Category Archives: Blog

Grandbrothers announce new album Elsewhere, out in September

21 May 2025

Photo: Dan Medhurst

Following 2023’s stunning Late Reflections, Grandbrothers have announced their new album Elsewhere, set for release on September 26th through __and__others. The German-Swiss duo of pianist Erol Sarp and engineer/software designer Lukas Vogel are striking out in a bold new direction, stepping beyond the sound they’ve so meticulously built over the course of four albums. “The concept had become our identity,” explains Vogel. “Letting go of it brought questions: are we losing something – or discovering something new?”

On Elsewhere, and for the first time, Grandbrothers have introduced drum samples, analogue synths, and fresh rhythmic structures into their palette, allowing sound to become a more immersive and physical experience. Collected sounds from over the years now form the backbone of their compositions, rather than sitting as layered additions. This evolution extends beyond the studio, as their upcoming live tour will see them leave behind the traditional seated format in favour of venues where the audience can connect more viscerally with the performance, all accompanied by a newly developed light and stage show. “The music is physical,” says Sarp. “It’s meant to be heard loud.”

The album is introduced by first single ‘We Collide’, a beautifully dense piece. Listen to it now.

Ben LaMar Gay shares new single, ‘John, John Henry’, from upcoming album Yowzers

16 May 2025

Photo: Shannon Marks

With his much anticipated new album Yowzers arriving in three weeks, and following the powerful and poignant title track, the inimitable Ben LaMar Gay has unveiled a second stirring track, offering another glimpse into what might be one of our favourite albums of the year. Titled ‘John, John Henry’, the new track finds the Chicago-born composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and storyteller reimagining a cornerstone of American folklore with profound emotional and political resonance. ‘John, John Henry’ is his interpretation of the American folk myth ‘The Ballad of John Henry’, a late 1800s song previously performed by the likes of Lead Belly, Dave Van Ronk, Songs: Ohia, and Rhiannon Giddens. Speaking about it, Gay shares:

“The intriguing thing about folklore is how it allows you to experience the depth of time, and the beauty of spreading information by word of mouth… The fact that only certain folk songs survive the test of time makes me wonder about the coded gems that live inside this information and the necessity of the eternal whisper in which it travels. I was young the first time I heard the name, “John Henry.” It was blasting from a cartoon on T.V. “JJJJohnnn Henryyyy!” echoed through the house and stayed. My experience with the legend up to now has been similar to playing telephone, the game where people form a circle to relay a quiet whisper of a message sent from another side of the circle. My version of the John Henry legend is me dealing with the moment when that eternal whisper finally finds my ear, inside the circle. “John, John Henry” can be heard as an extension of the perpetual theme “Man vs Machine” or “Man vs System”. One American moment. One American crossfire. It’s also an ode to the big cousin we all have who somehow believes in us and vows to protect us.”

If these first two singles are anything to go by, we’re in for an absolute treat. Take a listen to ‘John, John Henry’ now.

Yowzers is out on June 6th through International Anthem

Tropos preview upcoming album, Switches, with new single ‘Aerator Debris’

15 May 2025

Photo: Tarishi Gupta

Last month, we shared news of the release of Switches, the upcoming new album from Brooklyn-based composer-improviser collective Tropos, and were immediately taken by its first playful and wild single, ‘The Best Donuts in Pennsylvania‘, composed by violinist Ledah Finck. Today, Tropos give us another exciting taster from the album with ‘Aerator Debris’, a new piece composed by drummer Aaron Edgcomb. The track further showcases the group’s truly collaborative spirit, with the album featuring compositions from all four members.

Listen to ‘Aerator Debris’ below and grab Switches when it drops on June 27th through Endectomorph Music.

Taz Modi’s second album, Involuntary Memories, out tomorrow

15 May 2025

The new solo album from Taz Modi, Involuntary Memories, is out tomorrow May 16th through Sehnsucht. Best known as a founder member of Submotion Orchestra, as well as Matthew Halsall’s pianist for many years and keyboardist for Portico Quartet, Modi has also worked with the likes of DJ Shadow and Mr. Scruff. Marking his second solo outing, following 2019’s Reclaimed Goods, the upcoming Involuntary Memories is a personal and reflective collection of piano-based compositions, shaped by spontaneous recollections and their emotional impact. Recorded across various locations on different pianos, the album was written during a period marked by meaningful life changes like the ageing of his parents, the lockdown, and the birth of his child. “As I reached my forties, I started wondering why these involuntary memories were increasing in frequency, and events around me seemed to trigger more and more recollections of my past,” Modi explains. “I was writing this album around the same time and all of the tracks are inspired by these spontaneous recollections and the range of emotions they seemed to provoke in me.”

