Neil Cowley set to release solo EP Beat Infinitum

29 June 2019

After more than a decade with his trio, Neil Cowley Trio, Neil Cowley has embarked on a solo career. In the works for a while, the fruit of his solo endeavour comes out next week in the shape of an EP called Beat Infinitum. The EP saw the incredibly talented pianist and composer embrace new technology while keeping his music heartfelt and human. He explains:

“What happens when you look for heart and humanity from within the clutches of technology?

In essence a snapshot of my studio would tell you all you need to know about my journey. Boxes, machines, synths, compressors, faders and switches. I have surrounded myself with these things and endeavoured to learn all of their workings over a long period of time. I have learnt a lot. But when the learning was over, it was time to create something human; and I then almost had to re-teach myself how to feel and make music about feeling. So I reintroduced my piano and I reintroduced harmony and melody and tried to create emotion from within the deep recesses of the machines at my disposal.

Using raw emotional inspiration such as Renee Jeanne Falconetti’s agonising facial expressions from the 1928 film ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’, a mild obsession with walled gardens far and wide in an effort to understand what happens to the mind in these fabricated but solitary places and a general internal battle with the daily pressures and addictions of technology, I feel I have finally carved out something that has taken a step back in the direction of human feeling but is both of the heart and of the machine.”

‘Involution’ serves as the first taste from Beat Infinitum EP ahead of its release on July 5th. Take a listen now.

Oiseaux-Tempête tease new album with first single ‘Weird Dancing In All-Night II’

26 June 2019

We’re over the moon to know that Oiseaux-Tempête are ready to dazzle us again with a new album release, following last year’s monumental live album TARAB طَرَبٌ and 2017´s sublime AL-‘AN ! الآن (And your night is your shadow — a fairy-tale piece of land to make our dreams), which was one of our Album Picks of the Year. Entitled From Somewhere Invisible, it marks their fourth studio album and finds the duo of multi-instrumentalists Frédéric D. Oberland and Stéphane Pigneul accompanied by longtime collaborators Jean-Michel Pirès (Bruit Noir), Mondkopf and G.W.Sok (The Ex). Recorded at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango, their upcoming album also features contributions from Radwan Ghazi Moumneh and Jessica Moss.

The record “summons the fever of experimentation and the powerful sound of the game coming together in the service of a luxuriant and psychedelic drift”, as the press release describes. “Synthetic brass meets hammered rhythms, string electrics with cracked electronics, saxophone cries and laughter at a pulsing and seminal bass.”

From Somewhere Invisible arrives on October 18th through Sub Rosa but we can already wrap our ears around the intense and compelling ‘Weird Dancing In All-Night II’.

In other related good news, Oiseaux-Tempête have a special performance in store for this year´s edition of Le Guess Who? festival, following their staggering debut at the festival in 2017. Entitled ‘Oiseaux-Tempête & Friends’, the performance will feature the musicians who collaborated on their upcoming album, including Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, Jessica Moss, G.W. Sok and Mondkopf.

Red Snapper’s Rich Thair and Ali Friend form new band Number, listen to debut single ‘Face Down in Ecstasy’

22 June 2019

Rich Thair and Ali Friend, co-founders of revered British band Red Snapper, have unveiled a new project called Number. Said to be inspired by a love of bands like A Certain Ratio and Talking Heads and also P funk and scratchy dub, the pair will release their debut album Binary on August 23rd through Sunday Best Recordings. According to the press release, Rich and Ali formed Number “as a means of rediscovering something of what they grew up with; the dirty disco bass lines, noisy drum machines, wonky percussion, leering live drums, jagged guitar melodies and uplifting soulful song of the 80’s”.

To bring the project to life, the duo have also enlisted the help of Dan Carney (Astronauts), Luisa Tunstall-Behrens and Heloise Gerstein (Landshapes), Byron Wallen (trumpet) and John Metcalfe (strings).

Ahead of the album’s release, we can already hear what they’ll be throwing at us with debut single ‘Face Down in Ecstasy’. “Face Down was inspired by our love of late 70’s and early 80’s dirty disco and funk, combined with the do-it -yourself art school approach of some new wave bands like A Certain Ratio, Magazine etc,” explained Ali. “For us it was a fresh look at those times, but very much re-appraised through a pair of 2019 vari-focals. We enjoy the clash of old ideas with new ones; old sounds with new ones.; acoustic with electronic.”
The single comes with an animated video, produced and directed by Leo Nicholson and you can watch it below.

 

Sandro Perri announces new album Soft Landing

22 June 2019

Photo: Jen Parker

Sandro Perri has released several wonderful and stylistically diverse albums for over 15 years, under his own name and other monikers, and also in collaboration with many different musicians. So news of a new Sandro Perri album is always marvelous news. Following last year’s In Another Life, Perri is ready to release Soft Landing, “this time with guitar at the calmly rambling heart” of the album tracks.

Soft Landing arrives on September 6th through Constellation but we can already hear an excerpt of the warm and sublime 16-minute opening track “Time (You Got Me)”.

Kieran Brunt’s choral group Shards set to release debut album Final Sound

21 June 2019

Kieran Brunt‘s ties with choir singing go back to his school days. The London based singer, songwriter and producer later studied music at St. John’s College in Cambridge, and since then he has collaborated with the likes of Terry Riley, Anna von Hausswolff, Michael Price, and Nils Frahm, amongst many others. He first collaborated with Frahm in 2016, when he was asked to form a choral group, Shards, who are now signed to Erased Tapes and set to release their debut album. Entitled Final Sound, the record features entirely new compositions by Brunt, melding voices, synths and percussion. “The album’s pieces are intended to be miniature sonic paintings”, explains the label, “with each adding to an overall picture of the emotional confusion of early adulthood: the uncertainty, the excitement, the terror and relief.”

We’ll have to wait until August 30th for Final Sound to drop but we can already hear the magical first single ‘Summer Sickness’, a track that “explores feeling anxious and depressed whilst everyone around you is seemingly happy and smiling”.