Liars close video trilogy with new single ‘From What the Never Was’

28 July 2021

With just over a week to go until the release of The Apple Drop, Liars have shared a new single called ‘From What the Never Was’ and an accompanying video featuring album collaborators Laurence Pike and Cameron Deyell. It closes their trilogy of videos with direction by Clemens Habicht, following ‘Sekwar’ and ‘Big Appetite’. Angus Andrew comments:

“‘From What the Never Was’ is intended as a moment of recollection within the journey of The Apple Drop; a point that our traveller has reached which is far from the starting place, but also right back there in memory. The drum sound was appropriated from an old song called ‘We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own’. In that track, the protagonist is drunk on delusions of grandeur, relishing the power of destruction. Now far removed, that character is weary, remorseful.

In preparation for the video, I went back to the ‘Sekwar’ cave to map it three-dimensionally. Instructed by a digital artist in NYC (Dan Moore), I strapped a 360-degree camera to my head and paced the lengths of the cave’s interior. The resulting data was transformed into a wireframe model and featured as a hologram in ‘FWTNW’. The cave’s positioning right beneath another location manifests the premise of the song. You’re in the “same spot” but understanding it from a completely new perspective. My experience in revisiting that space alone was both psychologically informative and disturbing. The slow, methodical steps required to document the dark depths of the cave’s interior invited the company of bats and of fear.”

Director Clemens Habicht also had this to say about it:

“Angus and his crew are subjected to the traumas and melodramas of classic sci-fi tropes, brutalised by the sadism of scenes from films I think I was probably way too young to have seen as a kid. Only Liars would entertain and embrace my trepanning fantasies. Like any mission, this was only possible by the absolute commitment of everyone involved. Special thanks to DOP Tyson Perkins for signing up for another adventure, and to Beau and her team for their absolute generosity and excitement.”

Now watch the video for ‘From What the Never Was’ below:

The Apple Drop is out on August 6th through Mute

ECHT! share second single, ‘Charlier’, from upcoming album Inwane

27 July 2021

After sharing the intoxicating and hypnotic lead single ‘500 gr.‘, Belgian instrumental outfit ECHT! are teasing again their upcoming debut album, Inwane, with a new track called ‘Charlier’. “On that one we love how the trippy vibe is increased by Federico Pecoraro’s unreal bass solo”, comments the band. “On top of it, crazy production moves by Rowan Van Hoef open another dimension .” ‘Charlier’ comes with an accompanying video made by Toxic Motel. Watch it below and watch out for the release of Inwane on September 24th through Sdban Ultra.

Watch Manu Delago’s video for ‘Interference’

23 July 2021

Hot on the heels of the recently announced Environ Me, Manu Delago shared earlier this month a phenomenal video to accompany the album’s first single, ‘Interference’. The video depicts perfectly human interference in nature and features the staggeringly talented percussionist and composer along with five other percussionists on a metal structure, with electricity poles around and right in the middle of mountains. Watch it below.

Environ Me is out on September 24th through One Little Independent Records.

Mas Aya shares first single from upcoming solo album Máscaras

22 July 2021

Toronto based composer, percussionist and producer Brandon Valdivia is a very talented and busy musician, known for his membership and collaborations with bands like Not The Wind, Not The Flag, Picastro, The Cosmic Range, I Have Eaten The City, US Girls, Sandro Perri, Lido Pimienta and many more. Under the moniker Mas Aya, he is set to release his new solo album, Máscaras. Slated for a September 24th release through Telephone Explosion, Máscaras is rooted on his signature production style, encompassing “intricate spiraling synths, balmy environments, and crisp drum programming, variously drawing from trap, footwork, early Warp-label gestures, and the digital end of dancehall reggae”.

‘Momento Presente’ serves as the first enticing taste from the album and is offered with an accompanying video created by Gustavo Cerquera Benjumea. Here it is.

Elena Setién announces new album, Unfamiliar Minds

21 July 2021

Photo: Pablo Axpe

There’s wonderful news from singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Elena Setién, who has announced the release of a new album entitled Unfamiliar Minds. The San Sebastian native composed the album during lockdown, after putting out Mirande, a collaborative album with composer Xabier Erikizia, sang in her Basque language.

On Unfamiliar Minds, and as the press release explains, “Setién reflects on isolation, confusion and harnesses uncertainty with optimism on ten ghostly wonders that capture ineffable feelings in radiant detail.” The album is further described as “a palatial guide through trial and exaltation, a meditation on disquiet and hope for uncovering what lies ahead.”

As captivating as ever, Setién continues to beguile us with her shimmering and beautiful melodies, as well as her rich and deep voice. We’ll have to wait until January 28th for the album to be out through Thrill Jockey but we can already wrap our ears around the celestial title track. Here it is.

Jeremiah Cymerman shares second single, ‘For As Long As Grass Grows (for Tony Scott)’, from upcoming solo album Citadels & Sanctuaries

21 July 2021

Photo: Toby Driver

Multifaceted musician Jeremiah Cymerman, who is a phenomenal clarinetist, composer and producer, has a new album on the way entitled Citadels & Sanctuaries. With an impressive career of nearly twenty years in New York’s avant-garde and improvised music scene, Cymerman’s upcoming album is dedicated and reflects the influence composers such as Alvin Lucier, Morton Feldman, Evan Parker, Tony Scott, and many others have had on him. “I feel these pieces are genuine offerings of love and respect to just a few of the artists who have had a huge impact on me”, Cymerman explains. He continues:

“I wanted to inhabit the sound worlds of these artists, participating with the music as a player like I have as a listener. Some pieces were very deliberate from the start, while others happened more organically after they were being shaped. With different people in mind, it helped me focus each piece to get it to completion.”

Slated for an August 20th release through his own 5049 Records, Citadels & Sanctuaries was recorded during a month-long residency at Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works at the tail end 2020, and unlike previous works, most tracks were captured in a single take. “This album was recorded when playing lines and melodies were feeling really good for me,” Cymerman explains. “It feels good to be able to share my work with people who might not have all this context about the music. They can just enjoy it because it has an immediacy to it. There are abrasive, dissonant parts that might be off-putting, but for the most part I like showing another side of myself. I don’t want to just make abstract, dark music all the time.”

Following lead single ‘From the Metaphysical to the Transcendental (For Bill Smith)’, Cymerman is enticing us with a new sublime piece from his album called ‘For As Long As Grass Grows (for Tony Scott)’. “I was 21 the first time I heard Music for Yoga Meditation and Other Joys by Tony Scott and it was nothing short of an epiphany,” Cymerman says about the inspiration behind this piece. “Beautiful and elegant lines on the clarinet by a master improviser, played with a restraint and groundedness not commonly found — it changed the way I thought about my instrument.”
The single is offered with an accompanying video. Watch it below and listen to the previously released ‘From the Metaphysical to the Transcendental (For Bill Smith)’ straight after.