Shards & Isolation Choir share new composition ‘Inside I’ll Sing’

18 April 2020

As with all parts of society, the coronavirus pandemic is affecting musicians and artists on every level. Kieran Brunt’s choral group Shards has released a new track in response to this disruption, written in the first few days of the UK lockdown as live music went on an indefinite hiatus. Entitled ‘Inside I’ll Sing’, the composition saw Brunt enlist an array of stellar musicians to collaborate remotely as the Isolation Choir, including Anna Meredith, Hatis Noit, Nico Muhly, Douglas Dare, and many more.  After reaching out to other musicians, Brunt pieced it together in his makeshift studio at home in London”. He explains:

“I reached out to musician friends in the UK and abroad to see if they would lend their voices to an ‘Isolation Choir’, and was overwhelmed by the positivity and enthusiasm that everyone responded with. Like me, many needed a distraction from current events and valued just being given a simple task to do. I recorded a demo of the song and sent out instructions on how to record at home with whatever means were available.”

Director and singer Fiona Jane Burgess, who also collaborated on the song, has paired it with an accompanying video, featuring unused footage which she used to”rebuil[d] the narrative to poignantly complement the mood and emotion of the song.”  Take a look below.

‘Inside I’ll Sing’ is released through Erased Tapes and all proceeds will be donated to Help Musicians.

Thiago Nassif announces new album, Mente, and shares lead single ‘Soar Estranho’

15 April 2020

Brazilian multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Thiago Nassif made big waves with his last album, 2016’s Três, and he’s ready to release a follow-up later this year. Entitled Mente, the record is slated for a July 3rd release through Gearbox Records. As with his previous record, it was co-produced by Arto Lindsay and it sees Nassif continue to explore various influences, such as no-wave, electronic music, Tropicalismo, jazz and rock.

Mente has a double meaning in Portuguese, translating as mind and lying. “I chose this name mainly because Portuguese is the only language that connects these two semantic possibilities: thinking and lying,”, Nassif explained. “And also because now we are living this post-truth political era, where Brazil is at the top of the charts in these matters right now.”

For a taste of what to expect, check out his lead single, ‘Soar Estranho’, sung both in Portuguese and in English. Here it is.

Matt Evans shares new single ‘Spinning Blossoms’, debut album out this Friday

14 April 2020

This Friday will see the release of Matt Evans‘s debut album, New Topographics, a bewitching collection of rhythmic percussion/electronic pieces stemming from a month-long residency at Brooklyn artist space Pioneer Works. After sharing ‘Cold Moon’ and ‘Full Squid’, the Brooklyn based drummer and composer is enticing us again with a new single from the album called ‘Spinning Blossoms’. The track is being offered with an accompanying video directed by Soop Groop aka Vanessa Castro, Dara Hirsch, Melodie Stancato, and Matt Evans. Castro had this to say about it:

“In the video for Spinning Blossoms, Matt, who scored this song and video, performs the various percussive and melodic loops that steady the rhythm of the song, while simultaneously falling out of sync with the actual performance of sound. Mel, the video’s choreographer, performs in another form of abyss, an empty office supply warehouse overflowing with detritus of corporate America.

To me the challenge for this video was: how can an ‘object’ of performance be both repetitive and improvised in both sound and movement? How can singular experiences happening in different times and places create a simulation of linear time? Matt composed Spinning Blossoms with self-made, sample-based, loops based on an internal rhythm that Matt himself created. I decided to follow that same framework.”

Watch the video below and grab New Topographics when it’s out on April 17th thought Whatever’s Clever.

Soccer96 release first in series of live videos featuring new material from upcoming Tactics EP

10 April 2020

Photo: Fabrice Bourgelle

Soccer96 are ready to take us by storm again with a new EP called Tactics and a treat of a new song, ‘I Was Gonna Fight Fascism’. The drums and keyboards duo of Dan Leavers aka Danalogue and Max Hallett aka Betamax, who are also two thirds of The Comet is Coming, will release Tactics on June 26th via Moshi Moshi Records. The new EP sees them turn into a quartet with the addition of thought-provoking and incredible musician and poet Alabaster DePlume and legendary multi-instrumentalist and producer Capitol K. Tactics “is built out of the raw energy of their improvisations, combining elements of jazz, electronica and heavier genres”, explains the press release. “A delicate balance of dark and light, heavy and danceable, the expansion from duo to quartet on this EP also sees Soccer96 re-situate itself within the vast musical universe that exists across their previous recordings and other projects.”

Danalogue had this to say about the collaboration with DePlume:

“In some ways it’s very similar to how we started things with The Comet Is Coming, plugging Shabaka into a guitar amp in our studio and egging each other on to go further, dirtier, louder. This time we plugged Alabaster into the Soccer96 turbo charger, and the results are pretty spectacular.”

There’s more good news. Just before lockdown, and as a quartet, they recorded a live show at Total Refreshment Centre. Featuring new material from the EP, these recordings are set to be released as a 3-part series of live videos and Part 1, with a version of their scathing new single ‘I Was Gonna Fight Fascism’ now available to stream. Here it is.

Inventions set to release new album Continuous Portrait

09 April 2020

Photo: Matthew Cooper

After two long players released in 2014 and 2015, Inventions, the creative alliance of Matthew Cooper of Eluvium and longtime friend Mark T. Smith of Explosions In The Sky, are back with a new album. Entitled Continuous Portrait, it arrives digitally on May 29th and a cd/vinyl release will follow on July 10th through Temporary Residence.

“An album of strange hypnosis, punctuated by songs that venture quite far from the respective oeuvres of Cooper and Smith”, describes the press release, Continuous Portrait has a “sense of exploration, pleasure, and ceremonial melancholia which informs the entire album from front to back.”

Inventions are already enticing us with the gorgeous and gentle lead single ‘Outlook For The Future’. Take a listen below.

Watch NZCA LINES’ video for ‘Pure Luxury’

08 April 2020

After sharing his first single in four years, the insanely infectious ‘Pure Luxury’, NZCA LINES has unveiled a video for the track. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Lovett, the man behind NZCA LINES, directed the video with Alina Rancier and he had this to say about it:

“It’s an all singing, all dancing journey into my own personal world of glamour and luxury, held together by cardboard, drenched in blood, and billed to your company’s expense account. We set out to make a gender-reversed Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and this is where we ended up. Enjoy.”

Watch the video now.