Aksak Maboul announce new album, Fifteen Ways of Looking at It, and share first single ‘Montagne’

12 October 2026

There’s exciting news from legendary experimental pop group Aksak Maboul, who have a new album on the way. Entitled Fifteen Ways of Looking at It, it’s due in early 2027 through Crammed Discs, and follows 2023’s Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) and 2020’s Figures, which ended a 40-year recording hiatus. With a greater emphasis on instrumental and abstract excursions, the upcoming album finds founder Marc Hollander returning to the sound of Figures. Written and arranged by Hollander, Fifteen Ways of Looking at It brings together an impressive cast of collaborators, including guitarist Fred Frith, drummer-in-demand Tom Skinner, Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, members of Tuxedomoon and Aquaserge, and Nihiloxica’s Spooky-J, alongside Aksak Maboul regulars Lucien Fraipont and Faustine Hollander. Across fifteen tracks and three interludes, the music ranges from electronica, pop and jazz to sound collage, krautrock, ambient and contemporary classical.

The album also has a special and poignant significance as the last to feature Véronique Vincent’s poetry and unique vocals, which have been an integral part of the group’s work in recent years. Vincent, Hollander’s longtime creative partner, completed her writing and recording for the album in the summer of 2025, shortly before her death in October that year.

Aksak Maboul are offering a dazzling glimpse of what’s to come with ‘Montagne’, written and performed by Hollander and Vincent. Inspired by an alphorn melody, Vincent’s lyrics use the image of a mountain being climbed, conquered and eventually reduced to dust as a metaphor for masculine domination. As Hollander explains in the album’s liner notes, the lyrics leave room for two opposing interpretations:

“This alphorn melody made me think of a majestic mountain landscape. Véronique’s imagination was fired by this idea, she wrote a text, originally subtitled “Lettre à un salopard” (“Letter to a Bastard”), in which a mountain is climbed, conquered, and finally reduced to a pile of dust. She said the story was a metaphor for masculine domination (somewhat like Le Mur, in our previous album). It now occurs to me that the lyrics can work in more than one way: does the mountain represent an oppressive man, eventually defeated by a woman? Or is this the tale of a woman being ruthlessly annihilated by a man? Maybe Véronique had both interpretations in mind, but we can’t ask her.”

‘Montagne’ comes with an accompanying video directed by Yoann Stehr & Izia Pinkman, and you can watch it below.

Pevin Kinel teases upcoming album, The Match Factory Strike, with lead single ‘Mirrors’

09 October 2026

We’ve been following Pevin Kinel’s musical adventures for a long time, and few artists have kept us as consistently intrigued as this immensely talented multi-instrumentalist and one-man-orchestra. One of those rare musicians who never seems to run out of ideas or lose his appetite for doing things his own way, Pevin has never shied away from exploring different sounds and musical territories. Now the Normandy-born, Porto-based musician is gearing up to release a new full-length album titled The Match Factory Strike. This time, when he started writing and recording back in January, he set out to look beyond his own personal experiences and say something about the world around him. As he puts it:

“I made the conscious decision to talk about bigger issues than my own personal experience because I was a bit fed up with the superficiality of modern pop music. I mean, whilst the world is in turn burning then drowning, whilst we’re witnessing an arms-race and at the same time seeing live the effect those weapons have on people just like us, it feels really unsettling that popular music still bangs on about broken hearts, the woes of unrequited love and whether or not I could get your telephone number. I kept asking myself “If I have a voice, I also have a responsibility, what message do I want to share? What urgently needs to be said right now?”

The Match Factory Strike is expected to arrive in about a month, once the mixing is finished. Ahead of it, Pevin has shared the first gripping and magnetic single off it, ‘Mirrors’. The track turned out to be one of the songs that didn’t quite fit the brief, with Pevin admitting that the lyrics reflect his own feelings. He comments:

““Mirrors”, like a couple of others on the album, fell through the net. The words are just about my own feelings really. So here you go.”

