Le Guess Who? unveils three new projects for 2023 edition: Hidden Musics, COSMOS and The Anonymous Project

04 July 2023

Le Guess Who? Festival is celebrating 16 years this November with a wealth of sonic offerings that has us looking forward to autumn with bated breath. Back in May the organisers announced the initial line-up and programmes curated by Stereolab, Heba Kadry, Nala Sinephro and Slauson Malone 1 and now they’ve unleashed three special projects: Hidden Musics, COSMOS and The Anonymous Project.

With a focus on celebrating musical traditions and artists from secluded regions of the world, Hidden Musics is an inspiring and ambitious program that gives audiences a unique chance to experience rare performances. Returning to Le Guess Who? for the fourth time in 2023, the project is the fruit of a collaboration between Le Guess Who?, Grammy-award winning music producer, activist and author Ian Brennan, and Ljubljana based American musician, record producer and Glitterbeat Records founder Chris Eckman. Hidden Musics will host Pankisi Ensemble, an all-female female traditional music group from the Pankisi Gorge in northeast Georgia, who’ve been vital in perpetuating Georgian and Chechen secular musical traditions that are unique to Pankisi. Also appearing on Hidden Musics is Sophia Nzayisenga, the first female master of the Inanga, a traditional Rwandan stringed music instrument which she learnt from her father at a very young age and Rwandan folk trio The Good Ones, a band that was formed as an act of healing following the country’s 1994 genocide, bringing together members from Rwanda’s Tutsi, Hutu, and Abatwa tribes. Known as “the man with singing fingers”, Azerbaijan’s Rəhman Məmmədli, an emblematic figure of the country’s gitara music, will also be part of Hidden Musics’s programme.

COSMOS will put the spotlight into local scenes from around the world through films, interviews, artist residencies, and for the first time it will present live performances. Performing as part of COSMOS is YL Hooi, the project of Melbourne-based producer Valya Ying-Li Hooi exploring the realms of dub, minimal synth, post-punk and dream-pop, Vietnamese experimental trio Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective, Ruhail Qaisar, a self-taught artist from Ladakh, India, whose music incorporates and preserves memories of growing up in Ladakh, the traditional Javanese trance explorations of The Phantasmagoria of Jathilan and Bengal Chemicals, the project of Pritam Das, who’s been making waves in the experimental electronic music scene in Kolkata, India.

The third project newly announced, The Anonymous Project, is a match made in heaven for Le Guess Who?. Taking place on the opening night, various artists will perform in a white cube on stage with specially commissioned scenography to keep them anonymous throughout it. As the organizers describe, with The Anonymous Project they “want to create a space to experiment freely with new sounds and in new directions, without any judgment or expectations based on the artist’s previous work or their public profile”.

Le Guess Who? 2023 takes place from 9-12th November in several venues throughout Utrecht. With a monumental programme wholly embracing musical diversity, Le Guess Who? will be a wonderland for musical explorers of all kinds, and there is still a lot more to be unveiled for its 16th edition. Head over to leguesswho.com to see a list of currently confirmed artists and more info. Festival passes are now sold out but Thursday and Saturday tickets are still available so if you don’t have tickets yet, get these quick.

Aki Rissanen set to release new album, Hyperreal, in July

30 June 2023

Photot: Jori Huhtala

There’s a new album on the way from Finnish pianist and composer Aki Rissanen arriving in July. Entitled Hyperreal, the album saw Rissanen enlist drummer Robert Ikiz and long term collaborator, trumpeter Verneri Pohjola. Thematically the album explores ideas of change, of being aware, of renewal and letting go, as Rissanen explains:

“There’s a change to something new and yet unknown. With the rapid transformation of reality to the AI generated virtual reality or hyperreality, we have to be aware and adapt to these things and distinguish between what is real and unreal”.

Hyperreal will see the light of day on July 14th through Edition Records and we can already hear the sublime first single, ‘Quantum Ballad’. The track is offered with an accompanying video made by Ville Hyvönen.

Alabaster DePlume announces new album Come With Fierce Grace

28 June 2023

Photo: Chris Almeida

A year on from the release of the magnificent and critically acclaimed GOLD, Alabaster DePlume has announced the release of a new album titled Come With Fierce Grace. All of the songs on the upcoming album were recorded during the same sessions as GOLD, but Come With Fierce Grace is not a collection of leftover material or outtakes. As the press release describes, “it’s a continuation of the organic collaborative and improvisational process that he established… almost as if GOLD has grown a new limb or aged into a new phase.” After spending most of 2022 touring GOLD, Alabaster spent the beginning of this year revisiting the material from the album sessions and guiding it towards a new becoming.

Come With Fierce Grace is mostly an instrumental affair, with the exception of a few tracks that feature vocal contributions from Momoko Gill (aka MettaShiba), Falle Nioke, and Donna Thompson. Alabaster thrives on collaborations and the new album features contributions from a wealth of talented artists, including Sarathy Korwar, Tom Skinner, Rozi Plain, Tom Herbert, Matthew Bourne, Ruth Goller, Conrad Singh, Ursula Russell and many more.

We’ll have to wait until September 8th for the record to be out through International Anthem but Alabaster has already shared a tender and emotionally powerful first offering, ‘Did You Know’,  featuring Momoko Gill on vocals. Take a listen below.

John Ghost tease new album with first single ‘The Dimmed’

23 June 2023

Photo: Joris Jeursen

John Ghost‘s Airships Are Organisms, released in 2019, made it our Album Picks of the Year then and remains a favourite album. So we’re thrilled to know the extraordinary Ghent based instrumental sextet are following it up with a new full-length album titled Thin Air . Mirror Land. John Ghost never cease to stroll the path of inventiveness and adventure, and the upcoming Thin Air . Mirror Land has “a slightly more sombre tone, focussing on a broader range of instruments and an emphasis on percussive elements”, as the press release describes. The album “is a musical urge for introspection in a chaotic reality, and a longing to reconnect with a natural environment.”

As with their previous record, the band enlisted Jørgen Træen (Jaga Jazzist, Kaizers Orchestra, Hubro, Sondre Lerche) to handle production duties.  Guitarist and composer Jo De Geest, who helms the outfit, cites a spectrum of influences such as Hans Zimmer, György Ligeti, Magma, The Residents, Disasterpeace, James Holden & The Animal Spirits, Do Make Say Think, William Basinski, and Jóhann Jóhannsson.  Both the album and the song titles are inspired by Edvard Munch’s painting “The Storm” (1893).

Thin Air . Mirror Land arrives on October 6th through Sdban Records but John Ghost are already teasing it with ‘The Dimmed’. If the single is is anything to go by, we just can’t for October to come.

Listen to Penguin Cafe’s new single ‘Find Your Feet’

20 June 2023

Photo: Alex Kazobolis

Penguin Cafe‘s highly anticipated new album, Rain Before Seven…, is nearing its release date on July 7th through Erased Tapes. After enticing us with two singles, ‘Second Variety’ and ‘In Re Budd’, the ensemble of Arthur Jeffes have shared another track from the album, the radiant and joyful ‘Find Your Feet’. Speaking about the track, Jeffes had this to say:

“This track started life as a little groove on piano and ukulele – all based on reversing shapes across the bar. It’s a trick often used in South American music, hence the slightly caribbean/South American vibe. The structure does end up being quite minimalist and then it’s just a question of the other elements having fun over the top…”

Listen to ‘Find Your Feet’ below.