Following the magical and moving lead single ‘Water Street’, Matthew Halsall is offering up a new single titled ‘Calder Shapes’. Lifted from his much anticipated album An Ever Changing View, ‘Calder Shapes’ is dedicated to American sculptor Alexander Calder. “I’ve always loved his work”, Halsall said, “and in particular how it is in harmony with nature and space.” The single comes with an accompanying video directed by Daniel Halsall. Watch it below.
An Ever Changing View is out on September 8th through Gondwana Records
Yesterday saw the release of Inheritance, the solo debut album from Palestinian-American composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and DJ Omar Ahmad. Poignant and reflective, the album is influenced by contrasting feelings as the press release describes, such as “empathy / disconnection, loss / discovery, longing / isolation.”
On the run up to the album release, Ahmad had shared two singles, ‘Lapses’ and ‘Cygnet Song’. ‘Lapses’ was offered with a moving video created by Ahmad, visual artist ACE and painter Singha Hon. Of the song, Ahmad said:
“‘Lapses’ is a solitary walk at night. Relinquishing control, tension, and pain as your feet trod aimlessly. Letting the visions overcome you, falling through lapses in time, lapses in judgement, lapses in focus. This track represents a catharsis for me in many ways and of all the songs on Inheritance it most adequately summarizes the emotional cascade of life at the time of its writing. A hopefulness bursts through the melancholy, and a path materializes out of the ether, pulsing and inviting you to continue on.”
The second single, ‘Cygnet Song’, is also charged with emotional force and cements Ahmad as an artist capable of striking tenderness. He had this to say abou the track:
“I lost something between early childhood and high school, and gained another. “Cygnet Song” is a gentle yet somber, cyclical tale of losing oneself and rediscovering what makes me … me, and lamenting the time with myself that I lost. The simplicity and softness of the guitar layers and unfinished textural quality are an ode to childhood, and retaining the fragile soul amid the desire to refine ourselves in the public eye.”
Check out both tracks below and be sure to listen to the whole album, you’ll encounter a platter of emotions.
With a singular style, BeraadGeslagen are an integral part of the thriving Belgium jazz scene. The duo of drummer Lander Gyselinck (STUFF., LABtrio) and keyboardist/singer Fulco Ottervanger (De Beren Gieren) are gearing up to release a new full-length album this autumn. Entitled Altijd Bewust Bewegen, the effort arrives on October 27th through W.E.R.F. Records. More details are yet to emerge but BeraadGeslagen have already given aglimpse at what to expect with the first wildand exhilarating single, ‘Tennisles’. Take a listen below.
Principio del Fuego is the debut studio EP from Fuensanta, released at the tail end of June through GroundUp Music. Hailing from Veracruz, Mexico, and now based in Amsterdam, she is a brilliant singer, double bassist, composer, improviser and multidisciplinary artist who has collaborated with some incredible artists including Louis Cole, Han Bennink, Ben van Gelder, Genevieve Artadi, Reinier Baas, Aaron Parks, Sun Mi Hong, Tineke Postma, Ben Wendel, Kit Downes, Sanem Kalfa, Teis Semey, Joris Roelofs, Nawras Altaky and Magalí Datzira. Speaking about her Principio del Fuego EP, Fuensanta says:
“I thought this is what the EP could be called, “Principio del Fuego”, which translates to ‘beginning of the fire’ but also ‘principle of fire’. Because to me this is a collection of studio versions of some of my first songs and they feel like a small capsule of my early visions of the world and music since I found my own way of writing.
The topics somehow revolve around the transition from childhood to adulthood, and I feel that these songs are very charged with the universe and symbols of my upbringing in the forest in Mexico, from the perspective of my first years in the Netherlands.
In a way, the whole thing feels somewhat like a short love letter to the magic realism of my childhood and that place, these compositions I played so much and what they meant to me during the last years, and the closure of an era.”
For an intriguing and beguiling taster of what’s on offer, here’s the video for one of the EP´s tracks, ‘No Será Regresar’.
The wait is nearly over and the highly anticipated new album from Penguin Cafe, Rain Before Seven…, will see the light of day tomorrow through Erased Tapes. Ahead of it, the ensemble of Arthur Jeffes is ramping up the excitement with ‘Welcome To London’, the final single from the album. Jeffes explains how the track came about:
“for this track I started with the piano riff which is a 5/4 pattern moving through developing modulations – all the other elements are picking out points in the piano line and developing them. We ended up going quite John Barry with the arrangements – I love that 60’s feel of the Gretsch picking out a low-mid groove while the bassline syncopates underneath it.”
‘Welcome To London’ comes paired with a video directed by Mihai Feflea. Of the video, executive producer Robert Raths comments:
“this video is dedicated to those who feel lost in a place like London and yet make it their home. As someone who moved here from a different country nearly two decades ago, I couldn’t help but read the title with a healthy portion of sarcasm. I thought our penguin-headed friend would make for the perfect protagonist here. Writing this script also gave me an opportunity to finally visualise Simon Jeffes’ original vision he had of the Penguin Cafe as a magical haven within the concrete jungle when he hallucinated from fish poisoning back in 1972 — something I’ve always wondered why it hadn’t been done before. Because no matter how tough and fast-paced London life can be sometimes, it also contains many pockets of diverse beauty and wonder.”
Watch the video for ‘Welcome To London’ below and grab the album tomorrow.
Back in May Yussef Dayes announced the release of his debut solo album, Black Classical Music. A nineteen-track album, it saw the renowned and gifted multi-instrumentalist enlist a stellar cast of guest contributors, including Charlie Stacey, Venna, Alexander Bourt, Chronixx, Masego, Jamilah Barry, Tom Misch, Elijah Fox, Shabaka Hutchings, Miles James, Sheila Maurice Grey, Nathaniel Cross, Theon Cross, and the Chineke! Orchestra.
After enticing us with the title track, Dayes has recently shared a second cut from the album called Rust, featuring British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Tom Misch. ‘Rust’ is offered with an animated accompanying video directed and designed by Jack Brown. Speaking about it, Brown comments:
“It felt really special to work with Yussef and Tom again to make the third instalment of our animation saga and extra special to do it for Yussef’s incredible debut album. I wanted to expand the world of Nightrider and Tidal Wave by bringing it into a 3D space while maintaining the classic 2D feel. This was made possible by the big brain, super talented Richard Noble who built these landscapes from my silly sketches. Big love to the small crew of dedicated and talented people who worked on this and to Yussef and Tom for consistently making the best sounding music out there.”
Black Classical Music is out on September 8th through Brownswood Recordings, Warners and Cashmere Thoughts Recordings and in the US through Nonesuch Records. Now watch the video below.
