic representation of my musical interests,” she says. “I wanted it to feel like a playground — the opposite of an easy-to-sell, career-minded, one-kind-of-thing record. In some ways, it made no sense. I was pregnant and pouring my money into something that was clearly not commercial. But this was a personal wish. Something I felt I had to do.”

She continues:

“With Waterbodies, I hope to invite the audience to experience the music as if walking through a film. Contrasting scenes unfold one after another, yet remain connected by a common thread.”

Coinciding with the album announcement, Greve has shared the first single from the album, ‘Membranes’, a bright and captivating track. The song reflects on the experience of holding different parts of oneself together and allowing them to exist alongside each other. “Membranes is a song about the challenge of carrying several hearts in one breast and wanting to feed them all,” explains Greve. “As a kid, I lived like a chameleon, changing my clothing, language and behavior, depending on who I was spending time with and where. The older I grew, the bigger the wish to combine all the different shapes and forms, both in my character as well as in my music. Let them all live alongside each other – the picture of the semi permeable membrane captured this desirable way of living for me.”

Listen to ‘Membranes’ now.

Echoes of Zoo preview upcoming third album, Collective Intelligence, with lead single ‘Flock Logic’

08 July 2026

There’s wonderful news from Echoes of Zoo, who have announced their third album, Collective Intelligence, arriving on October 2nd through Rebel Up! and Zephyrus Records. Bringing together Nathan Daems, Bart Vervaeck, Lieven Van Pée and Falk Schrauwen, whose credits also include other favourite outfits like Black Flower, Compro Oro and De Beren Gieren, the Belgian quartet continue to refine a distinctive musical language that draws from jazz, psychedelic rock, dub, African rhythmic traditions and adventurous improvisation. Inspired by the collective behaviour found throughout the natural world, the forthcoming Collective Intelligence takes swarms, flocks and ecosystems as its central point of departure. The album explores the forms of cooperation and communication that emerge between species, asking what they might reveal about the ways humans organise, respond and coexist.

Leading the announcement is ‘Flock Logic’, an exhilarating and electrifying first single sparked by the band’s time touring Brazil in early 2024. Watching vast flocks of birds move in perfect synchrony, while absorbing the infectious rhythmic energy of carnival, planted the seeds for the track. Echoes of Zoo comment:

“We had seen flocks of birds whirling in the sky and were wondering how they could navigate collectively as one mind. The madness of the carnival helped us to percolate some ideas for grooves and melodies into a hypnotic frenzy which finally became this energetic song.”

Listen to ”Flock Logic’ below.

Àbáse & Kacsó Hanga unveil collaborative new track ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’

07 July 2026

Àbáse‘s Awakening was one of our Album Picks of 2024, so we’re naturally excited to hear he has a new single out. ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’ finds the Berlin-based Hungarian producer, composer, improviser and keyboardist reconnecting with the folk traditions of his native Hungary, blending Hungarian folk music, jazz, hip-hop, electronic and avant-garde classical music. ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’ brings together an inspired cast of collaborators, including Hungarian folk singer Kacsó Hanga, cimbalom virtuoso Jenő Lisztes, bassist Petter Eldh, drummer Silvan Strauss and saxophonist Otis Sandsjö. Built around the music of composer Márta István, it also draws on Mihály Vörösmarty’s 1830 poem Fekete Szem and a folk melody collected by Béla Bartók, all reworked through Àbáse’s distinctive musical lens. Speaking about the starting point for the track, Àbáse says:

“I started researching Martaʼs work and came across his 1985 ‘Heartsʼ LP. As soon as I heard the opening track, I immediately heard these drums over it, and as soon as I hit the studio I did the draft idea. At its initial instrumental form, Mártaʼs composition is practically the core of the track, with added drums and bass that later received added layers and depth from Hangaʼs vocals and Jenoʼs cimbalom playing.”

On expanding the piece with the wider ensemble, he adds:

“Returning to Berlin, we had a two day session at the Brewery Studios where we further developed my beat ideas and demos on tape. It was important to me to involve international musicians so the Hungarian storyline gets a contemporary and outsider twist. Thatʼs how we developed the second section and improvised over Jenoʼs solo.”

Take a listen to ‘Fekete Szem / Black Eye’ below.

‘Fekete Szem / Black Eyeʼ is out now through Bridge The Gap & Oshu Records