Category Archives: Blog

Watch Alabaster DePlume’s surreal video for new single ‘Invincibility’

11 February 2025

Photo: Alexander Massek

Last month, Alabaster DePlume announced the release of a new album, A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, teasing it with the utterly beautiful and delicate lead track ‘Oh My Actual Days’. With the album release approaching, today he is offering another glimpse into the album with the deeply beautiful and moving second single ‘Invincibility’. Speaking about the meaning behind the song, DePlume says:

“When I feel my feelings (instead of escaping them) I can discover that I survive them, and that I was not destroyed by them. I can experience this as a sense of invincibility. Where I find that I am able independently to live through what I feel, I am empowered and I generate my own agency.”

DePlume is also offering up a surreal video for his newest single, made by filmmaker Niall Trask, who had this to say about it:

“Alabaster was one of the first people I met when I moved down to London; a collaboration has been a long time coming. He gave me total freedom to write on one of three tracks, and I returned his trust by choosing to euthanise him to the score of ‘Invincibility.’ On a personal level, there has been a fair share of tragedy in recent years, and finding the absurdity/humour in it all is always my go-to remedy. The treatment was ambitious, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped bring this to life (whilst putting a dog to sleep). I really tried my best to visually punctuate the sounds of a special soul!”

Watch the video below and watch out for the release of A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole on March 7th through International Anthem.

Takuya Kuroda set to release 8th album, EVERYDAY, later this month

09 February 2025

Photo: GENYA

February will end on a high with the release of Takuya Kuroda‘s new album EVERYDAY. Slated for release on February 28th through PPK Records, EVERYDAY is the follow-up to 2022’s Midnight Crisp and marks his 8th studio album release. With a consistently brilliant and prolific output, the Kobe born, Brooklyn based trumpet player and composer says that “the only way to make the music that I want to make is to work hard, every day.” The title of his upcoming EVERYDAY mirrors “that simple message”, as well as drawing from the of the day-to-day details. To record the album, Kuroda adhered to his tested practice:

“Make tracks at home, bring them to the studio, add or replace sounds, invite musicians, repeat the process to polish the track –– as I hear it.”

Alongside the album news, Kuroda has also shared a taste of what to expect with the first single, ‘Car 16 15 A’, named after the car and seat number of the express train he used to take in Japan. Being the last car of the train, he would usually end up running to the end of the platform, and ‘Car 16 15 A’ captures that urgency, as well as “the emotional journey of pursuit and the relief of achievement.” Take a listen now.

Macie Stewart announces new album, When The Distance Is Blue

07 February 2025

Photo: Shannon Marks

Fluid in a variety of genres, Macie Stewart is as prolific as she is inventive, counting among her accomplishments a multitude of projects and collaborations with artists like Makaya McCraven, Damon Locks, Alabaster DePlume, Bex Burch, Japanese Breakfast, Resavoir, Tweedy, or SZA, to name but a few. The Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, and improviser announced this week the release of her new album, When the Distance is Blue, which she describes as “a love letter to the moments we spend in-between.”

The album arrives on March 21st through International Anthem, and ahead of it Stewart has shared the lead single ‘Spring Becomes You, Spring Becomes New’, a beautiful, beguiling and cinematic track. “This piece reminds me of a cross country train ride through different sceneries and landscapes,” says Stewart. “It’s the feeling when you’re witnessing everything pass outside your window, knowing you may never set foot there.”

‘Spring Becomes You, Spring Becomes New’ comes with an accompanying video filmed and directed by Mikel Patrick Avery and you can watch it below.

Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson & Sam Wilkes team up for collaborative album

04 February 2025

Photo: Roman Koval

Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes is the debut collaborative album from three highly-skilled and established musicians, guitarist Gregory Uhlmann, saxophonist Josh Johnson, and bassist Sam Wilkes. A match made in heaven, through their various projects the three serve as major forces of the LA new jazz scene. Comprised of 11 instrumental songs, Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes is the trio exploring “a spacious lyrical curiosity, a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music”, as the press release describes. Sprouted from two live shows at ETA, and another session at Uhlmann’s house, the upcoming album’s “compositional restraint feels daring and alluring”.

Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes arrives on March 14th through International Anthem and ahead of it they have shared ‘Frica’, an immersive and enthralling track showing off the breadth of the trio’s debut album. Take a listen below.

The Young Mothers unveil video for second single ‘Song for a Poet’

29 January 2025

Last November The Young Mothers, the project led by Norwegian born bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, announced the release of their third album, Better If You Let It. Slated for release on February 21st through Sonic Trasmissions, it’s a monumental and majestic effort bound to be one of our favourite records of the year. Following ‘Better If You Let It’, they have unleashed a second powerful and gripping new single called ‘Song for a Poet’. The track is dedicated by the band’s Stefan González to his father, trumpeter Dennis González, who in the early 90’s had travelled to Norway to collaborate with jazz musicians on an album. González comments:

“When The Young Mothers recorded our third studio album in Oslo, Norway during late October and early November of 2022, my Father, world renowned Texan jazz trumpeter Dennis González, had just passed away a little over half a year earlier. In 1993, 29 years prior, he had traveled to Oslo from Warsaw to record an album with some of Norway’s finest musicians of the era: Nils Petter Molvaer, Sidsel Endressen, Pal Thowsen, and Bugge Wesseltoft, the recorded result came out on cd and cassette as an album entitled “Welcome to Us”.

I vividly remember him mapping out this music at home, prior to him traveling to Europe to meet up and record with said musicians. I was 8 years old. I decided on a whim that it would be beautiful if we could pull off some sort of tribute to my Father’s music from his time spent in Oslo.

Me and my gracious bandmates in The Young Mothers (plus haunting spoken word from Klara Weiss and Malwina Witkowska) settled on covering the ever mournful sounding composition “Song for a Poet”. As you can hear, it turned out beautifully, really capturing the melancholic and spiritual qualities that my Father loved about Scandinavian jazz. Fittingly enough this particular track was recorded on Día de Los Muertos, fueled by a surreal feeling of connection and synchronicity to the music and to my Father on his prior Scandinavian musical journeys.”

Accompanying the single release, The Young Mothers have unveiled a video made by Erik Johannessen, and you can watch it below.

Emergence Collective to release new album, Chapel, in February

25 January 2025

Photo: Jam Burrito

There’s wonderful news from Emergence Collective, the supergroup comprising a vibrant cast of some of the most masterful improvisers from Sheffield and the North of England. The collective are ready to release the follow up to Fly Tower, which was one of our Album Picks of 2023. Entitled Chapel, the album was captured live at the Samuel Worth Chapel, an intimate venue in the heart of Sheffield General Cemetery. As usual, their music is entirely improvised and informed by the place they play in. The chapel setting steered the collective towards a more ambient and contemplative atmosphere. Emergence Collective also cite various influences, including Steve Reich, Brian Eno, Max Richter and Pharoah Sanders, with the ten members’ shared background in folk, jazz, experimental, early and contemporary classical music tying it all together. Unlike their previous record, which featured two percussionists, the rhythmic parts on Chapel come only from melodic instruments.

Chapel will see the light of day on February 5th through Redundant Span and ahead of it they have share ‘SWC-1’, an utterly beautiful and beguiling track clocking in at over 20 minutes. The single is offered with a live accompanying video and you can watch it below.