Known as one quarter of experimental chamber collective Collectress, and regular collaborator with the likes of Radiohead’s Philip Selway, Patrick Wolf, The Penguin Cafe, contemporary dance company Rambert and many more, London based multi-instrumentalist and performer-composer Quinta is today releasing a benefit single called ‘The Nurse’s Song’. Written as a tribute to the frontline workers immensely affected by the covid19 pandemic, ‘The Nurse’s Song’ was “inspired by a news story describing the profound compassion shown by a nurse to loved ones not allowed to be present at the bedside of a dying Covid19 patient”, as Quinta described. Nursing staff are playing a vital role providing comfort and support to patients in their final moments and also to their relatives.
‘The Nurse’s Song’ is out today coincing with Bandcamp Friday and all proceeds will be donated to the Cavell Nurses’ Trust, a UK charity that supports nurses, midwives and healthcare workers experiencing personal and financial hardship. The Trust has seen a 175% increase in help requested by nursing and midwifery professionals compared to the same period last year.
Head over to Quinta’a bandcamp to hear the poignantly beautiful and powerful ‘The Nurse’s Song’ and contribute if you can.
A Winged Victory For The Sullen, the majestic collaborative project of Stars Of The Lid’s Adam Wiltzie and pianist and composer Dustin O’Halloran, have announced the release of a new album, Invisible Cities. Wiltzie and O’Halloran were commissioned by Manchester International Festival, Rambert, Brisbane Festival, Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival, Sadler’s Wells, SMG Live, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Cultural Centre (JACC) and Karl Sydowto to compose Invisible Cities as a 90-minute score for the multimedia theatre production inspired by Italo Calvino’s 1972 epic novel of the same name. Wiltzie commented on the process:
“Four months is not a lot of time to create 90 minutes of music for a production using classical theatre, dance, & high res video mapping on a stage the size of 2 football pitches. It was a pleasure to work with 59 Productions, unlike other producers, they left the micro-managing at home, and let us get on with it. Early on in discussions with director Leo Warner it was realised that the human voice would take a central role in the score as it was essentially the only instrument we could see evolving over 600 years with a storyline that would not have the listener screaming “its Zimmertime”…,”
Invisible Cities is set for release on February 26th through Artificial Pinearch Manufacturing and ahead of it A Winged Victory for the Sullen are enticing us with the first single, ‘Desires Are Already Memories’. Here it is.
There’s a new album on the way from Ghana’s Alostmen, the band formed by Stevo Atambire when touring together with Wanlov The Kubolor (Fok’n Bois) in different outfits in 2017. Entitled Kologo, the album is set for release on January 29th through Strut Records. “I had toured with Stevo in my band Afro Gypsy in 2017,” Wanlov explained, “and we recorded the tracks for this album on the road in Uganda and North West Ghana in hotel rooms”. Alostmen’s music is inspired by the Frafra traditions of the kologo, a kind of stringed lute instrument, and they also bring to the mix other influences like rap and reggae.
Ahead of the album release, Alostmen have shared ‘Minus Me’, featuring highlife legend Gyedu-Blay Ambolley. “He is one of our all-time greats,” said Atambire. “I love to watch him play. His deep vocal was perfect for this track.” Listen to the single below.
Gazelle Twin, aka composer, musician and producer Elizabeth Bernholz, and electronic drone choir NYX are set to release their debut collaborative album, Deep England, on March 19th through NYX Collective Records. The 8-track album is an electronic-choral expansion of Gazelle Twin’s acclaimed 2018 album Pastoral, featuring reworked tracks from it as well as some NYX originals. Rooted in English pagan and sacred music, Deep England was originally created for live performance with Movement Director Imogen Knight, Sound Associate Peter Rice and Designer Chloe Lamford and was recorded right after their premiere at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in November 2019. Gazelle Twin and NYX shared their reflection on the album:
“Here lies our ancient future, Deep England: our hope and compassion in the chokehold of power and glory.
Hand in hand, here we cry our rage: summoning a lament into the ether, a divine androgynous force, a transcendental purge of the dizzying chaos of post-truth Britain.”
Ahead of the album release, they have shared ‘Fire Leap’, serving as the first magnificent and uncanny single from the record. Take a listen to it below and check out the album trailer straight after.
