Formed in 2014 whilst studying at the Conservatory of Music in Braga, Ocenpsiea are a Portuguese band comprising João Nuno Teixeira Vilaça on drums, Gonçalo Cravinho Lopes on bass, Francisco Carneiro on violin, and Tomás Alvarenga on keyboards and production. Weaving elements of jazz, funk, Portuguese folk, rock, hip-hop, electronic music, and a good dose of humour, the quartet explores different sonic territories while remaining remarkably cogent. With three albums under their belt, including Cónega 103 (2017), Sabão Rosa (2018), and Oceano-Mar (2021), Ocenpsiea have carved out a space as one of Portugal’s most forward-thinking and exciting acts in contemporary music.
Today sees them releasing, ‘Noite Acústica’, a brand new single straddling that perfect line between blissful and exhilarating. The track captures Ocenpsiea’s unique blend of acoustic and electronic textures that build in intensity, and is a testament to their ability to fuse intricate rhythms with melodious grace. Listen to ‘Noite Acústica’ below.
Led by trumpeter and musical director Axel Kaner-Lidstrom, Levitation Orchestra are a ten-piece collective bringing together some of London’s most dynamic young musicians, including vocalist Plumm, harpist Maria Osuchowska, drummer Harry Ling, flautist Lluís Domènech Plana, and tenor saxophonist James Akers. Hailed as one of the most exciting forces in London’s jazz scene, they formed through connections between Trinity Laban Conservatoire, Tomorrow’s Warriors, and Brainchild Festival, with an ethos rooted in community and collective composition, as Kaner-Lidstrom explains:
“The band was founded because collective music making is a beautiful thing which nourishes the soul and helps you grow as a person as well as an artist. Our outreach work with educational programmes such as NYJO and Tomorrow’s Warriors is important for us, as we can show young musicians how easy it is to write music collectively when it is rooted in respect and not the aggrandising of ego.”
Comes November 14th, Levitation Orchestra will release their new album Sanctuary through 5dB Records, following their previous records Inexpressible Infinity (2019) and Illusions & Realities (2021). In the works for the past three years, the upcoming album explores the idea of sanctuary as something built together, a space of openness and mutual understanding. Musically, and as the press release describes, it “blends orchestral instrumentation, cinematic soundscapes, and fierce improvisation”, and draws inspiration from artists like Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Stravinsky, and Ravel.
Ahead of the album’s release, Levitation Orchestra have shared their new single ‘Imladris’, a warm and joyous track blending bright horn melodies, harp, and piano in a flowing musical conversation, elevated by Plumm’s earthy vocals. Of the track, the band says:
“Imladris is a celebration, a revelling in splendour and good times. As such, it represents the joy of finding one’s sanctuary, the destination that lies at the end of a search for everything beautiful in life. This piece has also gone through many revisions, with the challenge being how to weave together many different themes, all of which we were enchanted by.”
Watch the video for ‘Imladris’ below.
Levitation Orchestra will launch Sanctuary with a headline show at London’s Islington Assembly Hall for the EFG London Jazz Festival on November 17th.
Based between Los Angeles and Tokyo, Brazilian-American guitarist, composer, and producer Fabiano do Nascimento is known for his imaginative blend of Brazilian traditions with modern sounds. He has announced a new album that sees him continuing to explore new musical landscapes. Entitled Cavejaz, the title was suggested by his friend Sam Gendel, who is also credited with the album’s artwork. “Kind of sounds like music coming from a cave with water and organic elements,” Fabiano commented.
Cavejaz sprouted from a conversation with Minas Gerais singer and songwriter Jennifer Souza, who suggested that Fabiano record with Paulo Santos, a founding member of the influential Brazilian group UAKTI. In August 2024, Fabiano and Santos recorded at Studio Ilha do Corvo in Belo Horizonte with producer Leo Marques. The sessions took place during a difficult moment for Brazil, as widespread wildfires filled the air with smoke and forced the musicians indoors. “But,” Fabiano says, “we managed to have a good time still, and to enjoy recording the open and free ideas that would come up. Leo would just hit record, and we would just play.”
The second part of Cavejaz took shape in Japan, where Fabiano performed and recorded with U-zhaan, a renowned tabla player. Their live performance in a noh-gaku-doh theater in Tokyo was recorded and included on the album, alongside additional recordings Fabiano completed solo at SALO studio in Oiso. Fabiano explains:
“So the project became a selection of what I recorded in Minas Gerais in studio with Paulo and Jennifer in August 2024, and the rest live in Japan, with one exception being live recording from a concert I performed in Los Angeles with my longtime bandmate, the percussionist Ricardo ‘Tiki’ Pasillas (Salvador). The material made sense together.”
Cavejaz was recorded across three countries, but it has a natural flow throughout, with the music centred on guitar and handmade percussion, augmented by U-zhaan’s tabla and Tiki’s hybrid percussion setup. The album arrives on November 21st through Leaving Records and ahead of it, Fabiano has shared the magnificent and soothing opener ‘Aguas Serenas’ as the first single. Take a listen below.
