Listen to GoGo Penguin’s second single ‘Saturnine’

12 February 2023

Photo: Veil Projects, Emily Dennison

Last month GoGo Penguin announced the release of their new album Everything Is Going to Be OK and shared the transcendent first single ‘Glimmerings‘. Now the incredible and quirky jazz trio are enticing us again with a majestic new cut from the album called ‘Saturnine’. Of the track, the band comments:

“In our studio we have a lucky cat, like the ones you sometimes see in Chinese restaurants. Its arm makes a clicking sound when it waves, reminiscent of a metronome. It was a strange place to find inspiration, but it was just what we needed for this track. The title felt apt as one day we were discussing it and Chris mentioned how he felt it sounded a bit sad and melancholic. It hadn’t really occurred to me up until this point as I was more focused on it sounding quite bouncy and poppy to my ears. I think it’s a bit of both, but we find it’s fascinating that we can be working on the same track at the same time and yet experience it differently whilst doing so.”

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

Grandbrothers announce fourth full-length album, Late Reflections

11 February 2023

Photo: Dan Medhurst

Two years on from the release of All The Unknown, Grandbrothers are ready to follow it up with their fourth album. Entitled Late Reflections, the new album was recorded in the iconic Cologne Cathedral following a surprising invitation from the church’s master builder and architect, Peter Füssenich back in 2019. On the run up to the performance, which took place last summer, the duo of German-Turkish pianist Erol Sarp and Swiss engineer/mechanic/sofware designer Lukas Vogel ended up writing a whole album. Vogel elaborates:

“The first idea was to only have one or two songs specially made for the concert. This concert came closer, and we were there to have the first test of the acoustics. We were really impressed by this place. Sound-wise, it is really huge, and especially at night, when nobody else is in the Cathedral, it’s so breathtaking. During the process, we realized that this environment makes it so much fun and challenging to write music for this place.”

The actual recordings were done before the concert but it bears the influence of such a monumental and historical building and is reportedly more ambient and atmospheric. “On our previous album we went into a more physical and club-influenced direction,” Sarp said. “This album, we just said, ‘Let’s see what happens and be free to go more into ambient, or more atmospheric, experimental sound spheres.”

We’ll have to wait until April 14th for Late Reflections to be out through City Slang but Grandbrothers are already enticing us with a grand and gripping single, ‘Infinite’, accompanied by a video. Watch it now.

brad allen williams’ new album, œconomy, out today

10 February 2023

Photo: Lauren Desberg

Today sees the release of œconomy, the new album from composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer brad allen williams. Known as a guitarist of extraordinary virtuosity, on œconomy williams “was determined to find non-referential uses for his main instrument, the electric guitar”, which sprouted into a daring and astonishing album that exists at the borderlands of jazz, neoclassical, and experimental music.

williams had preciously shared two stellar singles from the album, ‘tecnologia’ ft. Mark Giuliana and more recently ‘boomer’. Of the latter, he commented:

“Self-conscious avoidance of all the electric guitar’s accumulated cultural baggage sometimes feels reflexive, and I found myself doing a lot of it during the making of this album. But sometimes the best way out is through.

Co-producer Pete Min suggested we plunge headlong into the abyss: to make a distorted-guitar riff rocker, but find a way to use that cliché’s own powers against it.

We plugged guitars into Moog synthesizers instead of amplifiers, I played some Bonham-inspired drums into a single microphone, and we amused ourselves with an earnest-but-not-entirely-earnest guitar solo and Stylophone coda. The result grew on us quite a bit; I really hope my genuine love of guitar heroism (and the blues in all of its many guises) gets across.”

Listen to both tracks below and grab œconomy now through Colorfield Records.