As with all eighteen tracks on the upcoming album, on ‘Mirrors’ Pevin plays all the instruments himself, continuing his long-standing tradition of writing, recording and producing music entirely on his own. The single comes with a self-directed video and you can watch it below.

Caixa Cubo share first glimpse of upcoming new album Ultracooked

08 October 2026

Brazilian trio Caixa Cubo are back with a brand new full-length album. Entitled Ultracooked, the record finds Henrique Gomide (keys), João Fideles (drums) and Noa Stroeter (bass) delving further into the Brazilian music traditions that have long informed their work, with their electric jazz-funk sound front and centre. The album pays homage to a number of the trio’s musical heroes and teachers, including Azymuth, Antonio Adolfo, Cesar Camargo Mariano and Marcos Resende. Produced by Caixa Cubo alongside Frederico Pacheco, Ultracooked was recorded and mixed at O&O Studios in São Paulo, with mastering by Casper Sutton at Gearbox Studios in London.

Ultracooked arrives on November 20th through Far Out Recordings, and ahead of it Caixa Cubo have unveiled the first single, ‘Expresso 2222’, a bold and endlessly catchy take on Gilberto Gil’s 1972 classic. The track features Zé Leonidas on vocals and Ed Woisk on guitar and you can listen to it below.

Anna Meredith announces new album, Darling, and shares first single ‘Dusky’

07 October 2026

Anna Meredith is back! We’re huge fans of the electronic contemporary composer, and following 2019’s Mercury Prize-nominated FIBS, we’re excited to hear that she has just announced the release of her third album. Entitled Darling, the record arrives on February 12th through Mercury KX. Across its eleven tracks, she continues to push her wonderfully unpredictable blend of electronic music, contemporary classical, art pop and experimental rock, this time with even more instruments than her previous albums, including a 47-year-old cassette tape.

The album announcement arrives alongside ‘Dusky’, a beast of a track clocking in at nearly seven minutes. Meredith describes it as “4 tracks in 1”, with each section having its own identity, and constantly shifting shape before eventually crashing into a gloriously heavy electric guitar outro courtesy of Jack Ross. Speaking about the track, she says:

“I’m so proud of ‘Dusky’ and the ambition and manifesto it sets out for the album. In many ways it’s 4 tracks in one, with each stage of the journey inhabiting its own identity, whilst setting up the reveals and rug pulls of the sections to follow. It’s got loads of the things that I love writing – polyrhythms, parpy brass, metric modulations, waily synths. A lot of the music was written around my desire to build towards a heavy chugging metal electric guitar riff for my amazing guitarist Jack Ross, and to work out the best way to arrive at that moment so that it feels both entirely right and utterly unexpected. It makes me whoop with the joy and silliness of it every time.”

‘Dusky’ comes with an accompanying video by longtime collaborator Ewan Jones Morris, who has created the whole thing by hand using plasticine, cut-outs and puppets. He had this to say about it:

“Dusky is a track that really demands your attention (this is of course true of all of Anna’s music!) but I think especially so with Dusky. In an ideal world I’d make a 7 minute theatrical production, with a legion of masked performers and some over the top set design that completely transforms every couple of minutes. This is the old man in a garden shed version of that. Obviously it’s all thrown together in a computer but every element was handmade from plasticine or cut out with a scalpel and stuck on a stick and puppeteered by me. I’m hoping people actually making stuff with their hands still garners some attention. (Insert comment about creativity, AI and state of the world).

The curtains and doors came from a chat with Anna, the idea that Dusky is a journey through portals into increasingly unexpected rooms. Just when you think you’ve reached the climax, you find yourself somewhere new. I added in the faces probably because I was visibly terrified of making a 7 minute visual accompaniment to an increasingly impossible track. I liked the idea of a different emotional state triggered by each section of the track.

The end result is this theatrical game of peekaboo, hopefully fun and continuously surprising, and in the spirit of Dusky.”

