Amanda Ekery offers new glimpse into Árabe with ‘Yenobak Eih’

12 April 2025

With her deeply personal and historically rich new album Árabe just weeks away, vocalist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Ekery has released a second single called ‘Yenobak Eih’, which follows the spellbinding ‘Stitching’. Like the album as a whole, the track continues Ekery’s exploration of identity, memory, and cultural storytelling, grounded in her experience as a half Syrian, half Mexican artist. Rooted in oral history and archival sound, ‘Yenobak Eih’ began with a family discovery: Ekery found her great-grandmother’s record collection tucked away in a closet full of 78 RPM records from Brooklyn-based Arab American labels, and homemade recordings including her great-grandfather Fahim announcing “memories from your relatives in El Paso, Tejas”, which opens the song.

While we wait for the full album to drop on May 9th, listen to ‘Yenobak Eih’ below.

Geir Sundstøl shares final single, ‘Broder’, ahead of forthcoming album, Sakte Film

11 April 2025

Following the release of the gorgeous and shimmering ‘Beveg‘ back in February, Geir Sundstøl now unveils the moody and evocative ‘Broder’, the final taste from his upcoming album, Sakte Film. Marking his tenth year as a solo artist and his sixth album with the label, the upcoming Sakte Film is another dive into Sundstøl’s rich sonic world, that is as hard to pigeonhole as it is easy to get lost in. Geir comments:

“It struck me that categorizing this music is tricky—if not downright impossible. If that’s the case, then I’ve achieved what I wanted.”

As with much of his work, ‘Broder’ also resists easy categorization, drifting between cinematic folk, ambient textures, and gentle experimentalism. Sundstøl, who played all the instruments himself, had this say about it:

“I play everything here: pedal steel, Minimoog, Juno-6, Casio organ, timpani, harmonica, food processor, garage, and tubular bells. It sounds a bit like Tangerine Dream with a nod to the harmonica in “Flåklypa” (nostalgic and whimsical soundtrack from a famous Norwegian childrens movie). This melody was originally created for a podcast in 2018.”

Listen to ‘Broder’ below and grab the album when it drops on May 23rd through Hubro.

Michael Sarian previews upcoming album, Esquina, with second single ‘Straight Trash’

10 April 2025

Trumpeter, composer and improviser Michael Sarian has a new record coming out at the end of the month titled Esquina. Due out on April 25th through Greenleaf Music, it finds the Toronto-born, Buenos Aires-raised, and NYC-based musician leaning hard into jazz fusion territory, “marked by wild, Jon Hassell-esque processed trumpet, synthesizers and electric organs and pianos, and galloping rhythms that would not be out of place on Agharta or On the Corner”, as the press release describes.

To bring the album to life, Sarian has stuck with the same core trio he’s recorded with before: Santiago Leibson on keys, Marty Kenney on electric bass, and Nathan Ellman-Bell on drums. The looseness in their playing, at times bordering on telepathic, makes Esquina feel like a sharp left turn taken with total control. The album came together with minimal or no rehearsals, built from graphic scores Sarian put together while on the road with a major pop act. This period of mainstream pop music exposure paradoxically fueled the album’s experimental and adventurous spirit, with the music pushing against the polish and rigidity of stadium gigs.

Sarian has previously shared the first single, a cover of Portishead’s ‘Glory Box’, and now he is following it up with ‘Straight Trash’. Showcasing some of Sarian’s most unpredictable and adventurous work, ‘Straight Trash’ opens with a swirling arpeggio and a haze of delayed trumpet, before tumbling into a warped, dub-soaked groove. Listen to both tracks below.


Stereolab return with new album Instant Holograms on Metal Film after 15-year hiatus

09 April 2025

Photo: Joe Dilworth

Lo and behold, Stereolab are back with a new album following a long hiatus! The revered Anglo-French art-pop band have announced their first new album in fifteen years, Instant Holograms on Metal Film. This long-awaited record features thirteen tracks penned by founding members Lætitia Sadier and Tim Gane, with the current touring lineup of the band – Sadier, Gane, Andy Ramsay, Joe Watson, and Xavi Muñoz – performing on the record. ​Instant Holograms on Metal Film also includes special guest contributions from artists like Cooper Crain and Rob Frye of Bitchin Bajas, Ben LaMar Gay, Ric Elsworth, Holger Zapf of Cavern of Anti-Matter, Marie Merlet, and Molly Hansen Read.

To tease the upcoming release, Stereolab sent out to fans a 7″ single featuring ‘Aerial Troubles’ and its instrumental version, accompanied by a wordsearch insert, sparking online speculation and excitement for a new record. Now out in the world, ‘Aerial Troubles’ reaffirms their status as art-pop pioneers, blending krautrock rhythms, French pop influences, and experimental sounds.The single comes with an accompanying video directed by Laurent Askienazy, and you can watch it below.

Instant Holograms On Metal Film is out on May 23rd through the band’s own label Duophonic UHF Disks and Warp Records.

Listen to Max Walker’s new single, ‘Mercurial’, off upcoming album Chronostasis

09 April 2025

Last month, Seattle-born, Los Angeles-based guitarist Max Walker announced the release of his second album, Chronostasis, arriving on May 2nd through Orenda Records.

Following the absorbing, atmospheric and brilliant ‘Petrichor’, Walker is teasing the album again with ‘Mercurial’, the second single from the album, and it’s a completely different beast. The track’s intricate and fierce guitar work and complex rhythmic patterns create an unpredictable and restless energy. Take a listen to ‘Mercurial’ below.

Matthew Herbert and Momoko Gill announce debut collaborative album, Clay

09 April 2025

Photo: Manuel Vazquez

Artist, producer, composer and experimentalist Matthew Herbert and drummer, composer and vocalist Momoko Gill have crossed paths before, debuting a collaboration last year with the single ‘Fallen,’ followed by Gill’s remix of Herbert’s ‘The Horse Is Here.’ Now, they have announced the release of Clay, their first full-length album together, due out on June 27th through Strut. Clay plays with sound in ways that only Herbert and Gill can. Featuring eleven tracks, the upcoming record “treads nimbly between the dancefloor and the more introspective moods of the early hours”, as the press release explains, capturing the kind of balance that makes their collaboration so intriguing. Herbert’s signature style, often transforming the world into his instrument, collides beautifully with Gill’s unique voice and multi-instrumental prowess.

Heralding the release of Clay, Herbert and Gill have shared the lead single ‘Babystar’, a gorgeous track woven with intricate rhythms. Listen to it below.