Attacca Quartet share rework of Louis Cole’s ‘Real Life’, new album out next month

26 June 2021

Photo: David Goddard

Adventurous New York based Attacca Quartet, known for their daring and exhilarating interpretations of works from the realms of traditional and contemporary classical music, are set to release a new album next month. Entitled Real Life, the album sees the string collective of Amy Schroeder, Domenic Salerni, Nathan Schram, and Andrew Yee thrillingly fuse classical and electronic music. An album of electronic music arrangements, Real Life features reworks of tracks from a cast of impressive electronic artists, including Flying Lotus, Louis Cole, Anne Müller, Squarepusher, Daedelus, The Halluci Nation and Mid-Air Thief. To bring the album to life, the ensemble worked with composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and Snarky Puppy bandleader Michael League as well as co-producer Nic Hard. Violist Nathan Schram comments:

“We thought about what the dream album could be that we hadn’t been able to make until we got this opportunity and this idea just started to flower; to bring all the different electronic music we listen to, into our string quartet world and to collaborate with a lot of different musicians, particularly Mike League, while using all the possibilities of music technology to make the biggest string quartet album we could. We all dug really deep into our interests and abilities and created an amazing, experimental, rocking, touching album that is Real Life.”

Real Life precedes another album slated for release later in 2021 featuring music by Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt and a slew of Renaissance composers.

For now we can satiate ourselves with the latest single lifted from the forthcoming album, the title track by Louis Cole. Of the song, Attacca Quartet said:

“Who doesn’t love a little Louis Cole?! His music is zesty, humorous, and extremely satisfying. His song ‘Real Life’ encapsulates the wild and carefree feelings that we enjoyed so much while making this album.”

‘Real Life’ is offered with a video created by Calypo Spritz. Here it is.

Real Life is out on July 9th through Sony Classical

Listen to Liars’ new single ‘Big Appetite’

25 June 2021

With The Apple Drop on the way, and after sharing ‘Sekwar’, Liars have unveiled a new single from the upcoming album called ‘Big Appetite’. The track comes with an accompanying video, and as with the previous single, Clemens Habicht directed it as a sort of follow-up, pursuing Angus Andrew’s hallucinogenic trajectory. “I thought that spelunking with bats for the ‘Sekwar’ video tested the upper limits of my fear threshold”, Angus explained, “but it turns out having a revved up drill pointed close to my forehead for a day is truly the stuff of nightmares.

Clemens had this to say about it:

“The drill spun the camera at up to 2000rpm, and the very real potential for an accidental trepanation gave the filming an extra potency. The terror experienced by the almost broken but fiercely determined space traveller mixes with the candy colours of a delirious unhinged euphoria, with lucid recollections of band members Cameron Deyell and Laurence Pike joining a more fresh-faced Angus from a distant, optimistic and simpler past.”

Watch the video for ‘Big Appetite’ below.

The Apple Drop is out on August 6th through Mute.

Aquaserge announce new album and share first single ‘Un grand sommeil noir’

21 June 2021

The musical universe of Toulouse’s supergroup Aquaserge is wonderful and thrilling, amalgamating various influences and genres, from pop and 60s/70s rock to free jazz and noise. We’re over the moon to know they have a new album on the way called The Possibility of a New Work for Aquaserge, set for release on October 15th though Crammed Discs, as part of their celebrated composers’ series Made To Measure.
The band set themselves a challenge, as the press release explains, “drawing inspiration from four major, atypical figures in contemporary classical music from the mid-20th century (Ligeti, Scelsi, Varèse and Morton Feldman), in order to write & record an album which joyfully blurs boundaries between rock and what used to be called ‘serious music’”. Named after a Morton Feldman piece, The Possibility of a New Work for Aquaserge is also the title of a music theatre show, which they will perform in contemporary music festivals across Europe, including Art Musica in Brussels and Aujourd’hui Musiques in Perpignan.

October might seem far but we can already hear ‘Un grand sommeil noir’, serving as the first glorious taste from the upcoming album. The track is Aquaserge’s interpretation of one of the earliest compositions by pioneering composer Edgard Varèse to a poem by Paul Verlaine. ‘Un grand sommeil noir’ comes with an accompanying video, filmed by Karine Pain and Gaëtan Chataigner and edited by Karine Pain. Take a look.


Matt Evans unveils new single, ‘Firn’, ft. Elori Saxl

14 June 2021

After enticing us with the delicate, poignant and beautiful ‘Arcto 2’, Matt Evans has shared another sublime track from his upcoming album, touchless. Entitled ‘Firn’, the new single features violinist and composer Elori Saxl and is described by Evans as “a nostalgic simulation of an immersive, slow motion snow globe.” ‘Firn’ is offered with an accompanying video directed by Gracelee Lawrence. Here it is.

touchless is out on June 25th through Whatever’s Clever Records.

