Category Archives: Blog

Nightports unveil new album with Tom Herbert; listen to first single ‘Arcs’

03 March 2022

Photo: Joe Collinson

There’s a new album on the way from inventive British duo Nightports. The pair approach their different projects with pre-defined rules, and in their two previous albums, they only used sounds produced by a featured musician, discovering varied ways to explore and rework the artist’s music. Following their 2018 collaboration with Matthew Bourne, and the 2020 collaboration with Betamax, which was one of our favourite Albums of 2020, Nightports joined forces with phenomenal bass player Tom Herbert (Polar Bear, The Invisible) for their next record. Entitled Nightports w/ Tom Herbert, on the album Herbert’s command of the double bass is on display throughout. “Through our collaboration, we wanted to show different sides to the instrument and reveal the real details of Tom’s playing,” Slater comments. “In our approach, we wanted to highlight all that the double bass is and can be, and to put it centre stage.”

We’ll have to wait until April 29th for the album to be out through The Leaf Label but we can already hear the first riveting single, ‘Arcs’. The track comes with an accompanying video made by GOODBOY. Watch it below.

Springtime’s Night Raver EP out tomorrow

01 March 2022

Photo: Jamie Wdziekonski

Following last year’s eponymous debut album, tomorrow will see the release of Springtime‘s new 3-track EP, Night Raver. On the EP, the Australian supergroup of Gareth Liddiard (The Drones, Tropical Fuck Storm), Jim White (Xylouris White, Dirty Three, PJ Harvey) and Chris Abrahams (The Necks) explore themes surrounding the narratives of death, destruction, desire, and devotion.

Springtime had previosuly unveiled ‘The Names of the Plague’, the epic opening track clocking in at just over 15 minutes and featuring The Drones’ Dan Luscombe on baritone guitar and lyrics by UK poet Ian Duhig. “‘The Names Of The Plague’ is a little inventory of all of the pandemic’s unexpected side effects,” said Liddiard of the track. ”A list of crappy little outcomes that’ll probably linger and wind up being as much a problem in the future as long covid.” Listen to it below.

Night Raver is out on March 2th through Joyful Noise Recordings

Watch Charbonneau / Amato’s video for third single ‘As Fragile Ghosts’; new album out next week

25 February 2022

One of the albums slated for release this year that we’ve been eagerly anticipating comes from Charbonneau / Amato, the duo synth project of Montreal accomplished musicians Mathieu Charbonneau and Pietro Amato. Entitled Synth Works Vol. 2, their upcoming album finally arrives on March 4th through Forward Music Group’s experimental sublabel Backward Music.

Charbonneau / Amato had already previewed the album with two singles, the transportive ‘Évaporations’ and the beautiful, soothing and wholly absorbing ‘Light Memoir’. As if we needed any more reasons to be excited for this release, they have shared a third and final single called ‘As Fragile Ghosts’. It comes with an accompanying video by Joël Vaudreuil. Watch it below.

Tom Rogerson releases second single, ‘Chant’, from upcoming album Retreat to Bliss

23 February 2022

Tom Rogerson‘s much anticipated solo album, Retreat to Bliss, will see the light of day in just over a month. Following the poignant and sublime first single, ‘Oath’, the staggeringly talented British composer and pianist has shared a new celestial track from his forthcoming album called ‘Chant’. Speaking about the track, Rogerson remarks:

“With this song, I’d made a conscious decision to write as minimally and simply as I could, after years of making lots of loud and complicated music. This was the first song with words I wrote, in an effort to express a lot of things that had been on my mind for some time but had lain unexplored. I deliberately left myself nowhere to hide, and for that reason I didn’t expect to record it, or release it, until I started performing it live in the middle of long improvised piano sets, where it seemed to make sense.”

Listen to ‘Oath’ below.

Retreat to Bliss is out on March 25th through Western Vinyl.

Alabaster DePlume teases upcoming album with new double single ‘Mrs Calamari’ b/w ‘Who Is A Fool’

22 February 2022

Photo: Chris Almeida

February started on a high note with the release announcement of GOLD, the new double album from ingenious, thought-provoking and unpredictable spoken word artist, bandleader, composer, saxophonist and activist Alabaster DePlume. After giving a first glimpse of the album with a magnificent two-song single, ‘Don’t Forget You’re Precious’ and ‘The Sound of My Feet on this Earth is a Song To Your Spirit’, DePlume is enticing us again with another set of double singles, ‘Mrs Calamari’ and ‘Who Is A Fool’. ‘Mrs Calamari’ is offered with an accompanying video shot on 8mm film, which marks the directorial debut of Dan “Danalogue” Leavers (The Comet Is Coming / Soccer 96)). Speaking about the video, Danalogue says:

“The film explores the archetypal hero’s journey, the symbolism of circles (transformation/death/life cycles). Mrs Calamari is represented as a squid goddess, a teaching of the ‘other’. It is essentially a story about growth and being guided by love. I felt strongly about the magical, organic sound of the music, recorded live and to analogue tape. This gave me inspiration to film on Super8, an antiquated format that holds within a mystery and timelessness.”

Watch the video below and watch out for the release of GOLD on April 1st through International Anthem, Lost Map and Total Refreshment Centre.

In other related good news, Alabaster DePlume is embarking on his first ever US tour next month, with live dates in Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Knoxville, Tennessee, where he will be artist in residence at Big Ears Festival. DePlume will perform with a different ensemble in each city, having invited local artists from the International Anthem family to curate his ensemble.

 

Listen to Snapped Ankles’ brand new single ‘Barbecue In Brazil’

17 February 2022

Snapped Ankles have just released a brand new track called ‘Barbecue In Brazil’. Out now through The Leaf Label, the standalone single follows last year’s spectacular third album, Forest Of Your Problems, and features honorary sixth member, Dan-a-log of The Comet Is Coming and Soccer 96. As usual, the London outfit continue to depict some of the absurdities of modern life. They comment:

“Have you ever taken a flight for a Barbecue In Brazil? This is a song sung from the nemophilic corner of our woods, railing against instaconsumerism and the globally connected luxury travel industry that surrounds it. Let’s all meet at the last ever grill!”

‘Barbecue in Brazil’ comes with an accompanying video. Watch it below.

In other related news, Snapped Ankles are embarking on a UK tour this month, which precedes several live dates in North America in March. Check all their stops here.