Bonkers and exhilarating, ‘Dusky’ leaves us itching to hear more. Watch the video below.

Church Of Sound unveil ‘Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be The Same)’ from Tony Allen’s last live performance

06 October 2026

Photo: Joe Hart

Church Of Sound are celebrating their tenth anniversary, and to mark the occasion, they are launching a new record label, and its first compilation, Clapton Hymns, Vol. 1: 10 Years of Church of Sound (2016-2026), featuring twelve of the series’ most iconic live recordings out of an archive of over 130 performances. A community-built event series based out of St. James the Great church in Hackney, London, Church of Sound became a beloved and vital hub for emerging and established artists. Over the past ten years, it has hosted shows from the likes of Makaya McCraven, Jeff Parker, Yussef Dayes, Moses Boyd, Tom Skinner, Nubya Garcia, Moor Mother, Kokoroko, Yazz Ahmed, and many more.

Last month they shared lead single ‘Do What You Gotta Do’ from Kaidi Tatham & The First Word All Stars featuring singer Vanessa Freeman. Now, ahead of the compilation release on November 20th, Church of Sound are giving us another taste of what’s comingt with ‘Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be The Same)’ by the late Tony Allen, lifted from his album Rejoice. The legendary Fela Kuti drummer and Afrobeat founder performed at Church of Sound in March 2020 as part of a two-night residency which turned out to be his final live performances. Addressing Allen directly, Dele Sosimi, who was part of Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80 band in 1979 and collaborated with the him numerous times, shared his thoughts on Allen’s final performance:

“You gave me your phone on concert day one and said, ‘Record the performance, as I have never, ever played in a church,’ to which I remarked, ‘I can imagine Felá and Bra Hugh having a good laugh at the irony!’ As we said our goodbyes on the 13th of March, ìfura [premonition] flashed through my mind for a fleeting moment, too quickly for me to ponder on. Your ascension was 48 days later, to become an Òrìshà [divine spirit]! Memories are brought back to life here in this visual offering, and I remember changing the lyrics backstage to: ‘Afrobeat never gonna be the same, never, without Tony.’ How surreal.”

‘Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be The Same)’ is offered with a video of the live recording and you can watch it below.

Jungle By Night tease upcoming album with first single ‘Something About Something’

02 October 2026

Photo: Laura van der Spek

Formed in 2009, globetrotting Amsterdam collective Jungle by Night are a six-piece powerhouse comprising Bo Floor (trumpet), Ko Zandvliet (trombone, vocals), Jac van Exter (guitar), Pyke Pasman (organ and keyboards), Tienson Smeets (congas, djembe and percussion) and Sonny Groeneveld (drums). Famously called “the future of Afrobeat” by Femi and Seun Kuti, Jungle by Night have earned a reputation for firing, high-energy live shows that turn into dance parties, and that hasn’t changed in 2026.

The band has just announced their highly anticipated seventh studio album, Bar Dancing, dropping on February 5th through Rush Hour. Previously an instrumental band, the forthcoming album sees them incorporating vocals for the very first time. Spanning a wide spectrum of genres, on Bar Dancing they blend their signature bright horns and analogue dance grooves with resonant lyrics that reflect on digital burnout, disinformation and doomscrolling.

February seems like a long way away but they have already shared the album’s euphoric, galvanizing and infectious lead single, ‘Something About Something’. Speaking about the track, the band shares:

“It’s so sad that a lot of very bright people are working really hard to keep us addicted to our phones all the time. We know it’s bad for our health and wellbeing. No one is happy after spending hours on social media. It’s nearly impossible to stay away from it cause these companies are constantly adding new tricks and lay outs etcetera to keep you engaged. Of course there are interesting, funny and nice things to take in but the majority of what you see is also some kind of noise and doesn’t really add anything. It’s just ‘something about something’”

We’ll keep our ears peeled for more. Now listen to ‘Something About Something’.