With 2025 soon coming to an end, we are already looking ahead to next year’s releases. One of the albums slated for an early 2026 release that we are highly anticipating will come from the hands of Pullman, a studio-born acoustic supergroup that took root in the fertile soil of Chicago’s post-rock scene in the late ’90s, bringing together Ken “Bundy K.” Brown (Tortoise/Directions in Music), Curtis Harvey (Rex), Chris Brokaw (Come), and Doug McCombs (Tortoise/Eleventh Dream Day), with drummer Tim Barnes rounding out the lineup.
Pullman first surfaced on Thrill Jockey in 1998 with Turnstyles & Junkpiles, and three years later, Viewfinder arrived. With these two releases, and as the press release explains, Pullman “became a touchstone for acoustic, song-adjacent instrumental music: folk in spirit, post-rock in method, and timeless in tone.”
More than twenty years on, the band returns with III, a record shaped by friendship, endurance, and time. Out on January 9th through Western Vinyl, III is introduced with the dazzling and dreamy lead single ‘Weightless’. The single is offered with an accompanying video and you can watch it below.
Bucharest-based pianist and composer Mischa Blanos has a knack for merging disparate musical worlds, like classical music, jazz, and electronic beats. He has been seamlessly moving between concert halls and underground clubs, drawing on his classical training while incorporating the freedom and energy of electronic and jazz music. Blanos is gearing up to release a new album, Take Control, that sees him blend acoustic piano, live jazz drums, and cutting-edge electronic textures in a fresh and exhilarating way. More than a collection of tracks, Take Control is a manifesto exploring the power of unity and self-determination through music.
Ahead of the album’s release on November 21st through Longcut Records, Blanos has shared new single ‘Basilica’, a sublime andexhilarating track that was written during his residency in Malmaison, a former Bucharest jail where Mischa had his studio. ‘Basilica’ reflects on the concept of the sacred and where it can be found in modern life. As Blanos puts it:
“They built temples to hold the divine. Marble, gold, ceilings so high you lose your voice. But what if the sacred lives elsewhere? I found something holier in a forest clearing. In the breath before a piano note. In the way a stranger smiled at me across the tracks in a godforsaken train station for no reason at all. This is my new basilica.”
Along with the single, Blanos has unveiled an accompanying live video directed by Stefan Schultz, and you can watch it below.
We love Julianna Barwick and we love Mary Lattimore, two unique voices in the world of experimental and ambient music. Barwick is known for her celestial soundscapes, built from loops and layered vocals, and Lattimore’s harp work has become synonymous with a delicate and expressive storytelling style. Both have been involved in numerous projects and collaborations over the years, including with each other, most recently with the Adult Swim single ‘Canyon Lights’. Now they have joined forces for Tragic Magic, the first full album they’ve created together. Sprouted after the devastating wildfires in California, Barwick and Lattimore recorded it in just nine days in Paris, where they had access to the instrument collection of the Philharmonie de Paris’ Musée de la Musique. Lattimore chose three harps dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries, and Barwick worked with analog synthesizers like the Roland JUPITER and Sequential Circuits PROPHET-5. Lattimore shares, “We were so lucky to have access to this experience. There was a lot of reverence, working with people with such warmth and enthusiasm, bringing these instruments into a modern context, literally taken off the shelves of the museum.”
Featuring seven tracks, on the upcoming Tragic Magic the pair “render a meditation on tragedy, wonder, and the restorative power of shared experience”, as the press release explains. The album captures the special bond the two musicians have developed over years of touring and collaborating. Barwick reflects on the process, saying, “We wanted to honor the past while making music that we feel is a true expression of ourselves. People ask, how was Paris? I’m like, it was perfect. It was like everything just aligned.”
To preview the album ahead of its release on January 16th through InFiné, they’ve released ‘Melted Moon’, a devastatingly beautiful, plangent, shimmering and emotive track. Along with the single, they are offering a live video of the two performing the track at Lou Lou’s Jungle Room in San Diego, directed by Joel Kazuo Knoernschild. Watch it below.
In other related good news, and in support of the forthcoming Tragic Magic, Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore have announced a series of live performances in North America, UK and Europe in 2026.
Formed in 2014 whilst studying at the Conservatory of Music in Braga, Ocenpsiea are a Portuguese band comprising João Nuno Teixeira Vilaça on drums, Gonçalo Cravinho Lopes on bass, Francisco Carneiro on violin, and Tomás Alvarenga on keyboards and production. Weaving elements of jazz, funk, Portuguese folk, rock, hip-hop, electronic music, and a good dose of humour, the quartet explores different sonic territories while remaining remarkably cogent. With three albums under their belt, including Cónega 103 (2017), Sabão Rosa (2018), and Oceano-Mar (2021), Ocenpsiea have carved out a space as one of Portugal’s most forward-thinking and exciting acts in contemporary music.
