Bibio set to release new EP, Sleep On The Wing; shares video for title track

05 May 2020

There could be nothing better to uplift our spirits right now than the new balm-like song from Bibio. A year on from the release of Ribbons, Stephen Wilkinson aka Bibio has announced the release of Sleep On The Wing, a ten-track EP that “explor[es] the liberating power of imagination”, as he puts it. Along with the news, Bibio has shared the title track and offered a few words about it:

“Lyrically, I feel that the song has two aspects to it: The idea of being in the wake of a loss, and with hope, continuing the life of someone who has passed, through allowing oneself to be inspired by what they did during their lifetime and what they left behind, whether it’s the things they said, the knowledge they shared or the things they made.

The other aspect to the song is perhaps more direct, and talks of escaping the city to find peace in the countryside, but the title is more a celebration of dreaming and the liberating power of imagination, not necessarily a physical escape. Music has the power to inspire dreaming and fuel the imagination, and that’s what I’ve always found so addictive about music.”

‘Sleep On The Wing’ comes with an accompanying animated video directed by Sonnye Lim. Watch it below.


Sleep On The Wing is out on June 12th through Warp

Asher Gamedze announces debut album and shares ‘state of emergence suite’

05 May 2020

South African drummer Asher Gamedze has announced the release of his debut album this summer. Entitled Dialectic Soul, it arrives on July 10th through On The Corner Records. A visionary musician, Gamedze recorded the album live over two days in Cape Town with a stellar cast of musicians, Thembinkosi Mavimbela on bass, Buddy Wells on tenor sax, Robin Fassie-Kock on trumpet and Nono Nkoane on vocals.

Dialectic Soul, as Gamedze remarks, “is about motion and a refusal to remain static or stay still. It’s the commitment to be continually moving”. He adds:

“Fundamentally, it is about the reclamation of the historical imperative. It is about the dialect of the soul and the spirit while it moves through history. The soul is dialectic. Motion is imperative. We keep moving.”

As a mesmerising introduction to the album, Gamedze has shared the opening suite ‘state of emergence’. This composition, he comments, “introduces the themes that constitute the album; free drums representing autonomous African motion, the saxophone reflecting deeply and honestly on the violence of colonialism, the teachings of Coltrane, Biko, Makeba, Malcom and others inspired the music’s positive manifestations of resistance.”

Lend your ears to sublime ‘state of emergence suite’ now, featuring ‘thesis’, ‘antithesis’ and ‘synthesis’. You’ll be rewarded!

Aārp unveils video for ‘There Is No Alternative’ off upcoming album

02 May 2020

French experimentalist Aārp has announced the release of his debut album, Propaganda. A political record, Propaganda is partly inspired by the death of a young man in Nantes last summer, who drowned following a violent police raid at a music festival. The portrayal of this negligent event by manipulative media, deliberately spreading misinformation, was aimed at distorting the truth to allow French authorities to evade any consequence. On Aārp’s upcoming album, where each single track is informed by this kind of press propaganda, he asks “listeners to consider fact, open their minds and to think before spreading questionable news in an era rife with deception, when fabricated click-bait holds more currency than expertise.”

Propaganda is set for release on May 22nd through InFiné and ahead of it we can already hear the new single, ‘There is no Alternative’. Speaking about the track, Aārp explains that what was “uttered by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and insinuated that liberalism is the best model of society and that there are no freedoms beyond it. This idea is largely motivated by the literature of G-F. Hayek and his Road to serfdom.”

‘There is no Alternative’ comes with an accompanying video made by Marco Dos Santos. Watch it below.

GRID release second album Decomposing Force

29 April 2020

Photo: Dominika Michalowska

Brooklyn noise jazz trio GRID released their second album, Decomposing Force, last week through NNA Tapes. Progressing from their 2017 self-titled debut, Matt Nelson, Tim Dahl and Nick Podgurski, who make up the trio, recorded the album live in one room with no overdubs and mixed to 1/2 inch tape. With a vision of music that eschews classification, steeped in a palpable sense of heaviness, Decomposing Force taps into the band member’s background in free-jazz and improvisational music, as well as Doom-Metal, Noise, and Ambient influences. “Built on the tenets of weight, difficulty, challenge, collaboration, and adaptability”, as the press release describes, “GRID constructs and confronts the oppressive dark—not with transcendent opposition but with an embrace, diving deeper in as a way through. Decomposing Force is sonic catharsis of the highest and harshest caliber.”

For a taste of what they are throwing at us, take a listen to the opening track ‘Brutal Kings’.

Koki Nakano’s new album Pre-Choreographed out now

28 April 2020

Last week saw the release of Pre-Choreographed, the new album from from Japanese neoclassical pianist Koki Nakano, following his 2016’s debut Lift. As the title suggests, the binary relationship between music and dance is at the heart of Pre-Choreographed. “When I compose, I keep images of bodies in a state of movement up in my head”, explained Nakano. “They’re a great help to me when it comes to structuring each of my pieces, which develop as if they were responding to those movements.”

Along with the album, Nakano released a series of choreographed music videos, including a video accompanying the beautiful ‘Near-Perfect Synchronisation’. The video was directed by Benjamin Seroussi and choreographed by Amala Dianor, who stars in the video. Watch it below.

Pre-Choreographed is out now through No Format!

Listen to Chip Wickham’s new single ‘Double Cross’

27 April 2020

Blue to Red, the highly anticipated new album from immensely talented British flautist and saxophonist Chip Wickham, arrives next week. Following the celestially sublime title track, he has shared another offering from the record, ‘Double Cross’. He had this to say about it:

“This is the darkest track on the album, and it represents the feelings of ordinary people who do the right thing and care about the world but are constantly double-crossed by the system that is stacked against them in favour of an ever-powerful minority. A relentless, driving groove with more broken jazz and driven Rhodes to add an extra angry vibe. The flute reflects this with a driven sound and in your face solo that is pure energy! Check out the fantastic drumming of Jon Scott on this track. He is constantly changing and relentlessly driving the track at the same time.”

Take a listen to ‘Double Cross’ below and grab Blue to Red when it’s out on May 8th through Lovemonk Records.