Nightports announce new collaborative album with Matthew Bourne, Dulcitone 1804

03 May 2024

We love Nightports, the inventive duo of British musicians and producers Adam Martin and Mark Slater, who have been dazzling us over the years with collaborative projects with other musicians exploring and reworking their music with the single remit of only using sounds produced by the featured musician. Starting in 2018 with Nightports w/ Matthew Bourne, they have also released albums with drummer and percussionist Betamax in 2020 and with double bassist Tom Herbert in 2022.

Dulcitone 1804 is their  latest sonic adventure, which saw them team up again with pianist and composer Matthew Bourne, and it will see the light of day on May 24th through The Leaf Label. As the name suggests, the upcoming album is centred around recordings of Bourne playing a Dulcitone, a 19th century rare keyboard instrument, and in this specific case the instrument is number 1804. The idea arose after Martin and Slater saw the small instrument at Bourne’s studio while working on another project. “As Matthew does with all instruments he plays, the first sounds he made with the Dulcitone were immediately beautiful,” Martin explained. “Somewhere between a celeste and a piano, it has a clear, bell-like quality that’s evocative of a strange other world. Something old and distant.”

 ‘Machell’ is the first heavenly gorgeous single to be let loose and you can listen to it below.

Listen to Holland Andrews’ new single ‘Aura’

02 May 2024

Photo: Mengwen Cao

Last month, vocalist, composer, producer, and performer Holland Andrews announced the release of their new EP, Answers. Along with the news, Andrews had shared the marvelous title track as the first single. With release date fast approaching this month, Andrews is enticing us again with a new celestial single called ‘Aura’. Of the track, they say:

“‘Aura’ is a highly visual song which generates the image of iridescent layers, textures, and colors of varying opacity dancing around each other seeking rest.”

‘Aura’ is offered with an accompanying video made by Andrews. Check it out below and grab the EP when it’s out on May 10th through LEITER.

Aquaserge unveil video for second single ‘Je suis Galaxie’

24 April 2024

Aquaserge, who have been one of our favourite bands for a long time, announced last month the release of their new album La Fin de l’Économie. The thrilling news came paired with the first taste from the album, ‘Le saut du tigre’, an exhilarating and infectious guitar-driven track. Ahead of the album’s release on May 24th through Crammed Discs, Aquaserge are adding to the excitement with a second single called ‘Je suis Galaxie’. The track comes with an accompanying video directed by the band’s Audrey Ginestet and you can watch it below.

Holland Andrews closes EP series with fourth and final release, Answers

23 April 2024

Vocalist, composer, producer, and performer Holland Andrews is back with their latest EP offering, Answers. Set for release on May 10th through Nils Frahm’s LEITER imprint, their upcoming EP marks the culmination of a series of EP releases that began in 2021, including Wordless, Forgettings, and Doubtless.

Not easy to classify, Andrew’s music incorporates elements from contemporary classical, ambient, electronic, and experimental music. “Where do I belong? That’s tricky for me”, they remark. “I have this voracious quality of just wanting to keep playing and keep exploring.” Their work sits comfortably at the intersection of various musical genres, similar to their past collaborators such as Son Lux, Nils Frahm, Darian Donovan Thomas, William Brittelle, and Christina Vantzou.

Answers, along with the preceding Wordless EP, marks a shift in Andrews’ artistic approach. Formerly creating under the name Like A Villain, Andrews has moved from a performance-based approach to a more integrated style of composition, blending live-recorded samples within music production. “Everything I’ve been releasing under my name has been more and more about exploration.”

In creating the upcoming Answers, Andrews meant to bring closure, but instead, they faced new questions, sources of inspiration, and creative possibilities. Andrews explains:

“There’s a lineage in the information that I’ve been gaining in the creation of these four EPs. The process of making Doubtless was so demanding, that one of my goals with Answers was to develop a place of rest. I was looking for a period to a sentence, but I think I ended with a question mark. Answers gave me bigger questions than I thought it would have, which is a very exciting place to be. It’s a closing and an opening at the same time, an opening for what’s coming next.”

As a captivating taste of what’s to come, Andrews has shared the title track along with an accompanying video made by themselves.

L’étrangleuse return with new album, Ambiance Argile

23 April 2024

French outfit L’étrangleuse, who hail from Lyon, France, have a fourth album on the way. Originally a duo, founded by guitarist Maël Salètes and also featuring Mélanie Virot on vocals and harp, they’ve turned into a quartet with the addition of Anne Godefert on bass and Léo Dumont on drums. Their new album, Ambiance Argile, sees them reinventing themselves and embracing a more experimental and innovative approach to their music whilst also keeping their signature sound, blending the harp and West African lute with tracks sung in French. Influenced by the likes of nomadic Dutch DIY punks The Ex and the Tuareg desert rock style, L’Étrangleuse also borrow from various influences, from postpunk and electric desert blues to krautrock and folk.

Recorded live over two sessions in a studio in the foothills of the Vercors mountains, Ambiance Argile captures the raw energy and chemistry of the quartet, marking a triumphant return for L’Étrangleuse and a new beginning for their music. As with previous albums, Maël and Mélanie alternate as lead singers, with Maël also taking on the role of the group’s head lyricist.

Ahead of the album’s release on June 7th through La Curieuse, L’étrangleuse have let loose the opening track ‘Le Remède’. Take a listen below.

Amy Aileen Wood teases upcoming album with new single ‘Time For Everything’ ft Fiona Apple

18 April 2024

Photo: Charlie Weinmann

We’ve been eagerly waiting for the release of The Heartening, the upcoming album from LA-based Grammy Award-winning drummer and producer Amy Aileen Wood since we heard the sublime, unfettered and pulsating first single, ‘Rolling Stops’. With a tremendous body of work as a composer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist, Wood has collaborated with an impressive roster of artists over the years. The Heartening, though, marks the first album under her own name, and was created under the guidance of Pete Min of Colorfield Records.

Ahead of the album’s release on April 29th, Wood has let loose a second stellar single, ‘Time For Everything’, featuring Fiona Apple. Of the track, Wood comments:

“‘Time for Everything,’ one of the final tracks Pete and I worked on for the album, was pure fun. It was liberating, and felt a bit like crossing the finish line. We kept it light and tried not to overthink. And when Fiona’s infectious laughter came into play, it felt like the universe was nodding along.”

Listen to it below.