Category Archives: Blog

El León Pardo unveils animated video for second single ‘Cumbia Espacial’

19 February 2025

El León Pardo is the project of Jorge Emiliano Pardo, who has a remarkably rich musical history, including stints with groups like Ondatrópica, Curupira, Frente Cumbiero and the UK/Colombian Mestizo project. Inspired by Colombian folklore, the Cartagena-born, Bogotá-based trumpeter, flautist and multi-instrumentalist created his El León Pardo project in 2013, bringing to compositional fruition Latin American rhythms and sounds melded with elements of psychedelia and jazz improvisation. With a love for the kuisi, an indigenous wind instrument from Colombia’s Caribbean coast, which has become a symbol of resistance, El León Pardo always holds on to his instrument. Next month he is releasing a new album titled Viaje Sideral (Space Voyage), described as “an astral journey in which the kuisi is the vehicle and the life force of the rhythm”. Releasing on March 21st through AYA Records, Viaje Sideral pays “tribute to the psychedelia of the tropical world of the Caribbean in the 1970s and 80s”, whilst also embracing influences from artists like Terry Riley, Kraftwerk and Mad Professor.

Last week saw El León Pardo release a second single from his upcoming album called ‘Cumbia Espacial’, featuring Colombian rapper N. Hardem. A treat for the ears, ‘Cumbia Espacial’ is a burst of celestial radiance. The single is offered with an accompanying animated video made by Santiago Amaya Quimbayo. Watch it now.

Sopa Boba’s debut album, That Moment, out in March

18 February 2025

Photo: Gaëtan Streel

Emerging at the tail end of last year, Sopa Boba is a Belgian-Dutch project that brings together playwright Jean Vangeebergen, singer G.W. Sok (The Ex) and composer Pavel Tchikov (Ogives). They are gearing up to release their debut album, That Moment, a collection of songs conveying acute social-political themes of our world. The album is an adaptation of the eponymous text by Moldovan author Nicoleta Esinencu, who based herself on a real event in Moldova where a father punished his son for stealing some money by cutting his finger off. The author, like the band, reflect on the corrosive consumerist society we live on, “describing with irony the downward spiral of capitalist society”, as the press release describes. Brimming with thought and urgency, the upcoming That Moment is fuelled by piercing spoken word, harsh modular synths, and a neo-classical string quartet.

That Moment is out on March 7th through Sub Rosa, and for a taste of what’s on offer, check out their latest single, the staggering and unsettling ‘That Magical Moment’.

Listen to Ciao Kennedy’s new single ‘Limbo Rainbow’

14 February 2025

Last month, Ciao Kennedy announced the release of their debut album, Solarium, out on March 21st through Sdban Ultra. After pricking our ears with the mesmeric, infectious and immediately enjoyable ‘Nothing‘, the Brussels-based quintet are back with new single ‘Limbo Rainbow’. Entrancing and enigmatic, the track went through many changes before getting to its final form. As the guitarist explained, “it’s like a rough stone we polished, almost by accident”. Take a listen now.

Yasmine Hamdan releases new single ‘Hon هون’

13 February 2025

Beirut-born, Paris-based producer, singer and songwriter Yasmine Hamdan released last week a new single called ‘Hon هون’. Devastatingly beautiful, ‘Hon هون’ was co-written with Palestinian poet Anas Alaili in the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion, offering an acute reflection on a “tiny land with a gaping wound”. Hamdan recalls:

“It’s August 4th, 2020 at 6:08PM and I’m sitting in my apartment in Paris when I receive a call from my sister, one minute after the Beirut port explosion. In a few seconds, Beirut became smoke and haze. I was far, and I felt completely crushed.
« Hon » was the first song I wrote for my new album. The lyrics emerged from this experience, a fracture, an incapacity to distinguish between here and there.
I wrote the lyrics of Hon with the Palestinian Poet and friend Anais Alaili after August 4th, yet it seems inseparable with what we have been experiencing for the last year and a half. I composed it with my long time collaborator Marc Collin.”

‘Hon هون’ comes with a gorgeous stop motion video directed by Beirut-based visual artist Khalil and co-written with Hamdan. Watch it below.

Matt McBane shares fourth single, ‘Absence’, off upcoming LP Buoy

12 February 2025

‘Absence’ is the absolutely beautiful and celestial new single from Matt McBane‘s highly anticipated Buoy. The new track follows the exhilarating and kaleidoscopic ‘Arpeggiator‘ and the gorgeous and engrossing ‘Eleven Eleven’, which have completely bowled me over.  Described as “a melancholy track for solo piano, synthesizer and disembodied, processed sustain pedal”, ‘Absence’ further showcases McBane’s stylistic versatility and instrumental virtuosity. Listen to it below and grab Buoy when it drops on February 28th through Gradient Music.

ECHT! premiere animated video for ‘Highed’

12 February 2025

The heady and intoxicating ‘Highed’, lifted from ECHT!‘s upcoming Boilerism, was the first single to emerge when they announced the album back in December. Now the Brussels based futuristic quartet have paired the track with an animated video made by Simon Breeveld & Super Tchip. As with the track and the rest of the album, the video pays homage to club culture, and as the press release describes, “it’s a surreal ride through the history of dance and clubbing, packed with absurd transitions and a touch of psychedelic madness”. Here it is.


Boilerism is out on March 7th through Sdban Ultra.