Following the brilliant and infectious ‘Awaken The Insects’, Northern Irish composer and producer Hannah Peel and Chinese percussionist Beibei Wang are offering another glimpse into their upcoming debut album The Endless Dance. The pair have now shared ‘Offerings To The Beast’, an exhilarating track radiating a bouncing energy. Listen to the single below and grab the album when it drops May 22nd through Real World Records.
Photo: Swan Studio
Hailing from Seoul, Leenalchi are a seven-piece outfit led by bassist and composer Jang Young Gyu. The group is well known for their distinctive sound, reworking pansori, a traditional Korean form of musical storytelling, into a striking rhythm-driven format. Pansori, which dates back to Korea’s Joseon Dynasty in the 17th century, is typically performed as a dramatic narrative art form, often telling stories of love, conflict, and folklore. Leenalchi reinterpret that tradition through a stripped-down but unusual setup featuring two bassists, drums, keys, and four vocalists, with no guitar, placing emphasis on voice, texture and pulse.
Leenalchi have a new EP on the way, Here Comes That Crow, set for release on June 12th through Luaka Bop. To herald the announcement, the band shared the title track. ‘Here Comes That Crow’ draws from a historical pansori narrative tied to the story of Chinese warlord Cao Cao. Reimagined by the band, the track uses layered vocals and driving rhythms to frame a tense scene about life’s precariousness. The band wrote a poem to help explain the song’s meaning:
도용도용은 작은 배가 물위를 떠가는 모양을 그린 말이다. 조조도 조자룡도 쫓기는 자도 쫓는 자도 멈출수는 없다.
판자때기 아래가 저승인데 어느 누가 멈춰 설 수 있겠는가!Doyung doyung goes the small boat seen floating down the river.
Whether the chased or the chaser, no one can stop—just beneath the boards lies the underworld!
‘Here Comes That Crow’ comes paired with an accompanying video, and you can watch it below.
Last month, we heard the lead single ‘Far Beyond The Sun’, taken from Teleportations, the debut solo album from Dan Leavers aka Danalogue. The forthcoming record sees him stepping out alone after years at the centre of London’s fertile jazz and electronic underground, to present a fully self-realized vision, shaped through analogue synthesis, science fiction and spiritual exploration. Entirely performed using vintage gear, the album draws on kosmische electronics, ambient, jazz-funk and deep house, embracing the constraints of older gear as a way of forging connections between past and future.
Now, Danalogue has shared another glimpse into Teleportations with new single ‘Moebius Triptych’, an euphoric and dreamy dancefloor filler. The single comes with an accompanying video, with visuals by Charles Prest. Here it is.
Porto keeps producing some of the most interesting crossovers in contemporary jazz, and Themandus sit firmly in that lane. Formed by Afonso Boucinha Silva (saxophone, EWI, synths), Ricardo Alves (guitar) and Eduardo Carneiro Dias (drums), the trio take a familiar set up and stretch it through electronics, an expanded approach to their instruments and a clear openness to experimentation. Since emerging, the band leaned into a hybrid language where composition and improvisation overlap freely. They pull in elements of disparate genres like post-rock, drum’n’bass, and ambient, with the three members’ shared background in jazz tying it all together. There’s a strong sense of control underneath it all, even when things sound loose, showing a band that is technically sharp. Their 2023 self-titled debut album on Porta-Jazz laid that out clearly and saw them establish a sound that is meticulous and adventurous, with a clear emphasis on interplay and dynamics.
The threesome have just released a brand new track, the daring, intricate and electrifying ‘float_niceview’. Building up in a sparse and abstract way, with a sense of restrain, it shifts into something entirely driving and propulsive that carries the track forward with intent. What’s more, they have also teased a second full-length album, and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more updates. Now take a listen to ‘float_niceview’. We’ve had it on repeat all day!
In other related news, Themandus are performing at Porto’s Maus Hábitos this Thursday 23rd April – don’t miss their thrilling and explosive live show if you’re lucky to be around!
It hasn’t been long since last year’s as night falls EP, but luckily for us Brooklyn’s Jerk is back with a new EP, as day breaks, completing a two-part cycle that maps the shift from night into daylight. Composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Joni Kinney, who helms the project, created the EP with longtime collaborator Martin Wade. The new release leans into a more uplifting and open-ended sound, building on Jerk’s blend of jazz, funk and electronic influences. The upcoming as day breaks favours live instrumentation and loose, expressive arrangements, capturing a sense of movement and clarity as the story moves into the morning hours. Jerk comments: “This joint album project is the essence of Jerk — neither day nor night, but something more ethereal.”
‘alarmed’ is the latest single to emerge from the EP ahead of its release on May 15th through DeepMatter Records. Radiant and playful, ‘alarmed’ is built on a juicy and slick groove that carries a sense of optimistic energy. Speaking about the track, Jerk shares:
“The track is made up of two distinct sections, with an A section meant to evoke those first moments of consciousness, as well as a B section meant to evoke the baggage we all carry day to day.”
Listen to ‘alarmed’ below.
Photo: Peter Eason Daniels
Last month, Tara Clerkin Trio announced the release of their long-awaited new album Somewhere Good, marking their first new music since 2023’s widely acclaimed On The Turning Ground mini-album. Alongside the announcement, the Bristol-based trio of Tara Clerkin, Sunny Joe Paradisos, and Patrick Benjamin had shared the whimsical, gentle and mesmerizing title track. Now, ahead of the album’s release on June 5th through World of Echo, they are teasing Somewhere Good with the utterly beautiful, bright and hazy cut called ‘Silently’. The track comes with accompanying visuals and you can stream it below.
