As Glass Museum prepare to release their much anticipated third album Reflet through Sdban Ultra on April 29th, they now entice us with a new single called ‘Ellipse’. “In geometry, an ellipse is a closed plane curve obtained through the intersection of a turning cone and a plan”, the band explains. “This geometric element is a reference to the mathematical and scientific elements within our music, its electronic dimension and the broader visual concept of our album ‘Reflet’”. Lend your ears to ‘Ellipse’ now.
Yann Tiersen has been on a roll of late delivering one exceptional album after another. Following last year’s Kerber, the French composer has announced the release of a new album titled 11 5 18 2 5 18. As with previous records, in particular Kerber, on the upcoming album Tiersen continues to venture further into electronic territories. Brought to life in his studio The Eskal in the island of Ushant where he lives, 11 5 18 2 5 18 stemmed from “experimentation in the studio ahead of a performance at Berlin’s modular and synthesiser festival, Superbooth”, as the press release explains. “Using samples as his source, Tiersen has resampled, reprogrammed and recomposed audio to create entirely new tracks unrecognisable and decontextualised from their original versions.”
11 5 18 2 5 18 is out on June 10th through Mute and ahead of it Tiersen has shared two riveting cuts from it, the title track and ‘16 15 21 12 12. 2 15 10 5 18’. Both are offered with visuals created by Sam Wiehl and you can watch them below.
What better way to celebrate Piano Day than with the newly announced album from incredibly imaginative pianist and composer Matthew Bourne. Entitled Irrealis, the upcoming album follows his 2017 Isotach album, and recent collaborations with Keeley Forsyth and Nightports.
The fruit of a single session, Irrealis was recorded with no overdubs. A sonic explorer, on his new album Bourne “explore[s] the possibilities of his instrument with a box of nuts, bolts and Blu-Tak, and a sense of playfulness and spontaneity”, as the press release explains.
We’ll have to wait until May 27th for the album to arrive through The Leaf Label but we can already hear the beguiling lead single, ‘Alice’. It comes with a video directed by Ross Downes and you can watch it below.
New music from incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist Pevin Kinel is always welcomed with excitement, even more so when it sounds as good as his brand new track ‘Komatsu SR-75’. Marking his first new music release since relocating from London to Porto, ‘Komatsu SR-75’ is a sublime and compelling track encapsulating a range of emotions. A veritable one-man-orchestra, with a flair for experimenting with different sounds and genres, on the new track he plays classical guitar, bass, clarinet, and even cardboard drums.
Pevin has shot and directed a fittingly cinematic video to accompany the track. Speaking about how the song and the video came about, he comments:
“It’s not often I lose sleep over the title of a track, but in this instance this is exactly what happened. Komatsu is one of the world’s biggest manufacturer of heavy machinery, and the SR-75 by Soilmec is an enormous hydraulic piling rig, and for the last 6 months the combination of both has been making a lot of noise, everyday from 8am to 8pm, in front of my window.
A few weeks ago I took the opportunity of the oasis of silence that is the weekend to record a series of guitar chords I’d just stumbled upon, and started layering percussions, bass and clarinets on top of it. Then to make a video I simply filmed the building site one evening.
If the song had lyrics, it would be about the fact that they’re building a tube station where there used to be a park. Now, I’m totally for more public transport but somehow it felt weird to see dozens of trees being cut down and green grass being turned to mud and concrete, in an effort to help the environment. This in turn made me think of the idea that we live in a system that can only function if it makes a margin, at the same time as we come to realise that the only margin left to make is at the expense of nature. So all in all, it’s just as well it doesn’t have lyrics, because it would have been a massive headache to make all of this rhyme.”
Multi-talented multi-disciplinary artist Jay Crocker has announced the release of a new album under his moniker JOYFULTALK. Entitled Familiar Science, the album draws inspiration from a wide range of influences, as the press release describes, including “late 80s M-base music, Ornette Coleman’s harmolodic funk years and Crocker’s own histories as an outré improviser”. Featuring contributions from Albertan percussionists Eric Hamelin (Ghostkeeper, No More Shapes, Chad Vangaalen) and Chris Dadge (Bug Incision, Lab Coast) as well as Nova Scotia-based saxophonist/flautist Nicola Miller (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli) and bassist Kyle Cunjak (Olympic Symphonium, David Myles), Familiar Science “pulls you into sneaky wormholes, heaves you up into rarefied ethers”.
Ahead of its release on May 6th through Constellation, JOYFULTALK has shared a monumental single, ‘Take It to the Grave’. It comes with an accompanying video and you can watch it below.
Next week Alabaster DePlume will be gifting the world with his eagerly awaited album, GOLD. So far he has released two magnificent double singles, ‘Don’t Forget You’re Precious’ b/w ‘‘The Sound of My Feet on this Earth is a Song To Your Spirit’, and before that ‘Mrs Calamari’ b/w ‘Who Is A Fool’, both of which have left us itching with anticipation for the full album release. As we near release day, the aboundingly inventive composer, artist and activist is offering the third double single from his upcoming album, ‘I’m Good At Not Crying’, b/w ‘Visitors XT8B – Oak’. ‘I’m Good At Not Crying’ comes with a brilliant and witty video by TENTACLE, directed by Jordan Copeland. Here’s the statement that accompanies the video:
“The sun never set on the British Empire…
Alabaster draws attention to an outdated tendency to inhibit emotional expression & healthy communication using the the best example he can find – himself. Dressed in drag as a fading representative of empire, he boasts to the viewer of his ability to not cry, while beside him a choir of men sing in women’s voices. His lion is long dead and stuffed, staring with glassy eyes, and behind him, repeatedly, (and contrary to the age-old saying), the sun is indeed setting, on the British Empire.”
Check out both songs below and find out how it is impossible not get engrossed in DePlume’s life-affirming new album.
