Category Archives: Blog

Caimin Gilmore’s debut album, BlackGate, out in August; watch the video for new single ‘MVE I’

07 July 2025

Irish composer and double bassist Caimin Gilmore is widely recognized for his work with ground breaking new music group Crash Ensemble and collaborations across a strikingly diverse musical landscape. An interdisciplinary and versatile modern musician, he has shared the stage with internationally renowned artists like Lisa Hannigan, Dermot Kennedy, Aaron Dessner, Jessy Buckley, Dirty Projectors, Sam Amidon, Greg Saunier, to name a few, and features on over 40 recordings, including releases from Damon Albarn, Boygenius, and on Leonard Cohen’s posthumous album ‘Thanks for the Dance’ with European ensemble s t a r g a z e, among many others. Gilmore is stepping forward with BlackGate, his highly anticipated debut album, arriving on August 1st through New Amsterdam Records in collaboration with Dublin’s Ten Spot Records.

“There has been a long lineage of non classical artists working primarily in ‘commercial’ music who dig from the contemporary classical music well & also write it,” Gilmore explains. He traces his own path to genre fluidity back to a 2019 panel at Cork’s Sounds from a Safe Harbour Festival:

“The first time the idea that this cross pollination was rigorously happening was listening to NewAm Artistic Director William Brittelle at Sounds from a Safe Harbour Festival… That interaction cemented, and made sense of, how ‘classical’ composers and musicians were also working in genre-fluid ways internationally and this gave assurance to the idea that my musical ideas, amassed performing across genres, had credibility as a notated work also.”

Commissioned by Galway’s BlackGate Cultural Centre with support from the Arts Council of Ireland, and developed during a year-long residency with Dublin City Council, BlackGate is a beautifully textured suite for harp, cello, double bass and Yamaha DX7, featuring Kate Ellis (cello) and Lavinia Meijer (harp). The music draws on minimalist structures and extended techniques to build what Gilmore calls a “spectral sound world”, shaped by his life as a performer across contemporary classical, indie, traditional and orchestral music. He comments:

”I was interested in writing a piece that lived somewhere—harmonically and structurally—between indie and minimalist music; using extended string techniques to create a spectral sound world. At the time I was playing and jumping across a broad range of styles—contemporary music, folk/Irish traditional music, playing in indie groups, and symphonic repertoire with orchestras. I felt that the playing techniques I was using across these genres were transferable, and the diffuse sonic worlds were conducive with each other–they could live together if it was a reflection of how I approached them, or maybe how I understood them. It felt most natural to me to write something with this cross pollination of genres in mind. BlackGate as such became a natural reflection of the different types of music and people I was performing and collaborating with at the time of writing it.”

Following on from ‘MVE III’, Gilmore has shared a second track from the album, the gorgeous and heavenly ‘MVE I’. The single arrives with a visual accompaniment by Steve O’Connor. Watch it below and listen to ‘MVE III’ straight after.


Pink Butter drop final single, ‘U’, from upcoming Can We Go Back EP

04 July 2025

Swedish collective Pink Butter are set to release their debut EP Can We Go Back on August 1st through DeepMatter Records. Known for their live, improvisational approach, the outfit of Oskar Bettinsoli (guitar), Björn Lehnert (keys), Malte Bergman (bass), and John Bjurström (drums) blends jazz, hip-hop, and soul into a sound that feels both fluid and groove-focused. Featuring guest appearances from T3 of Slum Village and Jermaine Holmes (D’Angelo), Can We Go Back explores both personal and collective themes. The band comments:

“We made our songs by simply playing together live in the studio, giving as much of ourselves as possible to the music. In an age where digital perfection is easy to achieve, we chose to embrace the human side of music. It’s about capturing the raw energy of the moment—just like the jazz records we love—but infused with the modern collaboration and vibe of today’s hip-hop and soul. It’s a balance between the timelessness of improvisation and the innovation of contemporary music.”

Final single ‘U’ closes the upcoming EP on a high. Featuring Venus Anon and Jermaine Holmes, the track is a lush, bass-heavy slice of neo-soul, full of warmth, groove, and emotion. Here it is.

Watch Mansur Brown’s video for new single ‘Faded’

03 July 2025

Photo: Greg Barnes

Last month, Mansur Brown announced the release of a new album, Rihla, and enticed us then with the first single, ‘Alone‘. Now the Brixton-born guitarist, producer, and composer has shared a second cut, ‘Faded’, and it hits with a different kind of energy. Drawing heavily from jungle and drum and bass, ‘Faded’ is driven by tightly chopped percussion and warped, pitched vocals, layered with his unmistakable melodic guitar lines. Fast-moving and intricately textured, it reveals another side to an eagerly awaited record. The single comes with an accompanying video by Greg Barnes and you can watch it below.

Rihla is out on August 1st through AMAI.

