What better way to celebrate Piano Day than with the newly announced album from incredibly imaginative pianist and composer Matthew Bourne. Entitled Irrealis, the upcoming album follows his 2017 Isotach album, and recent collaborations with Keeley Forsyth and Nightports.
The fruit of a single session, Irrealis was recorded with no overdubs. A sonic explorer, on his new album Bourne “explore[s] the possibilities of his instrument with a box of nuts, bolts and Blu-Tak, and a sense of playfulness and spontaneity”, as the press release explains.
We’ll have to wait until May 27th for the album to arrive through The Leaf Label but we can already hear the beguiling lead single, ‘Alice’. It comes with a video directed by Ross Downes and you can watch it below.
New music from incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist Pevin Kinel is always welcomed with excitement, even more so when it sounds as good as his brand new track ‘Komatsu SR-75’. Marking his first new music release since relocating from London to Porto, ‘Komatsu SR-75’ is a sublime and compelling track encapsulating a range of emotions. A veritable one-man-orchestra, with a flair for experimenting with different sounds and genres, on the new track he plays classical guitar, bass, clarinet, and even cardboard drums.
Pevin has shot and directed a fittingly cinematic video to accompany the track. Speaking about how the song and the video came about, he comments:
“It’s not often I lose sleep over the title of a track, but in this instance this is exactly what happened. Komatsu is one of the world’s biggest manufacturer of heavy machinery, and the SR-75 by Soilmec is an enormous hydraulic piling rig, and for the last 6 months the combination of both has been making a lot of noise, everyday from 8am to 8pm, in front of my window.
A few weeks ago I took the opportunity of the oasis of silence that is the weekend to record a series of guitar chords I’d just stumbled upon, and started layering percussions, bass and clarinets on top of it. Then to make a video I simply filmed the building site one evening.
If the song had lyrics, it would be about the fact that they’re building a tube station where there used to be a park. Now, I’m totally for more public transport but somehow it felt weird to see dozens of trees being cut down and green grass being turned to mud and concrete, in an effort to help the environment. This in turn made me think of the idea that we live in a system that can only function if it makes a margin, at the same time as we come to realise that the only margin left to make is at the expense of nature. So all in all, it’s just as well it doesn’t have lyrics, because it would have been a massive headache to make all of this rhyme.”
Multi-talented multi-disciplinary artist Jay Crocker has announced the release of a new album under his moniker JOYFULTALK. Entitled Familiar Science, the album draws inspiration from a wide range of influences, as the press release describes, including “late 80s M-base music, Ornette Coleman’s harmolodic funk years and Crocker’s own histories as an outré improviser”. Featuring contributions from Albertan percussionists Eric Hamelin (Ghostkeeper, No More Shapes, Chad Vangaalen) and Chris Dadge (Bug Incision, Lab Coast) as well as Nova Scotia-based saxophonist/flautist Nicola Miller (Ryan Driver, Doug Tielli) and bassist Kyle Cunjak (Olympic Symphonium, David Myles), Familiar Science “pulls you into sneaky wormholes, heaves you up into rarefied ethers”.
Ahead of its release on May 6th through Constellation, JOYFULTALK has shared a monumental single, ‘Take It to the Grave’. It comes with an accompanying video and you can watch it below.
Next week Alabaster DePlume will be gifting the world with his eagerly awaited album, GOLD. So far he has released two magnificent double singles, ‘Don’t Forget You’re Precious’ b/w ‘‘The Sound of My Feet on this Earth is a Song To Your Spirit’, and before that ‘Mrs Calamari’ b/w ‘Who Is A Fool’, both of which have left us itching with anticipation for the full album release. As we near release day, the aboundingly inventive composer, artist and activist is offering the third double single from his upcoming album, ‘I’m Good At Not Crying’, b/w ‘Visitors XT8B – Oak’. ‘I’m Good At Not Crying’ comes with a brilliant and witty video by TENTACLE, directed by Jordan Copeland. Here’s the statement that accompanies the video:
“The sun never set on the British Empire…
Alabaster draws attention to an outdated tendency to inhibit emotional expression & healthy communication using the the best example he can find – himself. Dressed in drag as a fading representative of empire, he boasts to the viewer of his ability to not cry, while beside him a choir of men sing in women’s voices. His lion is long dead and stuffed, staring with glassy eyes, and behind him, repeatedly, (and contrary to the age-old saying), the sun is indeed setting, on the British Empire.”
Check out both songs below and find out how it is impossible not get engrossed in DePlume’s life-affirming new album.
Congotronics International announced last month the release of a new collaborative album called Where’s The One?, featuring 21 concert recordings and studio tracks. The mighty supergroup comprising members of Konono Nº1, Kasai Allstars, Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, and Skeletons’ Matthew Mehlan, had previously whetted our appetite with two thrilling singles, ‘Banza Banza’ and ‘Beyond The 7th Bend’. Ahead of the album’s release on April 29th through Crammed Discs, they give us today a new taste from the album with the title track, an exhilarating song featuring vocals in Songye language by Kasai Allstars and in English by Matt Mehlan [Skeletons], and also additional vocals by Molina, Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki and Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ Mariam Wallentin. The single is offered with a fittingly thrilling live video filmed at Roskilde Festival in 2011. Check it out below.
In other related news, Kasai Allstars will perform a one-off collaborative live show with Hot Chip titled ‘Hot Congotronics’ as part of this year’s Grace Jones-curated Meltdown Festival at London’s Southbank Centre on June 14th.
Tom Rogerson has been teasing his upcoming solo album, Retreat to Bliss, since its announcement in January with two singles, the celestial ‘Chant’ and the poignant and sublime ‘Oath’. With the album release looming, the staggeringly talented composer and pianist is offering up a final taste from the album in the shape of new single ‘Toumani’, a gentle and emotive song inspired by Malian Kora player Toumani Diabaté. Listen to it below and grab the album when it’s out on March 25th through Western Vinyl.
