Sdban Records re-releases KAU’s EPs, II and III, for Record Store Day

25 April 2023

Record Store Day took place last Saturday and two of KAU‘s EPs were included among the special releases out that day. The latest signing on the ever–consistent Sdban Records, KAU’s two EPS, 2021’s II and 2022’s III, received a well deserved vinyl treatment, also marking the trio’s first vinyl release. On both EPs, Andre Breidlid (drums), Matteo Genovese (bass) and Jan Janzen (keys), who make up the Brussels outfit, stretch beyond the jazz cosmos, creating wild and exhilarating compositions with an improvisation spirit and irresistible grooves. KAU, as the label puts it, “create a head-bobbing atmosphere using broken beats and catchy melodies while leaving space for improvisation”.

There’s more good news from KAU who are gearing up to release their debut full-length album in September. Whilst we wait  for more details and new music to emerge, here’s two cuts from their re-released EPS to whet your appetite, ‘Napoli’, off EP II, and ‘ Mad Max’ off EP III.


Penguin Cafe set to release fifth album, Rain Before Seven, in July

22 April 2023

Coinciding with the Piano Day celebrations, Penguin Cafe released last month a gorgeous new single called ‘Second Variety’. There’s more wonderful news from the ensemble of Arthur Jeffes who have this week announced the release of their fifth record, following their 2019 Antarctic-inspired album, Handfuls Of Night. Entitled Rain Before Seven…, the album takes its name from an old and optimistic weather saying, ‘Rain before seven, fine before eleven’. Jeffes comments:

“It has faintly optimistic overtones and I quite like it. It’s fallen out of usage recently but it does describe English weather patterns coming in off the Atlantic.”

Rain Before Seven… is infused with exuberant and colourful moods, as Jeffes explains:

“Stylistically it’s really satisfying to get back to playful rhythms and instruments. Certainly when starting out, I became aware that we’d stopped using quite a few of the textures that had been there at the beginning—and it was certainly there in my dad’s earlier stuff. So there’s a lot of balafon and textures from completely different parts of the world, musically and geographically: ukuleles, cuatros and melodicas that you can hear.”

We’ll have to wait until July 7th for Rain Before Seven… to be out through Erased Tapes but a second advance track, ‘In Re Budd’, is now ours to discover. With sounds seeped in “an Afro Cuban Cafe vibe”,  ‘In Re Budd’  is dedicated to Harold Budd. Speaking about it, Jeffes says:

“This was the first piece I ever wrote on the balafon — and the day I was recording it I heard about Harold Budds’ passing away. I never met him but I’ve always loved his work and I felt that the incongruity of the track wouldn’t be at all inappropriate for a dedication.”

Penguin Cafe are offering the single with a delightful video directed by Mihai Feflea. Here it is.

Ky premiere video for ‘The Dancer’ off forthcoming debut album, Power Is The Pharmacy

21 April 2023

Ky Brooks have established themselves as a crucial figure on the Montréal underground scene, having co-founded DIY space La Plante a decade ago and counting stints with bands like noise-punk trio Lungbutter, queer punk collective Femmaggots and experimental/improv trio Nag, amongst many other projects. They have launched their solo project under the name Ky. Comes May 12th, they will release their debut album, Power Is The Pharmacy, through Constellation Records. Ky has shared some thoughts about it:

“The album is mainly about grief, death, the fear of loss, losing dreams, losing youth, people, public space, ultimately oneself. The poems are about losing urban space, time and naivete, and wishing things could move backwards in time—how can things ever be healed when life is a process of undoing, of gaining only to lose? A couple of songs are meditations of the impossibility of knowing what to do after losing a friend. A lot of imagery is also informed by sci fi writers I love. I imagine this parrot-like AI looking over a plain of destroyed cities, talking to itself about losing our beautiful world, confused at being made in the image of a species that has really done itself in.”

