Following the heady and intoxicating ‘Highed’, Brussels based futuristic quartet ECHT! have dropped another stomper from their upcoming third full-lengh album Boilerism. Titled ‘Wacky Wave’, the new single is an outlandish, menacing and propulsive track “built on irresistible grooves, fat, deep sounds, and playful melodies that inject the track with a dose of fun”, as the press release describes. Listen to it below and watch out for the release of Boilerism on March 7th through Sdban Ultra.
We’re as happy as a clam about the freshly announced new album from ingenious and thought-provoking spoken word artist, bandleader, composer, saxophonist and activist Alabaster DePlume. Entitled A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, it follows last year’s EP Cremisan: Prologue To A Blade, which he recorded in Palestine, and his poetry book Looking for my value: Prologue to a blade. Arriving on March 7th through the ever wonderful International Anthem, A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole is described as an album of “songs of agency and survival and presence; of confronting life’s pains rather than trying to avoid them; of banishing escapism.”
Speaking about the album’s title, DePlume comments:
“A blade, because a blade is whole, it has forgiven itself, and because it will take a small piece of our opposite, for us to be complete. A blade has marked out these former selves on my hand, a blade made the lines that divine us and the blade is whole. A blade. While I forgive myself, and heal, and lead us in healing. We can only forgive each other once we forgive ourselves. We can only heal each other while we heal ourselves.”
Alongside the album announcement, DePlume has shared the utterly beautiful and delicate lead track ‘Oh My Actual Days’, and an accompanying video directed by artist Rebecca Salvadori. The title refers to a London colloquialism usually used to express surprise or excitement. DePlume adds:
“We can, if we choose, read this phrase as a call to the divinity of the moment we are in. Wherever we are, whatever is happening, it is our own life – a life that is made up of the time (the days – the actual days) that we spend. And we call to this – the only real thing that we have. Our time. Whatever we are experiencing it belongs to us, it is the ‘actual’ moment we are in. And it is divine. This is the introduction to the album.”
Now wrap your ears around ‘Oh My Actual Days’.
Photo: Tommy McAdams
We’ve been eagerly waiting for the release of Matt McBane‘s Buoy since the composer, electronic musician, and violinist announced its release at the tail end of last year, alongside the immersively gorgeous and engrossing single ‘Eleven Eleven’. A record of patterns and ambience for synthesizers and violin, Buoy marks McBane’s first electronic album and first solo album and it sprouted from a 2020 performance at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust curated by Laurie Anderson and Arto Lindsay.
Ahead of the album’s release on February 28th through Gradient Music, McBane has shared a new single titled ‘Arpeggiator’. Speaking about the track, he comments:
“With ‘Arpeggiator’, I imagined an intersection of the classical minimalism of Philip Glass and the minimalist techno of Robert Hood. The result is a continuous flow of repeated arpeggios on the violin and synthesizer over drum machine patterns. These all follow strict additive and subtractive processes, moving from patterns of 3 to 4 to 5, etc and back again. The name ‘Arpeggiator’ is a reference to a standard function of synthesizers to automatically arpeggiate held chords — an easy way to create a seemingly virtuosic cascade of notes. In my piece, these arpeggios are played on the violin (in addition to synthesizer) for an actual virtuosic feat of stamina and concentration imitating the machine-generated notes.”
Listen to ‘Arpeggiator’ below and get ready for an exhilarating and kaleidoscopic ride.
Photo: Guillermina Muller
Buenos Aires born, Bern based cellist, composer and curator Violeta García has recently announced the release of a new album titled IN / OUT. Releasing on March 7th through Bongo Joe, the forthcoming album was recorded in a cave in Geneva which used to be the city’s water reservoir. Using the natural acoustics of the space, and through extended techniques and prepared instrument, García melded improvisation, composition and new sounds. She explains:
“On ‘IN / OUT’, I delved into compositions exclusively crafted for the violoncello, exploring the concept of recording in a unique location outside of a traditional studio setting. We took all the technicalities underground to an immense tank in Geneva, that once held the city’s water reserve. This innovative proposal to compose and record in this space was suggested by my record label, Bongo Joe.”
García also sheds some light on the creative process:
“In these compositions, I’m focusing on harmonics of the cello with specific tunings, microtonality, and extended techniques, playing with the resonance of the space and the length of the reverberation, which allows for compositions that sound as if they were written for multiple ensemble of cellos. I draw inspiration from composers whose work delves into sacro minimalism and acoustic music, such as La Monte Young, Jürg Frey, Eliane Radigue, Arvo Pärt, among others.”
Alongside the album announcement, García shared the the first single, ‘IN II’, and now she has paired it with a video made by Martin Carpaneto. Watch it below.
We’re always excited about new releases coming out through Sdban Records, and there’s plenty of good reasons for that in their rich catalogue. Brussels-based quintet Ciao Kennedy is one of the latest bands to join the label and prick up our ears. Hailing from the Namur region, childhood friends Samuel du Fontbaré (guitar), Léopold de San (guitar), Louis Gaillard (keyboards), Gaspard de Bellefroid (bass) and Simon Boonen (drums), formed the band in 2018, releasing three EP’s in the following years, as well as being featured on the compilation Lefto presents Jazz Cats Vol. 3 last spring.
Marking the fruition of two years’ worth of musical experimentation, Ciao Kennedy are gearing up to release their debut album. Entitled Solarium, the album arrives on March 21st and they are teasing it with lead single ‘Nothing’, a “track born out of a moment of collective reflection in a rehearsal room bathed in the fading light of an autumn afternoon in Brussels”. Mesmeric, infectious and immediately enjoyable, ‘Nothing’ distils the group’s essence, “mixing modern electronics with nostalgic post-rock guitars, thriving on hypnotic rhythms and lush textures, crafting and layering instruments into soundscapes”. If ‘Nothing’ is anything to go by, we just can’t wait for March to come. Take a listen now.
2025 is gearing up to be a wildly exciting year in music with album drops from artists and bands we love like Black Flower. At the tail end of last year, the Belgian quintet had already announced the release of new album Kinetic, and shared then the brilliant and boisterous lead single ‘Monkey System’. They have now unveiled a treat of a new single called ‘Synesthetic’. Saxophonist, flutist and composer Nathan Daems, who helms the band, describes the inspiration behind the track:
“One morning around 5am, I was lying in bed, my eyes still closed but no longer fully asleep. I heard two birds improvising rapid melodies that became vividly visual. Lines, shapes, and colors appeared instantly, representing the sounds with astonishing detail and complexity.”
Black Flower then explored that imagery channelling it into the vibrant, joyous, and energized ‘Synesthetic’. The single is offered with an accompanying video made by visual artist and video director Philippe Werkers. Watch it below and watch out for the release of Kinetic on January 31st through Sdban Ultra.
