Condor Gruppe unleash video for new single ‘Farid’

15 July 2022

After teasing the release of their new album for Sdban Records earlier in May with ‘What Could Have Been‘, Condor Gruppe are back today to share ‘Farid’, the second single from Gulliver. The track “is their imaginative excursion to the charms of the desert, to the call of the wild, and the excitement of world music”, as the label describes. It comes with an accompanying video inspired by Sun Ra, The Psychedelic Experience and Nature. Watch it below.

Gulliver is out on September 23rd through Sdban Ultra

FAST DE shares two singles from impending debut album Sight Inside

13 July 2022

Photo: Latoya van der Meeren

Known for his membership in indie and jazz outfits like Jo Goes Hunting, Opera Alaska, and Karsu, Dutch composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniël Eskens is gearing up to release his debut album under the moniker FAST DE. Entitled Sight Inside, the album amalgamates a plethora of genres including avant-jazz, leftfield electronica, and expansive psych and Eskens cites influences from Billy Strayhorn to Soulwax, Bela Bartok to Brian Wilson.

Sight Inside is set for release on July 22nd through Bloomer Records and FAST DE had previously let loose two exhilarating singles off it, ‘Miss Trutti Finally Found Her Gem’ and the title track. Speaking about the latter, Eskens comments:

“Sight Inside is a track about the process of overthinking something. Every sound is a thought, and they play and communicate with each other as if they’re having a discussion. These sounds all start apart from each other and have their own subdivisions, but eventually end up as one organic sound, or one conclusion. I’m trying to show the process of looking at a problem from different angles and having a discussion with yourself. Then getting lost in all these perspectives and eventually ending up thinking you found the answer, but actually you realize that you know to less to really say something.”

Miss Trutti Finally Found Her Gem” is offered with a brilliant visual accompaniment created by audio-visual composer and software developer Tarik Barri. Here’s both singles.


Le Guess Who? unveils four new projects for 2022 edition including Hidden Musics

07 July 2022

With the first wave of artists previously announced for the 15th anniversary of Le Guess Who? in Utrecht, festival organisers unveiled today four special projects including the return of Hidden Musics and Uncloud presents, and new programmes by Coco Maria presents Club Coco and GNOD presents.

The 15th edition of Le Guess Who? already looks set to be one for the books with a wealth of sonic offerings that challenges conventional musical paradigms. Back in May the organisers had announced CURL, Animal Collective and clipping. as guest curators and unveiled the stellar programmes of each one, as well as a programme hosted by New York based Ostinato Records, and the first names on the general line-up including CTD favourites Keeley Forsyth, Asher Gamedze, KOKOKO! and Kee Avil. Over the years Le Guess Who? has become a privileged stage for rare and unique performances and collaborations and the four special projects announced today shows that supporting and highlighting the extraordinary work of underappreciated and underrepresented artists from all over the globe remains at the heart of it all.

Sprouted in 2019 from a collaboration between Le Guess Who?, Grammy-award winning music producer, activist and author Ian Brennan, and Ljubljana based American musician, record producer and Glitterbeat Records founder Chris Eckman,  Hidden Musics returns to the festival for the third time in 2022. An ambitious program that pays special attention to musical traditions and artists from secluded regions of the world, it gives audiences a unique chance to experience rare performances.
Hidden Musics will host talented and versatile multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer Nancy Mounir, a prominent name of Egypt’s independent music scene. She’ll collaborate with Utrecht’s The Flare Quartet to present her magnificent debut album Nozhet El Nofous released last month. Hidden Musics also includes Flamenco diva Lole Montoya set to perform her solo work and also the music of her former duo Lole y Manuel, blending traditional Spanish flamenco with Arabic rhythms and styles; the hypnotic microtonal drones of Morocco collective Master Musicians of Joujouka, led by Bachir Attar and Burkina Faso-born  multi-instrumentalist and vocalist/poet in the urban griot tradition Kaito Winse. Pakistan’s Ustad Noor Bakhsh will also be part of Hidden Musics’s programme as will Bedouin music and traditional raï with a performance from Algerian singer of Blues and Trance-Raï Cheikha Rabia and dancer Esraa Warda.

Amidst the new project additions to Le Guess Who?’s 2022 edition is Uncloud presents, courtesy of Utrecht’s contemporary and innovative art and music platform Uncloud who will present a special collaboration between Iranian electronic music composer and sound artist Sote and Dutch audiovisual artist Tarik Barri; previously announced Guatemala born and Mexico City based cellist and composer Mabe Fratti, and two London based Japanese artists, vocal performer Hatis Noit and ambient composer and sound designer Hinako Omori.

