Watch Mansur Brown’s video for new single ‘Faded’

03 July 2025

Photo: Greg Barnes

Last month, Mansur Brown announced the release of a new album, Rihla, and enticed us then with the first single, ‘Alone‘. Now the Brixton-born guitarist, producer, and composer has shared a second cut, ‘Faded’, and it hits with a different kind of energy. Drawing heavily from jungle and drum and bass, ‘Faded’ is driven by tightly chopped percussion and warped, pitched vocals, layered with his unmistakable melodic guitar lines. Fast-moving and intricately textured, it reveals another side to an eagerly awaited record. The single comes with an accompanying video by Greg Barnes and you can watch it below.

Rihla is out on August 1st through AMAI.

Chicago Underground Duo unveil Hyperglyph, their first record in 11 years

01 July 2025

Photo: Mikel Patrick Avery

Chicago Underground Duo, the long-standing project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Rob Mazurek and composer and percussionist Chad Taylor, have announced their return with a new album. Titled Hyperglyph, the record lands on August 15th through International Anthem and marks their first release in over a decade. Active in various formations since the late 1990s, Chicago Underground Duo emerged out of a fertile Chicago scene, and have been instrumental carving paths into the intersections of jazz, electronics, post-rock and improvised music. Across various configurations — duo, trio, quartet, orchestra — and a wide web of collaborations, Mazurek and Taylor have continued to return to this project as a site of focused, often elemental exploration. “Rob is my longest collaborator and also one of my best friends,” says Taylor, referring to their first performance together at a club in Chicago in 1988, when he was 15. “We have worked together and have been friends for a long time”, Mazurek adds. “This creates a kind of continuity not only in the music, but in our lives.”

Recorded over three days at International Anthem Studios in May 2024, the album distills decades of shared language into something intricate yet immediate. The pair’s music has long drawn on a broad and deep array of influences and on the upcoming Hyperglyph they cite rhythmic traditions from Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe and Ghana, alongside a lineage of sound that reaches from Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell’s Mu, to Miles Davis and Teo Macero’s studio work, and into the textural worlds of Xenakis, Éliane Radigue, King Tubby, Mouse on Mars, and Autechre, amongst others. As Taylor puts it, “There has always been a lot of African influence in the rhythms we play,” and in this setting, they serve as a through-line across shifting terrain.

Alongside the announcement comes the lead track ‘Click Song’, an ecstatic and buoyant track offering a first glimpse into the world of Hyperglyph. Take a listen now.

KAU unveil new single, ‘4U’, off upcoming album Unknown Waveforms

27 June 2025

Photo: Binh Minh Dao

Last month, KAU hinted at their next album with ‘dive_deep‘. Now the Brussels-based trio of Andre Breidlid (drums), Matteo Genovese (bass) and Jan Janzen (keys) has officially announced Unknown Waveforms, due on October 10th through Sdban Ultra. Drawing from jazz, hip hop, and electronic influences, Unknown Waveforms came to life out of extended jams with minimal overdubs, embracing analog warmth and chance. The album is described as “a statement of intent: a celebration of imperfection, creative honesty and an insight in the process.”

Alongside the album news, they’ve slipped in a second preview with ‘4U’, a slower and more intimate track, and even more pared-down than its predecessor. “Anchored by a looping, pitch-shifted vocal from bassist Matteo Genovese whispering ‘I’m here for you'”, as the press release describes, “the track resonates like a mantra — soft, steady, and reassuring”. It’s “wrapped in atmospheric synths, grounded in earthy grooves, and carried by KAU’s signature moog bass,” crafting space for stillness and connection. ‘4U’ speaks volumes in its simplicity. Take a listen below.

Hamid Al-Saadi opens Maqām Records with first release in decades

26 June 2025

Photo: Sachyn Mital

Maqām Records, a newly launched label from trumpeter, composer, santur player and vocalist Amir ElSaffar, opens its doors with a release of rare weight: Maqam Al-Ira, the first recording in over two decades from legendary Iraqi singer Hamid Al-Saadi, considered the only living master of the complete Iraqi Maqam repertoire. Out later this year, Maqam Al-Iraq brings together four long-form maqams, each followed by a pesteh, a rhythmic, communal counterpart. The album includes ‘Maqam Qazzaz’, previously unrecorded, and two new maqams composed by Al-Saadi himself, marking the first additions to the tradition in over a hundred years. As both singer and custodian of this oral lineage, Al-Saadi channels the music’s intricate ornamentation and deep emotional pull with a remarkable clarity.