Watch the new video for Booker Stardrum’s third single ‘Walking Through Still Air’

11 June 2021

With less than a month to go until the release of Crater, Booker Stardrum‘s much anticipated third album, he is enticing us again with a new single called ‘Walking Through Still Air’. “This was one of the last songs I wrote for the album” explained Stardrum. “For me, it’s a somber love letter to the early days of the pandemic. I spent a lot of time walking around Los Angeles, exploring the neighborhoods around my apartment, finding new dirt paths and canyon hikes. I repeatedly ran into a coyote with mange. I was in a conflicted head space– occupied by thoughts of death, unemployment, climate change, and capitalism, but also an inescapable, out of body sensation of stillness. LA is already steeped in a deranged kind of beauty and there was an unfamiliar quiet and calm in the city.”

The single is offered with a video accompaniment, animated by Miranda Javid and featuring additional video footage by Booker Stardrum, Ize Green Diebboll and Jaimie Branch. Watch it below and grab Crater when it drops on July 2nd through NNA Tapes.

Le Guess Who? festival reveals 46 names for this year’s event including Vanishing Twin, Oren Ambarchi, Spirit Fest, Old Time Relijun, Faust, Ensemble Klang and much more

03 June 2021

Had it not been for a pandemic, the musical paradise that is Le Guess Who? festival was to have taken place last year but it’s time to get excited again. This November will finally welcome its 14th edition from 11-14th and the organizers have unveiled another 46 names that will grace one of the many idyllic stages across Utrecht.

Le Guess Who? had already enticed us with a few names on the general line up and the list of its curators: Matana Roberts, Lucrecia Dalt, Midori Takada, Phil Elverum and John Dwyer. As usual, Le Guess Who?’s curators will help shape and enrich the festival with their own favourite and like-minded artists, in addition to also playing themselves. Today we get a first glimpse at some of their selections.

Phenomenal alto saxophonist, composer, improviser and sound experimentalist Matana Roberts returns to the festival, this time as a curator. Her program will include liberation-oriented free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements, Jesu, the moniker of British guitarist and composer Justin Broadrick who is best known as a founding member of Godflesh; French double bass player, improviser and composer Joëlle Léandre; and Australian composer, multi-instrumentalist and musical polymath Oren Ambarchi.

There is also much to hear on the curated bill of Colombia-born/Berlin-based producer and sound artist Lucrecia Dalt, including her collaboration with noise artist Aaron Dilloway (Wolf Eyes), the electronic music experiments of acousmatic composer Beatriz Ferreyra; Spanish a capella duo Tarta Relena; German electronic musician, composer, radio-playwright, and curator Felix Kubin; and the Latin American folklore and cumbia merged with electronic and surreal elements of Colombian singer-songwriter Julián Mayorga.

Added to Japanese percussionist and minimalist/ambient composer Midori Takada’s program is Dutch contemporary ensemble Ensemble Klang, who are set to present the live premiere of their audiovisual project, Thrift Hybrids. Takada will also perform as part of Ton-Klami, her improvisational trio with pianist Masahiko Satoh and saxophonist Kang Tae Hwan.

Singer-songwriter Phil Elverum has invited veterans of Nairobi’s metal scene Duma, Estonian acclaimed folk singer-songwriter Mari Kalkun and Seattle experimental cello player and composer Lori Goldston, who has played with Nirvana. Elverum has also invited guitarist Jay Blackinton to perform the Microphones in 2020 album in its entirety.

Appearing on the curated bill of multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, visual artist and record label owner John Dwyer is German krautrock group Faust, performing their 1973 masterpiece album Faust IV, Arrington De Dionyso’s experimental dance-punk band Old Time Relijun, Brigid Dawson & Sunwatchers, Earth Girl Helen Brown whose recent EP, Earth, features John Dwyer, and Brooklyn’s art punk 5-piece Gustaf. Dwyer is also set to perform as part of OSEES presenting the live premiere of last year’s album Bent Arcana.

There’s a lot more on offer for the 14th edition of Le Guess Who?, and the general line-up has also been expanded with the second batch of performing artists now announced. Newly added is Spirit Fest, the project featuring Tenniscoats singer Saya and The Notwist’s Markus & Cico, neo-sufi and minimalist composer and singer Arooj Aftab, London super group Vanishing Twin, acclaimed ambient composer and multi-instrumentalist William Basinski, Gambian-British rapper and grime artist Pa Salieu, London-based artist and FKA twigs collaborator Lucinda Chua with a new EP, Antidotes 2, released last month, and Tunisian-Belgian singer, dancer, poet and actress Ghalia Benali, amongst many more artists.

Amidst the new exhilarating additions to Le Guess Who?’s 2021 edition is Kampala-based label Nyege Nyege Tapes presenting their Hakuna Kulala club night with the likes of Authentically Plastic, Diaki, Marcelle/Another Nice Mess, Menzi and Turkana.

As always the line-up boasts an abundance of incredible artists from a giant landscape of music, making it an unmissable destination for musical explorers of all kinds so act fast to secure your spot at Le Guess Who? 2021. Tickets and full details of the festival can be found on its website.