Category Archives: Blog

Manu Delago’s new album + film, Parasol Peak, arrives in September

10 July 2018

Austrian percussionist and composer Manu Delago, known as a pioneer of the hang, has garnered wide acclaim in recent years collaborating with the likes of Bjork, Anoushka Shankar, Poppy Ackroyd, the London Symphony Orchestra, Olafur Arnalds, amongst many more. His latest sonic venture saw him embark on a mountaineering expedition in the Alps with an ensemble of seven musicians and the result is a film and accompanying album entitled Parasol Peak. During their journey, Delago and his ensemble performed and recorded new compositions in different locations and altitudes using only acoustic instruments, including the percussive sounds of their climbing gear. Delago explains:

“Of course performing on acoustic instruments has been done for thousands of years, so I wanted to add an extra component – nature, or more precisely the Alps. I wanted to utilise our surroundings by incorporating lots of percussion sounds like trees, water, little rocks as well as the gear that we were carrying, such as helmets, carabiners or ice axes.

In general, I find limitations inspiring and in the case of Parasol Peak I was limited to a fixed ensemble of 7 musicians. The different locations also brought various limitations, which affected how I composed the music. At some locations we were vertically aligned and couldn’t see each other. At others we couldn’t hear each other, or we were trying to survive while playing.”

Speaking about the rough weather and conditions endured by the crew, Delago said “there were several moments of physical struggle and anxiety in the group but that makes playing music together even more emotional”. He added: “There were definitely moments when individuals in the group would have turned around and left the expedition but because we could only do it as a group, we had to strongly support each other. We had to help each other carrying instruments and gear, as well as help each other in overcoming anxieties and exhaustion.”

Parasol Peak will see the light of day on September 7th through One Little Indian and ahead of it, Delago is enticing us with the magnificent title track. Wrap your ears around it below and straight after watch the gorgeous and breathtaking film trailer.


In other related good news, and following on from previous collaborations with Anoushka Shankar, the two, along with 27-member string section Metropole Orkest Strings, have a special performance in store for lucky attendees at Le Guess Who? Festival this November.

Three Trapped Tigers’ Matt Calvert announces debut album Typewritten

01 July 2018

If you’ve been following CTD for a while, you’ll be no stranger to the mighty London based trio Three Trapped Tigers, and its incredibly talented members, Tom Rogerson, Adam Betts and Matt Calvert. Rogerson and Betts have both graced us with solo albums in the last couple of years and we’re excited to know composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Matt Calvert has his debut solo record on the way. Entitled Typewritten, the album was “all performed, not programmed” by Calvert and a bunch of collaborators across several locations in Europe. Calvert had this to say about it:

“With both Typewritten and Three Trapped Tigers, the focus is on sound and the influence of electronic music on traditional instruments. Especially with all the percussive elements, here we asked what typically ‘electronic’ sounds can we recreate acoustically? Ultimately I wanted to find a sound distinct from what people typically imagine when the word ‘acoustic’ is mentioned, whether that is a jazz quartet, string quartet, a folk singer or various ‘world’ styles. Even where any of those might be an influence, like on S Waltz, which is almost chamber jazz, or Nothing to Envy, which has classical elements, I wanted to bring a freshness to them with some electronic-inspired touches, like imitating delay effects or making the tuned percussion sound like it had been chopped up in post-production.”

Typewritten arrives on September 7th trough Truant and we can already hear the stunning first single ‘12051’. Take a listen now.

Liars set to release first original soundtrack for new film 1/1

26 June 2018

Photo: Scott Witter

With eight albums under their belt, and constant exciting and unexpected shifts from album to album, Liars re-emerged last year as the solo project of singer and guitarist Angus Andrew, following the amicable departure of Aaron Hemphill. 2014’s Mess marked their last album together, but soon after they were invited to create the soundtrack to 1/1, Jeremy Phillips’ directorial debut. After reading the script, Angus and Aaron didn’t hesitate to accept it. “It was very heavy, it was very intense and by the time we got to New York, we’d read it. At that point, we hadn’t seen anything but we were on board just from reading the script.” explained Angus.

Described as a joint production between all of the artists involved, some of the film was even edited to work with the music. “I view this movie as ours, and that goes for everyone involved in the production,” explained the director. “I wanted there to be give and take between everyone working on it.”

1/1 will be out in cinemas next month and Liars’ soundtrack arrives on July 20th through Mute. Liars had already dropped ‘Liquorice’ as the first taste and now they have shared a video for new single ‘No Now Not Your Face’, featuring footage form the film and also directed by Jeremy Phillips and Matt Detisch. Check out both below.

Capitol K returns with seventh album Goatherder

22 June 2018

Malta born, London based multi-instrumentalist and producer Capitol K has been gifting us with iconic albums since the late 90’s. A big league producer in recent years, operating from his studio at London’s Total Refreshment Centre, he has been recording and producing incredible musicians including The Comet Is Coming, Rozi Plain, Flamingods, Ibibio Sound Machine and many more. Kristian Craig Robinson, the prolific man behind Capitol K, has also been busy making his new album, Goatherder. The record was written and recorded in a cave turned into studio in Malta and saw him using several bamboo instruments collected around the world, including his new lead instrument, an ancient Quecha reeded pipe. According to the press release, Goatherder also features “various resonating vessels and percussive objects including dry fennel storks collected from Punic troglodyte sites, and atonal flutes built from fresh cut farmland reed”. Capitol K explains:

“I’ve been collecting bamboo flutes, horns, pipes and percussion around the world for over a decade. Gathering together these naturally resonant forms I took them to my native Malta and built a temporary studio in a five hundred year old carved rock cave basement which was the former goat shelter of a farm dwelling. Some elements of all six of my Capitol K albums to date have been created in Malta and, wishing to expand on that rhythm, I chose to make a solitary concept album in Malta, drawing on my individual imagination of place and history. The idea was to create in the present a personalised and fictional re-imagining of a Mediterranean, particularly Maltese, diasporic music that fuses ancient and modern techniques. During days spent exploring ritualistic process and practice, field work and location experiences developed to awaken genetic memory, reaching back far beyond my present time and allowing me to freely interpret the opaquely resonant vibrations of the Maltese land and experience”.

Ahead of the album’s release on July 13th through Faith And Industry, Capitol K is enticing us with the first spellbinding single ‘Landlocked’. Take a listen now.