Best Albums of November 2024 Playlist
clicking cover art opens Spotify
Mujer
YASMIN LEVY
Released 8 November 2024
*****
“If there were no religions, music would be the religion of humanity. As a person, I believe that each of us is a different color of God, and each color has its own beauty. God sent His colors to this world through us. We are just the conduits. If we understood this, we wouldn’t hate and fight each other, if we
understood, that each of us is a part of God, if we connected and loved God’s colors, our world would be beautiful and without wars. Thank God for letting me bridge people and cultures through music.“ Yasmin Levy
Yasmin Levy (born December 23, 1975, in Jerusalem), is a renowned Israeli singer-songwriter known for her unique blend of traditional Sephardic music with flamenco and modern styles. Influenced by her father, Yitzhak Isaac Levy, a prominent Ladino music researcher, Yasmin combines traditional instruments like oud, violin, and cello with contemporary sounds.
Her debut album, “Romance & Yasmin” (2000), garnered international attention, leading to a Best Newcomer nomination at the 2005 BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. Subsequent albums, including “La Judería: Ladino Meets Flamenco” (2005) and “Mano Suave” (2008), received critical acclaim and commercial success, with “Mano Suave” charting in France and Sweden. Her 2009 album “Sentir” further showcased her distinctive sound.
As a Goodwill Ambassador for Children of Peace, Yasmin promotes cultural understanding. Her global performances and collaborations highlight her versatility and dedication to preserving and revitalizing Judeo-Spanish traditions. Yasmin Levy’s work bridges cultural divides, making her a significant figure in world music.
Read more ... Yasmin Levy
Daughter of a Temple
GANAVYA
Released 15 November 2024
*****
Daughter of a Temple’s purpose, ganavya will tell you, is that people “know there’s a village for you, always in the ether. The worlds we dream of are possible when we come at it with the right amount of discipline and devotion. I hope that’s what resonates with them, that it tells the story of this random girl who dreamed of this world and then it manifested itself. I hope it makes them feel less alone, because that’s what it did for me. I think of it as proof that prayer works and love exists…”
‘Daughter of a Temple’ was recorded over a week in 2022 at the Moore’s Opera House in Houston, Texas, after ganavya had reached out to friends and associates over the preceding months to join her for “a gathering in and for devotion”. This was to draw on studies of what she terms the musico-philosophies of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, and she’d even promised herself she’d invite anyone who brought up Turiyasangitananda’s name around her. “You really shouldn’t do that,” she chuckles. “It turns out a lot of people talk about her!”
Consequently, the album – which also brings the Hindu tradition of harikatha into the 21st century – draws upon a vast cast of contributors across multiple disciplines, among them esperanza spalding, Vijay Iyer, Shabaka Hutchings, Immanuel Wilkins, Peter Sellars, Rajna Swaminathan, Charlotte Braithwaite, Chris Sholar, Darian Donovan Thomas, and Bindhumalini Narayanswamy. Her mother even helped cook for participants. The results, an innovative and deeply moving blend of spiritual jazz and South Asian devotional music, were initially recorded and edited by Ryan Renteria, then further edited and mixed by Nils Frahm at LEITER’s Funkhaus studio in 2024.
Read more ... LEITER
Mighty Vertebrate
Anna Butterss
Released 4 October 2024
International Anthem
*****
Ultimately, each track on 'Mighty Vertebrate' could be excavated and studied or simply taken at face value. It’s a solid, mature, and endlessly fun glimpse into the world of an artist whose potential for growth is seemingly unlimited.
'Mighty Vertebrate' is the International Anthem leader debut from Adelaide, Australia-born bassist and composer Anna Butterss.
Butterss has steadily become a first-call for tour and studio work since moving to Los Angeles (after a stint in Bloomington, Indiana) in 2014. They’ve racked up credits with notables across the indie, jazz, and pop worlds alike – including Makaya McCraven, Phoebe Bridgers, Jason Isbell, Andrew Bird, and Daniel Villarreal – but their most notable contributions to the burgeoning West Coast creative music scene have been as a core member of both Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet and rising proto-trance supergroup SML, who Pitchfork says “represents the thrilling next phase of a vibrant L.A. community.”
Jeff Parker’s impact is hard to miss when discussing any forward-thinking, groove-oriented jazz and experimental music. Perhaps even more accurate in the case of 'Mighty Vertebrate' is the influence of Tortoise, the long running post-genre group of which Parker is a member.
Read more ... International Anthem,
Confluence, Vol 1 Alhambra
CAMMILE THURMAN
DARRELL GREEN QUARTET
Released 4 October 2024
Epidote Music Group
****-
A masterful collection from the award-winning saxophonist, vocalist and composer and backed by a quartet led by drummer Darrell Green, her musical and life partner.
As a composer, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and unique interpreter of the jazz tradition, she is quickly becoming one of the standard bearers for the form, making a considerable and dynamic contribution to the legacy of jazz while paying tribute to its heroes. Fluid and powerful on the tenor saxophone and highly inventive as a vocalist, she also plays bass clarinet, flute, and piccolo. Her rich sax sound has been compared to Joe Henderson and Dexter Gordon, while her vocal approach—including an impressive scatting ability—has been classified alongside those of Ella Fitzgerald and Betty Carter.
She writes: "Confluence is a collection of songs recorded during the artists' Fall 2023 tour of Spain. Each city was special and unique in history, culture, and people. The acoustics in each concert hall where we performed were simply breathtaking. We wanted to create an album that sonically captured the spirit of the audience and the live magic of the band made on stage. On this album, you will hear each band member shine brightly, purely in their element, unedited, displaying a dynamic sense of virtuosic and creative expression".
Read more ... Bandcamp, Jazz St Louis
Small Changes
MICHAEL KIWANUKA
DANGER MOUSE, INFLO
Released 22 November 2024
Polydor
*****
As Kiwanuka’s focus has shifted, so has the shape of his music. He works again with Danger Mouse and Inflo, who help to conjure dreamier soundscapes still beholden to vintage soul, where the instruments always sound lush and fluid. Songs are unhurried, and there’s a hazy, languid feel throughout much of Small Changes.
Considering everything that has happened in the world in the five years since Michael Kiwanuka last released an album, his latest feels more like a reset than a follow-up. KIWANUKA in 2019 was a highly present LP full of sharp corners, softened by gorgeously rendered musical arrangements steeped in the sound of 1970s soul. Small Changes, by contrast, is more subdued, as though developments in his own life (two small children) and cultural upheavals (take your pick) have prompted Kiwanuka to recede into some interior emotional space.
KIWANUKA was rooted in the singer’s disillusion over the state of the world around him, prompted in part by how predominately white cultures treat non-white people. Small Changes is, instead, more interested in spiritual explorations of self. Kiwanuka here is examining the inner workings of his own mind, or soul.
Read more ... Bandcamp, Jazz St Louis
Mahashmashana
FATHER JOHN MISTY
Released 22 November 2024
Joshua Tillman / Sub Pop Records
*****
‘Mahashmashana’ is assured, emotive and luminous, Tillman, aka Father John Misty’s distinctive phasing is magnificent, his melodies are gorgeous and this soul-baring record is set to be a firm favourite for both new fans and the existing congregation that worship at the altar of Father John Misty.
Some things in life are inevitable, taxes, love and of course death – a theme that is explored in stunning fashion across Father John Misty’s new album ‘Mahashmashana’.
It takes its title from ‘Mahāśmaśāna’, the Sanskrit word for ‘great burial ground’ and follows on conceptually from the last track of his previous album ‘Chloë and the Next 20th Century’ which references it with the lyrics ‘Come build your burial grounds’.
The genesis for this record originated after Josh Tillman (Father John Misty) read a book by Bruce Wagner called Memorial. Despite the less than ebullient subject material, ‘Mahashmashana’ still manages to be uplifting and is full of Father John Misty’s sublime storytelling throughout.
It’s about knowing oneself and the infinite reminder that every new beginning has an inevitable end.
It’s an album of contrasts in many ways. It’s intimate yet expansive, it’s beautiful, but also reveals the ugly truth that death is inevitable for us all, but how you live your life is what counts.
It seems that there is one more thing to add to the list of ‘inevitable things ’in life – that a Father John Misty album will always be life-affirming, moving and captivating.
Read more ... Clash
Vėjula
MEROPE
Released 5 November 2024
Stroom
*****
Merope's most experimental full length to date, Vėjula is a celebration of collaboration and playfulness, and features appearances from Shahzad Ismaily, Laraaji and Bill Frisell, among others.
Like its predecessors, the duo's fifth album still roots itself in Lithuanian folk forms, but sprouts out spiritedly from that point into unfamiliar landscapes, muddling ancient themes with contemporary philosophies, concepts and technology. Delicate instrumental sequences and ethereal vocals are woven into a rich tapestry of subtle synth work and evocative field recordings. On 'Kouma Lil', Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė and Bert Cools experiment with digital images of the kanklės (a traditional Lithuanian chordophone), and Jurgelevičiūtė's voice, blurring the boundary between the organic and the artificial, while on 'Spindulė, French percussionist Toma Gouband adds percussion from his custom-made sounding stones to Jurgelevičiūtė's gentle words and Cools' surreal, sensuous electronics.
'Vėjula' is an album that reaches into the unknown without loosing its tight grip on the past. Merope are in a new creative phase of their career, and they've never sounded quite so universal, or so vital.
Read more ... Bandcamp
All Species Parade
JENNY SCHEINMAN
Released 11 October 2024
*****
Wilkins interlaces themes into a profound personal and political journey, using the language of jazz to express the struggles, triumphs and complexities of the contemporary African-American experience.
Jenny Scheinman, an acclaimed violinist and composer, was for many years a stalwart of the New York jazz and creative music scenes. The New York Times wrote: “Scheinman [has] a distinctive vision of American music, suffused with plainspoken beauty and fortified by country, gospel, and melting-pot folk, along with jazz and the blues.” She returned to her native Humboldt County, California in 2012 where she has continued her artistic evolution, as heard on her recent albums Here on Earth (2017), Parlour Game (2019), and The Littlest Prisoner (2014).
For years, Scheinman nursed the idea of a musical homage to Humboldt, in particular the area known as the Lost Coast, a remote, earthquake- and mudslide-prone region of coastal northern California, where she was raised.
The all-original program is brought to life over the course of a double album, by pianist Carmen Staaf, guitar icons Bill Frisell, Nels Cline, and Julian Lage, and the revered rhythm team of bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen. It was recorded by Eli Crews, mixed by Tucker Martine, and mastered by Greg Calbi.
Scheinman’s playing is radiant, soulful, stamped with jazz vernacular and old-time fiddling tradition and buoyed by her superb lyrical poise and technique. Throughout we hear Frisell’s exploratory wisdom and evidence of his deep connection with Scheinman (whose side-person credits include nine Frisell albums).
