With nineteen tracks segueing into each each over two sides of vinyl, Tucson duo Trees Speak continue their earthy yet intergalactic run of albums (6 in 4 years!) for Soul Jazz Records. ‘TimeFold’ is a krautrock Blade Runner set in a doomy 1970s horror film castle (filmed on Mars) but with powerful arpeggiated Tangerine Dream synth weapons and disembodied spoken word amongst their heavyweight blend of influences. Intoxicating stuff. Read / Listen.
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The Belgian Soundtrack: A Musical Connection of Belgium with Cinema (1961-1979) (Sdban Ultra)
If you’re a fan of film soundtracks, sample-hunting or just a lover of evocative music, then this new compilation from the excellent Belgian label Sdban Records is for you. After the discovery of 650 soundtrack LPs in the attic of a former film journalist, the soundtrack addicts and researchers Robin Broos and Tom ‘Pélé’ Peeters waded through the entirety of the haul to bring us this brilliant collection of music that has in various ways, a Belgian connection. There are barely known composers and there are the super-famous, all of them are great. Read / Listen.
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Arthur Hnatek Trio 'Uncertainty' (Bridge The Gap) - Premiere!
We are pleased to premiere the new single from the award-winning Swiss drummer, composer and producer Arthur Hnatek. Like Sons Of Kemet in a rhythmic duel with Steve Reich, Arthur, saxophonist Francesco Geminaini and bassist Fabien Iannone manage to become a single pulsating organism, somehow creating a soothing meditative track that also contains a powerful organic groove. Read / Listen
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Ilario Ferrari 'Be Yourself' (Cadiz Music) - a review
The Italian pianist and composer Ilario Ferrari has collaborated with Naples’ Ondanueve String Quartet and produced this jewel of an album that flawlessly traverses Indian and European classical idioms, improvisational jazz and experimental Baroque moods - creating two suites of deep emotion and intoxicating moments of high drama. A really special record. Read / Listen.
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Artwork by Issaya Mellors
Lakiko 'What To Do, How To Live' (Lakiko Records) - a review
This new album 'What To Do, How To Live' from the Bosnian cellist, singer and composer Lakiko is one of the most emotional musical experiences that I’ve experienced in some time. Sung in the ancient Balkan Sevdalinka tradition, she stares unflinchingly into the face of uncertainty and the horrors of the world, her otherworldly vocals and classical-folkloric-experimental cello playing unlike anything I have heard. Can’t recommend this enough really. Read / Listen / Watch
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LILAMORS 'Home' (Hout Records) - Video Premiere!
We are pleased to premiere the video of the lovely debut single ‘Home’ from the Basel-based modern compositional-jazz-not-jazz trio LILAMORS. Haunting yet comforting, the monochromatic video directed by Blaž Rojs is a slow moving waltz into the depths of the sea; a perfectly paced response to the music’s hymn-like beauty. Read / Watch / Listen..
Read MoreOzan Tekin 'Orange Jam' (Gülbaba Records) - SINGLE PREMIERE
PREMIERE! A poignant, spacey, minimalist piano piece pulled from Turkish composer and multi-instrumentalist Ozan Tekin’s new album on Gülbaba Records which will be released on 27th May. The sound of an immigrant’s journey back home, not really sure if the German home of his present or his home country truly belongs to him or him to them. Read / Listen here
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Rumpistol 'ISOLA' (Raske Plader) - a review
Award-winning Danish pianist, composer and electronic musician Rumpistol (aka Jens B. Christiansen) has created a beautifully immersive album that sits somewhere between neo-classical composition, slow-burning jazz and pastoral whimsy, and should tickle the heartstrings of fans of Max Richter, Nils Frahm and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Read / Listen
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Alawari 'Alawari' (April Records) - a review
Alawari are a young 7 piece jazz collective from Denmark and this, their debut album, is a truly stunning musical document that seems to manage to capture the troubled times that we are living through. A brilliant mix of lush classical arrangements with levels of uninhibited free jazz expression, the record is “Inspired by the spirit of revolution and ancient war” and it sounds like it. Exceptional. Read / Listen here
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Credit - Nicola Schmid
Howald 'Amnis Alsace' (BlauBlau Records) - a review
A touching and poetic soundtrack to a filmic diary that was made in response to the music from Swiss multi-instrumentalist Dimitri Howald. Touching on Afro-Brazilian, jazz, post-rock and 80s New Wave flavours. Read / Listen / Watch the film here
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University Challenged 'Oh Temple!' (Hive Mind Records) - a review
Oh Temple! is a breathtaking double vinyl release of sprawling kosmische spectacle from the brilliantly named University Challenged out now on Hive Mind Records. A psychedelic supergroup who draw us into their dreamlike world via vintage synths, grungy bass lines, pastoral and tape-manipulated guitars, static, dust, vocal samples and illusory field recordings creating an inner-outer soundtrack of wide-eyed wonder. Read / Listen / Watch the ace videos here…
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New Music Reviews by Mauro Ferreiro - June 2020
We asked our friend and collaborator Mauro Ferreiro (Error Subcutáneo) to review some recent releases we’ve been listening to and as a talented musician and producer in his own right, he’s got some great insight…read / listen here…
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David Wertman & Sun Ensemble 'Earthly Delights' (BBE) - a review
Fantastic reissue on BBE (again) of this 1979 spiritual jazz album by David Wertman and his Sun Ensemble. Free, loose and deeply emotional…read/listen more here
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MUSIC THAT SPEAKS TO...SALLY RODGERS (AMCA)
The lovely Sally Rodgers from A Man Called Adam has generously chosen some of the music that has spoken to her throughout her life. It’s unsurprisingly eclectic, funky, surprising, gentle and jarring at times….read and listen on…
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'The Real DMZ' exhibition launch with Truth & Lies - 26th Jan 2018
We were asked to DJ for the launch of this timely new exhibition about the Korean border at New Art Exchange in Nottingham on Friday 26th January. Read more...
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Tiny Leaves 'Notes On Belonging' (Pegdoll Records)
Tiny Leaves is the music of composer Joel Nathaniel Pike and he has made this really quite lovely four track album using only piano and strings. Full of yearning and pastoral reflection, this is perfect music for letting go and just being.
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