Canal180 unveils short film about Le Guess Who? Festival

04 April 2019

For four days every November, Le Guess Who? turns the entire city of Utrecht into a marvelous melting pot of music and artistic experimentation, bringing together a plethora of incredibly diverse and cutting-edge artists spanning genres, generations and the globe. Last year, during its 12th edition, Portuguese platform Canal180 set about capturing and documenting what makes Le Guess Who? so unique. A new short film entitled Representing the Underrepresented is the fruit of it, featuring some of the artists that enriched last year´s line up, including Shabaka Hutchings, Richard Fearless, Jacco Gardner, Vashti Bunyan and Go Kurosawa, and also interviews with members of the Le Guess Who? team. As Canal180 puts it, with Representing the Underrepresented they “intended to listen to these artists, curators and organizers in order to understand their view and their willingness to change the monocultural Europe and US-focused perspective that seems to dominate our current times.”

First premiered last weekend at the MIL Festival in Lisbon, the film is now available to stream, and you can read more about it on canal180.pt. We can’t help but think that by watching it, you won´t want to miss the 13th edition of Le Guess Who? this November.

Le Guess Who? 2019 takes place from 7 – 10 November in several venues in Utrecht and 4-Day Festival Passes are available now on leguesswho.com. Save the date and grab your tickets now.

BIG|BRAVE share video for first single ‘Sibling’ off forthcoming album

04 April 2019

Photo: Rachel Cheng

Mighty Montreal trio BIG|BRAVE are releasing their fourth album A Gaze Among Them next month and they had us mouthwatering with a celestial teaser. Now they are offering the first full track, ‘Sibling’, with an accompanying video by the band’s own Mathieu Ball & Robin Wattie. Watch it below.

A Gaze Among Them is out on May 10th through Southern Lord.

Debut album from Pascal Gabriel’s new project Stubbleman out this month

01 April 2019

In a career that spans three decades and an array of musical ventures, Pascal Gabriel has become an accomplished composer and producer. Known for producing and co-writing ‘Theme from S’Express’ (S’Express) and ‘Beat Dis’ (Bomb The Bass), Pascal has also collaborated with a variety of artists, from Wire and Can to Miss Kittin, Erasure and Goldfrapp, amongst many more, in the corners of the pop landscape. Stubbleman is his latest solo project, where his electronic ambient past re-emerges, paired with lo-fi found sounds, field recordings and modular synthesiser, and also live piano.

Under the new moniker, Pascal will release his debut record Mountains and Plains on April 26th though Crammed Discs. The album is inspired by a road trip across the US, “evok[ing] the poignant delights of endless train tracks, sleepless cities, nostalgic ruins, big skies, high deserts and lost junctions”, as the press release describes, “keeping at all times an affectionate eye for the humanity which populates these diverse landscapes.”

Ahead of the album’s release, Stubbleman has shared the first taste from it, the gentle and beautiful ‘Badlands Train’. It comes with a fitting visual accompaniment and you can watch it below.

Bibio unveils self-directed video for ‘Curls’ and brand new single ‘Old Graffiti’

28 March 2019

As we had already mentioned, Bibio has a new album on the way, Ribbons, and as usual, it comes full of wonderful surprises. The gorgeous lead single ‘Curls’ is proof of that, and Bibio has paired it with a self-directed video. And to get us even more excited, he has also unveiled brand new single ‘Old Graffiti ‘. Check out both below.


Ribbons is out on April 12th through Warp.

New album imminent from Adam Betts’ Colossal Squid project

26 March 2019

Drumming powerhouse Adam Betts, best known as one third of long time favourite band Three Trapped Tigers, also keeps himself busy playing with the likes of Squarepusher, Goldie, Emperor Yes, Heritage Orchestra, Jarvis Cocker and many others. Following the release of his debut album, which was one of 15 Album Picks of 2016, there’s a new record on the way under his moniker Colossal Squid.

‘I Lost Detroit’ featuring Saint Saviour was the first single to emerge from it and Betts has shared a new cut, the explosive and uncanny ‘Kick Punch’ featuring vocals from AK Patterson. Betts described his work with the songstress:

“I started this tune around the main synth riff, and it quickly became a pretty doomy groove, but when AK sent through what she’d written on top, it gave it a completely new spin – I would never have thought for the vocals to try and top the tune’s intensity, but AK’s fire is ferocious and joyfully unhinged. I loved what she suggested immediately.”

AK Patterson also had this to say:

“The intensity of the track resonated with me instantly. It created strong imagery in my head of slo motion fight scenes, vast desert landscapes and mirror images in combat. It conjured up a character to base the song around and I delight in performing it almost as a duel between me and Adam on stage.”

‘Kick Punch’ comes with a fittingly manic video directed by Jonjo Lowe. Here it is.

Joseph Shabason announces The Anne EP, shares absorbing track ‘1517’

25 March 2019

Joseph Shabason‘s Anne, released last November, was one of our 15 Album Picks of the year and it remains a beguiling, affecting and reflective listen from start to finish, encompassing jazz and ambient. So we’re very pleased to know that the talented composer and multi-instrumentalist is following it up with a five-track companion piece, The Anne EP. As with the album, the EP features contributions from Destroyer’s Dan Bejar and Thom Gill, amongst other musicians.
The Anne EP arrives on May 10th through Western Vinyl, and we can already hear the first gentle and beautiful single, ‘1517’. “1517 is the feeling of lying in a park and watching kids play on the first real day of spring”, described Shabason. “It’s knowing that life is gonna fuck you down, but consciously giving yourself permission to get lost in an afternoon”.
Let yourself immerse in the subtle beauty of this song.