Four years on from the release of Dust Breathing, Møster! are following it up with a new record. Entitled Springs, it marks their sixth full length album and it will see the light of day on September 20th through Action Jazz. Composed entirely by saxophonist and band leader Kjetil Møster, it features the same lineup as when the band formed in 2009, Motorpsycho guitarist Hans Magnus ‘Snah’ Ryan; electric bass player of Elephant9 and Needlepoint Nikolai Hængsle; and Spidergawd and ex-Motorpsycho drummer Kenneth Kapstad. Corralling a variety of musical influences, including 1960’s/1970’s modal acoustic and electric jazz and 1970’s experimental rock, the upcoming Springs also interweaves elements of Brazilan music, doom, contemporary music, 1990’s indie rock and metal, and nordic ambient house.
Møster! have already let loose two singles from the album, ‘Dreaming Xaxado’ and ‘Liquid Fumes’. As Møster! describes, the latter is “an ode to the almost astral experience one can enter by listening deeply to old jazz ballads, a reverent little nod to the poetic spirit of Coleman Hawkins and Pharoah Sanders.”
We weren’t familiar with percussionist, composer, and filmmaker Evan Chapman but right off the bat we knew we stumbled upon something very special. Based out of Philadelphia, Chapman has built a prolific career as a filmmaker and co-founder of film production company Four/Ten Media, and he is perhaps most known as a founding member of contemporary-classical percussion trio/rock band Square Peg Round Hole. Chapman has announced the release of his debut solo album, Reveries, arriving on October 11th through Better Company Records. Weaving influenceslike Son Lux, Floating Points, Moderat, and claire rousay, the album finds a balance between the acoustic and electronic “where humans glitch, where machines breathe; where what breaks us can heal us; and where you can find yourself, even while losing yourself, in reverie”, as the press release describes. Chapman explores themes of “dreaming and daydreaming, remembering and forgetting, new blessings and old wounds” throughout Reveries, which he created following the birth of his daughter.
It seems like a long wait for the album to be out but he has shared the beautiful, triumphant and fiercely rhythmic ‘Fractions’ as the first single. Of the track, he says:
“Fractions” was the track that served as the initial spark to dive down the rabbit hole of my first solo full-length album of original compositions. The track was written and recorded exclusively in my home attic studio during the first few months of his daughter’s life, primarily in headphones during naps. The chopped vocal samples in the opening naturally fell into a cycle of 15 eighth notes, which, due to its timing falling just short of even groupings of 4, gave it a quality that felt like it could be looped endlessly – which is exactly how the writing process took shape. Various loops, melodies, and rhythms fade in and out against that 15/8 motif in different ways, evoking the sense of rhythmic free-floating created by minimalist composers such as Steve Reich. A number of the instruments used in “Fractions” overlap with ones I now share with my young daughter including children’s desk bells, pump organ, and a miniature vibraphone, to name a few.”
Chapman has also directed a video to accompany ‘Fractions’, and he adds:
“As a child of the 90’s, this music video’s concept was born out of a nostalgic love affair of old analogue CRT TV’s – and a new appreciation for how, 30 years later, they distort and warp what footage is displayed on them in exciting and unexpected ways. Instead of relying on modern software post-processing for the glitch effects, I went a more tactile route and fed my performance footage into a circuit-bent video synthesizer – using broken & bygone equipment connected by RCA cables in only standard definition. It was a surreal experience to be able to shoot this video at the abandoned Bethlehem Steel Mill building in Lebanon, PA, thanks to my friend Evan Reinhardt – though with a newly-secured $2.3 grant to develop the building into a small business incubator, artist space and cultural amenity, this is likely the last (and also maybe first?) video to have been shot there in its currently dilapidated state.”
Spearheaded by Czech-born guitarist and composer Honza Kourimsky, Edinburgh’s Mahuki is an exciting and refreshing new presence on the thriving Scottish jazz scene, featuring some of the area’s finest musicians, including members of Nimbus Sextet and trumpet player James Brady. Next month Mahuki will release his debut album, Gratitude, a record influenced by his diverse geographical and musical upbringing that ranges from contemporary jazz and Eastern European folk music to progressive rock. With storytelling at its heart and a cinematic vision, Gratitude weaves together vibrant horn fanfares, delicate string interludes, and gentle guitar passages to create a sound that explores the spiritual elements of the human experience. Honza comments:
“The album is personal journey through the tapestry of invaluable lessons and cherished moments. Each track serves as a heartfelt ode to the values that have become my guiding lights in the pursuit of balance and happiness, and a tribute to the different musical culture I have been lucky enough to experience and be inspired by. Through a seamless blend of storytelling, I invite listeners to join me on a profound exploration of resilience, wisdom, and appreciation.”
