Yoni Mayraz teases debut album with lead single ‘The Master Wore a White Robe’

22 March 2023

Photo: Daniel Shiff

London-based, Tel Aviv-raised keyboardist and producer Yoni Mayraz has announced the release of his debut album, Dybbuk Tse!. The title is culled from Jewish folklore, referring to a practice to remove malevolent wandering spirits (the Dybbuk) from the body of a person. “I wanted to write something with a dark atmosphere,” Mayraz explained, “this album represents both my cultural background and musical influences, it’s a constant dialogue between the old and the new, ancient and modern. It represents me and where I am right now”.

Dybbuk Tse! was mixed and mastered by beat maker Eric Lau (Mansur Brown), and hip hop engineer Chris Athens (Robert Glasper, Erykah Badu), and it fuses influences aplenty, including punk, garage, hip hop, club music and Middle Eastern music. As the press release describes, it “successfully broadens jazz’s sonic palette while respecting its traditions”.

We’ll have to wait until June 2nd for the album to arrive through Astigmatic Records but we can already hear the lead single ‘The Master Wore a White Robe’. Speaking about it, Mayraz explained “it’s a flashback to a blurry chain of events that occurred to the writer and his Master, suggestively a female, in some sort of spiritual practice.” Here it is.

Amplifest reveal SUNN O))) as first name for 2023 edition

21 March 2023

Amplifest have shared the first name to grace their 9th edition taking place in Porto on 23rd and 24th of September. A heavyweight band, SUNN O))) will perform in Porto’s Hard Club, the festival’s home, giving lucky attendees the chance to experience the band’s massive sound. Having built a catalogue brimming with bold modern experimental and extreme music since forming in 1998, the outfit of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson are as powerful on record as they are onstage,  setting the bar high for the festival.

As in previous editions, Amplifest radiates with possibilities, and there will be loads more on offer, including talks and documentaries. Many more artists will be announced over the next few months and tickets are now available and can be found here.

Ursa Major Moving Group to release eponymous debut album in June

21 March 2023

Photo: Wasil Schauseil

Ursa Major Moving Group is the solo project of London based multi-instrumentalist, composer and writer Ursula Russell, who’s been around for a while drumming with the likes of Snapped Ankles, Alabaster Deplume, Yama Warashi, Bas Jan and Clementine March. She has announced the release of her self-titled debut album, arriving on June 9th through Faith & Industry Records. On the new record, Russell plays all instruments herself, showcasing her instrumental virtuosity and unbridled inventiveness in a range of divergent styles. The forthcoming Ursa Major Moving Group is described as “an intense, dynamic and intimate musical journal that shifts between delicate folk, stirring indie rock, flamboyant chamber pop and angular post-punk styles.”

‘Welcome To The Noosphere’ is the first stunning single to emerge from the album. Inspired by José Argüelles’ book Time and the Technosphere, the track “is a modern-day protest song about a ravaged planet, induced by countless hours of listening to Bob Dylan and watching Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire”. Listen to it now.

Mats Gustafsson & Joachim Nordwall preview upcoming album with new single ‘THERE ARE SOME WORLDS WHERE ALL DREAMS DIE (en glad stund)’

19 March 2023

Photo: Mariam Wallentin

We’re less than a week away from the release of Their Power Reached Across Space and Time-to Defy Them Was Death-or Worse, the new duo album from Mats Gustafsson and Joachim Nordwall. Following the first single ‘HER EYES​…​WERE LIKE COLD FIRES (slut)’, the pair have shared a new track called ‘THERE ARE SOME WORLDS WHERE ALL DREAMS DIE (en glad stund)’ and you can listen to it below. Their Power Reached Across Space and Time-to Defy Them Was Death-or Worse is out on March 24th through Thrill Jockey.

EDI POU unleashes video for brand new track ‘LO + NUEVO’

17 March 2023

Hell yes! Trailblazing multi-instrumentalist and drummer extraordinaire Edi Pou is set to release the first music under his own name. As one half of high-energy duo ZA! and one half of Los Sara Fontan, Edi Pou needs no introduction. Next month he’s putting out ‘LO + NUEVO’, his first solo track, as part of a split vinyl with Hassan K titled MINIMAXIMALISM, releasing through October Tone, Cheap Satanism, Extranormal and Gandula.

Blistering and hugely energising, ‘LO + NUEVO’ is bursting with Pou’s polyrhythmic energy and trademark charisma. The track is now streaming with an insane video accompaniment made by Simon Lebon. Check it out below.

Egyptian duo Baskot Lel Baltageyya announce eponymous debut album

17 March 2023

Today Egyptian duo Baskot Lel Baltageyya, the project of musician Adham Zidan and poet Anwar Dabbour, have announced the release of their self-titled debut album. A lauded musician, producer, recordist and mixer, Zidan is no stranger to creative collaborations. Other than playing keyboards and singing in The Invisible Hands alongside Sublime Frequencies/Sun City Girls co-founder Alan Bishop, he is known for his standout contribution to stellar projects like Youssra El Hawary’s No’oum Nasyeen (2017), Tarkamt’s Live at the Necropolis (2018), Maurice Louca’s Elephantine (2019), Natik Awayez’s Manbarani (2020), and Nancy Mounir’s Nozhet El Nofous (2022) and his collaborations with the likes of Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, Nadah El Shazly, Raed Yassin and Sam Shalabi.

Sprouted from an audio-visual project, Baskot Lel Baltageyya, which translates as something like Cookies for Thugs, is not just a band or a record. “You can think of Baskot as a genre of music, a name of a group, or as something to consume,” Zidan explained. On the upcoming album, Dabbour’s colloquial Arabic lyrics depict the dark absurdist humour present in Egyptian popular culture in the 90s.

Baskot Lel Baltageyya is set for release on May 5th through Wall of Sound (digital) / Akuphone (vinyl) and ahead of it we can hear the first thrilling single ‘Esh 3arrafak? (You Know Nothing)’. It comes with an accompanying video made by Super7amdy and you can watch it below.