Category Archives: Blog

Binker and Moses’ new live album Escape The Flames out tomorrow

10 December 2020

We reach the tail end of the year with a superb release from adventurous saxophone and drums duo Binker and Moses. Entitled Escape The Flames, the 6-track live recording stems from their Journey to the Mountain of Forever album launch at London’s Total Refreshment Centre in 2017, where they offered a whole new interpretation to the album’s first disc. As the press release describes, “the audience’s excitement, a sound-bed of whoops and yells, is heard intermittently throughout and only adds to the incredible vibe – a tonic perhaps to these gig-dry, restricted times.”

Clocking in over 10 minutes, ‘Intoxication From The Jahvmonishi Leaves’ is one of blistering cuts taken from Escape The Flames. Take a listen below and grab the album on Bandcamp.

Steiger release new EP Brick Smoke Basement

08 December 2020

We’ve had a growing love for Belgian label Sdban Records from the moment we laid our ears on the fine crop of artists and albums they have been putting out. The latest release to take us by storm comes from Ghent trio Steiger who released last month a collaborative EP with Australian composer, improviser and producer Joe Talia entitled Brick Smoke Basement. As with their previous material, the trio of Gilles Vandecaveye, Kobe Boon and Simon Raman continues to experiment and explore disparate influences from jazz, rock and pop to classical and electronic music,  through both composition and improvisation. Stemming from three residencies at Vooruit (Ghent), Flagey (Brussels) and deSingel (Antwerp), “this collaboration was a true dialogue”, describes the press release, “with Talia granted the freedom to remodel/remix the material that the band designed during their residencies.”

Brick Smoke Basement precedes a full-length album set for release next year and we’ll keep an eye out for that. Now, for an exhilarating taster of what they are offering, listen to the EP track ‘Malinka’ and head over to Bandcamp for the full treat.

Buke and Gase and So Percussion announce collaborative album, A Record of…

07 December 2020

Buke and Gase, the inventive duo of Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez, are back with a new album following last year’s Scholars. Entitled A Record of… , the album is a collaboration with contemporary percussion ensemble So Percussion, and saw the two groups work together in a 300-year-old house in Hudson, NY. A Record of… is set for release on January 29th through Brassland and they have already let loose its opening track, ‘Diazepam’.” Dyer comments about it:

“Diazepam” is a deep dive into my psyche and you’ll find this cycling — a reminder not to look to others to keep my sanity or pose, and that sometimes being chemically altered is the only welcome thing that will break the spell of obsessive self-doubt. It can be read as a response to this very stressful year (or 4), or a reminder to hug yourself, which has always been a contrivation to me. “Hug myself?” …Yeah. The way you’d hug the person or animal or item you feel most protected by, and the most protection for. It can be a gentle, loving embrace to the ears and nothing more.”

Listen to ‘Diazepam” below.

Quinta releases new single, ‘The Nurse’s Song’, benefiting Cavell Nurses’ Trust

04 December 2020

Photo: Rebecca Waterworth

Known as one quarter of experimental chamber collective Collectress, and regular collaborator with the likes of Radiohead’s Philip Selway, Patrick Wolf, The Penguin Cafe, contemporary dance company Rambert and many more, London based multi-instrumentalist and performer-composer Quinta is today releasing a benefit single called ‘The Nurse’s Song’. Written as a tribute to the frontline workers immensely affected by the covid19 pandemic, ‘The Nurse’s Song’ was “inspired by a news story describing the profound compassion shown by a nurse to loved ones not allowed to be present at the bedside of a dying Covid19 patient”, as Quinta described. Nursing staff are playing a vital role providing comfort and support to patients in their final moments and also to their relatives.

‘The Nurse’s Song’ is out today coincing with Bandcamp Friday and all proceeds will be donated to the Cavell Nurses’ Trust, a UK charity that supports nurses, midwives and healthcare workers experiencing personal and financial hardship. The Trust has seen a 175% increase in help requested by nursing and midwifery professionals compared to the same period last year.

Head over to Quinta’a bandcamp to hear the poignantly beautiful and powerful ‘The Nurse’s Song’ and contribute if you can.

A Winged Victory for the Sullen announce new album Invisible Cities

01 December 2020

A Winged Victory For The Sullen, the majestic collaborative project of Stars Of The Lid’s Adam Wiltzie and pianist and composer Dustin O’Halloran, have announced the release of a new album, Invisible Cities. Wiltzie and O’Halloran were commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Rambert, Brisbane Festival, Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival, Sadler’s Wells, SMG Live, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Centre (JACC) and Karl Sydowto to compose Invisible Cities as a 90-minute score for the multimedia theatre production inspired by Italo Calvino’s 1972 epic novel of the same name. Wiltzie commented on the process:

“Four months is not a lot of time to create 90 minutes of music for a production using classical theatre, dance, & high res video mapping on a stage the size of 2 football pitches. It was a pleasure to work with 59 Productions, unlike other producers, they left the micro-managing at home, and let us get on with it. Early on in discussions with director Leo Warner it was realised that the human voice would take a central role in the score as it was essentially the only instrument we could see evolving over 600 years with a storyline that would not have the listener screaming “its Zimmertime”…,”

Invisible Cities is set for release on February 26th through Artificial Pinearch Manufacturing and ahead of it A Winged Victory for the Sullen are enticing us with the first single, ‘Desires Are Already Memories’. Here it is.

Listen to Alostmen’s single ‘Minus Me’, debut album Kologo out in January

27 November 2020

There’s a new album on the way from Ghana’s Alostmen, the band formed by Stevo Atambire when touring together with Wanlov The Kubolor (Fok’n Bois) in different outfits in 2017. Entitled Kologo, the album is set for release on January 29th through Strut Records. “I had toured with Stevo in my band Afro Gypsy in 2017,” Wanlov explained, “and we recorded the tracks for this album on the road in Uganda and North West Ghana in hotel rooms”. Alostmen’s music is inspired by the Frafra traditions of the kologo, a kind of stringed lute instrument, and they also bring to the mix other influences like rap and reggae.

Ahead of the album release, Alostmen have shared ‘Minus Me’, featuring highlife legend Gyedu-Blay Ambolley. “He is one of our all-time greats,” said Atambire. “I love to watch him play. His deep vocal was perfect for this track.” Listen to the single below.