Joseph Shabason set to release debut album Aytche this summer

15 June 2017

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Joseph Shabason is well known for his longtime membership in Destroyer and DIANA. Shabason also keeps himself busy producing, playing and recording with several other bands, mainly lending his talent on the sax and flute. This year will see him release his debut album, Aytche, an effort inspired and following the work of artists like Pat Metheny who recorded Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, and John Hassell’s collaboration with Terry Riley and Brian Eno.
Marrying minimalism and jazz, on Aytche, and as the press release describes, “Shabason builds a bridge off of the precipice his forbears established, skirting jazz, ambient, and even new age with the same deliberate genre-ambiguity that made their work so interesting.”
Shabason explains his approach to the sax on the album:

“So much sax music is about chops, and being able to solo really fast. I feel like robbing the sax of the ability to shred by effecting it and turning it into a dense chordal instrument really helps the instrument become something that it’s not usually known for.”

The album’s gentle title track is the first single to emerge and you can stream it below.

Aytche is out on August 25th via Western Vinyl.

Utrecht’s Le Guess Who? Festival unveils first curators and general line-up

12 June 2017

In a city as rich in history as in beauty, surrounded by pretty canals and wharfs, it’s not surprising Utrecht would be the place to sprout one of most broad, bold and exciting music festivals in Europe and anywhere. Now in its 11th edition, this year’s Le Guess Who Festival? will take place November 9th – 12th in idyllic venues scattered around the city centre, including churches, galleries and theatres.

Jerusalem In My Heart, Perfume Genius, Grouper, Shabazz Palaces and Han Bennink are the first incredible curators announced for Le Guess Who’s 11th edition, and they are also set to perform. Longtime favourite outfit Jerusalem In My Heart have invited a slew of other favourites of ours, including Oiseaux-Tempête, Matana Roberts, Farida & The Iraqi Maqam Ensemble and Moor Mother amongst others. Perfume Genius’s picks include Julianna Barwick, Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Mount Eerie, Aldous Harding, Pharmakon and more and Grouper’s curated stages will host the likes of William Basinski, GAS and Keiji Haino. Shabazz Palaces invited Pharoah Sanders, OCnotes and Natasha Kmeto and Han Bennink invited the ICP Orchestra, Peter Brötzmann and also Keiji Haino.

The organizers have also unveiled the initial general line-up, a tremendous cast of stars including Oumou Sangaré, Shabaka & The Ancestors, tUnE-yArDs, Sun Kil Moon, Liars, Tom Rogerson, The Bug vs Dylan Carlson of Earth, Julie Byrne, Ben Frost, The Soft Moon and James Holden, and many, many more. Head over to Le Guess Who? website to see all the artists confirmed so far and more information.

4-Day Festival Passes are now available for €110, and day tickets will be on sale later in the year. Le Guess Who? 2017 may still be five months away but as a word of advice, book your tickets now.

Do Make Say Think share their first video ever for ‘d=3.57√h” (“As Far As The Eye Can See”)’

09 June 2017

Last month saw the release of Stubborn Persistent Illusions, the first album in eight years from Canadian post-rockers Do Make Say Think. The band, who has been recording and performing since the mid 90’s, have only just debuted their first video ever for album track for ‘d=3.57√h” (aka “As Far As The Eye Can See”)’. Based on a poem by Guillaume Apollinaire, the video was made by the band’s own Charles Spearin who wrote this about it:

“How do you learn to trust? How do you steer when all you can see is a rear-view mirror?
This video is a lighthearted exploration of fear and courage and having your world turned on its head.”

Watch the video below.

Stubborn Persistent Illusions is out now through Constellation.

Oumou Sangaré unveils video for new single ‘Kamelemba’

07 June 2017

Fresh off the release of her long-awaited new album Mogoya, Malian diva Oumou Sangaré is offering a new single, ‘Kamelemba’, and an accompanying video featuring an all-female cast of dancers from The Swaggers Dance Crew. Here’s how Oumou described ‘Kamelemba’:

“It’s about men who show off, who bring women down, about women who fall badly in love. I wrote this song to give advice to our sisters to be careful, because there are loads of kamelemba out there”.

In addition to the previously announced string of festival  appearances in the UK, including Glastonbury, Citadel and Shambala, Oumou will also be performing in November at Utrecht’s Le Guess Who Festival.

Now watch the video for ‘Kamelemba’.

Mogoya is out now via Nø Førmat!.

Lali Puna return with first album in seven years, share first single ‘Deep Dream’

05 June 2017

Lali Puna have been one of our favourite bands for a very long time. We first fell in love with them thanks to their incredible and iconic 1999 debut album Tridecoder, sang in both English and Portuguese. And we couldn’t be happier to know they’ve reformed and have a new album on the way called Two Windows. Marking their first release since 2010’s Our Inventions, Two Windows is also their first album recorded after Markus Acher’s departure from the band. Korean-born, Portugal-bred, Germany-based songwriter and singer Valerie Trebeljahr “opted for a more dancefloor-friendly sound while not neglecting the pop sentiments rooted in Lali Puna’s sound”, describes a press release, adding that the new album “sounds lush and focused, balancing the emotional qualities of Trebeljahr’s songwriting with energetic rhythms.”

Two Windows arrives on September 8th through the ever wonderful Morr Music. It may seem like a long wait but Lali Puna are already teasing it with the first spellbinding single ‘Deep Dream’. The track comes with a video directed Lali Puna’s own Christian Heiß and Valerie Trebeljahr with the help of their friend Jacqueline Hofer. They offered some insight on the video:

“As the song spins together the political problem of data-surveillance and the private problem of love, we thought on how to visualize it for the video. We found the perfect translation in letting an oscilloscope visualize the music. It becomes data.

And we wanted the lyrics to appear in the style of the coding language BASIC. As this language comes from a time when the internet as we know it today wasn’t invented. (Strangely Valerie had to learn BASIC as a kid in a summer course.) BASIC sort of stands for the innocence, the time when everybody still believed that the internet would make the world a better, a more democratic place. Last step was to turn Valerie into sort of a robot.”

‘Deep Dream’ leaves us eagerly awaiting the release of Two Windows. Here’s the video.

Listen to Can’s ‘Shikako Maru Ten’ off forthcoming CAN The Singles

31 May 2017

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Can, who are one of, if not the most influential band of all time. To celebrate this monumental occasion, and following a very special show at the Barbican in London last month, a collection of all of their singles is being released as a triple vinyl. Entitled CAN The Singles, it comes out on June 16th through Mute.

The delightfully groovy and sultry ‘Shikako Maru Ten’ is one of the singles included in Can’s upcoming release. A rarer track, it never appeared on an album and was the B-side to ‘Spoon’, off their 1972 album Ege Bamyasi. This is the first time ‘Shikako Maru Ten’ is available digitally so give it a listen now.

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