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.


Echoes of Zoo preview upcoming album with second single ‘Echolocation’

14 April 2023

Belgian outfit Echoes of Zoo announced last month the release of their new album titled Speech of Species, and alongside it shared ‘Bee Jive’, an exhilarating track with balkan inflections and tinged with oriental ebullience. Ahead of the album release on May 12th through W.E.R.F. Records, they are teasing the record again with second single ‘Echolocation’, a scorching and playful track fusing “cumbia with dub with rock with jazz”. As Echoes of Zoo describe, ‘Echolocation’ is “an ode to bats, dolphins and other species who use a unique principle to be able to see, in the form of a fat cumbia groove”. The single comes accompanied by an animated video made by Laura Matikainen and you can watch it below.

ECHT! share third single, ‘Cheesecake’, off upcoming album Sink-Along

12 April 2023

Photo: Mayli Sterkendries

We’re getting excitingly close to the release of Sink-Along, ECHT!‘s sophomore album arriving on May 5th through Sdban Ultra. The Brussels based outfit had already teased the record with two dope tracks, ‘Mtwk Part 2’ and ‘Vault-A’ and as if we needed any more reasons to be excited for this release, the quartet has let loose a third intoxicating single, ‘Cheesecake’, a track awash with a deep, dark and menacing groove. ECHT! had this to say about it:

“It’s not a very long piece, but it’s full of different stories and atmospheres. We wanted to have something heavy but using it in a non-linear way and we wanted to surprise ourselves and the listener. It’s deep and heavy, but there are developments and twists that you don’t expect.”

‘Cheesecake’ is downright catchy. Take a listen now.