Read more ... Jenny Scheinman
_ed.jpg)
Soft Echoes (EP)
SHARADA SHASHIDHAR
Released 27 September 2024
Leaving Records All Genre
*****
Sharada Shashidhar is a Los Angeles based vocalist, composer and producer. Her soulful voice takes inspiration from jazz and Indian classical music, which influences her songwriting and productions.
Shashidhar’s elaborate harmonies and vocal creativity come together in a new beat-orientated spiritual jazz. Sharada has performed across the US and EU in spaces such as Le Guess Who? Festival, Badehaus Berlin, Zebulon and more. She has shared bills or collaborated with the likes of Carlos Niño, Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, and Zeroh among others. Sharada graduated from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City and released her debut EP, Rahu, on Leaving Records in March of 2020.
Read more ... Brownswood, Boomkat
No Title As of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
Released 4 October 2024
Constellation
****-
Their first album in three years sees them become one of the few western acts to release music that explicitly references the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, from the blunt album title through to the press release’s reference to “every day a new war crime, every day a flower bloom”.
For those unfamiliar, Godspeed You! Black Emperor released a string of albums from 1997-2002 widely recognized as redefining what protest music can be, where longform instrumental chamber rock compositions of immense feeling and power serve as soundtracks to late capitalist alienation and resistance.
The band’s first four releases - especially F#A#∞ (1997) and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (2000) - are variously regarded as classics of the era and genre. Godspeed's legendary live performances, featuring multiple 16mm projectors beaming a collage of overlapping analog film loops and reels further defines the sui generis aesthetic substance, ethos and mythos of this group.
Following a seven-year hiatus that began in 2003, Godspeed returned to the stage in December 2010 (curating the UK festival All Tomorrow’s Parties) and the band’s post-reunion period has now lasted over a decade, marked by hundreds of sold-out live shows and four additional albums, all of which have been met with high acclaim.
Read more ... Constellation Records
.jpg)
Spirit Box (EP)
FLYING LOTUS
Released 29 October 2024
****-
An official statement about the EP reads: “‘Spirit Box’ arriving near Halloween is no coincidence – it’s a time where everyone gets the chance to transform into something different, something surprising, maybe even something scary.”
Steven D Bingley-Ellison dreams the future. The Grammy-nominated musician, filmmaker, and Brainfeeder label founder, known to the world as Flying Lotus, possesses that rare alchemical ability to make the objects of his imagination manifest in reality.
A sonic and visual storyteller, we've heard and seen the sights and sounds of the worlds he's built over the course of six genre-redefining studio albums, a collection of surreal music videos, and through his own film projects like the experimental horror comedy anthology "Kuso."
Then there's FlyLo, the community pillar: In a revitalized LA music scene that saw hip-hop, jazz, a burgeoning beat culture, and electronic music co-mingling, he was at the center of it all. FlyLo was the common denominator from Thundercat to Kamasi Washington to Kendrick Lamar. He lent his talents to transplants too, collaborating with and influencing friends and fellow iconoclasts Mac Miller (RIP) and Donald Glover, all the while bringing the sounds of the LA scene from the fringes to the mainstream.
It is said that Flying Lotus looked to “the supernatural, the underrated and the mystical” as inspiration for this release.
Read more ... Warp Records, NME
Songs Of A Lost World
THE CURE
Released 1 November 2024
Polydor Records
*****
So what is Songs Of A Lost World? It’s another Cure album, one could say. But I freely admit that always means something to me, and to many others, and knowing it’s also not quite like any other album they’ve done before, that means something again. We all journey towards ends, the past recedes. Yet perhaps, contrary to the opening song, we’re not entirely alone.
A suggestion for you, me, all of us: try the seemingly impossible. Ignore the length of time since the last album. Take away the crushing weight of comparisons as much as you can for everything that’s gone before, even if it can’t ever be truly done.
Songs is, to borrow an old Kurt Vonnegut phrase, unstuck in time, yet absolutely crushed by time too. It’s almost uncanny. . (Robert Smith's) voice is still that voice, and it sounds like nothing has changed at all, that it’s still that feeling of half-sob, half-caress, a yearning that can trip up your heart.
That voice sets itself into the arrangements but is never buried. It still wants to clearly connect.
But this isn’t the past. Those earlier contemplations across years and decades of finality, of endings, of fires burned cold and more besides were resonant but younger visions of melancholy; this is the work of older men. It’s not an album that feels like a certain sonic stereotype of age, relaxed ‘homespun’ bonhomie and wisdom, but it absolutely is not a pretense at youth either.
Read more ... The Quietus
The Way Out Of Easy
JEFF PARKER, ETA IVTET, ANNA BUTTERSS, JAY BELLEROSE, JOSH JOHNSON
Released 22 November 2024
International Anthem
*****
While deeply rooted in Havana's rich musical traditions, it transcends borders to blend the vibrant rhythms of the Caribbean with the gritty funk of Detroit and the soulful horns and bass lines reminiscent of New Orleans.
January 2nd, 2023. Aside from being the second of a new year, it was a pretty ordinary night at ETA (Enfield Tennis Academy) in Los Angeles, where guitarist Jeff Parker - alongside his ETA IVtet with saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose - had been holding down a regular Monday gig since 2016. At the time, nobody knew it was the first gig of the last year that ETA would be open for business.
Over seven years of holding down that residency, Parker’s ETA ensemble evolved from a band that played mostly standards into a group known for its transcendent, long-form (sometimes stretching out for 45 minutes or more) journeys into innovative, often uncharted territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist and mantric improvised music.
With that musical growth, the crowds for Parker and his band at ETA grew across the years too. What started as a sparse gathering of weeknight drinkers, friends, family, and Chicago expats (coming to get a shot of nostalgia for the atmospheres Parker used to create at Rodan across the ‘00s and early ‘10s) grew into a Los Angeles nightlife staple with a packed house and a line down the block for every show.
By January 2023 interest in Parker’s music was stronger than ever, coming off successes with the December 2021 International Anthem/Nonesuch release of Forfolks – a collection of solo guitar works – and the October 2022 Eremite release of Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy, a double LP chronicling the ETA IVtet’s distinct, expansive approach to improvisation across four side-length tracks recorded and mixed live by engineer Bryce Gonzales.
In early December of 2023, ETA co-owner Ryan Julio was forced to make a sudden announcement that the venue would permanently shutter at the end of the year. On December 23rd, Parker and the band played at ETA for the last time.
On July 22nd, 2024, the ETA IVtet gathered to perform together for the first time since then, playing for a sold-out crowd of several hundred listeners – a smiling Ryan Julio among them – at Zebulon in Los Angeles. Gonzales was there, recording with his compact analog setup just behind the band on stage. The space may be gone but its spirit lives and the music moves forward into new vessels.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Pa'Tu Cuerpa
CIMAFUNK
Released 23 August 2024
Mala Cabeza / Thirty Tigers
****-
While deeply rooted in Havana's rich musical traditions, it transcends borders to blend the vibrant rhythms of the Caribbean with the gritty funk of Detroit and the soulful horns and bass lines reminiscent of New Orleans.
Cimafunk, the Grammy-nominated Cuban sensation and former medical student turned funk superstar, returns with Pa' Tu Cuerpa here and again reaches new heights. Released by both Thirty Tigers and Terapia Productions, this album offers a boundary-pushing sonic experience that's as innovative as it is unclassifiable.
It is a signature bold fusion of sounds that captures the raw, authentic spirit of the streets while creating something entirely new and electrifying.
Leaving his third year of med school to pursue music, Cimafunk – also known as Erik Iglesias Rodriguez – became a household name when his hit single ‘Me Voy’ rose in the Cuban charts and led to an international tour for his debut album, ‘Terapia’.
Since then, he has released two EPs and two albums. ‘El Alimento’ cemented his place in the funk-soul world by boasting collaborations with George Clinton, CeeLo Green and Lupe Fiasco.
‘Pa Tu Cuerpa’, with the lead single ‘Catalina’ is nominated for record of the year at the Latin Grammys.
Read more ... Juno, Rolling Stone
Peace of the Action
DAMU THE FUDGEMUNK
Released 22 November 2024
Def Presse Editions
****-
Artists at their core historically have created their best work under adventurous circumstances and that will be very evident in the listening experience of Damu the Fudgemunk’s “Peace of Action”.
Expect the unexpected.
The vast diversity of KPM’s library provided limitless range for the ears and mind of a seasoned veteran like Damu who considers storytelling a vital component of art.
Peace of Action is the latest release from artist Earl “Damu the Fudgemunk” Davis, and also, the newest installment of Def Pressé’s series of projects made in partnership with KPM (and associated music libraries).
With several titles in the series with notable names like Blockhead and Stro Elliot since its inception in 2021, Def Pressé Editions x KPM returned the artist that launched the line: Washington D.C.’s Damu the Fudgemunk marked the beginning of the Def Pressé Editions x KPM Crate Diggers legacy with his critically acclaimed (as featured on NPR) Conversation Peace in late summer of 2021. Three years later all original parties have teamed up to present album 2, Peace of Action.
Like it’s predecessor, Peace of Action features nine all new tracks, however this album contains no guests or vocals and is fully instrumental.
Yes, seven years is quite some time, but don’t confuse the decision to prioritize making music with vocals to any inactivity on his part. Check the catalog and you’ll see productions for MC’s like Raw Poetic and Blu account for lost time. During the particular hiatus from making solely Hip Hop records in the conventional form, Damu has composed, produced and performed on some really exciting Jazz projects. His work with Archie Shepp has met with great success and the album they made together, Ocean Bridges is often talked about years after release and heralded by people like Gilles Peterson.
The creative process that included traveling to London and digging through KPM’s archive in real time spawned the freedom to break away from what many may define as a “calling card” and musically show a different dimension in an alternate universe.
Read more ... Bandcamp
TRAИƧA
RED HOT ORG - VARIOUS ARTISTS
Released 22 November 2024
Red Hot Org
*****
‘Mahashmashana’ is assured, emotive and luminous, Tillman, aka Father John Misty’s distinctive phasing is magnificent, his melodies are gorgeous and this soul-baring record is set to be a firm favourite for both new fans and the existing congregation that worship at the altar of Father John Misty.
Red Hot is a non-profit organization that produces music and media dedicated to social change, beginning in 1990 at the height of the AIDS pandemic.
Red Hot's mission is to raise awareness about diversity and equal access to health care. The company has produced 25 projects to date and given away over 15 million dollars to organizations around the world.
With production beginning in 2021, and over 100 artists contributing, TRANƧA marks one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by Red Hot - a spiritual journey across 8 chapters and 46 songs, spotlighting the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today. It softens the edges of the world we know, and invokes powerful dreams of the futures that might one day thunder from its cracks. The album's instantly memorable cover speaks to the tension between nature and constructed environments, and the tension of transness in the western gender binary.
