Yasmine Hamdan releases new single ‘Hon هون’

13 February 2025

Beirut-born, Paris-based producer, singer and songwriter Yasmine Hamdan released last week a new single called ‘Hon هون’. Devastatingly beautiful, ‘Hon هون’ was co-written with Palestinian poet Anas Alaili in the aftermath of the Beirut port explosion, offering an acute reflection on a “tiny land with a gaping wound”. Hamdan recalls:

“It’s August 4th, 2020 at 6:08PM and I’m sitting in my apartment in Paris when I receive a call from my sister, one minute after the Beirut port explosion. In a few seconds, Beirut became smoke and haze. I was far, and I felt completely crushed.
« Hon » was the first song I wrote for my new album. The lyrics emerged from this experience, a fracture, an incapacity to distinguish between here and there.
I wrote the lyrics of Hon with the Palestinian Poet and friend Anais Alaili after August 4th, yet it seems inseparable with what we have been experiencing for the last year and a half. I composed it with my long time collaborator Marc Collin.”

‘Hon هون’ comes with a gorgeous stop motion video directed by Beirut-based visual artist Khalil and co-written with Hamdan. Watch it below.

Matt McBane shares fourth single, ‘Absence’, off upcoming LP Buoy

12 February 2025

‘Absence’ is the absolutely beautiful and celestial new single from Matt McBane‘s highly anticipated Buoy. The new track follows the exhilarating and kaleidoscopic ‘Arpeggiator‘ and the gorgeous and engrossing ‘Eleven Eleven’, which have completely bowled me over.  Described as “a melancholy track for solo piano, synthesizer and disembodied, processed sustain pedal”, ‘Absence’ further showcases McBane’s stylistic versatility and instrumental virtuosity. Listen to it below and grab Buoy when it drops on February 28th through Gradient Music.

ECHT! premiere animated video for ‘Highed’

12 February 2025

The heady and intoxicating ‘Highed’, lifted from ECHT!‘s upcoming Boilerism, was the first single to emerge when they announced the album back in December. Now the Brussels based futuristic quartet have paired the track with an animated video made by Simon Breeveld & Super Tchip. As with the track and the rest of the album, the video pays homage to club culture, and as the press release describes, “it’s a surreal ride through the history of dance and clubbing, packed with absurd transitions and a touch of psychedelic madness”. Here it is.


Boilerism is out on March 7th through Sdban Ultra.

Watch Alabaster DePlume’s surreal video for new single ‘Invincibility’

11 February 2025

Photo: Alexander Massek

Last month, Alabaster DePlume announced the release of a new album, A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, teasing it with the utterly beautiful and delicate lead track ‘Oh My Actual Days’. With the album release approaching, today he is offering another glimpse into the album with the deeply beautiful and moving second single ‘Invincibility’. Speaking about the meaning behind the song, DePlume says:

“When I feel my feelings (instead of escaping them) I can discover that I survive them, and that I was not destroyed by them. I can experience this as a sense of invincibility. Where I find that I am able independently to live through what I feel, I am empowered and I generate my own agency.”

DePlume is also offering up a surreal video for his newest single, made by filmmaker Niall Trask, who had this to say about it:

“Alabaster was one of the first people I met when I moved down to London; a collaboration has been a long time coming. He gave me total freedom to write on one of three tracks, and I returned his trust by choosing to euthanise him to the score of ‘Invincibility.’ On a personal level, there has been a fair share of tragedy in recent years, and finding the absurdity/humour in it all is always my go-to remedy. The treatment was ambitious, and I’m grateful to everyone who helped bring this to life (whilst putting a dog to sleep). I really tried my best to visually punctuate the sounds of a special soul!”

Watch the video below and watch out for the release of A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole on March 7th through International Anthem.

Takuya Kuroda set to release 8th album, EVERYDAY, later this month

09 February 2025

Photo: GENYA

February will end on a high with the release of Takuya Kuroda‘s new album EVERYDAY. Slated for release on February 28th through PPK Records, EVERYDAY is the follow-up to 2022’s Midnight Crisp and marks his 8th studio album release. With a consistently brilliant and prolific output, the Kobe born, Brooklyn based trumpet player and composer says that “the only way to make the music that I want to make is to work hard, every day.” The title of his upcoming EVERYDAY mirrors “that simple message”, as well as drawing from the of the day-to-day details. To record the album, Kuroda adhered to his tested practice:

“Make tracks at home, bring them to the studio, add or replace sounds, invite musicians, repeat the process to polish the track –– as I hear it.”

Alongside the album news, Kuroda has also shared a taste of what to expect with the first single, ‘Car 16 15 A’, named after the car and seat number of the express train he used to take in Japan. Being the last car of the train, he would usually end up running to the end of the platform, and ‘Car 16 15 A’ captures that urgency, as well as “the emotional journey of pursuit and the relief of achievement.” Take a listen now.

Macie Stewart announces new album, When The Distance Is Blue

07 February 2025

Photo: Shannon Marks

Fluid in a variety of genres, Macie Stewart is as prolific as she is inventive, counting among her accomplishments a multitude of projects and collaborations with artists like Makaya McCraven, Damon Locks, Alabaster DePlume, Bex Burch, Japanese Breakfast, Resavoir, Tweedy, or SZA, to name but a few. The Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, and improviser announced this week the release of her new album, When the Distance is Blue, which she describes as “a love letter to the moments we spend in-between.”

The album arrives on March 21st through International Anthem, and ahead of it Stewart has shared the lead single ‘Spring Becomes You, Spring Becomes New’, a beautiful, beguiling and cinematic track. “This piece reminds me of a cross country train ride through different sceneries and landscapes,” says Stewart. “It’s the feeling when you’re witnessing everything pass outside your window, knowing you may never set foot there.”

‘Spring Becomes You, Spring Becomes New’ comes with an accompanying video filmed and directed by Mikel Patrick Avery and you can watch it below.