Echoes of Zoo announce second album, Speech of Species, and share first cut ‘Bee Jive’

06 March 2023

Photo: Grégoire Verbeke

Beginning life in Belgium in 2018, Echoes of Zoo is the brainchild project of Nathan Daems, also comprising Bart Vervaeck, Lieven Van Pée and Falk Schrauwen. Following their 2021 debut album, BREAKOUT, they have announced the release of a new album titled Speech of Species. Slated for a May 12th release through W.E.R.F. Records, the new record remains true to the quartet’s heady fusion of psychedelic jazz, dub and rock with a punk edge, and the feel-good feel of a marching band. Continuing to pour out a relentlessly pulsing sonic energy, on the upcoming album, Echoes of Zoo “experiment with Eastern and Balkan sounds, microtonal guitars, animalistic sounds, and a host of new rhythmic observations based on Brazilian and West African grooves”, as the press release describes. Speech of Species centres on the theme of animal communication, as Daems explains:

“Messages are constantly being transmitted in the animal world by adopting body poses; there are more than 2,000 different poses or “words” in certain lizard species, by dancing in the most ingenious ways, by changing colours from geometric patterns (certain species of squids and chameleons do this), by causing vibrations in the ground, by smells, even by giving light and so on. How can we be so blind to that and say that animals cannot speak?”

With balkan inflections and tinged with oriental ebullience, ‘Bee Jive’ serves as the first exhilarating taste to emerge from the album. The track is inspired by a chaotic beehive and “based on a Senegalese Sabar rhythm, spiced with short Balkan riffs on saxophone and an energetic oriental guitar solo”.  Take a listen below.

GoGo Penguin reveal third single ‘Friday Film Special’

05 March 2023

Following the transcendent ‘Glimmerings‘ and the majestic ‘Saturnine’, GoGo Penguin have now revealed ‘Friday Film Special’, the third sublime single from their forthcoming new album Everything Is Going to Be OK. A low-fi track, ‘Friday Film Special’ is inspired by DJ Shadow’s seminal album Entroducing….., and bassist Nick Blacka had this to say about it:

“Chris and I have been big fans of hip hop and instrumental hip hop albums for many years and it’s something that we haven’t had much chance to explore before with GoGo Penguin. Albums such as DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing were a huge influence on us when we were young and Friday Film Special really tips its cap to the hip hop instrumentals that we’d grown up loving. We were both into skateboarding as kids and I think we wanted to capture a nostalgic throwback to those times.

I remember being incredibly young and asking my older brother what he was watching one day, and he said, ‘Friday Film Special’. Friday Film Specials were a series of films made by the Children’s Film Foundation and were on TV every Friday in the mid to late 80s. Even at the time, they felt old because most of them were made in the 1970s, so all the kids were wearing flares. It’s one of the most retro and nostalgic things I could think of.”

Listen to ‘Friday Film Special’ below and grab the album when it’s out on April 14th through Sony Music/XXIM.

Mute Duo set to release new album, Migrant Flocks, in April

04 March 2023

There’s exciting news from Chicago’s Mute Duo, who are set to release a third album, following 2020’s Lapse in Passage, which was one of our Album Picks of the year. Entitled Migrant Flocks, the album will see the light of day on April 14th through American Dreams. The upcoming album encapsulates the power and energy that permeates their live shows, and as the press release describes, it “traverses across pastoral and urban sonic landscapes”.

On the record, the necessity of migration, whether in humans, cetaceans or birds, is explored as a theme by the duo of pedal steel guitarist Sam Wagster and drummer Skyler Rowe. “Migration is something you can’t help,” says Rowe. “You can’t help how things are constantly moving or evolving. You have to change with it.” Wagster adds, “In terms of human movement, the different motives for migration came to mind: people fleeing an increasingly hostile climate or hostile political circumstances; people leaving home for a chance at a better economic situation; or—as is the case for both of us—a cultural migration, where one is drawn away from where they grew up by creative sounds, ideas and the opportunity to participate in a progressive artistic community.”

In addition to their core instruments, Wagster and Rowe incorporated other instruments namely vibraphone and piano from Rowe, and organ, drum machine and programming from Wagster.

The announcement comes alongside single ‘Night Guides’, a gripping and fierce first taste. Take a listen now.

Sangue Suor announce debut album, O Salto, and share first single ‘Para a Frente’ feat. Surma

04 March 2023

Hailing from Portugal, Sangue Suor is the new trio of drummers Rui Rodrigues, Susie Filipe and Ricardo Martins. With a shared love for all things percussive, the project sprouted from a commission by Theatro Circo in Braga to score their 106th anniversary theme in 2021. A year on from the initial project, and having played together in a series of artist residencies, the threesome are gearing up to release their debut album. Entitled O Salto, the record arrives on April 21st through Omnichord and Theatro Circo. Ahead of it, Sangue Suor are giving us a first glimpse into the upcoming album with lead single ‘Para a Frente’ featuring singer Surma. The track is offered with an accompanying video made by Casota Collective and you can watch it below.

schroothoop preview upcoming album with third single ‘Cascaraï’

03 March 2023

Photo: Anna Scholiers

Just over a month from now, schroothoop will release their highly anticipated new album MACADAM on April 7th through Sdban Ultra. Ahead of the release, and having previously shared the singles ‘Cheval Orange’ and ‘Tanz der Quallen’, the Brussels based junk jazz trio today share a sensual and hypnotic new single called ‘Cascaraï’. As the press release describes, the track “combines Algerian Rai-melodies on the flutes with Afro-Cuban Cascara-patterns on the drums, resulting in a new genre that the band call “Cascaraï”. Take a listen now.

KUF to release fourth album, Yield, later this month

03 March 2023

Photo: Max Parovsky

We weren’t familiar with Berlin trio KUF up until just recently when one of their tracks was picked by TUKAN for our March mixtape. We were clearly missing out as their intoxicating music caught our ears on first listen.  With keys, bass and drums, the three-piece summon deep grooves and mad scientist musical tastes tailored for the dance floor. With three albums under their belts, KUF are gearing up to release their fourth record later this month. Entitled Yield, the album spans “twelve slices of hyper-integrated realtime magic”, as the press release describes, with “lots of new integrations of sampling, synthesis and band action in different constellations”.

Yield arrives on March 24th through Macro Recordings and KUF have already teased it with two cuts, ‘Ah Oh’, and ‘Patterns’. The latter comes with an accompanying video made by Yoshi Sodeoka. Check out both tracks below.