Transa includes new works by Sade Adu with a culture-shifting ballad “Young Lion” sung for her trans son, Izaak; a side-length original by André 3000 and appearances by Sam Smith, L’Rain & more.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Complex Emotions
THE BAD PLUS
Released 8 November 2024
The Bad Plus, Mack Avenue Records
*****
Complex Emotions is an exciting album that stands out from the tradition-loving uniformity of most jazz recordings.
Jazz thrives on the unconventional, which is often interpreted as an intensification of the already familiar, almost as a counterpoint from the (jazz) basement to the fraying and exaggerated modernity of serious music on stage. The Bad Plus take a different approach and subscribe to song structures. On their latest album Complex Emotions, however, they have released the handbrake and sometimes take a surprisingly rough approach.
The quartet consisting of the two founding members Reid Anderson on double bass and synthesiser and Dave King on drums and synthesiser as well as Ben Moder (David Bowie Maria Schneider) on guitar and Chris Speed (Kurt Rosenwinkel, Tim Berne) on tenor saxophone create an immediate sound atmosphere on Complex Emotions that seems close enough to touch.
The way in which they line up melodic passages and play around them with scratchy accents, the way in which the drums inject musically useful overplay in places and the way in which the bass securely carries the structure make the new album a real experience.
Brett Bullion has fanned out and mixed the sometimes very dense sound structure of Complex Emotions in a way that is easy to hear through.
Read more ... Hi Res Audio
Curyman II
ROGÊ
Released 22 November 2024
Diamond West Records
*****
11 songs that skip across the samba lexicon; gentle, funky, yearning, centred on hope and our connection to nature and the orixás (deities).
Forty seven is quite an age to make your international breakthrough, but on the 20th anniversary of his debut album, Rogê, this Brazilian singer-songwriter, born Roger José Cury, shows the value of persistence. At home, Rogê’s engaging, sandy vocals and choppy, soul-influenced guitar brought huge success, but in a tiny arena: a 10-year residency at the downtown Rio samba club Carioca da Gema. A wider audience proved elusive, even after he co-composed the theme for Rio’s 2016 Olympics. Alarmed by his city’s escalating violence, Rogê relocated his family to Los Angeles, where an encounter with US producer Tommy Brenneck proved instant chemistry. Brenneck knew little of Braziliana, but with a CV embracing Amy Winehouse and soulster Charles Bradley, he knew talent. Rogê’s master stroke was to coax hallowed arranger Arthur Verocai to overdub strings. Verocai is a veteran of the golden age of 70s tropicalismo and singers such as Jorge Ben and Caetano Veloso, and that era’s joyous spirit shines through on lush but sprightly pieces such as opener Pra Vida and Mistério da Raça. An exuberant, heartwarming creation.
Read more ... The Guardian
Got A Story To Tell
THEE SACRED SOULS
Released 4 October 2024
*****
What swirls together on Got A Story To Tell is an appreciation of decades of soul music, and beyond - a sound and feel that is timeless, lived in, and very much in the now.
The highly anticipated follow-up to Thee Sacred Souls's breakout 2022 self-titled debut, Got A Story To Tell, features 12 all original new songs, a soaring statement of exquisite craftsmanship from this young band from San Diego whose story grows bigger by the day. Recorded and produced by Gabriel Roth at Penrose Recorders, in Daptone’s Riverside, CA studio, and written in the throes of supporting their 2022 album - which was met with significant excitement and major touring that brought them across the world.
Album opener “Lucid Girl” champions independent women, set to some of the toughest sounding drums and bass the band has yet to put to tape. “Waiting On The Right Time” slinks with a touch of slow-burning psychedelia. A plea for empathy punctuates “One and the Same,” with Lane singing: “We’re one and the same, I feel one day / We learn to live with each other / In love, not fear / Just for a moment, why can’t we be together.” “On My Mind” is a sweeping orchestration, with Lane navigating the complexities of finding happiness while balancing the good with the bad. The album is punctuated with strings and squelching guitar, trundling piano, pops of conga, horns - it makes for a thrilling, layered listen that rewards with multiple spins.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Banbirrngu
The Orchestral Sessions
GURRUMMUL
PRAGUE METROPOLITAN ORCHESTRA
Released 8 November 2024
Skinnyfish Music
****-
Each piece exhibits variation, reservation, and strength of purpose. The orchestra brings a unique sentiment to the performances, providing depth, breadth, and a dynamic range that cannot be achieved with an acoustic trio; from subtlety through to grandeur.
The legacy of Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, one of Australia's most culturally significant and highly decorated artists, continues with the release of a new posthumous album.
Banbirrngu - The Orchestral Sessions, which features re-workings of the acclaimed Yolŋu singer-songwriter's music from across his career.
The album follows on from the multiple award-winning Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow), which was completed in 2017, just weeks before Gurrumul's untimely death due to liver and kidney damage related to a hepatitis B infection he carried since childhood.
This new symphonic project was recorded in Prague by the Prague Metropolitan Orchestra, conducted by Jan Chalupecký, and features new arrangements by Australian composer Erkki Veltheim.
The project was produced by Gurrumul's longtime friend and collaborator Michael Hohnen, who is the co-director of Darwin label Skinnyfish Music.
Banbirrngu is deeply rooted in ancestral songlines, encapsulating "themes of birth, life, and the cyclical return to the earth", according to a media statement
Read more ... ABC
Fever Longing Still
PAUL KELLY
Released 1 November 2024
EMI
****-
"With his 29th album, the Melbourne songwriter goes back to basics – assembling a classic rock band who tumble through tracks of desire and devotion" - The Guardian
Saying Paul Kelly has gone back to first principles with his 29th album may be perplexing. There is a generation who don’t know and another who may not remember that restlessness was not always his state of being. That wondering what direction the Melbourne-based songwriter has taken was not a thought that occurred on the eve of each album release.
So probably the last thing anyone expected in 2024 was a band-focused, pop rock record that jangles and bustles as much is it sighs and cries – structured in the style of a two-sided vinyl that might have come out in the early 90s. But that’s where we are, and Kelly comes with a bunch of familiars.
There’s Bill McDonald on bass and Peter Luscombe on drums, Dan Kelly and Ash Naylor on guitar, Cameron Bruce on keyboards, and occasionally, Vika and Linda Bull on backing vocals – some of whom go back more than 30 years with Kelly, and all of whom know how to make a room of musicians feel like a band.
An old-school band doing old-school variety with old-school energy. It worked then; it works now.
First principles doesn’t just apply to the music though, as Kelly builds these songs around the classic four Ds: desire, devotion, disappointment, death. You know, the way God, Elvis, Townes Van Zandt and Shakespeare intended
Read more ... The Guardian
Maujuda
PARVYN
Released 1 November 2024
Parvyn Bennett
*****
Parvyn Singh is a Punjabi Australian singer, dancer and musician based in Adelaide. Best known for her work as vocalist in cult psychedelic band The Bombay Royale. Her work is informed by electronica and jazz, her background in Sikh devotional music and her training in classical Indian music and dance. In addition, Parvyn has spent her life on stage touring internationally with her father Dya Singh.
Centred around finding one’s path in life, the 7 tracks explore different stories and perspectives in discovery and acceptance, opening with the first single and self love anthem ‘Free To Be Myself’.
Touching on the complexities of migrating to a new place, ‘Lay Awake’ is told through the story of her grandmother ‘bebeji’, with commentary on ‘how migrants sometimes hold on to their culture so tightly that it can cause a rift between generations, not realising that back in their homeland it has progressed and modernised’ describes Parvyn. The material includes moments of introspection in the new single ‘New Game’, and ‘Divine’, woven between instrumental improvisation from Parvyn’s husband Josh Bennett on electric guitar, and lyrics in Urdu/Punjabi in ‘Huna Lai Jio’ as the track touches on the importance of community and finding your people, and ending the musical voyage at album closer ‘Back to the Ocean’.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Forever Changed
NAT BARTSCH
Released 15 November 2024
****-
“Forever Changed is immersive music you can soak in, that explores these sensory needs,”
Australian composer and pianist Nat Bartsch reflects on her sensory experience of music and celebrates her discovery of her autistic/ADHD identity in her immersive new album Forever Changed.
Bartsch recorded the album at home, with her partner and seven-year-old son sleeping down the hall, and it reflects on significant changes in her life, including divorce, new love and a new family.
“When everything changed, so did my listening habits,” Bartsch says. “Instead of turning to ‘meditative’ music in difficult times, I was drawn to a sensory-seeking wall of sound: artists like At the Drive In, Tears for Fears, Cornelius, Jon Hopkins and Floating Points.
Consulting with other AuDHD people, and music therapists, I realised that I am not alone. Many neurodivergent people seem to find complex, detailed or dramatic music soothing. High pitched melodies, interlocking patterns, grounding rhythms. Richly layered, textured and varied sound.”
“The music has same gentleness and repetition as Forever, and No Time At All: but there is glitter and detail on top. Some pieces are solo piano lullabies for the corner of a room; others are multi-layered, ethereal works that create a room for the listener to step into.”
Read more ... ABC
The Rituals of Infinity
GREG FOAT
Released 8 November 2024
Ameritz Music
****-
'The Rituals of Infinity' album is inspired by many things. Some titles are named after iconic science fiction books such as The Rituals Of Infinity, A Private Cosmos, The Dark Labyrinth and The World of the Red Sun. Minerva's Owl, on the other hand, is about the Ancient Greek Legend.
London-based keyboardist and composer Greg Foat is back with his new album, 'The Rituals of Infinity'. Greg's first memory with the piano goes all the way back to his Aunt's house at aged 3 - where he fell off the piano stool. Since then, his relationship with the piano has evolved into a fulfilling, and successful career. He began taking an interest in composing at the age of 11, and truly ignited his love for Jazz after attending a workshop with Jeff Clyne, Olaf Vas, Trevor Tomkins and Nick Weldon at the age of 15. He then studied jazz at Middlesex University, followed by 6 months in Sweden on an Erasmus grant which lead to his first professional studio session there at 21. Greg has worked as a professional musician ever since, and has moulded a wonderfully multifaceted career within the Jazz music genre. Greg is planning a debut performance of 'The Rituals of Infinity' at Worthy Earth Festival in late September, in Hampshire.
"The owl of Minerva takes flight only at dusk." so wrote G. W. F. Hegel, the nineteenth century's major philosopher of history. By that, he meant that any given phase of history can be understood only in retrospect — after it's over. A beautifully fitting closing of the album. The album features the legendary Art Themen on Soprano and Tenor Saxophones, and Trevor Walker on Trumpet and Flugel Horn in a fine supportive role harmonising with Katherine Farnden on Cor Anglais. Natcyet Wakili has such a fluid approach to the drums which really makes the album special, alongside Jasper Osbourne on Bass Guitar. Shawn Lee also stopped by the studio with his horror movie classic waterphone - adding some eery atmospheric finishing touches to the album.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Not A Stranger
ELA STILES
Released 19 September 2024
Felt Sense
****-
On this new LP Stiles embraces "orchestral grandeur, dark pulsating dance floor bangers, euphoric pop hooks and intimate ballads", signalling a bold new era for the artist. Influences are diverse, spanning global folk sounds to industrial textures.