Involuntary Memories opens with ‘Involuntary Memories Pt. 1 & 2’ and Modi has recently shared Pt.2. Speaking about it, he says:

“When I came across the pattern that starts this tune off, there was something in the way these two major chords next to each other created a sadness and melancholy that seemed to encapsulate something in how nostalgia works—happiness and sadness coexisting side by side, something that should be joyous actually being sad, and vice versa.”

‘Involuntary Memories (Pt. 2)’ is paired with a live performance video. Watch it below and listen to ‘Involuntary Memories (Pt. 1)’ straight after.


Holland Andrews announces new ambient drone series Aromatherapy: Vol. 1

14 May 2025

Photo: Clifford Kiing

Following last year’s Answers EP and their inclusion in the 2024 Whitney Biennial, vocalist, composer, producer, and performer Holland Andrews has announced a new ongoing series of ambient drone works titled Aromatherapy: Vol. 1. Created over the past five years for personal use, Andrews is now sharing these extended compositions. This series, as the press release explains, “is composed to stimulate your home or your headspace with uplifted peace, flow, self-realization, and relaxation, akin to how one uses aromatherapy.”

Each volume in the series takes on a different mood or intention, from meditation and grounding to creative focus, and tracks run 20–30 minutes, roughly the length of time it takes for incense to burn, an intentional design element.

Aromatherapy: Vol. 1 will see the light of day this Friday May 16th through Good Cloud Day, and ahead of it, they have shared the first track, ‘The Raft’. “The Raft was crafted to soothe the mind,” Andrews says. “Its delicate chord cluster floats beneath a blanket of breathful oceanic tides, perpetually shifting. It represents an interior lighthouse, an eternal beacon that remains lit and shines a compassionate presence throughout change.” ‘The Raft’ is offered with accompanying visuals. Check it out below and let yourself drift away.

Juri Seo shares new single ‘Cantus Firmus’, second preview from upcoming album Obsolete Music

14 May 2025

Korean-American composer and pianist Juri Seo has a new album on the way. Obsolete Music, performed by chamber sextet Latitude 49, is a collection of six works that reimagine traditional classical forms through a contemporary lens, blending old forms like fugues and cantus firmus with unusual rhythms and sharp contrasts. “It’s impossible to call anything obsolete, since when you say something is obsolete, you’re bringing it back to relevance,” she says. “I’m always thinking about this kind of cyclicity, of things always coming back—I think this is a very modern phenomenon—since now we can access whatever, whenever we want. Now everything in human history is available to us, and I like being able to be inspired by all of those things, all at once..”

Seo, who teaches at Princeton University, draws from a wide musical language that spans centuries, but always with her own distinct logic. “I fell in love with music through counterpoint. For a lot of contemporary composers, this is a kind of exercise that they do in class, but for me, it’s how I started music, you know, playing Bach fugues”, she explains, continuing:

“I came to think of counterpoint as a musical device that enables the unlikely interaction between complexity and warmth. It’s difficult to play or compose a fugue—they’re very complex—but once you embody it, with your fingers and ears, it becomes a simple, playful, and warm experience. I’m always looking for that combination of warmth, of this simple, radiant feeling, and intricacy. That’s something I strive for no matter what styles I write.”

‘Ostinato’ which served as the first single from the album, opens the record with relentless energy and spiraling tempo shifts. Seo’s approach to form is loose but intentional, as she puts it:

“As a composer, you can control the form to some extent, but you always have to let it grow in its own unexpected ways.”

The newly released ‘Cantus Firmus’ takes a more meditative and immersive route, built around Hildegard von Bingen’s ‘O rubor sanguinis’, and the cantus firmus technique. Speaking about it, Seo comments:

“It is built on the popular Medieval-Renaissance formal device of the same name—counterpoint unfolding along with a greatly elongated melody. Quarter tones feature prominently, initially as cadential embellishments and later as the harmonic foundation, taking the contrapuntal universe to a microscopic scale.”

Obsolete Music arrives on June 13th through New Amsterdam Records. Now listen to both ‘Ostinato’ and ‘Cantus Firmus’ below.