Barra Brown shares ‘Woah Hey!’ (ft. Tree Palmedo) from debut album LFT:RT incoming this March

28 January 2021

Photo: Maya Dagmi

Portland-based producer and percussionist Barra Brown, known for his acoustic jazz band, Barra Brown Quintet, and as one half of beat-making duo Korgy & Bass, is gearing up to release his debut album, LFT:RT. With an ambitious approach to songwriting, and the ability to seamlessly move through a variety of genres and musical styles, Brown has crafted a wildly diverse and playful record. “I say I’m left-handed, yet I’m extremely ambidextrous,” Brown commented, in reference to his drumming and the album title which represents his “attempt to break down the binary thinking so often used to sort complex human life into simplified categories”.
To bring LFT:RT to life, he invited several artists to contribute, including Brubeck Institute fellow Tree Palmedo, who guests on trumpet on the latest single to emerge, ‘Woah hey!’. Brown commented on this collaboration:

“My friend Tree is an amazing trumpet player. His last jazz related album received four stars in Downbeat and was named #1 debut album on the NPR Jazz Critic’s Poll. It happened that he was back in town (Portland) visiting from his new home in NYC. We had about an hour together in my home studio and he took a few passes over my work in progress. I chopped some things he played to create a melody after our session. But the ripping solo at the end, I kept that one-take wonder! The guitar and bass sounds were taken from an improvised session I recorded with my former teacher and Oregon Hall of Fame guitarist, Dan Balmer. He didn’t know several seconds of our jam would become this sonic world and his guitar would also become a bass.”

‘Woah hey!’ comes with an accompanying video edited by Brown and featuring archival footage of astronauts training in the 60’s. Watch it below and grab the album when it’s out on March 5th through Cavity Search Records.

Nick Schofield shares new single + video for ‘Ambient Architect’ off forthcoming album

26 January 2021

Next week will see the release of Glass Gallery, the second album from Montreal based musician Nick Schofield. Inspired by the architecture of Ottawa’s National Gallery of Canada, specifically its light and space, the album channels the feeling of “sunlight pouring down from high angles, large open spaces and enormous windows”, as the press release describes. A gorgeous and gentle ambient album, Glass Gallery was composed entirely on a vintage Prophet-600 Synth. Ahead of its release on February 5th through Backward Music, the artist, producer, radio host and community collaborator is enticing it with a second single, ‘Ambient Architect’. Speaking about the song,  Schofield explained:

“Glass Gallery is my attempt to translate inspirational paintings into music. When visiting the National Gallery of Canada, I often interpret painterly gestures, shapes and forms as ways to approach composition. Ambient Architect in particular is lifting from a Paul Klee painting, which features an of combination of this abstract architectural form overlaid on a cloud of soft colours. If you listen closely, I hope the reverence I have for these paintings comes through the music.”

‘Ambient Architect’ comes paired with a video by Christopher Honeywell, whose credits also extend to the album photography. Watch it now.

Listen to Mouse on Mars’ second single ‘Artificial Authentic’, new album AAI out in February

19 January 2021

At a time when positive energy is most needed, Mouse on Mars are generating it in the form of a new science-fiction album called AAI (Anarchic Artificial Intelligence). The upcoming album features writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei, percussionist Dodo NKishi, DJ/producer and programmer Yağmur Uçkunkaya and also saw the duo of Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma collaborate with tech collective Birds on Mars and former Soundcloud programmers Ranny Keddo and Derrek Kindle to create bespoke software capable of modelling speech. Central to AAI is the argument that we must embrace AI and technology as Werner exlains:

“AI is capable of developing qualities that we attach to humans, like empathy, imperfection and distraction, which are a big part of creativity. We need to get past the old paranoia that fears machines as the other, as competitors who will do things faster or better, because that just keeps us stuck in our selfishness, fear and xenophobia. Machines can open up new concepts of life, and expand our definitions of being human.“

Ahead of AAI‘s release on February 26th through Thrill Jockey, Mouse on Mars have shared a second single from it, the bouncy and blissful ‘Artificial Authentic’, featuring Louis Chude-Sokei and Yağmur Uçkunkaya. Here it is.

The Notwist share collaborative track with Juana Molina ahead of album release

19 January 2021

Vertigo Days, The Notwist´s long-awaited follow-up to 2014’s Close To The Glass, is nearing its release date. The iconic German indie trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck invited an impressive list of artists to contribute to the album including American multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar, Saya of Japanese pop duo Tenniscoats, American jazz clarinettist and composer Angel Bat Dawid and Tokyo based brass band ZayaendoGay. Another phenomenal guest contributing to Vertigo Days is Argentinian electronica songwriter Juana Molina, who features on the latest single, ‘Al Sur’. Take a listen below.

Vertigo Days is out on January 29th through Morr Music.

Divide and Dissolve share new single, ‘Prove It’, from upcoming album

11 January 2021

Photo: Billy Eyers

With just over two weeks to go until Divide and Dissolve release their third album, Gas Lit, they have shared a new single from it called ‘Prove It’. The duo of Takiaya Reed and Sylvie Nehill craft music committed “to undermine and destroy the white supremacist colonial framework and to fight for Indigenous Sovereignty, Black and Indigenous Liberation, Water, Earth, and Indigenous land given back”, and as with the album, ‘Prove It’ retains that intention as they explain:

“Prove It – calls into question the need to prove you experienced something. If someone wasn’t there to witness it, it still happened and may have caused harm. Colonial power structures, power dynamics, and societal expectations rely on Black, Indigenous, and people of colour being Gas Lit and denying our experiences, because the predominant white supremacist narrative demands us to. When a tree falls in the forest, it has fallen. Prove It is about the acceptance of experiences of pain without expectation.”

‘Prove It’ brings together beautiful, dark and fierce atmospheres all at once. The track is offered with a video accompaniment, shot and edited by James Robinson. Watch it below.

Gas Lit is out on January 29th through Invada

Azmari’s debut album, Samā’ī, out this month

05 January 2021

Belgian sextet Azmari are set to release their debut album, Samā’ī, later this month through Sdban Ultra.  After releasing their first EP, Ekera, in 2019, the band performed a string of European shows followed by ten days of shows in Istanbul which “opened the band’s ears to the Turkish sounds and rhythms from the 1960s”, as the press release explains. Azmari went on to develop their sound studying Turkish and Ethiopian scales and learning new instruments like the berimbau, the ney and bağlama. Citing artists such as as Okay Temiz, Mulatu Astatke, Cymande, Fela Kuti and The Heliocentrics as musical influences, the band blends ethiogroove, dub, psychfunk and eastern sounds to a mesmerising effect.

Ahead of the album release, Azmari had already shared the single ‘Azalaï’’, which refers to the semi-annual salt caravan route travelled by Tuareg traders in the Sahara desert. Take a listen below.

Samā’ī is out on January 22nd through Sdban UItra