Not A Stranger is the fourth album from Ela Stiles, the acclaimed Melbourne artist known for solo explorations of folk and electronic genres as well as her work with bands like Songs and Bushwalking.
In a recent interview, Stiles described her songwriting process: "My way of writing is pretty much to make a beat, record a basic melody and then I do toplining, which is singing whatever, anything, but just getting the rhythm and the melody down. And then for me I just fit words in."
Stiles also touched on the development of the record: "'I've been working on it since 2017...I think it's good that it took that long because otherwise it wouldn't be the same record. I learnt a lot of things and I learnt a lot of production stuff.'
The extended creative process has resulted in a captivating collection. Not A Stranger balances lush pop melodies and soaring vocals, with moments of restraint and more experimental song structures.
Read more ... RRR
LIVE at Eureka Hotel 1979 and Tivoli Sydney 1982
RENEE GEYER
Released 8 November 2024
(Australian Road Crew Association)
****-
Truly a time capsule - these sound desk recordings of Renee Geyer capture Australia's great singer in full flight.
Marcia Hines’ defined her as “A game changer. A soul diva. My sister in song.” Added Kate Ceberano, “Renée the powerful, the diva, the brutal, the original, the temperamental, the stellar, the shapeshifter, the original, the unforgettable, the irreplaceable Renée!”
“I wanted to be a singer as long as I could remember. I never married, I never had children, I never had a house. I simply was a nomad because that was the lifestyle I chose.”
The singer once described herself as “a white Hungarian Jew from Australia sounding like a 65-year-old black man from Alabama.”
Renée lived her life where she had no regrets. The exception was over the album cover of her first US release. It was her fourth Australian studio album Moving Along, retitled Renee Geyer, which included a re-recorded version of her hit “Heading In The Right Direction” and some tracks featuring Stevie Wonder’s band and produced by legendary Motown producer Frank Wilson. The powerful black radio stations started to play advance copies of “Heading In The Right Direction” and “Stares And Whispers”.
The album was surely going to break her in America. But her (black) producer Wilson and US label Polydor advised her that the radio interest was only because they thought she was black. They suggested they release the album without her photo. Renée absolutely refused. When the record came out with “my big pink huge face” on the cover, black radio stopped playing it, and the album failed to chart despite great acclaim. Years later the singer admitted to radio station Double J, “I should have gone along with it actually. I was just stupid in those days. I should have just played the game like they were gonna do.
Read more ... ARCA
Hard Truths
FULTON STREET
Released 1 November 2024
Stoic Records
****-
The spirit of the late Renee Geyer is truly alive in the grooving bass and guitar riffs, warm melodic organ, bright horn arrangements, soaring strings and – of course – powerhouse vocal performances of contemporary Melbourne outfit Fulton Street.
In a lot of ways, ‘Hard Truths’ was the album that almost never was. Production started at the beginning of 2020 but before it could gain momentum, Melbourne was thrown into one of the world’s longest lockdowns, leaving the band to adapt and record horns and strings remotely in Tasmania. Post lockdowns, with the local music scene in ruins, the band slowly rebuilt and finally felt ready to revisit the record.
The turmoil of the world seemed to reflect the inner turmoil of songwriter and front woman Shannen Wick who used the record as a way to process “heartbreak and the declining state of the world” and take a wholly “unfiltered approach” to songwriting – an approach evident from the first note of this dynamic and spectacularly honest album.
The tone of the record is immediately set with the opening track ‘A Woman Scorned’, an instrumental that encapsulates the scoring of iconic Blaxploitation films. From there ‘Hard Truths’ explores the often misunderstood lens of female rage, with its premier single ‘Disappointment’ where Wick growls, “If I wanted a disappointment, I would’ve stayed with my last man.”
‘Hard Truths’ isn’t one note, however, with songs like ‘Weight of the World’ and ‘Mama’s Eyes’ that embody Fulton Street’s signature storytelling, as the record explores themes of family, migration and finding home. The album manages to be both musically playful and achingly real.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Let's Do It
JEMMA CHER
Released 25 October 2024
Jemma Cher
****-
Jemma Cher, a gifted Melbourne vocalist, brings maturity, sophistication, and dazzling virtuosity to each and every performance. At only 23 years old, Jemma boasts extensive stage experience which has shaped her into the artist she is today.
Her exceptional talent was recognised when she won the 'Sing Loud' competition in 2014 under the auspices of Reconciliation Australia, with judges Delta Goodrem and Gurrumul selecting her. This experience introduced Jemma to the unifying power of music and its effect on people.
Since then, Jemma has headlined over two hundred solo performances, received four Performing Arts scholarships, placed first in numerous local competitions and eisteddfods, and reached the semi-finals of the Rob Guest Endowment award at just 17 years old.
Jemma's unique vocal abilities, which include a large range, effortless tone, and exceptional control, add something special to her performances in Jazz, Gospel, and R&B genres.
"This album encapsulates me, a body of work that is versatile, unscripted and can take you anywhere. We recorded this album in October 2023 after a year of sold out shows, the audience needed a place to hear my music, rather than releasing 1 or 2 singles, I am releasing a whole album. Collaborating with incredible musicians and especially the talented Lior on his song Sonja has really been a highlight."
Read more ... Jemma Cher
Reinvention
JAIMEE JACKETT
Released 6 September 2024
****-
With a dynamic voice that morphs from glass clear and sweet, to blues-drenched wails, Jackett draws in audiences with her raw delivery, story and grit.
Dancing with death provides an interesting perspective on life. Genre-fluid pop artist, multi-instrumentalist and brain cancer survivor Jaime Jackett is a powerful and evocative Canadian - Australian performer based in Broome, Western Australia. Her music delicately treads the contrast between light and dark, deliberately juxtaposing them, and playing with the patterns and shadows they create.
Anchored by hooks, her music is influenced by a wide range of genres drawing in pure pop, folk and soul. Her cleverly penned lyrics tell tales of love, tribulations, and connection to the planet and community.
Read more ... Triplej Unearthed
Phases
STELLAR MOON
Released 7 March 2024
Monique Le Lievre
****-
Full power vocals, ethereal backing vocals and strong horn lines, all drenched in SOUL with undeniable Country-Rock roots and Funky undertones.
Stellar Moon is First Nations artist hailing from the Kimberley in Western Australia. A proud Nyikina Jarndoo (Nyikina Woman), she's now releasing her debut album after being in cover bands for 20 years and songwriting in secret!
A sassy style with punchy powerful vocals, Stellar Moon writes important songs about healing and empowerment aiming to stir revolutions in the listener.
Her songs are all soul with dashes of funk, rock and other flavours.
This album of eclectic genres blends deep thoughtful lyrics with compelling riffs, intriguing solos and dynamic instrumentation. The concept of living by nature's cycles, specifically the phases of the Moon, woven into the stories of life as Stellar hopes to stir inner revolutions in us all.'
She writes: "Just like the Moon, we all go through patches of both darkness and luminance in life, sometimes we bask in the light and sometimes we hang out in the shadow. It’s all needed and important. No matter what phase we are in, like the Moon, we are still always whole.
I work as a life coach and sound healer as well as a Musician and I taught Music in schools for 20 years. I’m obsessed with human behaviour, what makes people do what they do, what sets us alike and apart. I’m forever inspired by the stories of my clients and students and the sometimes incredibly tough experiences they’ve survived to be sitting in front of me.
This album also reeks of my own journey of healing and empowerment, the journey to be feeling ok with myself, to moving through thick cloaks of self-doubt and criticism, to knocking down the tall poppy’s and imposters in my head, to free myself enough to take that next step in doing what I love. To being ok to shine".
Read more ... Bandcamp
Corey Boy Child
JEEYUEN LWOY
Released 7 October 2024
Jeeyuen Lwoy
****-
Jeeyeun Lwoy's nine track album"Corey Boy Child" is a heartbreakingly moving eulogy for the artist's deceased young son and an inspirational testament to a father's love and faith.
Uploading this set of previously unreleased songs to Triplej's Unearthed channel in October/November 2024, nearly 20 years since their recording, Lwoy wrote:
"Hi my name is Jeeyuen I'm getting a bit long in the tooth these day 🙂But Back in the early 1990s to the early 2000s I was in a few different bands up in the top end of Western Australia.
Back in 1992 I was the lead singer of heavy rock band Silhoutte. Our 5 mins of fame was playing at the first Stompem Ground charity event aired by ABC up in Broome Western Australia. But yeah up until the early 2000s I played in a few different bands.
In 2005 I recorded a an album called Corey Boychild but never released it, It was to close to my heart at the time as lot of the songs were written as a form of healing for me. The album has pretty much sad songs to do with loss of Love as you will hear if you take the time to listen. Its been over 20yrs since they were written. And I hope they give comfort to whoever hears them.
The album Corey Boy Child was recorded in redbank plains, in the basement of Michael Travers back in 2004. And Sound engineered, mixed by Ben Glatzer, Revolver studio Morley W.A."
Read more ... Triplej Unearthed
For The Dreams
KING STINGRAY
Released 8 November 2024
King Stingray Civilians Cooking Vinyl
****-
"The Northern Territory band follow up their award-winning debut with another instant classic full of catchy hooks, massive choruses and good vibes" The Guardian
King Stingray are a four piece Yolŋu surf-rock band from Yirrkala North-East Arnhem Land, Australia. Creating a genre of their own in Yolŋu surf-rock, the band merge ancient indigenous melodies with a fresh new sound. It is the follow-up of the iconic band Yothu Yindi - King Stingray are the children of the iconic Australian band Yothu Yindi
In its five star review, The Guardian posed the question that attaches to any band's sophomore album "How do you follow up an instant classic?". They observed "This was the challenge faced by King Stingray, the self-described Yolŋu surf-rock group from Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land, whose self-titled 2022 debut sounded more like a greatest hits collection than a first album. It deservedly won the Australian Music prize".
Their assessment - "Thankfully, the band hasn’t overthought things. Their answer to the above question is simple: make another one. For the Dreams may as well be titled King Stingray II. The themes are practically identical: the joys of being on country (and getting back to it), slowing down, chilling out. The wind, the sun, the rain, the moon, the tides.
In that sense, there is little development from their debut, musically or lyrically. King Stingray have simply stuck to what they’re already exceptional at. For the Dreams teems with hooks, the choruses are massive and the sound is universally bright, up-tempo and uplifting. And there are no bad vibes, anywhere".