Born in Baghdad in 1958, Al-Saadi came of age during a cultural renaissance where the maqam was still heard in cafés and private homes. By his twenties, he had memorized all 56 canonical maqams, a feat that earned him the blessing of two of Iraq’s greatest 20th-century masters, Yusuf Omar and Mohammed Al-Gubbanchi. But following the 1991 Gulf War and years of devastating U.S.-imposed sanctions that brought Iraq’s economy and everyday life to a standstill, Al-Saadi left the country, eventually settling in Brooklyn via London. It was in London that ElSaffar first approached him as a student. The bond that followed, as an artist, apprentice, and now collaborators, anchors this release. Recorded with ElSaffar’s Safaafir ensemble (including Dena El Saffar and Tim Moore), the album is both document and transmission, the sound of a tradition surviving displacement and violence, and continuing forward in new hands.

Drawn from centuries-old Iraqi traditions, Maqām itself refers to a system of melodic modes found across the Middle East and Central Asia. The Iraqi form is one of its most ornate and demanding variants, and was inscribed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage. Maqam Al-Iraq sits at the crossroads of ancient history and contemporary revival, grounding ElSaffar’s vision for Maqām Records.

Maqam Al-Iraq is out on July 18th and two singles are now available, the spacious and striking opener ‘Maqam Al-Iraq / Dar al-Fikir wa al Amjad’ and the freshly released ‘Habibi Rah wa Ma Janeh’, which highlights the bright, upbeat pesteh form. Listen to both below.


Anton de Bruin teases new album with lead single ‘Running on Slippers’ ft. Fanni Zahár

26 June 2025

Rooted in Rotterdam’s fertile cross-section of club culture and improvised music, keyboardist, composer and producer Anton de Bruin has been carving out a name through projects like Dragonfruit and Peter Somuah, and recent appearances at North Sea Jazz and Valkhof. With his label Sundown Recordings, he’s also been instrumental in pushing late-night events where bands perform like DJs, redefining what live music can be on the dancefloor.

Following the release of his 2024 debut album Imaginarium, de Bruin returns with a new blistering single, ‘Running on Slippers’, featuring Budapest-based flautist Fanni Zahár. Drawing from the rhythmic intensity of African percussion, jungle, and samba, the track is both high-energy and slightly off-balance, reflecting its title, which serves as a metaphor for the feeling of reacting too late. The single offers a first glimpse into his forthcoming album Sounds of the Eclipse, set for release on October 17th. According to the press release, the record grapples with the sense that “we’ve run out of time,” socially and politically, but also points to the potential for renewal.

“There is always something super interesting to find in any record of any culture you’ll dive into,” Anton explains. “The low end and drive of Jamaican records from the 70s, the arrangements of Nigerian and Ghanaian records from the 60s and 70s… there’s so much inspiration hidden in all of that.”

‘Running on Slippers’ is out now through Sundown Recordings and you can listen to it below.

The Alien Dub Orchestra announce debut album, share first single ‘Vine and Fig Tree’

24 June 2025

A new and unexpected collaboration comes to light this Autumn, as The Alien Dub Orchestra prepare to release their debut album, The Alien Dub Orchestra Plays the Breadminster Songbook. The origins of the project trace back to 2022, when Elijah Minnelli contributed a pair of dub remixes for The Notwist. That exchange opened the door to further collaboration, and not long after, he was invited to open for them live and during an impromptu encore, members of the Munich scene joined Minnelli on stage to spontaneously reinterpret one of his tracks using woodwind, brass, and percussion. That performance marked the beginning of an ongoing collaboration that has evolved into a fully-fledged ensemble, including members of The Notwist and G.Rag y los hermanos Patchekos, performing and recording expanded versions of Minnelli’s singular body of work. Known for his solitary, lo-fi approach, often working alone with tape loops and effects, Minnelli reflects on the transformation:

“The idea of real, competent professionals playing something you’ve muddled together on a computer in a damp basement is quite overwhelming. Hearing them interpret and improve these melodies is a real joy and privilege.”

Mirroring dub tradition, the album’s second half features all-new dub versions of the Orchestra’s tracks, recorded live, one-take style, by Minnelli and fellow sonic collagist Raimund Wong. Rather than imitating classic dub templates, they dive headfirst into something more unpredictable and personal. As the press release says, it’s “a love letter to folk tradition, dub ideology and, most importantly, the joy of uninhibited collaboration.”

The Alien Dub Orchestra Plays the Breadminster Songbook arrives September 19th through Alien Transistor and ahead of it, they have shared the first single, ‘Vine and Fig Tree’. A gently unfolding piece, it reshapes one of Minnelli’s more introspective tunes into something playful and ceremonial. The single is offered with an accompanying video, filmed by Enid Valu, and you can stream it below.