Category Archives: Blog

Pevin Kinel reveals As Seen By A Lunarian With A Telescope digital re-release

21 July 2023

There’s wonderful news from Pevin Kinel who today surprises us with his new full-length album titled As Seen By A Lunarian With A Telescope. Originally released only as a CD in 2019, the record now receives the worldwide release it deserves. A striking and overwhelmingly creative record, As Seen By A Lunarian With A Telescope takes cues from genres aplenty, confirming Pevin’s sprawling musical identity. With an expansive sonic palette, the ten tracks on the album are all over the map styllistically proving that the incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist and one-man-orchestra can compose in any style. As with his previous works, the new album was entirely written, recorded and produced by Pevin himself, and we find him playing all instruments, including electric and acoustic bass, electric and acoustic guitar, drums, e-drums/drum machine, glockenspiel, violin, toy piano, synth, clarinet, vocals and percussion.

Pevin had previously shared the staggeringly beautiful ‘Hemmed‘, which is featured on the album. For another taste of the sonic wizardry in store for us, listen to two new tracks from the album below, ‘Electroplating’ and ‘Medal’. And lend your ears to the whole album on his bandcamp, each listen will reward you in spades.


Lawrence English & Lea Bertucci share second single, ‘Amorphic Foothills’, off forthcoming collaborative album

19 July 2023

Earlier this month, composer, artist and Room40 founder Lawrence English and interdisciplinary artist, composer and improviser Lea Bertucci announced the release of their debut collaborative album, Chthonic. Following the bewildering first single, ‘Geology of Fire’, the pair have let loose a second track from the album called ‘Amorphic Foothills’. Give it a listen now and grab the album when it’s out on August 11th through American Dreams.

corto.alto’s debut album Bad With Names out in October; listen to new tracks ‘Bye’ & ‘Slope’

18 July 2023

Photo: Sophie Jouvenaar

Influenced as much by jazz as by hip-hop, broken beat, electronica, dub and punk, Bad With Names is the brand new album from Glaswegian prodigious multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer corto.alto. A trombone wizard and fast-rising star in the jazz industry, Liam Shortall, the man at the helm of the project, enlisted the help of outstanding musicians from the Scottish and UK Jazz scene to bring his record to life, including award-winning pianist Fergus McCreadie, drummer Graham Costello, trumpet player Johnny Woodham, and trombonist  Anoushka Nanguy, amongst others.

Following the first single ‘Bye’, corto.alto shared last week ‘Slope’, the second superb taste from his upcoming album. Speaking about the track, Shorthall had this to say:

“Slope” comes from me sitting in Queen’s Park, Glasgow watching some skateboarders skate up a hill, and how counter-intuitive it looked, but then noticing how satisfying it looked when they hit the top and went down the other side. I suppose another metaphor for endurance, resilience etc.”

Both singles confirm corto.alto’s incredible artistry and his willingness to experiment across multi-genres and styles. Check out the accompanying visuals for ‘Slopes’ below and listen to ‘Bye’ straight after.


Bad With Names is out on October 6th through New Soil x Bridge The Gap

Kamaal Williams announces fourth album, Stings, and shares lead single ‘PKKNO’

12 July 2023

Rejoice, for a new album from Kamaal Williams has been announced! Entitled Stings, the record is the follow-up to 2020’s Wu Hen and arrives on September 27th through his Black Focus Records imprint. Marking his fourth album release, Stings was conceived during the pandemic when he bought an upright piano and the South London multi-talented musician recorded it in early 2022 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. The album will feature three digital singles that see him explore electronics and vocals. These will not be included in the physical release but are deeply connected to Stings. The blistering and futuristic lead single ‘PKKNO’ is one of these tracks and it clearly shows an artist bursting with inspiration. Take a listen below.

Bex Burch signs to International Anthem for new album There is only love and fear

11 July 2023

Photo: Chris Almeida

There’s wonderful news from Bex Burch, who turned our heads back in 2015 with the outstanding debut album from her band Vula Viel. The gifted composer, percussionist, producer and instrument maker went on to work and collaborate with various artists and projects, becoming a central figure of the contemporary UK scene. She has announced the release of There is only love and fear, the first album to be penned under her own name. The album was prompted by an invitation from Chicago-based IARC for her to spend a month in the US last summer. Armed with her hand-made xylophone, Burch got involved with the label’s creative community and transposed the energy of the collaborations and environments she found herself in into what became There is only love and fear. The sessions for upcoming album took place in various spaces including a storefront in Bridgeport, Chicago and a canyon in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, with an astonishing cast of musicians including Ben LaMar Gay, Macie Stewart, Anna Butterss, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Dan Bitney of Tortoise.

There is only love and fear is set for release on October 20th through International Anthem. Alongside the announcement today, the album’s first single, the stunningly deep and beautiful ‘Dawn blessings’, is now streaming. Burch’s recording of a cuckoo on the Baltic coastline sparked the track’s inception as she explains:

“Dawn blessings were the start of all of this. I started a 90-day practice to make a tune a day for my friend Dawn. My only job was to breathe, let go, and ask “what sounds do I like today?”. One of these days I heard a Cuckoo at dawn, this moment of listening opened up my identity from musician to listener.”

‘Dawn blessings’ comes with a gorgeous accompanying video directed by Louise Boer, who had this to say about it:

“The music video for ‘dawn blessings’ is a meditation on the joy and subtle magic that can be found during a slow and solitary walk through landscapes of sand, stones and pine trees; sometimes wild, sometimes heavily damaged and disturbed, but always full of life. It’s a hypnotic exploration of human and more-than-human entanglements in which the body dissolves into the environment and the invisible slowly becomes visible. Filmed during walks in Beerze (NL), Kennemerduinen (NL), Gaujas Ieteka Jūrā (LV).”

Watch the video below.

To tide you over until the album’s release, check out the excellent guest mixtape Bex Burch put together for us back in May 2018.

Madmadmad share last single and video ahead of album release

09 July 2023

Madmadmad‘s forthcoming third LP Behavioural Sink Delirium is coming July 21st via Bad Vibrations and this week they have debuted the final single from it along with a brilliant and bonkers video from the album. ‘Totes Amazeballs’ is an explosive and euphoric track full of rave energy. As the London post-punk electronic trio describe, it “is a relentless eruption of unspoiled joy, wrapped in a post-digital rave anthem. Its frantic tempo and disturbing, manipulated vocals emulate the rallying cry of the xenobots takeover.” Check out the video that accompanies the single below.