Last week saw the release of Ferd, the new album from Norwegian musician and composer Kjell Braaten, drawing from a wide range of worldwide influences and sounds, especially from North Africa, America and the East. Following the lead single ‘Østavind’, Braaten shared the opening track, ‘Kyst’, which means “coast” and aims to honour travellers, those who set about on adventure and those who never returned. Braaten comments:
“The Norwegian coastline is enormously long and used to be the most essential way to travel and shipping goods. It was incredibly important to the people living here. Many travelled far to explore, conquer, most for trade. Some came back with triumph, some with defeat. Some never returned. Here, you can hear the excitement of those getting ready for adventure. You can hear the longing of those left behind, and the music in the halls of those longing. You can listen to the lurs calling the returning ships, and the cries to honour those that did not return. Also, you can hear some sounds brought back from far, far away.”
Braaten has offered a marvellous accompanying video for ‘Kyst’, where he is joined by Agðir on guest vocals and tagelharpa. Watch it below.
There’s nearly a whole year to go until the 14th edition of Le Guess Who? but with the extraordinary curators and initial program that has been unveiled last week, there’s already good reasons to look forward to it.
Following the postponement of Le Guess Who? to next year, the Dutch historical city of Utrecht will hold its annual four-day musical extravaganza from 11-14th November 2021. The recently announced guest curators and first names on the line-up has instilled us with a sense of heightened expectation and anticipation.
Part of what makes Le Guess Who? transcend the confines of style is the diversity brought in by its guest curators. Next year, phenomenal alto saxophonist, composer, improviser and sound experimentalist Matana Roberts, Colombian civil engineer turned into sound artist and musician Lucrecia Dalt, exquisite Japanese minimalist composer, multi percussionist and theatre artist Midori Takada, songwriter, producer, and artist behind The Microphones and Mount Eerie Phil Elverum and underground rock veteran, visual artist and record label owner John Dwyer, will all help shape and enrich the festival with hand picked selections of their own favourite and like-minded artists, in addition to also performing themselves.
The first round of names for the general line-up has also been unveiled and it’s already boasting incredible and cutting-edge artists drawn from all corners of the musical spectrum and the globe, set to perform in a multitude of idyllic venues across Utrecht, from churches and art galleries to landmark theatres, warehouses and public squares. Le Guess Who?’s initial general lineup boasts the likes of Australian revered experimental jazz trio The Necks, who kicked off 2020 with their 21st album, Three; British experimental rock 7-piece Black Country, New Road, the Saharan guitar sounds of Etran de L’Aïr, based in the Northeast of Niger; and Model Home, the electronic and vocal duo of sonic engineer Pat Cain and MC NAPPYNAPPA. Also performing will be Amsterdam-based psychedelic dance band Conjunto Papa Upa; producer Pink Siifu, who has previously been featured on tracks with Swarvy, Devonwho, and MNDSGN; rotating South African improvisational avant-jazz collective SPAZA who have just released UPRIZE!, their second album soundtracking a documentary film about the 1976 Soweto uprising; the Ghanaian spiritual roots reggae of Y-Bayani & Baby Naa And The Band of Enlightenment, Reason & Love and Chicago based sound and visual artist Damon Locks and his 15-piece Black Monument Ensemble, whose music eschews classification and taps into jazz, gospel, spoken word, hip hop, R&B, blues and folk music influences. Amidst the new thrilling additions to Le Guess Who?’s line-up is Mazaher who are inspired by the Zar music of Egypt, a healing ritual of music and dance led by women, that is on the verge of extinction, and the Brazilian sounds of São Paulo singer and guitarist Sessa, known as the founder of psych-funk duo Garotas Suecas and regular collaborator of Yonatan Gat.
We’re ecstatic to see the addition of marvellous spoken word artist, bandleader, composer, saxophonist and activist Alabaster DePlume, who released the warm and beguiling To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals Vol. 1 earlier this year. DePlume, who first performed at Le Guess Who? in 2018, returns as Artist in Residence.
With a bold program wholly embracing musical diversity, the daring and dazzling Le Guess Who? will deliver various sorts of beauty, discovery and joy. Full details of the line-up and 4-Day Passes can be found on leguesswho.com.