Coco Maria presents Club Coco is one of the other special projects newly lined up for this year’s edition. Hailing from Mexico, Coco Maria is a curator, radio host and self-described ‘selectora’ who started her flagship radio show ​“Club Coco” on World­wide FM last year, and released a compilation under the same name on Bongo Joe Records featuring music from every all over the planet. In addition to performing herself, Coco Maria will host the new Anatolian folk sounds of Turkish singer and multi-instrumentalist Derya Yildirim; the Colombian tropical folklore of Romperayo, and Mexican punk marimba band Son Rompe Pera with their delirious live show.

The fourth project announced today is GNOD presents, a takeover from Manchester’s counter culture cult collective GNOD who are performing as well as hosting Holy Scum, the outfit featuring members of GNOD, Action Beat and Mike from Dälek and Moundabout, the new folk project of Paddy Shine of Gnod and Phil Masterson of Los Langeros/Damp Howl/Bisect.

The festival takes place from 10 -13th November in several venues throughout Utrecht and many more artists will be announced over the next few months. Full details of the line-up so far and daily tickets can be found on leguesswho.com.

New trio Collisions share visualiser for second single ‘Fourth Motion’

04 July 2022

Neo-classical composer Tom Hodge, post-rock composer Ciaran Morahan and jazz composer and drummer Ollie Howell have teamed up for an exciting musical union under the name Collisions. On September 9th they’ll release their self-titled debut album through Naïve/Believe. With an already expansive experimental practice, on the album they fuse together their sensitivity, style and experience to create a distinctive, immersive and cinematic sound world.

Following their first single ‘II’, Collisions have now shared a visualiser for new track ‘Fourth Motion’. Morahan comments:

“We are delighted to share a first impression of the generative visual identity of our record designed by Cath Elliott in collaboration with Bileam Tschepe and Daniel Molnar. We discussed with Cath the different overarching frameworks that would inspire the programming work for each track. We felt that the most natural fit for ‘Fourth Motion’ was ‘Explosive’. This is reflected in the way the visuals slowly grow until the drums and ring modulated clarinet suddenly appear in the middle of the track. This visual identity is a sneak peek at what will be our deeply interactive live show where the music coming from the stage will drive the programming to generate new and unique videos every time it’s performed.”

He continues:

“One of four parts of an overall piece, ‘Fourth motion’ is the final piece of the puzzle and also the last track on the record. This track starts with a single synthesiser note and melody to give the listener the chance to absorb what they have just listened to. Fourth Motion incorporates all of the elements and sounds that the listener has heard throughout the rest of the record, leaving them with a sense of familiarity and not out of place. It feels like quite an understated piece compared to the other tracks on the record, but it also feels like the ‘biggest’ track on the record.”

Watch the visualiser for ‘Fourth Motion’ below and listen to ‘II’ straight after.


Anoushka Shankar unveils first single from collaborative album, Between Us…, with Manu Delago & Metropole Orkest

01 July 2022

Photo: William Ejam Maail

Four years ago, the Netherlands was gifted with live performances from master sitar player Anoushka Shankar and pioneer of the hang Manu Delago along with the 27-member string section of the Metropole Orkest under the direction of conductor Jules Buckley. We were lucky to be at one those enthralling performances at Le Guess Who? festival in Utrecht, experiencing a cinematic and divine set by two exceptional virtuosos and an incredible orchestra phenomenally conducted.

Now they are releasing a live album recorded during their run of shows in the Netherlands, featuring material taken from Shankar’s four solo albums – 2005’s Rise, 2013’s Traces of You, 2015’s Traveller and 2016’s Land of Gold. Entitled Between Us…, the upcoming album is out digitally on July 8th with a vinyl and CD edition arriving on September 16th through LEITER, the label founded by Nils Frahm and his manager Felix Grimm.

A truly collaborative album blending classical Indian music with contemporary sounds, Between Us… sees Shankar continue to work with other musicians. “I really feed off working creatively with others,” she explained. “Something turns on in collaboration, in chemistry, in connection. It can feel like a dance, like we’re in something together.”

Speaking about long time collaborator Manu Delago, Shankar says:

“He’s just so central to some of these pieces. I’ve played them without him, but my favourite way to play them is with him. I feel a new element of my sitar come alive in that sound vibration that happens between our two instruments, like there’s one little wave I can only play with him. It feels utterly magical.”

Along with the album news, Shankar has unveiled the first spellbinding single, ‘Land of Gold’. Listen to it below.


For another taste of what’s on offer revisit the beguiling performance of Anoushka Shankar & Manu Delago with Metropole Orkest Strings at Le Guess Who?’s 2018 edition, directed by Nick Helderman.