Read more ... The Guardian
The Bliss
SOUTH SUMMIT
Released 8 November 2024
Virgin Music Australia
****-
The Bliss captures the band’s journey, blending intricate lyricism with bold soundscapes. As lead vocalist Zaya Reuben describes; embracing vulnerability and growth.
Formed in early 2020, the Boorloo/Perth group quickly established themselves with their organic blend of rock, reggae, and hip-hop, earning multiple five-star reviews on triple j Unearthed. From the start, they knew they had something special, and their debut album was a milestone they were determined to perfect.
South Summit experimented with over 60 demos before narrowing it down to 12 tracks with the help of producer Dave Parkin. Known to the group as "the sixth member of the band" and "a wizard," Parkin's influence was pivotal.
Recording "and basically living" at Blackbird Sound Studio for a year and a half allowed the band to immerse themselves fully in the creative process. Extending from just the music, this time at Blackbird sounded prolific to their friendship as well, as the band recalled backyard songwriting sessions with acoustic guitars and beers, or taking breaks to grab "the best steak and cheese pie down the road from the studio".
Read more ... Bandcamp
.jpg)
Mungoona Buckle (EP)
MUNGOONA BUCKLE
Released 8 November 2024
Mungoona Buckle
****-
This set of four songs - which appears only on Spotify, as far as I can find - is released under the name Mungoona Buckle and credited to Ernest Buckle (writer) and Samuel Newman (Producer).
I discovered this EP on a marvelous Spotify Playlist entitled "Kimberley Music", compiled by a well-informed user Monique Love (aka Monique Le Lievre / Stellar Moon) that celebrates recent releases by artists from the Kimberley region of North Western Australia*.
Backed primarily by his cascading acoustic guitar, Buckle's style derives from (Robert Johnson's via Kev Carmody's) blues, (Woody Guthrie's via Archie Roach's ) folk and (Hank Williams' via Stephen Pigram's) country - a style often adopted by the saltwater and desert blues singers of Northern Australia. Buckle sings songs that are immediate and down to earth, of his life on Country. "Gurry" is a tale of surviving on and off the grog, "Missing You" a song of longing after a lost love and "Rum", a blues about wandering around and sleeping rough.
Then, like a stranger wandering into camp, there's "Some People Staring At Me With Strange Eyes", a mysterious slice of electric guitar-centred psychedelia that is worthy of a Bill Laswell, Dirty Three or Bill Frisell.
Thanks for sharing Monique!
(*Full disclosure - The Kimberley is also the home of SunNeverSetsOnMusic - so dear to my heart).
Been Remindin' Me
XPRESS POINT
Released 25 October 2024
Energy Exchange Records
****-
Assembled in 2023 across Melbourne/Naarm, London and Berlin, from surf breaks to crusty drum breaks, Xpress Point is a vehicle for Hayes to search for the perfect bassline, explore funk minimalism, continue nurturing long-time musical relationships.
After a string of ambient and experimental releases across labels such as Bedroom Suck, Best Effort, Ken Oath and Analogue Attic, Matthew Hayes - veteran bassist of Z*F*E*X, (Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange) welcomes his latest project Xpress Point, designed to keep your hips moving rather than kicked back on your couch.
Born out of jam sessions and collaborations with artists such as Dreamcastmoe, Jitwam, Ziggy Zeitgeist, Finn Rees and Allysha Joy and an obsession with reclaiming the nostalgic sound sounds of the Korg M1 and Yamaha DX7, Xpress Point, which takes It’s name from a local surf break off the coast of Phillip Island, (somewhere southeast of Naarm/Melbourne), draws heavily from the boogie tradition with a nod to vapourware, downtempo, balearic and funk breaks.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Blue Desert
JACK J
Released 1 November 2024
Blue Hut Records
****-
Firmly in singer-songwriter mode, ‘Blue Desert’ frames Jack Jutson at his most romantic and swooning, blending nostalgic resonance from late ‘70s and ‘80s strains of MOR and pop with a ‘90s downbeat lustre that cleanly dovetails prevailing trends, needs, for this kind of dreamy quintessence in the modern day.
Jack J is a musician from Sydney, Australia and based in Vancouver, Canada. He is one half of Pender Street Steppers and member of the Mood Hut collective.
The bucolic ‘90s Balearic dance-pop of ‘Wrong Again’ sets up a dead tasty song sequence that strolls from sax-led shimmy and soothing interplay of Jack’s gentle vox with FM synths on ‘Foolish Man’, thru the swaying shoegaze bliss of ‘Down the Line’ featuring Diego Herrera’s kilelr baseline, and recalling Hysterical Love Project, to an absolute gem in the penal;tomato prayer ‘Born Without a Smile’.
The mid tempo strut of ‘At Last’ could almost be a male answer to Sally Shapiro’s brand of Italo and Euro-dance wist, and the dusky stroll ‘Falling Down a Well’ with Aiden Ayers (Juniper Systems) is icing on a very nostalgic, sepia-toned postcard from memory.
Read more ... Boomkat
Transients Volume 3:
For Sorrow
ANDREA KELLER
Released 22 November 2024
Andrea Keller
****-
The third installment of an ongoing series of themed works for trios by the important Australian pianist and composer.
Andrea Keller is an Australian pianist and composer, dedicated to the performance and creation of contemporary jazz and improvised music. She has created and devised numerous albums and projects, and has been highly lauded, receiving three ARIA Awards, five Australian Jazz ‘Bell’ Awards, two Art Music Awards, and fellowships from the MCA/Freedman Foundation and the Australia Council.
Following the success of Transients Volume 1 & Volume 2, both released in 2019 (Volume 1 awarded the 2019 Music Victoria Award for Best Jazz Album and nominated for an ARIA for Best Jazz Album 2019), the music for Transients Volume 3 & 4 was recorded over two days in January 2024 at Head Gap Studio, Preston.
The recordings showcase an extensive pool of creative Melbourne musicians: Jenny Barnes – voice, Angela Davis – saxophone, Niran Dasika – trumpet, Theo Carbo – guitar, Stephen Magnusson – guitar, Andrea Keller – piano, Sam Anning – bass, Ben Vanderwal – drums, Kyrie Anderson – drums, and Joe Talia – drums, alongside Andrea Keller.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Transients Volume 4:
For Joy
ANDREA KELLER
Released 22 November 2024
Andrea Keller
****-
The fourth installment of an ongoing series of themed works for trios by the important Australian pianist and composer.
Andrea Keller created Transients as a series of trios inspired by late mentor Allan Browne’s musical philosophy. Dedicated to a collective approach to music making, the trios stem from a jazz tradition, which they interpret with an uninhibited, and sometimes unconventional, Australian accent. Each version of Transients brings with it a unique repertoire and dynamism, focussing on presenting original compositions and repertoire from the Australian jazz tradition.
Since the launch of Transients in January 2016, Keller’s trios have transformed and expanded to include an extensive pool of creative Melbourne musicians both emerging and established.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Worth Control
CINTA
Released 22 November 2024
ROEY Music
****-
CINTA's voice is the centrepiece—sultry, commanding, and evocative. Her music isn’t just about the rhythm and melody; it’s a journey into the human experience.
Her music is a testament to the power of storytelling, bridging the past and present in a way that feels both fresh and timeless. CINTA is a powerhouse of modern soul, channelling raw and relatable emotion through her music.
‘Worth Control’ is CINTA’s sophomore release. However, rather than it being a chronological artistic step forward, it feels as though we've turned inward, taking a deeper, more introspective journey into the heart of our expression. We've sharpened the vision we had for our first record, and ‘Worth Control’ truly shows how we've grown and come into our own.
Like any good musicians we’re equally enamoured by the classics as we are contemporary, boundary-stretching music, so our goal is always to marry these ideas within our own composition. This union of old and new-school creates a solid platform for our wonderful songwriter, Cinta to demonstrate the magnitude of her vulnerable and authentic storytelling. It’s true-to-life music you can feel in both heart and mind. It’s undeniable that (2021 release) ‘Feel Good’ touched this but ‘Worth Control’ fully embraces it.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Saxon and the Slowbrew
THE SLOWBREW
Released 1 November 2024
North Fitzroy Records
****-
An impressive debut album by soulful combo from Phillip Island, south east of Melbourne.
This is an album of original compositions from the songwriting partnership of bass player Dave Prideaux and guitarist Lachlan Gale, featuring the mellifluous, soulful vocals of Saxon Taylor-LePage.
There's next to no information available online but one suspects there's considerable accumulated experience hidden in the backstory of these players. Perhaps the band's name is a clue?
Even so, with considerable poise, The Slowbrew has forged an evenly-paced, set of ten lovingly-formed songs. And although each song is relatively short (the album just 32 minutes), the overall album is compelling: it's narrative arc, from the opening "All Time Lover" to sign-off instrumental "Until We Meet Again", invites play (and replay) in full. Consequently, this debut suggests that The Slowbrew fits comfortably into the milieu of the Melbourne scene, somewhere in the vicinity of Kylie Auldist, Allysha Joy and Surprise Chef.
Saxon & the Slowbrew consists of:
Dave Prideaux - Bass/Vocals
Saxon Taylor-LePage - Vocals
James van Cuylenburg - Keys
Lachlan Gale - Guitar
Melijah Maghanoy - Flute
Tomorrow Is A Month Away
THE OFFTOPICS
Released 14 November 2024
Polash Larsen
****-
“Tomorrow Is a Month Away” is the first studio album from Naarm based purveyors of punch-drunk Funk and unsteady Rocksteady, The Offtopics. With the band’s typical commitment to providing value to the listener, they have assembled over a period of ten months an epic collection of sixteen tracks on this, the digital version of the album.
From Bourbon Street in New Orleans to Memphis and Jamaica via the bars of Brunswick, The Offtopics deliver infectious songs that will make you tap your feet and bring a smile to your face. Fronted by funk dynamo Polash Larsen, these are some of Melbourne’s most talented musicians working their basses off to show you a good time.
Rhythm tracking commenced on the Survival Day weekend in the Brunswick West Studio of Darius Kedros. The Offtopics’ bandleader and showrunner, Polash Larsen, set a cracking pace with what he thought was a deliberately impossible target of fifteen rhythm tracks in two days. “I didn’t want us to get bogged down in perfection. Trying too hard to get it right can be a guaranteed path to the yips so I wanted to make sure there was always something else to get on with.” To everyone’s surprise, the band got through the entire list including tracks which the band had neither rehearsed nor played live before.
Read more ... Bandcamp
.jpg)
Better Days (EP)
LEO JAMES
Released 15 October 2024
Leo Thomson / Body Language
****-
Better Days is the sixth release by Leo James. The EP weaves together the waveforms of James’ evolving sound, from the first tracks he made as a teenager looping samples on an MPC, to the raw, stripped back machine funk of his early Body Language releases, and the deeper, more dubbed and smudged palette of his recent work.
