Masayoshi Fujita shares video for ‘Morocco’; new album Bird Ambience out this Friday

25 May 2021

We’re only a few days away from the release of Bird Ambience, the much anticipated new album from Masayoshi Fujita. The master vibraphonist, multi-percussionist, and composer had already enticed us with three magnificent tracks from the album, ‘Thunder‘, Bird Ambience‘ and more recently ‘Morocco’, a cinematic track that gently whisks one away on a voyage of wonder and delight. Now Fujita has paired the latest single with a befittingly gorgeous and sublime video directed, shot, acted, edited and graded by himself. “The theme for this video is to visualize what I had in mind for the song, and also to visualize how I dive into the image that I get from the sound when I composed or whenever I play it,” Fujita explained. Take a look below and grab Bird Ambience when it’s out this Friday May 28th through Erased Tapes.

7K! Records announces new compilation Wind Layers

21 May 2021

Next month will see 7K! Records release a new compilation entitled Wind Layers, marking the latest edition in their compilation series Layers. Featuring twenty-one songs by twenty-one artists, this collection “focusses on wind instruments and their influence on the contemporary classical multiverse, with musical creations that delicately balance acoustic expression, electronic refractions and ambient recall”, as the label explains. The compilation includes tracks from celebrated trombone player and composer Peter Zummo, Hamburg pianist, producer and composer Niklas Paschburg, Norwegian maestro Håkon Kornstad, Sardinian sound researcher Eugenio Caria aka Saffronkeira, Hungarian jazz trumpeter and composer Barabás Lőrinc, seminal multi-reedist Doug Wieselman and many other stellar artists.
Wind Layers opens magnificently with ‘Beyond the Break’, an unreleased track written and recorded by sax super-hero Colin Stetson. He commented:

“Originally recorded as part of my last solo record, ‘All This I Do For Glory’, ‘Beyond the Brake’ is a turning of attention back towards where and what was left behind. It is that one last look before the page turns, before the next thought emerges and this one falls away. ‘All This I do for Glory’ was always intended as one side of a coin, and so I thought it fitting to share this piece now, in the time before the flip side comes to be.”

Listen to ‘Beyond the Break’ below.


Wind Layers is out on June 25th through 7K! Records

Booker Stardrum unveils new single, ‘Bend’, featuring Jaimie Branch

19 May 2021

We had already heard and loved ‘Diorama’, the first single lifted from Booker Stardrum‘s Crater, his much anticipated third album. As we get closer to the album release on July 2nd through NNA Tapes, the drumming wizard, improviser and composer has let loose another wild cut from the album called ‘Bend’, featuring Jaimie Branch. Speaking about the song, Stardrum said:

“I titled this one ‘Bend’ after my natural relationship to pulse and rhythm, an elastic flow state that I strive to achieve in my playing. I love the feeling of stretching time in and out of groove, stumbling, and snapping back into it. Playing freely is a meditation on listening and awareness, and the embodiment of flexibility. I always attempt to capture these types of moments in my recordings, then enhance them with other gestures in a similar spirit. ‘Bend’ features trumpet bending by the always inspiring Jaimie Branch.”

Listen to ‘Bend’ below.

Xiu Xiu share video for title track ‘OH NO’

17 May 2021

Photo: Julia Brokaw

Hot on the heels of their latest album release, OH NO, Xiu Xiu have shared a new video for the title track.  As with all the album tracks, ‘OH NO’, is yet another duet, this time bringing together singer and songwriter Jamie Stewart and Susanne Sachsse. Xiu Xiu directed the video for the song and Stewart had this to say about it:

“While recording bass parts for the song ‘Oh No’ (feat. the venerable Susanne Sachsse) with Greg Saunier and Jherek Bischoff they both kept making jokes about how the perfect video for it would be clips of people slipping on banana peels. Obviously this is a good idea. However, to my surprise there really are not that many. Numerous other fail videos come up instead. Do not drive your truck on a frozen lake, drink from a lake inhabited by crocodiles if you are a cheetah, do not do ANYTHING at all if you are under the age of 3.”

Watch the video for “OH NO” below.

OH NO is out now through Polyvinyl.

Samuel Hällkvist and Kavi Kwai team up for collaborative track ’Sustain’

13 May 2021

Photo: Alice Boman / Mike Højgaard

Samuel Hällkvist is no stranger to creative collaborations, having played with many phenomenal musicians and contributed to several albums across various genres, including jazz, progressive rock, country, electronic and metal. We may be a little late picking up his latest offering, ‘Sustain’, but we were clearly missing out. Previously unreleased, the track was originally recorded during the same sessions that yielded Epik, Didaktik, Pastoral, one of our Album Picks of 2020. Left out then, the composer and guitarist extraordinaire has revisited ’Sustain’, this time with Swedish singer/songwriter and producer Julia Ringdahl aka Kavi Kwai as a vocal contributor. Speaking about their collaboration, Hällkvist explained:

“The track was originally instrumental and intended to be on my album Epik, Didaktik, Pastoral but I felt like it was missing something so I had to put it aside until the right time. When I read that Kavi Kwai recommended one of my records on a blog somewhere, I thought it would be interesting to do something together since I really like what she does – that song might come in handy and get a little different direction. It quickly turned out that it was a great idea.For me, Sustain is about contemplation and not taking anything for granted, which feels very relevant for this time on so many levels.”

Listen to ‘Sustain’ below.

Watch the video for Sunroof’s latest single ‘1.2 – 30.5.19’

12 May 2021

Ahead of the imminent release of Sunroof’s Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1, the first collection of eight improvised modular pieces from founder of Mute Daniel Miller, and legendary producer, engineer and artist Gareth Jones, who have been friends and collaborators for four decades, the pair shared a new track called ‘1.2 – 30.5.19’. As with the previous single, ‘1.2 – 30.5.19’ also comes with an accompanying video with visual direction by Jeff Courtney. Take a look.

Electronic Music Improvisations Volume 1 is out on May 21st on the Parallel Series of Mute.