The thrilling and danceable single ‘The Dancer’ is the latest single to emerge from the album and Ky also had this to say about the track:

“I wrote this song while staying in the woods during the first summer of COVID. My partner at the time (the titular dancer) and I had left Montreal because it felt unsafe to be around people, and I had this feeling of life passing by so quickly, especially in the absence of normal social contact- normal early-thirties ennui accentuated by the experience of intense loneliness that characterized the early pandemic. I thought the song was meant to be an emotional ballad of some kind, and worked and re-worked it with piano and guitar but never got anywhere. Then I was messing around with my volca fm synth and came up with this loping, irregular synth sequence, and I realized it could be delivered in a more bitter way. Josh came up with the bassline after an afternoon music-listening session when we got back to Montreal, and Farley heroically found a way to play drums that work with the irregular rhythm. Finally, Mat added a guitar filigree over everything. The animated music video was created by my friend Eric Bent- we were imagining a kind of soft, pastel style like the matisse painting ‘la danse’”

‘The Dancer’ comes with an accompanying animated video made by Eric Bent and you can watch it below.

Yoni Mayraz shares second single ‘Palms’ off upcoming album Dybbuk Tse!

20 April 2023

Photo: Daniel Shiff

Last month we heard and loved ‘The Master Wore a White Robe’, the first single lifted from Yoni Mayraz‘s upcoming debut album Dybbuk Tse!. The London-based, Tel Aviv-raised keyboardist and producer is enticing us again with ‘Palms’, the second scintillating and cosmic cut from the album. ‘Palms’ is “a fast, windy, careless ride through the palms”, as Mayraz describes. “Palm trees can be found in a desert oasis as well as in tropical places. This is kind of a game between the ancient landscapes references throughout the album, and a more hip hop-ish kind of ride.”

‘Palms’ is offered with a visual acompaniment made by Ben Palhov. Check it out below and grab Dybbuk Tse! when it’s out June 2nd through Astigmatic Records.

Alabaster DePlume unveils brand new single ‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’

19 April 2023

Photo: Julia Foster

New music from ingenious, thought-provoking and unpredictable spoken word artist, bandleader, composer, saxophonist and activist Alabaster DePlume is always a blessing. He has today shared ‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’, his first new single in a year, following the release of his magnificent album, GOLD, last year. Alabaster composed ‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’ live in a Vienna soundcheck alongside Rozi Plain on bass, drummer Momoko Gill and Conrad Singh on guitar, collaborators he calls “one of the most creative yet resilient groups I’ve put together”. Speaking about the track, he comments:

“Even this very second, passing your eyes over these words, is a victory. Breathing, you are victorious. Childishly standing with my flag and my anthem of “I’m alive” I’m victorious. See inside, how you have your own permission, to be. Celebrated or not by others, in one moment, always, or never. You know you are here and you know this is a victory. We can always be more ourselves, and we can always be less so. But there is no ceremony we must wait for, no test, no judgement, before we can sing our victory anthem.”

In addition to the digital release, the single will be available as a 7” flexi disc on May 19th though International Anthem, backed by a new digital-only track called “Child Playing In Forbidden Ruins,”.

Now lend your ears to the jubilant ‘Salty Road Dogs Victory Anthem’.

Lakiko’s new album What to Do, How to Live? out now

18 April 2023

Last Friday saw the release of What to Do, How to Live?, the compelling new album from Lakiko AKA Lana Kostić. Hailing from Sarajevo and now based in Lucerne, Switzerland, the classically trained cellist and singer pushes the boundaries of her instrument, exploring it in unusual ways and displaying her ability to draw deep emotion from the cello. On the album, she sings in Bosnian using a vocal technique from the Sevdalinka tradition. Lyrically the inspiration comes from her native Bosnia and Herzegovina and we find her “singing about a nomadic existence, Bosnian nightmares, an archaic past and a dystopian future”, as the press release describes. “The artistic vision”, it continues, “was drawn out of a period of deep contemplation, looking backwards, reflecting on the modern Balkan experience, her growing up in Sarajevo, and the scars and hardships that city and people have had to endure and thinking about how their future will unfold”. Lakiko shares some thoughts:

“My ‘loudest’ feeling is that I can’t change anything, and I don’t want to accept those rules of the game. After all, I left Sarajevo. That’s why I always have to point out that I have no right to criticise or say anything. But even though I left Sarajevo and BiH, it didn’t leave me, so I’m still dealing with it through music”

Alongside the album, Lakiko has released an accompanying short film titled A Hybrid Idea. The film was directed by Manfred Borsch and shot in several locations in and around Sarajevo. Check it out below and straight after listen to the previously released single ‘Nije buducnost za svakoga’, a deeply poignant and potent piece of music.