With his tasteful take on breakbeat-driven sounds, Melbourne producer Leo James shows his range here with different grooves all exploring different moments. 'Better Days' is one that has you gazing off to the middle distance, lost in the rueful pads. 'Olive Grove' is a slowed-down and dubbed-out sound with lots of lovely reverb and 'Burst The Gates' is a deep digi-dub style cut with angelic vocals. 'A Thousand White Kites Flying High Above The Sea' is the ambient laced downtempo closer for late-night dreaming.
Read more ... Bandcamp, Juno Records
Lighthill Sessions
ANDREW DE SILVA
Released 30 August 2024
Believe Entertainment
***--
An energetic release from Melbourne artist Andrew De Silva who specializes in a frenetic mix of R&B, Funk & Soul .
De Silva has a strong career resume full of achievements: from winning an ARIA for highest selling single of 1996“Lets Groove” with his band CDB to being a well respected solo artist / producer and seasoned performer, opening for major acts such as Mariah Carey and Boys II Men. He won Australia's Got Talent in 2012 singing all original songs and performs variously with his own band, in a "Dedication to Prince" tribute show or even as a solo artist.
Not much information is available online in relation to this release or reviews, except the following from the artist himself. : "This album was recorded with my band at Lighthill Studios and captures what we do on stage. Also on the album are a couple of LIVE tracks recorded from our shows! It also captures years of friendship and playing together. Something I’ve always wanted to do."
Drums - John Salerno
Bass - Rod Bustos
Keys - Paolo Cecchinelli
Guitar - Andre Dumas
Read more ... Andre De Silva
Soft Focus
JOEL SARAKULA
Released 8 November 2024
Legere Records
***--
Imagine if Ray Manzarek was the frontman for the Bee Gees... It’s a neat visual introduction to Joel Sarakula, a UK-based Australian artist who writes, produces and sings Soulful Pop, gazing out at a contemporary world through vintage glasses, vintage threads and long blond hair. His music is informed by a rich, 1970s-inspired palette, drawing on soft-rock, funk and disco influences: sunny, uptempo jams for darker times.
Joel Sarakula is an AUS/UK artist who writes, produces and sings Soulful Pop, gazing out at a contemporary world through vintage glasses. His music is informed by a rich, 1970s-inspired musical and visual palette, drawing on Soft-Rock, Funk and Disco influences, filtering them for our darker times while still remaining hopeful.
He was born in Sydney, based in London and international in outlook.
Joel Sarakula's new album “Soft Focus” is a mid-career album spanning his many influences and genres including Soft-Rock, Funk and Indie Pop, all brought under the umbrella of his gentle gaze and a 'soft' aesthetic. This is a lovingly crafted album, well polished and it feels like the culmination of Sarakula's adventures in soulful soft-rock and his defining statement in the genre. Echoes of soft-rock icons Ned Doheny, Boz Scaggs, Todd Rundgren and Michael Franks ripple gently through the album.
Self-aware that he looks and occasionally sounds like the love child of Ray Manzarek and the Gibb brothers, his self-deprecating sense of humour is always there just below the fringe.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Wave Theory
TAMIL ROGEON
Released 4 October 2024
Impressive Collection / BBE Music
****-
Listeners can expect the same modal experiments, driving percussion and cosmic synths of Son of Nyx as well as new and exhilarating experiments in electric string instrumentation.
Tamil Rogeon, the Melbourne based multifaceted jazz, classical and electronic violin & viola player firmly cemented his reputation with the critical success of his 2021 album Son Of Nyx which found favour with the likes of Gilles Peterson, Laurent Garnier, Rebecca Vasmant, BBC6 Music's' Cerys Matthews and Deb Grant, and was a Jazz FM’ Album of the Week.
Building upon that highly original sound concept, Wave Theory draws from the jazz fusion movements of the 70s and 80s and conjures up textured soundscapes rich with cosmic synths, soaring vocals and deep jazz funk, and sees Tamil once again joining forces with Son of Nyx contributors Rita Satch and Daniel Mougerman, plus new collaborators and special guests including Lance Ferguson and celebrated trumpeter, friend Audrey Powne.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Grief, Hope, Love
JENNA CAVE
FEAT. KRISTIN BERARDI, YUTARO OKUDA, TOM AVGENICOS, LORETTA PALMEIRO, HANNAH JAMES, CHLOE KIM
Released 8 November 2024
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
****-
With themes of hope and resilience in the face of loss and despair, these songs became an outlet for me to articulate, process and express my raw emotional states during the early stages of grief, including my sheer gratitude for the love and joy that still existed alongside my pain.
Jenna Cave is an Australian composer, bandleader, vocalist and saxophonist. She directed the 19-piece Divergence Jazz Orchestra in Sydney as resident composer and arranger from 2012 to 2023, producing three critically acclaimed albums Shadows and Light (2023), Fake it Until You Make It (2016) and The Opening Statement (2013)
She is currently writing for/performing with smaller ensembles.
Jenna Cave writes: "In April 2022, at the age of 38, my life was completely turned on its head. I became a solo parent to my three-year-old daughter and was thrown into the depths of grief and trauma and when my husband died from suicide.
Commissioned by ABC Jazz, “Grief, Hope, Love” is a suite of 6 songs I wrote in the 12 months after his death.
Sung with deep empathy by the exceptional vocalist Kristin Berardi, I hope that this music may allow listeners suffering from grief and loss (particularly due to suicide) to feel heard and held, and that sharing my stories may increase grief literacy in the community".
credits
Jenna Cave (composer/musical director)
Kristin Berardi (vocals)
Yutaro Okuda (guitar)
Tom Avgenicos (trumpet/flugelhorn)
Loretta Palmeiro (saxophones, clarinet)
Hannah James (double bass)
Chloe Kim (drums)
Read more ... Bandcamp
We Make Sounds This Way
SELMA SAVOLAINEN, HELEN SVOBODA
Released 28 November 2024
Mustik Motel
****-
An album of experimental duo voice work
Melbourne double bassist, vocalist and composer Helen Svoboda wrote:
Living on an eighteenth-century fortress island in Finland has its perks. Having visited Suomenlinna sporadically throughout my childhood, it was surreal to arrive again in my late twenties - this time, to stay for a three-month residency as part of the Helsinki International Artist Programme (HIAP). Originally born in Finland, my earliest memories exist within the stunning Nordic winter landscape. Now I had arrived back into this nostalgic, magical space as a fully fledged adult (albeit, with a child's mind).
For the first time in a long while, I was somewhere for no other reason than to create. And this, in itself, felt like an alternate reality. Dragging my double bass through the snow from the ferry to my studio apartment, a mild blood rush danced throughout my body. A temporary release from responsibility, I had entered an intentional escape from my fast-paced freelancer lifestyle in Melbourne.
The next three months were for unfiltered curiosity surrounding my performance practice as a double bassist, vocalist and composer.
My time in Finland also allowed me to reconnect with close friends and collaborators during focussed periods. I co-composed and recorded an album of experimental duo voice works with Helsinki-based vocalist Selma Savolainen (whom I met at the Banff Arts Centre in 2019); German drummer André van der Heide guested on my solo recording across a smorgasbord of percussive objects; Finnish pianist Kari Ikonen and I performed a set of original compositions at Iisalmi Jazz Festival; and Australian cellist James Morley (now based in Switzerland) joined me for a week to begin work on a new duo project. These collaborative periods, interspersed across a predominantly solo venture, breathed new life into my 'practice' as a result of sustained artistic friendship and trust.
Read more ... Australian Music Center Resonate Magazine
Volant
MATTHEW OTTIGNON
Released 26 July 2024
Earshift Music
****-
Crafted amidst a period of solitude, Volant represents an ambitious step in Ottignon's artistic musical journey, drawing inspiration from birds in flight—a motif that ultimately defines the album's ethereal quality.
From one of Australia’s most in-demand saxophonists, Matthew Ottignon comes a new ensemble and self-titled album Volant. The music effortlessly blends his spiritual jazz influences with the minimalist, introspective acoustic jazz that Australia is renowned for.
Volant presents a narrative of flight and freedom, and through meticulously crafted compositions, Ottignon (tenor, alto and baritone saxophones) makes space for both collective intention and expressive individuality.
Bassist Hannah James has previously collaborated with Ottignon and is known for her impressive ability to ground an ensemble with both her playing and overall confidence as a musician.
2022 Freedman Jazz Finalist Holly Connor, brings an appetite for innovation and creative ambition to Volant as a percussionist.
Pianist Lauren Tsamouras adds sensitivity, subtle nuances and an openness towards experimentation.
With each track, a unique aspect of Ottignon's vision is encapsulated. Moon Rock reinterprets the spiritual jazz sound currently coming out of Los Angeles, while Naturis captures an eerie calm. The Third Bardo explores the effortlessness of ‘flow’ states, and Murmuring mimics the unpredictable yet harmonious flight patterns of starlings. Rocky Lux brings an evolving groove to the fore, Singing Bowls offers a moment of serenity, and Bilpin channels nature’s resilience after devastation. The album closes with Rolling and Circling, showcasing the ensemble's intensity and cohesiveness.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Eternal Afternoon
JOE KAPTEIN
Released 12 July 2024
Joe Kaptein
****-
Expanding his horizons well beyond his jazz training with dubby dabbles, disco ditties, and smatterings of soul, it's clear Kaptein is steering this ship into fantastic new musical waters.
Considered as one of the most exciting players to come out of the new wave of Aotearoa's jazz scene, Joe Kaptein is a multi-instrumentalist (but mainly a pianist) who composes and produces music in Auckland, New Zealand, and also works with The Circling Sun, Princess Chelsea, Nathan Haines, The Situations, and various other local artists of many different styles; and enjoys watching the All Blacks play rugby.
Kaptein is a player whose piano, organ, and synth work defies expectations of what the young guard can do. These five originals, described as "kaleidoscopic yacht-jazz-funk", as well as a reimagined Minnie Riperton classic, feature Kaptein's killer bandmates Elijah Whyte on drums and Wil Goodinson on bass, with the godfather of groove Nathan Haines joining the young'uns on flute and sax.
Read more ... Flying Out NZ
Hadsel
BEIRUT
Released 10 November 2024
****-
The LA Times wrote of ‘Tripping With Nils Frahm’, “Watching him at work, and hearing the audience react, is a little like watching an athlete at the top of his game.” Expect nothing less from Nils Frahm on Paris, a vital document of this ingenious, gifted musician’s endless pursuit of fresh perspectives.
Zach Comndon's musical odyssey has previously taken the New Mexico singer-songwriter from brassy Balkan folk to French and Hispanic music. Along the way, he’s made albums everywhere from his teenage bedroom, a log cabin in upstate New York and the Italian town of Gallipoli. His sixth album as Beirut was conceived while he was living in an old wooden church on the Norwegian island of Hadseløya, seeking refuge from self-doubt, mental collapse, a cancelled tour and briefly career-threatening throat problems. He wrote the album on its 19th century wooden organ, informed by what he describes as the “unfathomable beauty” of the snowy mountains and fjords and the “awesome show” of the northern lights.
