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.


The Hands Free’s second album, Upturned Cup, out next month; listen to title track

29 April 2026

Photo: Reuben Radding

There’s just one month to go until the release of Upturned Cup, the sophomore album from The Hands Free. Arriving on May 29th through New Amsterdam Records, the upcoming record follows their 2018 self-titled album. An intersection of chamber music, jazz improvisation, and folk music, Upturned Cup is driven forward by a sense playfulness, joy and the compositional rigour that James Moore (guitar & banjo), Caroline Shaw (violin), Nathan Koci (accordion), and Eleonore Oppenheim (bass), who make up the quartet, have honed over years of playing together. Upturned Cup features eight new compositions, four of which were first composed after the release of their debut record, and the other four came to life in the studio. Moore comments:

“Bringing in simple sketches, we slowly worked up the material with the microphone and the crew as our audience. We frequently toggled between various tunes so we could listen back and return to them with fresh ears and hearts.”

Ahead of the album’s release, The Hands Free have shared the fantastic and shimmering title track as the lead single. Composed by Moore, the track takes its title from a poem by modernist poet Lola Ridge. Take a listen below.

Watch Horse Lords’ visuals for new single ‘First Galactic Utopia’

28 April 2026

Photo: Kasia Zacharko

We’ve been counting down the days for the release of Horse Lords‘ new album, Demand to Be Taken to Heaven Alive!, ever since they announced it back in March. With each new release, the quartet of Andrew Bernstein, Max Eilbacher, Owen Gardner and Sam Haberman continue to prove they are one of the most exciting bands out there. Having already shared two insanely brilliant and infectious singles, ‘Eureka 378-B’ and ‘Brain of the Firm’, the band is offering another jaw-dropping single, ‘First Galactic Utopia’. Mesmerizing, exhilarating, and undeniably funky, ‘First Galactic Utopia’ blends mind-bending intricacies with an irresistible groove. The single comes with an accompanying video directed by Alexander Stewart, who had this to say about it:

“I started on a computer by creating looping patterns of dashes and dots using vectors, and drew the frames on paper with a computer-controlled pen plotter, thinking the video would be cool as an animation. Once I saw the patterns animated, I realized that they would be ideal to use with video synthesizers. The textures and colors that the video feedback generated brought the drawn loops into a galactic visual space.”

Be sure to mark your calendars for the June 12th release of Demand to Be Taken to Heaven Alive! through RVNG Intl, it is going to be a truly transcendental listen. For now, dive into ‘First Galactic Utopia’ and its wild visuals below.

Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes drop surprise new album UNRELATED

25 April 2026

Out of the blue, multi-instrumentalist and producer Sam Gendel and bassist, producer and composer Sam Wilkes released yesterday their fourth collaborative album, following 2024’s The Doober. Entitled Unrelated, it’s an unexpected and wonderful surprise from two of the most daring and distinctive voices orbiting the Los Angeles’ contemporary jazz scene. The two first met while studying at University of Southern California and quickly developed a creative rapport that has carried through multiple projects over the years. Both have become key figures in a generation of musicians reshaping the boundaries of jazz and adjacent styles, with a steady flow of solo and collaborative work that never really slows down.

Very much in line with everything they have been building together, Unrelated is not to be missed. The album is now available to stream on Bandcamp and also comes as a limited vinyl edition of 500 copies. To get a first feel, listen to a couple of tracks below, ‘Horse Master’ and ‘Fiefdom’.


Naná Rizinni’s new album, Epiblast, out today

24 April 2026

Photo: Gui Bailey

Naná Rizinni has been a key figure in São Paulo’s alternative scene for years, building a reputation as a terrific drummer, producer and composer with a strong experimental edge. Rizinni draws on her background in Brazilian music but her work expands beyond that, pulling in electronics, improvisation and a more experimental, jazz-leaning approach. Since moving to London in 2020, her sound has continued to evolve, shaped by a new environment and new collaborations.

Today, she releases Epiblast, her new album reflecting a period of major shifts in her life. Written during her first years in London, the album follows a full emotional cycle, from the excitement of becoming a parent and settling into a new city, to processing the loss of her brother. That sense of transformation sits at the core of the project. Rizinni explains:

“The title ‘Epiblast’ comes from an early embryonic layer from which the entire organism develops. For me, it represents multiple births and rebirths — new roles, identities, and directions — capturing both fragility and infinite potential.”

On Epiblast, there’s a strong rhythmic foundation, but it’s constantly shifting, blending acoustic elements with electronics and leaving space for improvisation. Across the record, Rizinni moves between expansive soundscapes and more intimate moments, always keeping that balance between structure and spontaneity. The album was developed closely with saxophonist and producer Mark Cake, who co-wrote and co-produced the album, alongside additional contributions from Harry Jones on modular synths. That collaborative setup plays a big role in the album’s feel, with a strong sense of shared exploration running through the music. As Rizinni puts it:

“I’ve absorbed influences for years, from Brazilian traditions to UK experimental jazz, and this album is the first time I’ve found a language that feels fully mine. I couldn’t have done this without Mark and Harry – we are a trio that thrives on improvisation and interaction, so this record is not just my story, it’s about how we, as a unit, create a world of sound together.”

Effervescent, intimate and enthralling, Epiblast is a masterpiece of an album. As a taster of what’s on offer, check out the lead single ‘The Right Side of the Escalator’ and ‘VVV Rerework’.


Epiblast is out now through Bridge The Gap