Category Archives: Blog

Watch Nadah El Shazly’s video for title track ‘Laini Tani’

08 May 2025

Photo: kafrawy

With just under a month to go until the release of her long-awaited new album Laini Tani, Nadah El Shazly has shared its powerful title track, along with a stunning accompanying video. Following on from the riveting and rousing first single ‘Ghorzetein‘, ‘Laini Tani’ blends freeform mawal-style vocal improvisation, Arabic scales, pulsing electronics and delicate harp. A disorienting and exhilarating listen, the track unfolds with both spontaneity and intent, constantly shifting its centre of gravity. The song, like much of the upcoming album, features harpist and experimental musician Sarah Pagé. Describing the track, Nadah shares:

“This song has a freeform mawal style beginning, where the words are about being in a relaxed, unbothered state and enjoying the moment. The beat comes in and breaks the mawal, and I start wondering what fate is bringing next. The melody switches to a more major scale when the beat disappears, asserting that if anyone wants to come visit, or enter my life, they should come back another time instead. And find me again later — maybe in a next life even! Musically it celebrates my close relationship with Sarah. We’ve been playing together since we met at Hotel2Tango recording studio in 2016 in Montreal, when I was recording my debut album, Ahwar. Sarah tunes her harp to Arabic scales, in this case, the Saba scale, and we can totally be in the same body and mind when we play together.”

Kafrawy directed the accompanying video. Watch it now.


Laina Tani is out on June 6th through One Little Independent Records, and Backward Music in Canada.

Resavoir & Matt Gold drift into Spring with ‘Dewy’

08 May 2025

Photo: Tim Nagle

Following the serene beauty of ‘Canopy‘, Resavoir and Matt Gold return with ‘Dewy’, a second stunner from their forthcoming debut album Horizon, due out on May 23rd through International Anthem. Like an orchestral dream, the track is beaming with warmth and colour, also owing to a radiant ensemble: Macie Stewart on strings, Claire Chenette’s oboe, Wills McKenna on flute, and Lloyd Billingham’s French horns. On the new single, the pair continue to blur boundaries, weaving their shared love of Brazilian music with ambient textures and jazz-inflected arrangements. ‘Dewy’ is the perfect echo of spring in full bloom, and you can listen to it below.

Berend Intelmann unveils video for new single ‘All Gone’

02 May 2025

Following the absorbing, gorgeous and tender ‘Life Of Another One’, Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer and producer Berend Intelmann has shared a second single titled ‘All Gone’. Both tracks are lifted from the upcoming Mother Nature, which marks the first album under his own name. As the press release describes, on ‘All Gone’ “heavy themes like life and death meet the lightness of pop”. Like the previous single, ‘All Gone’ comes with an accompanying video also directed by David Jascha Zuschlag, who continues the story. Watch it below and grab the album when it’s out on May 30th through Karaoke Kalk.


Franz Von announces debut album, Take What You Want, shares new single ‘We Live’ feat. wolf peaches

29 April 2025

Photo: Emma Ledwith

Franz Von has announced his debut solo album Take What You Want, set for release later this year through Bridge The Gap. Born in Jamaica and now a vital force in Sheffield’s hip-hop and afrofusion scenes, Franz Von is known for his electrifying presence with TC & The Groove Family and K.O.G. & The Zongo Brigade. With influences ranging from Nas and Lauryn Hill to contemporary artists like Klashnekoff, Little Simz and Kojey Radical, his solo work finds him blending African rhythms, dub poetry, reggae, contemporary jazz and UK Bass music, all grounded in sharp storytelling and social reflection.

Last week he unveiled the album’s first single, ‘We Live’, an urgent, groove-laced track shaped by the daily struggles of marginalized communities in Sheffield. Featuring vocals from alternative Sheffield songwriter wolf peaches, the track underscores the importance of community and resilience.​ Franz Von comments:

“Living in hardship can feel like a never ending cycle, and the song’s aim is to encourage listeners to break free from the repetitive nature of modern society. Despite our struggles we can still find the strength to make positive changes from within ourselves or through the belief in a higher power.”

Propelled by West African rhythms and tight production from Chris Mayall, it’s a thrilling preview of what’s to come. Check it out below.

Take What You Want is out on June 20th through Bridge The Gap

Madalitso Band set to release third album, Ma Gitala

23 April 2025

Madalitso Band, the Malawian duo of Yobu Maligwa and Yosefe Kalekeni, have announced the follow-up to their Musakayike, released in 2022. Entitled Ma Gitala, the new album is described as a “celebration of journey, triumph, and faith”. Rising quickly to fame in recent years, Madalitso Band emerged from years of hardship and unwavering faith. “My life has been a rollercoaster. [It] has been full of ups and downs and unfortunately the downs outweighed the ups”, says Yobu in The Banjo Boys, a music documentary about their story. Marking their third album and recorded in a studio for the first time, Musakayike taps in genres like banjo music, kwela, gospel, and African folk.

Ma Gitala is set for release on June 13th though Bongo Joe and the pair are giving us the first taste from it with the jubilant ‘Anafera Chiboda’, a track about love, wealth and connection. Take a listen below.

Ben LaMar Gay teases new album, Yowzers, with title track

22 April 2025

Photo: Joe Jones

There’s wonderful news from tremendously talented and versatile composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and poet Ben LaMar Gay, who has announced the release of a new album. Entitled Yowzers, the upcoming record follows two critically acclaimed and outstanding albums – 2018’s Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun and 2021’s Open Arms to Open Us.​ Described as a “joyfully irreverent psychedelic fantasia of folklore, free jazz, and avant-garde Blues”, the album remains as daring and inventive as ever.

Yowzers features Gay’s longstanding quartet – Tommaso Moretti (drums, percussion, voice), Matthew Davis (tuba, piano, bells, voice), and Will Faber (guitar, ngoni, bells, voice) – whose chemistry has been honed over years of playing together. “A big part of the language this quartet has developed is spatial,” says Gay. “It’s seeing and hearing it live. You’re dealing with a thing that is older than the industry that sells it, and if you’ve never experienced those bodies in a room, there can be a disconnect.”

The album was recorded live at Palisade Studios in Chicago, capturing the spontaneous energy of the quartet in the moment. Gay also composed and recorded additional pieces at International Anthem HQ, collaborating with engineer Dave Vettraino and enlisting the help of his bandmates, woodwind player Rob Frye, and a mini-choir comprising vocalists Ayanna Woods, Tramaine Parker, and Ugochi Nwaogwugwu.​

We’ll have to wait until June 6th for Yowzers to be out through International Anthem but we can already hear the album’s title track, which serves as a powerful and poignant opener. Speaking about it, Gay comments:

“’Yowzers’ was a word and a sound that came to mind while observing the intersection of humor and horror in our present reality. On one side of a coin flip, “yowzers” is a deep sigh that quietly exits the body after facing the absurd. On the other side, it is a cry of amazement at how many secrets were left behind to help us endure and transcend the absurdity.”

Wrap your ears around ‘Yowzers’ now.