Watch Aksak Maboul’s video for new single ‘Zone Blanche’

23 February 2023

Following the bewildering ‘Talking with the Birds’, Aksak Maboul are offering a new preview of their album Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) in the form of an enigmatic and magnetic new track called ‘Zone Blanche’. Like an experimental audio play, the album saw the band devising characters and stories over a continuous suite of fifteen pieces. The band shared some insight into the track:

“In ‘Zone Blanche’ the protagonist VV (who, in the previous song, has just shattered an ominous wall with the help of a woman, played by Laetitia Sadier) is entering a ‘dead zone’ which doesn’t appear on the maps. She wanders in the zone, followed by her shadow, played by Don The Tiger. They’re chanting together, until the shadow breaks away and launches into a soulful invocation in Spanish.”

‘Zone Blanche’ comes accompanied by a video filmed by Véronique Vincent and edited by Silva Baldan. Watch it below.

Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) is out on March 3rd though Crammed Discs

Mark Guiliana shares brand new single ‘Mischief’

22 February 2023

A brand new track from brilliant drummer and composer Mark Guiliana has emerged last week. A standalone track titled ‘Mischief’, it comes on the heels of Guiliana’s critically acclaimed the sound of listening and was originally recorded during the same sessions but it’s very much its own thing. Luckily for us, Edition Records decided to put this epic 10-minute long odyssey into the world. ‘Mischief’ features longtime collaborators Jason Rigby, Chris Morrissey and Shai Maestro and is a testament to the ease and spontaneity with which these artists make music. Take a listen below.

Sergio Díaz De Rojas previews upcoming album with fourth single ‘El gato escondido entre las plantas’

21 February 2023

The Muerte en una tarde de verano, the long-awaited new album from Sergio Díaz De Rojas is finally nearing its release date, and he had already enticed us with three sublime singles, ‘Maracuyá / Barranco’, ‘Canción para Otto y Elsa’ and ‘Holding her is where I learned forgiveness’. The Valencia based Peruvian pianist and composer has now shared a fourth single, ‘El gato escondido entre las plantas’, a moving and enchanting track. Sergio explained the inspiration behind it:

“Cats are my favorite animals so it only felt natural to dedicate a small fragment from this album to them. I imagine myself sitting in our garden, falling asleep slowly as I observe our cat playing and hiding behind the plants. Once again, as with the album’s opening track, the outro appears with its sense of aural fading and decay — death is imminent.”

‘El gato escondido entre las plantas’ is offered with a video directed by Tiago Almança and you can watch it below.

The Muerte en una tarde de verano is out on March 10th through Nettwerk.

Listen to Neil Cowley’s new single ‘Arkansas’

19 February 2023

Last month Neil Cowley enticed us with the sublime and striking single called ‘Ticker Tape’, taken from his new full-length album Battery Life. Ahead of its release on March 24th, Cowley is teasing the album again with a gorgeous and poignant new single called ‘Arkansas’. In a statement, he shared some thoughts:

“Much of source material for my new album was centred around my mothers diaries, my reluctance to read them and their potential for changing my recollection of key moments in my early life. I then pondered on the fragility of an archive and our current obsession in recording absolutely everything. I try to enjoy every moment as it happens wherever possible rather than worrying about perpetuity. Archiving everything is a sure way of missing the magic of the moment. This piece is centred around the fragile nature of memory.”

Wrap your ears around ‘Arkansas’ now.

James Holden unveils second single ‘Common Land’

19 February 2023

Following the spellbinding and ecstatic ‘Contains Multitudes’, electronic maverick James Holden has shared a second single called ‘Common Land’. The track is lifted from Imagine This Is A High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities, his first record in nearly six years which arrives on March 31st through his own Border Community. Of ‘Common Land’, Holden comments:

“The title comes from the British Library bird recordings I wrote the track around, but obviously references the idea that all land is everyones and we are all born with the right to roam or rave on it. I think who and what is allowed on the land tells you a lot about how this place is run, and for who.

Personally I think anything a rich person claims as ‘theirs’ is stolen off the rest of us and there’s nowhere that’s more obvious than the English countryside. Imagine! – the state protects the right of these cretins to fence off thousands of acres for their barbaric hobbies while ancient traditions like communities coming together to get high and dance in the woods are criminalised!

Everything is upside down and we need to fix it.”

‘Common Land’ features Christopher Duffin on sax and it comes with an accompanying video made by Innerstrings. Watch it below.

Aksak Maboul share first single from upcoming album, Une aventure de VV (Songspiel)

17 February 2023

Véronique Vincent & Marc Hollander | Photo: Diego Crutzen

2020 saw the return of legendary experimental pop group Aksak Maboul with Figures, their first album in more than 40 years. Now there’s again good cause for celebration as they have announced the release of a new album. Entitled Une aventure de VV (Songspiel), it arrives on March 3rd though Crammed Discs, as part of their celebrated composers’ series Made To Measure.

Written and arranged by the label and band’s founder Marc Hollander, the album, as the press release describes, “features his characteristic genre-hopping tendencies: strands of electronica, pop, jazz, collage, techno, ambient, improv, krautrock, contemporary classical & systems music”. A continuous suite of fifteen pieces, Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) is also described as an experimental audio play, with Aksak Maboul devising characters and stories. “The central thread”, adds the album’s blurb, “is an enigmatic philosophical-poetical tale unfolding through monologues, dialogues, spoken and sung by a series of characters.” There’s a compelling playfulness and looseness on the album, with storytelling as a driving force behind it.

Aksak Maboul enlisted outstanding musicians including Audrey Ginestet and Benjamin Glibert of Aquaserge, Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, John Pearce aka Alig, the founder of Family Fodder and Don The Tiger, as well as Faustine Hollander, Lucien Fraipont (aka Robbing Millions) and Erik Heestermans.

‘Talking with the Birds’ is the first bewildering cut to emerge from Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) and it leaves the listener wanting more. Take a listen below.