Beirut: Hadsel album artwork.
Beirut: Hadsel album artwork.
Accordingly, these dozen tracks have a pure, hymnal quality. Rather than sounding bleak or dark you can hear the healing process under way. With Condon’s warm croon sounding like David Byrne at Sunday service (no voice problems here), the organ is augmented by synthesiser, french horn, trumpet, drum machines and shakers, playful arrangements and overwhelmingly positive sentiments. So Many Plans most obviously ponders the pandemic during which Condon started writing: “We had so many friends / Maybe we’ll see them again.” However, the likes of Island Life and January 18th are joyous earworms and the sublime The Tern triumphantly concludes “It’s not too late to find where you are
Read more ... Nils Frahm
Bleed
THE NECKS
Released 18 October 2024
Northern Sky
***--
It may be unfriendly and demanding beyond a level I've ever experienced from the Necks, but it is so meticulously, disarmingly constructed as such that it might just stand among their most intriguing works to date; leave any expectations of an easy ride at the door, and you'll shocked at how expertly it drains you.
The Necks have nothing to prove to anyone at this point, which is all the explanation you need for why their latest record Bleed exists in the form it does. Their central enterprise is well-charted – a jazz trio churning a single prismatic nugget through their keys-bass-drums matrix until an album's worth of improv has materialised, evolved, and made you question everything you thought you knew about capital-M minimalism – and it's withstood umpteen minor permutations. Admirers of the group's classic one-song, one-album, one-hour formula have welcomed bipartite structures and extra hands into the studio (Aquatic), braced themselves as drummer Tony Buck took leave from the kit to chip and scrape away on his guitar (Chemist), and long since accepted that a Necks record can contain as many tracks as it pleases so long as each treats the thought of a ten-minute runtime as a skimpy baseline (Unfold). The more things change, well, the more chances one has to get the opening minutes of a Necks joint as intuitively as a beat-perfect movie scene, only to find question whether they still get it when they're locked into the same shot quarter of an hour later.
As per last year's Travel, the Necks are still near-peerless in their mastery of a riveting tableau, but Bleed gives the sceptical listener an uncustomary amount of leeway to question why they stepped into the cinema to begin with. Ignore the familiar premise of its sole, forty-minute title-track — this is anything but a standard Necks experience. Like nothing else I've heard from the group, Bleed bears a terminal fixation on negative space; takes an uncompromising step into their minimalist suit and inclines it firmly away from the rapturous Steve Reich-adjacencies that spiralled out of Aether and Chemist's "Abillera", instead plunging headlong into netherspace and ruthlessly resisting any impression of structure that threatens to emerge from its fractured cycles.
Read more ... Sputnik Music
Love & Revolution
NICOLA CONTE
Original Release 2011
Re-released 22 November 2024
Edizioni Ishtar / Schema Records
****-
“Love & Revolution” is a massive work of art that took more than a year to be completed, between 2010 and 2011, when Nicola helmed a vessel full of guests, both Italian and international, a rich collective invited by the Apulian artist to enter his long-time friend Tommy Cavalieri’s studios and participate in a diverse and modern jazz album.
The acclaimed 2011 Nicola Conte album, originally released on Impulse Records only on CD, is finally reissued for the first time on vinyl, in a 2-LP set with gatefold sleeve and a different artwork!
Alongside Nicola’s usual recording bandmates, a wide series of talented singers graces the perfectly crafted soulful notes of this record, starting with Gregory Porter, now a world famous jazz vocalist but still a young rising star back in 2011, when his first album was released; he is here joined on vocal duties by José James, Melanie Charles, Bridgette Amofah, Alice Ricciardi, Veronika Harcsa, Nailah Porter and Ghalia Benali. All the album tracks also enjoy Magnus Lindgren’s excellent arrangements.
In other words, “Love & Revolution” finally shines again thanks to this brand new vinyl edition
Read more ... Bandcamp
Túnel Acústico
MARCOS VALLE
Released 20 September 2024
Far Out Recordings
*****
The renaissance man of Brazilian pop, Marcos Valle return with a startling album that is both a career-spanning retrospective and a vital new chapter in an illustrious career. Valle is one of the very greatest and most important composers, arrangers, writers and performers in Brazilian history.
No one has lived a life quite like Marcos Valle. He became an overnight international sensation, fled a military dictatorship, dodged the Vietnam war draft, had his music sung by Homer Simpson, made enemies with Marlon Brando, and became an unsuspecting fitness guru for multiple generations. But to truly understand the great Brazilian composer, arranger, singer and multi instrumentalist, one must listen to his music.
Between the release of his first album in 1962 and today, Marcos Valle has released twenty-two studio albums traversing definitive bossa nova, classic samba, iconic disco pop, psychedelic rock, nineties dance and orchestral music. He has also had his songs recorded by some of the all time greats, including Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Sergio Mendes, Elis Regina, and (last but not least), Emma Button of the Spice Girls. He has also had his music sampled by Jay-Z, Kanye West, Pusha T and many more.
With his twenty-third studio album Túnel Acustico, Valle set out to bring it all together.
“I believe my music is many things. It goes in different directions. I have many different ways of writing music, sometimes it’s melodies and harmony, sometimes the groove is the focus. But all the music I have made over my sixty year career is unified. It is all natural and it is all sincere. And this is what I wanted to bring to my new album.”
Read more ... Bandcamp
American Railroad
SILKROAD ENSEMBLE
RHIANNON GIDDENS
Released 15 November 2024
The Silkroad Project, Nonesuch Records
****-
"The American Railroad project ... is a tapestry of stories, traditions, and musics that have shaped our multifaceted cultural identity, and that must be heard and recognized. I hope audiences will leave these performances with a clearer sense of where we come from, how we got here, what it cost us - and that we collectively reflect on where we're headed." - Rhiannon Giddens
After the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, a trip from coast to coast that used to take months was shortened to just under a week, allowing for the transport of goods and ideas across the continent in ways previously inconceivable.
Profit-seeking corporations and the American government financed it, but the people who actually built it and who were most affected by it are the focus of this program of music—Indigenous and African Americans as well Irish, Chinese, Japanese, and other immigrant laborers whose contributions have been largely erased from history.
Silkroad’s American Railroad seeks to right these past wrongs by highlighting untold stories and amplifying unheard voices from these communities, painting a more accurate picture of the global diasporic origin of the American Empire.
The project - years in the making - represents Silkroad Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens’s vision for the Silkroad Ensemble, having first raised the idea early in her tenure. American Railroad will include multidisciplinary components ranging from tours across North America and site-specific visual installations to a video documentary series, recording releases, and curricular materials for use by educators and the public.
Read more ... American Railroad
.jpg)
Mr Loverman (Original Score)
SPEAKERS CORNER QUARTET
Released 8 November 2024
OTIH Records
****-
Mr Loverman (Original Score) is the first new music to be released by Speakers Corner Quartet since their critically acclaimed debut (2023) album Further Out Than The Edge, for which they won an Ivor Novello award for their composition ‘Geronimo Blues’ with Kae Tempest.
This is Speakers Corner Quartet’s first original score, an imaginative and empathetic companion to the series which follows the story of seventy-four year old Antiguan-born Londoner Barrington Jedidiah Walker, a life-affirming story about family, love, and being true to yourself.
The soundtrack is a showcase of Speakers Corner Quartet’s compositional versatility, encompassing influences as diverse as highlife, afrobeat, soul, jazz, classical composition, electronic music, and more; the resulting work is as much a mixture of light and dark, love and pain, as the source material from which it is based.
Speakers Corner Quartet (Biscuit on flute, Kwake Bass on drums & percussion, Raven Bush on violin, and Peter Bennie on bass) described the creative process behind the album by saying "We had lots of fun making this music, it became very instinctive and watching Barry and his family’s story unfold was very touching. We found a new way of locking in as a band, which was completely different to how we have worked in the past, allowing us to help tell the story sonically from our perspectives."
Read more ... Purple Melon
Adrian Younge presents
Linear Labs: São Paulo
ADRIAN YOUNGE
Released 15 November 2024
Linear Labs
****-
Adrian Younge is the next generation of soul music. A self-taught musician and recording engineer who has dedicated his life to the study of classic soul music, Younge finds himself at the center of a new soul renaissance with a vision for pushing the boundaries of the music itself.
Since the start of 2020, Adrian Younge has been at the helm of production of 30 albums for his Jazz Is Dead label alongside his partner Ali Shaheed Muhammad. These albums include collaborations with iconic artists such as Roy Ayers, Ebo Taylor, Marcos Valle, Gary Bartz, Doug and Jean Carn, Dom Salvador, Carlos Dafé and countless others, helping reshape and refocus their careers. For the last 12 months, Younge has re-focused his energies into his own music and the outcome has been what he describes as "the pinnacle of his career.”
In these new offerings, he takes everything he has learned in his illustrious career and reaches new heights to be heard on Linear Labs: São Paulo.Linear Labs: São Paulo sparks a new golden era of musical genius defined by the maestro Adrian Younge, encapsulating what he’s learned in building the first era of Linear Labs and its successor label Jazz Is Dead.
Linear Labs: São Paulo marks the evolution of this journey - a compilation of new songs showcasing the musical brilliance of Adrian Younge with artists from around the world. Essentially, the album features one unreleased song from an array of forthcoming albums Younge has produced for Linear Labs, including Something About April III, the tertiary installment of Younge's masterwork trilogy, and a new blaxploitation adventure from hip hop legend Snoop Dogg, entitled Don’t Cry For the Devil.
Also included on this preview is Brazilian actress/ singer Samantha Schmütz, Middle-Eastern singer Liraz, London-based jazz vocalist ALA.NI, afro-futuristic soul singer Bilal and a bonus song with Stereolab’s Lætitia Sadier.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Echoes and Other Songs
MIKE STERN
Released 13 September 2024
Mack Avenue Records
****-
These sessions buzz with electricity. The performances are commanding and the palpable sense of enjoyment should please jazz fans and guitar aficionados alike. Despite the adversity, this ranks amongst Stern's best work. It is an impressive album, full of passion, rugged energy and musical expertise. It serves as a farewell to a friend and a dedication to the memory of Jim Beard.
Echoes and Other Songs is guitarist Mike Stern's first release since the loss of pianist, friend and confidante, Jim Beard in March, 2024. Beard, perhaps best known for his association with Steely Dan, appears here as pianist, keyboardist and producer. Stern is still on the long road to recovery following a fall in 2016 that broke both his arms and left him with nerve damage. He has adapted his technique and now uses a homegrown solution (i.e. tape and glue) to hold his pick instead of playing with his fingers.
