Photo: Jack Greeley-Ward
Explosive and enigmatic South London 4-piece black midi, made up of Geordie Greep (vocals/guitar), Cameron Picton (bass/vocals), Matt Kelvin (lead guitar) and Morgan Simpson (drums), have just released their debut single ‘bmbmbm’ via Speedy Wunderground‘s single series. A beast of a song, ‘bmbmbm’ marks their first physical release on limited 7” vinyl edition, and we can’t wait for more stuff like this to be sprung upon us. Take a listen now.
Nadah El Shazly has unveiled a video to accompany ‘Mahmiya’, the stunning and moving closing track from her debut solo album Ahwar, released last year. Egyptian artist Marwan El-Gamal, who had previously worked on Nadah’s album artwork, returns to create this befitting psychedelic tale of strange beauty. He explains how he developed the concept for the video:
“The idea for the animation came after internalising the soundscape and words of Nadah El Shazly’s ‘Mahmiya’. It had a sensibility that seemed soothing and warm – vital and at peace, yet vast and unconcerned, like a sea, long since dried and fossilised, wherein the listener is placed without bearings. This brought about a story, a character and landscape where time and location are not classified.
In this place there is a condition of symmetry between the inner world of the girl and the outer landscape. She morphs and changes through her surroundings, and through these interactions the world is animated and energised. The land evolves and vegetates and soars and crumbles. Things occur as they will, and force is not exerted, but rather the events unfold without effort.
Time becomes represented as fluctuating and dilating, and our girl breathes, plays, creates, grows, and becomes conclusively unrecognisable, then to be brought back to the beginning of a cycle.
There seems to be an indefiniteness to the events, and change is constant, and she plays her part with no concern to consequence. The girl may be an extension of the land, a force of creation, a mechanical machine, or a little girl vulnerable to this ambiguous place full of unfamiliar entities. Through this ambiguity I hope to provide a visual counterpart to Nadah El Shazly’s touching song.”
Watch the video for ‘Mahmiya’ below.
Ahwar is out now via Nawa Recordings.
Fresh off the back of a tour in North America, and with a European tour now in full steam, Preoccupations have unveiled a live video for the excellent ‘Decompose’, lifted from their album New Material released earlier this year. The video was was filmed at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and directed by Evan Henderson. Watch it below.
New Material is out now via Jagjaguwar.
Following 2016’s Physicalist, Forma are ready to take 2018 by storm with a new album called Semblance arriving on July 20th through Kranky. Like their previous record, which saw the Brooklyn trio bring in acoustic instruments for the first time, Semblance includes flute, piano, guitar, saxophone, acoustic drums and cymbals as well as synthesizers aplenty. On the new record, Forma continue to try to “broaden the idea of what an electronic music ensemble can sound like”. Said to be “inspired by polyrhythmic composition, the human voice, and conceptual improvisation strategies”, the upcoming album is also informed by members George and John Also Bennett’s recent experience in The Jon Gibson Ensemble, performing Gibbon’s 1973 minimalist masterpiece Visitations.
The album announcement comes with the first transcendent single ‘Three-Two’ and it’s after your ears.
Berlin based Japanese vibraphonist and composer Masayoshi Fujita has a new album on the way, following 2015’s Apologues and 2016’s Schaum, his collaborative album with experimental producer Jan Jelinek. Entitled Book Of Life, the album sees Fujita, who plays and uses the vibraphone in an unusual way, placing the instrument again front and centre. He explains:
“I think the vibraphone is capable of more interesting and beautiful sounds that haven’t been heard before. It’s quite a new instrument but it’s often played in a similar way. I feel that there is a lot more to explore with this exciting instrument.”
As with Apologues, where Fujita used for the first time other instruments like the violin, cello, flute, clarinet, French horn, accordion, piano and percussion, Book Of Life is also enriched with strings, flute and a choir.
Ahead of its release on July 27th through Erased Tapes, we can already hear the bewitching first single ‘It’s Magical’. Other than the vibraphone, it features two cellos and a flute “like a man who’s put artificial wings on his arms to attempt to fly like a bird, before an airplane was invented,” as Fujita said.
Coinciding with the release of Book Of Life, Erased Tapes is also re-issuing his debut record Stories.
As they prepare for the release of their new live album TARAB, French outfit Oiseaux-Tempête have shared ‘Palindrome Series’, another staggering single from the record, following two previously shared cuts, ‘Tuesday, And The Weather Is Clear‘ feat. G.W Sok and ‘Carnaval‘. Deftly melding genres and influences aplenty, as well as elements of improvisation, the mighty and majestic ‘Palindrome Series’ takes a myriad of sonic twists and turns throughout its 10m55s. Take a listen now.
TARAB is out on June 22nd via Sub Rosa.