Chicago Underground Duo unveil Hyperglyph, their first record in 11 years

01 July 2025

Photo: Mikel Patrick Avery

Chicago Underground Duo, the long-standing project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Rob Mazurek and composer and percussionist Chad Taylor, have announced their return with a new album. Titled Hyperglyph, the record lands on August 15th through International Anthem and marks their first release in over a decade. Active in various formations since the late 1990s, Chicago Underground Duo emerged out of a fertile Chicago scene, and have been instrumental carving paths into the intersections of jazz, electronics, post-rock and improvised music. Across various configurations — duo, trio, quartet, orchestra — and a wide web of collaborations, Mazurek and Taylor have continued to return to this project as a site of focused, often elemental exploration. “Rob is my longest collaborator and also one of my best friends,” says Taylor, referring to their first performance together at a club in Chicago in 1988, when he was 15. “We have worked together and have been friends for a long time”, Mazurek adds. “This creates a kind of continuity not only in the music, but in our lives.”

Recorded over three days at International Anthem Studios in May 2024, the album distills decades of shared language into something intricate yet immediate. The pair’s music has long drawn on a broad and deep array of influences and on the upcoming Hyperglyph they cite rhythmic traditions from Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe and Ghana, alongside a lineage of sound that reaches from Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell’s Mu, to Miles Davis and Teo Macero’s studio work, and into the textural worlds of Xenakis, Éliane Radigue, King Tubby, Mouse on Mars, and Autechre, amongst others. As Taylor puts it, “There has always been a lot of African influence in the rhythms we play,” and in this setting, they serve as a through-line across shifting terrain.

Alongside the announcement comes the lead track ‘Click Song’, an ecstatic and buoyant track offering a first glimpse into the world of Hyperglyph. Take a listen now.

KAU unveil new single, ‘4U’, off upcoming album Unknown Waveforms

27 June 2025

Photo: Binh Minh Dao

Last month, KAU hinted at their next album with ‘dive_deep‘. Now the Brussels-based trio of Andre Breidlid (drums), Matteo Genovese (bass) and Jan Janzen (keys) has officially announced Unknown Waveforms, due on October 10th through Sdban Ultra. Drawing from jazz, hip hop, and electronic influences, Unknown Waveforms came to life out of extended jams with minimal overdubs, embracing analog warmth and chance. The album is described as “a statement of intent: a celebration of imperfection, creative honesty and an insight in the process.”

Alongside the album news, they’ve slipped in a second preview with ‘4U’, a slower and more intimate track, and even more pared-down than its predecessor. “Anchored by a looping, pitch-shifted vocal from bassist Matteo Genovese whispering ‘I’m here for you'”, as the press release describes, “the track resonates like a mantra — soft, steady, and reassuring”. It’s “wrapped in atmospheric synths, grounded in earthy grooves, and carried by KAU’s signature moog bass,” crafting space for stillness and connection. ‘4U’ speaks volumes in its simplicity. Take a listen below.

Hamid Al-Saadi opens Maqām Records with first release in decades

26 June 2025

Photo: Sachyn Mital

Maqām Records, a newly launched label from trumpeter, composer, santur player and vocalist Amir ElSaffar, opens its doors with a release of rare weight: Maqam Al-Ira, the first recording in over two decades from legendary Iraqi singer Hamid Al-Saadi, considered the only living master of the complete Iraqi Maqam repertoire. Out later this year, Maqam Al-Iraq brings together four long-form maqams, each followed by a pesteh, a rhythmic, communal counterpart. The album includes ‘Maqam Qazzaz’, previously unrecorded, and two new maqams composed by Al-Saadi himself, marking the first additions to the tradition in over a hundred years. As both singer and custodian of this oral lineage, Al-Saadi channels the music’s intricate ornamentation and deep emotional pull with a remarkable clarity.

Born in Baghdad in 1958, Al-Saadi came of age during a cultural renaissance where the maqam was still heard in cafés and private homes. By his twenties, he had memorized all 56 canonical maqams, a feat that earned him the blessing of two of Iraq’s greatest 20th-century masters, Yusuf Omar and Mohammed Al-Gubbanchi. But following the 1991 Gulf War and years of devastating U.S.-imposed sanctions that brought Iraq’s economy and everyday life to a standstill, Al-Saadi left the country, eventually settling in Brooklyn via London. It was in London that ElSaffar first approached him as a student. The bond that followed, as an artist, apprentice, and now collaborators, anchors this release. Recorded with ElSaffar’s Safaafir ensemble (including Dena El Saffar and Tim Moore), the album is both document and transmission, the sound of a tradition surviving displacement and violence, and continuing forward in new hands.

Drawn from centuries-old Iraqi traditions, Maqām itself refers to a system of melodic modes found across the Middle East and Central Asia. The Iraqi form is one of its most ornate and demanding variants, and was inscribed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Maqam Al-Iraq sits at the crossroads of ancient history and contemporary revival, grounding ElSaffar’s vision for Maqām Records.

Maqam Al-Iraq is out on July 18th and two singles are now available, the spacious and striking opener ‘Maqam Al-Iraq / Dar al-Fikir wa al Amjad’ and the freshly released ‘Habibi Rah wa Ma Janeh’, which highlights the bright, upbeat pesteh form. Listen to both below.