After a meteoric rise in their home country, Belgium’s TUKAN are gearing up to release a new record, following their 2022 exhilarating and groove-heavy debut Atoll. Entitled Human Drift, the upcoming album is set for release on January 24th through Magma. Described as “an album about connection and letting go”, Human Drift “embodies the spirit of community, celebration, and sharing in a world leaning towards isolation and individualism”. On the new album, the quartet continues to corral a broad diversity of sound, blending electronic grooves with instrumental melodies.
Ahead of the album’s release, TUKAN have shared the radiant and energized ‘Roda’ which serves as the first enticing taste of what’s to come and you can listen to it below.
A longtime favourite of ours, Bibio announced last month the release of PHANTOM BRICKWORKS (LP II). Arriving on November 22nd through Warp, it marks the second release from his ongoing project Phantom Brickworks, which draws inspiration from certain places around Britain and the charge they carry. Following two marvellous singles, ‘DINORWIC’ and ‘LLYN PERIS’, Bibio shared this week the third sublime single ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII’ . Of the new track, he says:
“‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII’ is a single-take improvised piano piece using two digital delay pedals and the same antique upright piano I’ve been using for over 25 years. The equipment and techniques are more or less the same as those used on the very first PHANTOM BRICKWORKS track recorded some 18 or so years ago. This piece has a more rhythmical approach, using one pedal as a kind of timekeeper/divider and the other as the looper, the result is a more structured overall sound, rather than being more free and floaty. All of these improvised pieces are unrepeatable, as the way the notes decay and crumble is a crucial component of the music, which is a characteristic of the specific pedals I use. ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII’ is one of my favourite piano improvisations I’ve ever recorded, the way it builds into something that sounds structured and composed wasn’t so obvious to me while I was recording it as I was concentrating on every note being added to the gradually evolving loop. This one-take improvisation has no additional layers, but the original piece was over 18 minutes long – I cut it down by starting the track at a midway point, so it starts more fully formed, but the history of how the melodies were built up is embedded within the crumbling layers like layers of sediment, the older the notes – the more distant and ghostly they become.”
Ethereal and beautiful, ‘PHANTOM BRICKWORKS VII’ is after your ears.
Red Snapper have a new EP releasing next week, following last year’s LP Live at The Moth Club. Entitled Tight Chest, the 4-track EP saw the revered British band collaborate with producer, DJ and multimedia artist David Harrow. Living in different parts of the globe, Rich Thair in Wales, Ali Friend in London and David Harrow in Los Angeles, they kept exchanging ideas back and forth until they were happy. The band comments:
“One of the great joys of the writing and production time was the lack of pressure on what shape and sound needed to come out – the process felt very open and expansive, much like the approach to Red Snapper’s Remixing. There was space to experiment and look for new things, knowing that the outcomes could be as different and diverse as we wanted.”
Tight Chest EP arrives on November 15th through Lo Recordings and ahead of it they’ve let loose the dub infused opening track, ‘Hold My Hand Up’. Take a listen now.
In other related good news, Red Snapper are embarking on a UK tour in March 2025 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first record and a Warp classic, Reeled & Skinned.
An artist unknown to us up until recently, Reason And Impulse‘s music caught our ears upon first listen. James Asturias, the exceptionally creative and talented multi-instrumentalist behind the project, has unveiled ‘Disappear’, an engrossing and propulsive single weaving a refreshing tapestry of sound. On the track, he plays all the instruments, some of which he has also built himself, including a pneumatic drum machine and a 2×4 electric guitar, built out of non-musical parts. “I built it to make the point that you don’t have to buy an expensive guitar to make guitar-based music; you can build one out of trash if you want, or in this case, hardware you could buy at Home Depot”, explained Asturias. In the same vein, and showcasing his unique approach to music combining his interests in music, psychology, and engineering, Reason and Impulse programmed the guitar effects from scratch.
Thematically the song explores some of life’s emotions and behaviours such as anxiety and avoidance, as well as self-control or the lack of it when dealing with difficult situations, and “the role suicidal ideation plays in giving one a false sense of it”, as Asturias says.
‘Disappear’ comes with an utterly beautiful animated short film, directed by Ala Nunu (COLA). About the video, which reflects on these themes, he comments:
“The video follows an individual who, after a fight with a loved one, takes out their frustrations on the road, and ends up flying through the windshield of their car. As they lay dying in a field, a dissociative fantasy ensues: little creatures come to rebuild the car and turn back time. In the end, the fantasy fails to change reality, as no amount of regret nor wishful thinking can undo a bad decision.”
There’s more good news from Reason and Impulse as ‘Disappear’ arrives as the first single from his impending full-length album Sertraline Dreams. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more details, as he will continue to release new tunes and visuals from the forthcoming record over the coming months. Now watch the video below and let yourself to be transported to a world filled with strange creatures and inviting sounds.
Swiss trio AMAMI are back with a new EP titled Islands, following 2021’s Soleil and 2019’s Giant. As with previous efforts, Islands reflects the diverse musical and cultural backgrounds of Raphaël Anker, Gabriel Ghebrezghi and Inès Mouzoune, who make up the project, with four songs exploring dancehall, dub, no wave and Afro-Pop, all live without sequencers or computers. In addition to the four tracks, Islands comes with four dub remixes, which saw AMAMI collaborate with dub legends Mad Professor and Vibronics from the UK, and Bernese Dub scientist Dubokaj. As the press release describes, “these bold reinterpretations honour the genre, emphasising bass, drums, and sound effects like delay and reverb, all while staying rooted in a dynamic and experimental vibe that invites dancing.”
Islands comes out on December 6th through Bongo Joe and ahead of it AMAMI have shared ‘Wrong Way”, a belter of a dynamite track with a Jamaican influence that will totally brighten up your day. The single comes with an accompanying stop-motion video directed by Swiss-Brazilian artist Luan Banzai and you can watch it now.
There’s exciting new from Belgian quintet Black Flower, who are gearing up to release a new album in the new year. Entitled Kinetic, it follows their 2022 Magma, and arrives on January 31st through Sdban Ultra. There’s still a long wait ahead but the collective are teasing the album now with a brilliant and boisterous lead single called ‘Monkey System’ featuring singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees. The title takes its inspiration from the parable of the monkey whereby the monkey is lured by bait inside a hole, it reaches for it with a clenched fist and can’t get the food out without letting go of it. When danger approches, the monkey chooses to hold on to the food rather than letting go of it and gets trapped. The track “is a reflection on this state of mind, and by extension, a poignant metaphor for the human condition”, as the press release explains, and it “mirrors a deeper truth: our tendency to cling to desires that ultimately hold us back.”
A longtime favourite of ours, 
Red Snapper