Lonnie Holley teases upcoming album, Oh Me Oh My, with new single ‘I Am A Part Of The Wonder’ feat. Moor Mother

09 February 2023

Celebrated improvisational artist Lonnie Holley is set to release his new album, Oh Me Oh My, on March 10th through Jagjaguwar. Through his music and visual art, Holley has been addressing “how we overcome adversity and tremendous pain; about how we develop and maintain an affection for our fellow travelers; about how we stop wishing for some “beyond” and start caring for the one rock we have”. On his new album, this message is clear and triumphant, in tune with Mother Earth and delivered over a vibrant mix of styles.

To bring Oh Me Oh My to life, Holley enlisted producer Jacknife Lee and a cast of outstanding musicians, such as Moor Mother, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Sharon Van Etten, Rokia Koné and Michael Stipe. He comments:

“My art and my music are always closely tied to what is happening around me, and the last few years have given me a lot to thoughtsmith about. When I listen back to these songs I can feel the times we were living through. I’m deeply appreciative of the collaborators, especially Jacknife, who helped the songs take shape and really inspired me to dig deeper within myself.”

Following the title track, Holley is teasing the album again with a jubilant new single, ‘I Am A Part Of The Wonder’ featuring Moor Mother. Check out the accompanying visualizer below and listen to ‘Oh Me, Oh My’ straight after.


Mats Gustafsson & Joachim Nordwall to release new collaborative album Their Power Reached Across Space and Time-to Defy Them Was Death-or Worse

09 February 2023

Photo: Mariam Wallentin

Mats Gustafsson and Joachim Nordwall are no strangers to collaborating with each other. Superheroes at the forefront of the Swedish modern jazz, improvisation and experimental music scene, they have again joined forces and the result is Their Power Reached Across Space and Time-to Defy Them Was Death-or Worse, a new duo album set for release on March 24th through Thrill Jockey. Adventurous as always, on the upcoming record the pair continue to explore the sonic possibilities of their instruments, reeds and guitar respectively, driving each other “to unexpected places creating sonic expanse that demands repeat exploration”. Self-described as “slow music”, the upcoming Their Power Reached Across Space and Time-to Defy Them Was Death-or Worse is a two-way conversation. “It took us years of our lives to get to this point and hopefully the music will keep changing the listeners for every new time you listen to it,” Gustafsson explained, with Nordwall adding: “playing with Mats is about communication through music. We never make plans, this is how we sound together.”

In a statement, Gustafsson and Nordwall shared some thoughts:

“Time is a strange thing. Everything led to this, is the mutual feeling for Mats Gustafsson and Joachim Nordwall. Our Thrill Jockey album THEIR POWER REACHED ACROSS SPACE AND TIME-TO DEFY THEM WAS DEATH-OR WORSE is the result of a friendship and artistic respect that has been going for decades. Eight low dynamic, dark and focused tracks, all holding some odd kind of tension. It is like something is coming, a black star on the horizon. Our respective different backgrounds come together in the most natural way here and creates some kind of organic sci-fi feel to it. Gustafsson with his legendary career in the free jazz scene and Nordwall and his presence in the underground electronic music world.

“This is where acoustics and analogue synths meet. It is unique music. Unheard vibes. Perfect for special venues and good PAs.”

Ahead of the album’s release, we can already hear one the phenomenal album tracks, ‘HER EYES​…​WERE LIKE COLD FIRES (slut)’. Here it is.

Issei Herr shares details of debut album Distant Intervals

08 February 2023

Photo: Eileen Emond

Brooklyn based cellist and composer Issei Herr has announced details of her debut album, Distant Intervals, scheduled for release on April 7th through NNA Tapes. A powerful and enthralling display of Issei’s mastery of her instrument, the self-recorded Distant Intervals is made up of layers of overdubbed cello and processed samples. Addressing themes of becoming and transformation, the forthcoming record is described as “an exploration of memory, dreams, and the infinite possibilities within imagined worlds”.

To mark the album announcement, Issei has shared a stunning and poignant double single, ‘Aubade (The Farewell Is a Beginning)’ b/w ‘Prelude (An Eternity of Light)’, accompanied by a video directed by Dazhi Huang. Watch it now.