Soccer96 release first in series of live videos featuring new material from upcoming Tactics EP

10 April 2020

Photo: Fabrice Bourgelle

Soccer96 are ready to take us by storm again with a new EP called Tactics and a treat of a new song, ‘I Was Gonna Fight Fascism’. The drums and keyboards duo of Dan Leavers aka Danalogue and Max Hallett aka Betamax, who are also two thirds of The Comet is Coming, will release Tactics on June 26th via Moshi Moshi Records. The new EP sees them turn into a quartet with the addition of thought-provoking and incredible musician and poet Alabaster DePlume and legendary multi-instrumentalist and producer Capitol K. Tactics “is built out of the raw energy of their improvisations, combining elements of jazz, electronica and heavier genres”, explains the press release. “A delicate balance of dark and light, heavy and danceable, the expansion from duo to quartet on this EP also sees Soccer96 re-situate itself within the vast musical universe that exists across their previous recordings and other projects.”

Danalogue had this to say about the collaboration with DePlume:

“In some ways it’s very similar to how we started things with The Comet Is Coming, plugging Shabaka into a guitar amp in our studio and egging each other on to go further, dirtier, louder. This time we plugged Alabaster into the Soccer96 turbo charger, and the results are pretty spectacular.”

There’s more good news. Just before lockdown, and as a quartet, they recorded a live show at Total Refreshment Centre. Featuring new material from the EP, these recordings are set to be released as a 3-part series of live videos and Part 1, with a version of their scathing new single ‘I Was Gonna Fight Fascism’ now available to stream. Here it is.

Inventions set to release new album Continuous Portrait

09 April 2020

Photo: Matthew Cooper

After two long players released in 2014 and 2015, Inventions, the creative alliance of Matthew Cooper of Eluvium and longtime friend Mark T. Smith of Explosions In The Sky, are back with a new album. Entitled Continuous Portrait, it arrives digitally on May 29th and a cd/vinyl release will follow on July 10th through Temporary Residence.

“An album of strange hypnosis, punctuated by songs that venture quite far from the respective oeuvres of Cooper and Smith”, describes the press release, Continuous Portrait has a “sense of exploration, pleasure, and ceremonial melancholia which informs the entire album from front to back.”

Inventions are already enticing us with the gorgeous and gentle lead single ‘Outlook For The Future’. Take a listen below.

Watch NZCA LINES’ video for ‘Pure Luxury’

08 April 2020

After sharing his first single in four years, the insanely infectious ‘Pure Luxury’, NZCA LINES has unveiled a video for the track. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Lovett, the man behind NZCA LINES, directed the video with Alina Rancier and he had this to say about it:

“It’s an all singing, all dancing journey into my own personal world of glamour and luxury, held together by cardboard, drenched in blood, and billed to your company’s expense account. We set out to make a gender-reversed Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and this is where we ended up. Enjoy.”

Watch the video now.

Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek release new song ‘Deniz Dalgasiz Olmaz’

07 April 2020

Following last year’s mesmerizing and powerful debut album Kar Yağar, which was one of our 15 Favourite Albums of the Year, Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek are back with new music. The trans-continental psych-pop quartet released last month a new single called ‘Deniz Dalgasiz Olmaz’, which translates as “The sea can’t exist without the waves”. Known for their transcendent mixture of influences and genres, from Anatolian roots music and 70’s jazz to early prog rock and funk, on the new track they “link past and future”, and continue “to take their sound to a new dimension”, as the press release describes.

‘Deniz Dalgasiz Olmaz’ comes with an accompanying video made by Max Morris-Doherty. Watch it below.

Listen to Ulver’s surprise new single ‘Little Boy’

06 April 2020

Norwegian metal stars Ulver have released a beast of a song, ‘Little Boy’. Equally catchy as it is intense and thunderous, ‘Little Boy’ is, as they put it themselves, “a strange song for strange times”. They also had this to say:

“We have no other comment at this moment. This is a time for withdrawal, a time for reading and listening to music. The song is free on Bandcamp, with the option to donate a little something if you want to. Thank you, and take care.”

‘Little Boy’ will be tied to a new album and we’ll keep our ears peeled for more details about it. Now turn your headphones up and listen to it.

Aksak Maboul unveil new single ‘Silent Silhouettes’

06 April 2020

Legendary experimental pop group Aksak Maboul are back with a new album, Figures, their first in 40 years. After sharing ‘Tout a une Fin’, they are teasing it again with new track ‘Silent Silhouettes’, featuring Lucien Fraipont, Faustine Hollander, Erik Heestermans and Fred Frith. “Could this almost-instrumental, electronic tango-like track be evoking a dream scene in a Bioy Casares story, filmed by an Italian maestro in the ’60s?…”, asks the press release. “What’s certain is that it unveils some of the sound of “Figures”, with its unique instrumentation, collages and enigmatic moods.”

‘Silent Silhouettes’ is a wondrous and entrancing track. Take a listen below and grab the album when it’s out on May 15th through Crammed Discs.