Rusty Santos shares video for first single ‘Dream In Stereo’

08 June 2022

Photo: Atiba Jefferson

Musician and producer Rusty Santos, known for his work with Animal Collective and Panda Bear, has announced the release of a new solo album. Entitled High Reality, it follows his 2006 Eternity Spans and is set for release onf July 22nd through Lo Recordings. On the album, Santos explores themes of “contemplat[ing] one’s place in the universe, mental health struggles and our relationships with others”, as the press release describes. He explains how the album came to life:

“These songs were created from a place of necessity after I had been hospitalized and involuntarily held in a facility due to a psychotic break, which was brought on by tactics I faced by others in the music industry. It took the efforts of some artist friends and label contacts I work with to intervene and get me released. The people in charge at the facility didn’t believe I was a record producer. The album title, High Reality, is the name I’ve given to the state of consciousness I was in while detached from day-to-day reality during my crisis.”

Ahead of the album’s release, Santos has shared the first single ‘Dream In Stereo’, and an accompanying video created by Brett5D. Watch it now.

Monolithe Noir set to release third album, Rin, this summer

03 June 2022

Photo: Victor Pattyn

There’s a new album on the way from Monolithe Noir, the project of Antoine Pasqualini. Entitled Rin, the album came to life as trio, with the Breton musician and producer joined by Yannick Dupont on keyboards and bass and Christophe Claeys on drums.
Rin means “secret” in Breton and was inspired by the different landscapes in Brittany. “Sunken paths, gnarled trees, chiseled coasts, moor, Brest, lonely villages, peri-urban areas, a nuclear power station in the heart of Monts d´Arrée”, describes the press release. “The rain rain and sun throughout the day.”

We’ll have to wait until August 26th for Rin to be out through Capitane Records but they have already let loose two cuts from it, the explosive and entrancing ‘Balafenn’ and the driving and groovy ‘Finvus’. ‘Balafenn’ comes paired with a stunning video filmed and edited by Monolithe Noir, and shot in Cap Blanc Nez. Here’s both.


Cal Folger Day’s new album Piece-dye out today

03 June 2022

Today sees the release of Piece-dye, the new avant-pop album from Dublin based American artist Cal Folger Day. A brilliant chanteuse and talented multi-instrumentalist, Day wrote the album after meeting Irene Nally, a distant aunt and Irish immigrant whose experience of arriving in New York City in the post-war boom inspired her. All the lyrics in Piece-dye are verbatim quotes from the interviews Day conducted with Nally. Day recalls:

“several visits later we sat down at her kitchen table and recorded an hour-long conversation on my phone, in which she reflected on her life and career. The first thing she told me was, ‘You’re trying to do this project… you’ll have to do a whole lot of embellishing… it’s your own creation’ — which turned out to be both true and false. Irene passed away after an aggressive form of ovarian cancer last year. In many ways we had polar opposite characters, but we were clearly on some mutual quest to see ourselves clearer through our friendship.”

Quirky, fascinating and compelling, Piece-dye is an album that deserves your time and attention. For a marvellous taster, here’s ‘Act 2’ and its accompanying video shot by Blob Galahad.

Piece-dye is out now through Dead Lady Records

Madalitso Band share opening track from upcoming album, Musakayike

01 June 2022

Currently on tour across Europe, Madalitso Band are gearing up to release their new album later this month. Entitled Musakayike, which means ‘don’t doubt us’, it marks their second release on Bongo Joe Records. On the new album, we find the Malawian duo “shining and enjoying every minute of their time in the studio performing their upbeat music with joyful vocals, four-string guitar, babatoni and cow-skin kick drum”, as the press release explains.

Ahead of the album’s release on June 17th, Madalitso Band are previewing it with the opening track, ‘Ali Ndi Vuto’, a song about people finding fault with you, whether you’re rich or poor.Take a listen below.

Szun Waves announce new album, Earth Patterns

30 May 2022

Four years on from the release of New Hymn To Freedom, which was one of our Albums Picks of 2018, Szun Waves are back to dazzle us with their third album, Earth Patterns. Laurence Pike, Luke Abbott and Jack Willie, the three extraordinary and accomplished musicians that make up Szun Waves, got together for three days of improvisation at the end of their 2019 European tour, which resulted in hours of music. Speaking about the record, Abbott says:

“I think the record we’ve ended up with is an emotional outpouring. There’s a fluidity to it that feels like we tapped into something quite raw. The last record felt like drifting in space but I see this new record as a journey from the outer reaches of the universe down onto the earth, like a macrocosm to microcosm arc.”

Earth Patterns is set for release on August 19th through The Leaf Label and ahead of it they have shared the transcendent ‘New Universe’. The single comes with an accompanying video directed by Dom Harwood and you can watch it below.

Time Wharp’s full-length album, Spiro World, out next month; listen to two new tracks

28 May 2022

Kaye Loggins aka Time Wharp has been teasing the release of a full-length album for some time now and comes June 17th Spiro World will finally see the light of day through Leaving Records. Described as a “coming of age collection”, Spiro World “describes somatically profound personal experiences of derealization, the endocrinological dissociative mixolydian pharma heaven & hell on earth, and love letters to New York.”

Following the album’s first single, ‘Lupron’, the Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist and producer has shared a video for new single ‘Mixo World’ featuring some personal footage in New York. Here’s both tracks.