Ahead of the album’s release on September 6th through Bridge The Gap, Mahuki has let loose two singles, ‘Warrior Path’ and ‘Presence’. Infused with a dub-influenced groove, ‘Warrior Path’ reflects Honza’s time in Serbia, drawing from the emotive melodies of Balkan and Eastern European folk music. The latest single, ‘Presence’, is a soulful ballad and Honza has this to say about it:
“Spiritually, “Presence” brings the story of the album to a close with a gentle yet powerful message. It serves as a reminder to be patient and steadfast in the pursuit of one’s dreams, emphasizing that good things come to those who wait. The song encourages listeners to trust in the manifestation of their goals in due time, even if not in the exact form initially envisioned.”
Mahuki is ready to cast a spell on you so go and listen to both tracks below.
We’re less than a month away from the release Sage Warrior, the second solo album from musician, educator and activist Sonny Singh. The album was created as a companion to the book with the same name by Singh’s longtime friend and visionary civil rights leader Valarie Kaur, with each track on Sage Warrior accompanying a chapter in the book. Sonny had previously shared the joyous, inspiring and heartwarming ‘Pavan Guru’, and now he’s unleashed a video to accompany new single ‘Jaano Jot’, weaving between Punjabi, cumbia, and reggae. “This is a very important song to me – drawing from the revolutionary words of Guru Nanak over 500 years ago yet so relevant in today’s world where millions of people are dehumanized through policies of war and occupation and rising hateful and violent political rhetoric”, Sonny stated. “I see this sacred poetry and music as a call to action to speak up and stand up for the oppressed, from Punjab to Palestine.”
The accompanying video was shot and directed by Shruti Parekh, and depicts Sikh community members in Richmond Hill, Queens preparing food in the kitchen, known as a langar hall, of a gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship. Kaur explains this advent in the upcoming book:
“Langar was embodied protest. Radical and subversive. Eating together with people of all castes and creeds meant rejecting with your body and breath adherence to hierarchy. High caste people ate from the hands of low- caste “untouchables,” and vice versa. They were training their bodies into a new way of being, undoing millennia of conditioning. They became new in the act: equal, and equally beloved.
Langar was more than a rebellion: It was a practice for an alternative world of solidarity, dignity, and humility.”
After enticing us with the beautiful and reverie-inducing ‘Tower of Cloud’, vibraphone wizard, multi-percussionist, and composer Masayoshi Fujita has unveiled today two celestial and delicate new singles, ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ and ‘Valley’, lifted from his much anticipated upcoming album, Migratory. ‘Our Mother’s Lights’ features composer, poet, vocalist and educator Moor Mother. “I love the creative work of Masayoshi”, she said. “To collaborate on such a beautiful composition is really exciting and I’m honoured for the world to hear it.” Fujita has also commented on the track:
“I didn’t intend to add any vocals to ‘Our Mother’s Lights’. But through some lovely encounters with Camae (Moor Mother), it just happened. And I’m glad that it did, because her voice and lyrics are so powerful and fit with the image of the song very well. She has just brought this song to another level.”
Speaking about ‘Valley’, Fujita says:
“I had this bowed marimba phrase idea whilst I was scoring a film last year. When I made this song, I envisioned clouds crawling over mountains and valleys from the point of view of a bird.”
Listen to both singles below and be sure to grab Migratory when it’s out on September 6th through Erased Tapes.
Malcolm Pardon, who is also one half of Swedish electronic duo Roll The Dice with Peder Mannerfelt, is back with a new solo album. Entitled The Abyss, the upcoming record continues to build on the death related themes explored in his 2021 solo debut Hello Death. “It’s not meant to be threatening or horrific in any way,” Pardon explained. “There’s this constant dialogue we have with ourselves about how we’re going to die at some point. It’s like a constant companion, so you might as well get to know it, and befriend it.”
The Abyss will be released September 20th through The Leaf Label and ahead of it the composer and producer has shared the gentle and melancholic ‘Enter The Void’, which “serves as a perfect distillation of Pardon’s approach, balancing a delicate piano refrain with a low, rumbling blast of noise before being carried aloft by swooning strings that echo down a distant hall”, as the press release describes. ‘Enter The Void’ is offered with an unsettling video by Swedish director Oskar Wrangö, who had this to say:
“I have always been drawn to Malcolm’s music. It creates new images in my mind, and that’s a pretty rare thing. To me this track is a fine balance between real darkness and simple beauty. I wanted to create a unique visual experience in that landscape – when it comes to the end of things or the beginning of something unknown. It comes from a dark depressive past of my own and I think the strong contrasts are important. It’s taken me to new and interesting places. If ever a nightmare was poetic, this is my very personal interpretation of the title – Enter The Void.”
