Belgian outfit Echoes of Zoo announced last month the release of their new album titled Speech of Species, and alongside it shared ‘Bee Jive’, an exhilarating track with balkan inflections and tinged with oriental ebullience. Ahead of the album release on May 12th through W.E.R.F. Records, they are teasing the record again with second single ‘Echolocation’, a scorching and playful track fusing “cumbia with dub with rock with jazz”. As Echoes of Zoo describe, ‘Echolocation’ is “an ode to bats, dolphins and other species who use a unique principle to be able to see, in the form of a fat cumbia groove”. The single comes accompanied by an animated video made by Laura Matikainen and you can watch it below.
We’re getting excitingly close to the release of Sink-Along, ECHT!‘s sophomore album arriving on May 5th through Sdban Ultra. The Brussels based outfit had already teased the record with two dope tracks, ‘Mtwk Part 2’ and ‘Vault-A’ and as if we needed any more reasons to be excited for this release, the quartet has let loose a third intoxicating single, ‘Cheesecake’, a track awash with a deep, dark and menacing groove. ECHT! had this to say about it:
“It’s not a very long piece, but it’s full of different stories and atmospheres. We wanted to have something heavy but using it in a non-linear way and we wanted to surprise ourselves and the listener. It’s deep and heavy, but there are developments and twists that you don’t expect.”
‘Cheesecake’ is downright catchy. Take a listen now.
Two years on from the release of Gas Lit, Divide and Dissolve are back with a fourth full-length album. Entitled Systemic, the new record retains their commitment to oppose white supremacy and fight for Black and Indigenous liberation. “This music is an acknowledgement of the dispossession that occurs due to colonial violence,” saxophonist and guitarist Takiaya Reed commented, adding that “the goal of the colonial project is to separate Indigenous people from their culture, their life force, their community and their traditions. The album is in direct opposition to this.”. Takiaya has also stated that Systemic “is a prayer to our ancestors”, and “a prayer for land to be given back to Indigenous people, and for future generations to be free from this cycle of violence.”
The album reflects on the systems that sustain colonial violence but it also contemplates better systems for the future, closing with a track that channels hope and positivity. “There’s a world I want to live in, and I’m going to continue to focus on that world,” Takiaya explained. “Indigenous people are here. With our existence it challenges the colonial constructs that call for genocide. We are still alive.”
Systemic arrives on June 30th through Invada and ahead of it, Divide and Dissolve have shared the beautiful, powerful and gripping lead single ‘Blood Quantum’, and an accompanying video. Here it is.
Sarathy Korwar‘s magnificent third album, Kalak, was of one of our Album Picks of 2022 and we haven’t put it down since it came out last November. The London based, American born and Indian bred percussionist, producer and composer has announced the surprise release of KAL (Real World), a companion piece to KALAK. Recorded at Real World Studios, Korwar is accompanied by a stellar band featuring Danalogue and Al MacSween on synths, Tamar Osborn on baritone sax and flute, and percussionist Magnus Mehta. Speaking about it, Korwar commented:
“This was the first time we met and played together with other human beings in the same room for almost a year, after the first lockdown. It was a hopeful time where for a brief period we believed things were getting better. There was a lot of fondness, camaraderie and kindness in the room, and playing together felt like a cathartic expression. KAL (Real World) was recorded in less than 24 hours at the incredible Real World Studios. Just being present in those rooms, which had borne witness to so many great recordings, elevated our senses.”
KAL (Real World) is out tomorrow through The Leaf Label and Korwar has shared a video for ‘Songs or People’ which serves as an exhilarating taste of what’s on offer. The video was filmed by Fabrice Bourgelle and you can watch it below.
We’ve not hidden our excitement for Asher Gamedze‘s upcoming new album Turbulence and Pulse when the news emerged last month. With release day a month away, and following the stunning and celestial ‘Wynter Time’, the visionary and virtuosic South African drummer, composer, writer and activist has just shared a potent and gripping new single called ‘Sometimes I Think To Myself’ featuring Julian ‘Deacon’ Otis. As Asher explained, the track is “a song about the experience of losing a friend, the heartbreak of that ending and having to make your own closure”.
In other related good news, today sees the release of an album documentary short film featuring Asher in conversation with two of his close collaborators and mentors – Leigh-Ann Naidoo and Marcus Solomon. With all the music lifted from the upcoming Turbulence and Pulse, the 17-minute documentary explores the album’s themes and features performance footage and the coastal scenery of Cape Town. Dylan Valley, who made the documentary, had this say:
“This film is a true collaboration between Asher and me, the filmmaker. We took the concepts and inspiration behind the album as a departure point and then improvised our approach as we found the groove, and each other. We hope you enjoy the end result as much as we enjoyed working together.”
Asher also commented:
“Leigh-Ann Naidoo and Marcus Solomon are two amongst the many people who have taught me a lot about politics and living a principled and committed, radical life. What I have learnt with and from them, and others who I have organised with and think with regularly, has shaped how I want to be in the world, and what I want to do in the world, and this in turn shapes my orientation to music. This is one of the ways in which what is outside of the music, actually informs and directs the music’s intention in my practice.
Leigh-Ann is an activist, ex-Olympian, educationist and a scholar, amongst other political work she has been involved in black student and worker struggles at universities, the LGBTQ movement, and Palestinian solidarity campaigns.
Marcus Solomon is a lifelong community activist. As a committed socialist he has been broadly active in the national liberation movement since the late 1950s in student politics, civic struggles, guerilla study groups, worker education and The Children’s Movement.”
Here’s the documentary for your viewing and listening pleasure.
We may have missed Damage Mécanique, the thrilling and intriguing sixth album from Diminished Men, when it came out last year, but we now have it have it on constant rotation. Damage Mécanique, as the press release describes, draws “from elements of film noir, psychedelic exotica, experimental rock, deviant surf and musique concrète.
Earlier this year, the Seattle band released a video to accompany the wild, cosmic and propulsive album opener ‘Double Vision’ and it’s clear we were missing out on this record. Check out the video below.