Stern's creativity has made him a leading exponent of jazz and fusion guitar since the 1970s, performing with Miles Davis, the Brecker Brothers, Blood, Sweat & Tears and many more. The ultimate electric guitar hero for many, he is joined by an outstanding group of A-list collaborators to interpret eleven of his compositions.
Read more ... All About Jazz
.jpg)
Mum Does The Washing (EP)
JOSHUA IDEHEN
Released 8 November 2024
Big Wednesday
****-
Joshua Idehen’s Mum Does The Washing EP is a revelation. It’s a unique fusion of spoken word and indie-dance beats that left me both moved and ready to move. Partnering with producer Ludvig Parment, the dynamic artist crafts a four-track masterpiece exploring resilience, connection, and love, all while keeping you hooked on its hypnotic rhythms.
Joshua Idehen is a British-born Nigerian based in Sweden. A spoken word artist and
musician, he has contributed poems to Mercury-nominated albums ‘Channel The Spirits’ (2016) and ‘Your Queen Is A Reptile’ (2018) and the Mobo winning "Black Is The Future" (2021), both by Sons of Kemet. He also worked with LA electronic maestro Daedelus on the critically acclaimed LP, "Holy Water Over Sons" (2021)
The title track ‘Mum Does The Washing’ is a warm, poetic tribute to everyday wisdom disguised as household chores. The conversational tone makes it feel like he’s speaking directly to you, recounting life lessons that are deeply personal yet universally relatable. The humor and humanity in this track explain why it’s already turning heads, with support from tastemakers like Jamz Supernova.
‘Could Be Forever’ follows, a heartfelt reflection on love’s quiet sacrifices. Inspired by real stories of devotion, Joshua’s lyrical storytelling and the track’s slow-burning melody create a poignant tribute to the beauty of selflessness.
The focus track ‘Tactics For Survival’ is a standout. Hanakiv’s delicate piano lines and a subtle electronic beat build into a meditative, danceable groove. Joshua’s words explore the universal need to adapt and endure, making it both introspective and infectious.
The EP closes with a fresh take on Talking Heads’ ‘Once In A Lifetime’. Joshua adds soulful depth, transforming it into a reflective anthem of gratitude and hope, elevated by a stirring gospel choir. Mum Does The Washing is a triumph of poetry and rhythm in perfect harmony.'
Read more ... Purple Melon
Affection
BULLION
Released 26 April 2024
Ghostly International
****-
‘Affection’, then, feels particularly special for Bullion, a collection of alt-pop that deserves to be heard by the masses.
Bullion is Nathan Jenkins, an enduring cult figure of electronic music. A producer and songwriter quietly to be found connecting artists, genre and UK subculture. His credits range from Carly Rae Jepsen, Ben Howard, Nilüfer Yanya and Avalon Emerson’s breakout album & The Charm to records for Westerman and Joviale. Bullion’s celebrated solo releases, meanwhile, have run parallel on Young, The Trilogy Tapes, Jagjaguwar and his own DEEK Recordings.
Bullion – aka producer Nathan Jenkins – has long been a key voice in the alternative music scene. In 2008, he released ‘Pet Sounds in the Key of Dee’, a cheeky mashup album in the same vein as Danger Mouses ‘The Grey Album’ and a nod to J Dilla’s ‘Donuts’. Credits with Nilüfer Yanya, Westerman and Avalon Emerson have since stacked up, his involvement with a project lighting up the eyes of listeners who pay as much attention to the liner notes as the love and care within the songs.
Speaking on the album’s announcement earlier this year, he discussed having to take the same advice that he gave to his collaborators: be open to adventure. ‘Affection’ is certainly that. Carly Rae Jepsen’s turn on ‘Rare’ – returning the favour after Jenkins worked on her last album ‘The Loneliest Time’ – makes for a sparkling duet, while ‘World_train’, starring Charlotte Adigéry, is similarly playful. Much of ‘Affection’ is indebted to the sounds of the ‘80s – blown-out soundscapes, booming drums – but there’s clever twists, like on the gorgeous ‘Your Father’. Over a decade down the line, Jenkins remains a vital and intriguing force.
Read more ... Bandcamp, NMR
Maybe In Another Life (EP)
LOVETEMPO
Released 8 November 2024
lovetempo
****-
Fresh on the heels of acid-jazz club banger “But I Do,” lovetempo returns with a slow-disco burner built around soaring strings, a relentless groove, and a question: what happens when the right people fall in love at the wrong time?
“Maybe In Another Life,” is the perfect song for Saturday night warmup sets and Sunday morning stereo sessions alike.
“Sometimes you meet someone and feel that electric jolt that happens when two kindred souls connect, but for whatever reason the circumstances of your lives don’t connect” says Safer. “What can you do but but move on and, in the words of Erykah Badu, say ‘I guess I’ll see you next lifetime?’
The original is paired with a floor-friendly remix from feel-good disco producer Bosq, whose remixes and original productions have delighted dancers around the world for more than a decade, receiving strong support from tastemakers like Gilles Peterson, Folamour, Kerri Chandler, Poolside, Yuksek, and more.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Ylang Ylang (EP)
FKJ
Released 12 November 2024
FKJ / AWAL
****-
On one hand, ‘Tension’ is clearly a deeply personal tribute by the Hoodna Orchestra to iconic Mulatu Astatke, but at the same time the recordings emit a remarkable amount of chemistry, and together they have created an essential addition to Mulatu’s rich discography that charts new directions in his Ethio-jazz trajectory and provides the Hoodna Orchestra with their strongest album to date.
Mulatu Astatke requires little introduction at this point. Born in Jimma, Ethiopia, Mulatu went on to live and study in London, Boston and New York. Initially drawn to and trained in jazz and Latin music, he developed the sound he called “Ethio-jazz” over a series of seminal albums combining jazz, Latin, funk and soul, with traditional Ethiopian scales and rhythms.
Formed in 2012 on the south side of Tel Aviv, the 12 member Hoodna Orchestra is a collective of musicians and composers who initially bonded over a shared love of Afrobeat. They have gone on to incorporate psychedelic rock, hard funk and soul, jazz, and East African music into their sought after releases, winning praise and airplay from the likes of Iggy Pop and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Over time, members of the orchestra came to find they shared a growing interest in Ethiopian music, particularly the Ethio-jazz of Mulatu Astatke. Since releasing a recording with Ethiopian singer Tesfaye Negatu, Hoodna Orchestra had been looking to find ways to collaborate with Astatke himself and in early 2023 the opportunity arose to invite Astatke to Tel Aviv, record an album and perform it live for their home audience. Stars aligned as Neal Sugarman, multi-instrumentalist member of the Dap-Kings and co-founder of Daptone Records, joined and produced the session with Smilan
Read more ... Bandcamp
Istanbul Sokaklari
BABA ZULU
Released 8 November 2024
Glitterbeat Records
****-
Pulsing, hypnotic tracks powered by Turkish percussion, glitched electronics, deep bass, electric saz and dual male/female vocals. İstanbul Sokakları (Streets of Istanbul) is a vivid sonic and political statement from a band that continues to show us the future.
This legendary Istanbul band remains the most experimental exponent of the hotly-tipped contemporary Turkish psych-rock scene. BaBa ZuLa are revered sonic trailblazers who have built a cult following in all corners of the globe and have counted members of Einstürzende Neubauten, Can and Nick Cave the Bad Seeds as their fans.
Their latest album İstanbul Sokakları (Streets of Istanbul) contains no shortage of the hypnotic jams that have become their calling card. Across three extended pieces – the six-minute “Arsız Saksağan (Cheeky Magpie)”, the eight-minute “Yaprakların Arasından (In Between the Leaves)” and the eleven-minute “Yok Haddi Yok Hesabı (No Limits No Calculation)” – they delve deep into group meditations that surge and swell with relentless percussion, dark atmospherics constantly pushed into ecstatic peaks by the biting electric saz, and vocals by turns seductive and exhorting by Murat Ertel and female vocalist (and spouse), Esma Ertel.
Read more ... Bandcamp
New Moon
ARUN RAMAMURTHY
Released 20 September 2024
Greenleaf Music
****-
"This trio represents “oneness”. The way Sameer, Damon and I play together feels like flowing water - we close our eyes and move together based on feel and intuition, conscious of our surroundings but with full force and intention. To play with them is a dream. The spaces they create are filled with light and magic. There’s only one us, no lines".
Arun Ramamurthy writes: "New Moon Suite is a 4-part work reflecting on the inspiration of ancestors, family and tradition - and how we navigate the world as multicultural beings. When given the opportunity to create this piece, I thought first of one of the most influential people in my life: my maternal grandmother, Aaji.
The kindest of souls, Aaji was born in Bangalore, India in 1922, in a world far different from mine. Though she lived in a conservative time, Aaji was forward-thinking and open minded, helping those in need in her small village of Parvathipuram, and teaching Carnatic music to anyone who wished to learn.
I grew up on the other side of the world, in a house filled with music. My mother was a Carnatic vocalist, and my father arranged concert tours for visiting artists from India. Aaji visited us on several occasions - staying for a year at a time, and always leaving an indelible impression on me. While growing up in the states, I had the privilege to study Carnatic music with three mind-expanding gurus, who imparted the deep tradition to me with love and generosity. Through Aaji, my gurus and parents, I embraced my Indian roots from 8,000 miles away.
But I couldn’t help feel I was living a double life - as if there was a line in the sand keeping my two worlds separate. In one ear, I heard Lalgudi Jayaraman, N. Ramani + Palghat Raghu. In the other ear was Coltrane, Miles, A Tribe Called Quest + Radiohead.
It was Aaji who reminded me that there’s only ONE me. That there actually are no lines. This resonated with me deeply, and initiated a lifelong journey into understanding myself and exploring my artistic voice. New Moon Suite is an expression of this journey".
Read more ... Bandcamp
.jpg)
Gbɛfalɔi (Travelers)
ACCRA QUARTET
Released 9 August 2024
FPE Records
****-
Contemporary music in Ghana is dominated by a mix of afrobeats, electric gospel, and an emergent revival of highlife stars from the 1970s. This set of improvised music sits on a different axis — at once traditional and Avant Garde, ancient and futuritive, extremely local and thoroughly cosmopolitan. Anchored in folkloric instruments and free improvisation, the music is more like the Art Ensemble of Chicago than the court drummers of the Ashanti king. A rare gem.
Ghanaian trombonist Elikplim Kofi and American guitarist Nathaniel Braddock had met at a concert at Accra’s Alliance Française in 2017 when they both performed as members of the Abiza band. When Eli heard that Braddock was returning to Ghana in 2019, he reached out via WhatsApp to suggest a collaboration, sharing a sketch of a song and asking Braddock to produce a collaboration record. That August, they set up the session joined by two percussionists, known as Black and Brown. This session is the product of that night.
Personnel:
Nii Addotey Brown Asalasu: wind, water, percussions
Elikplim Amewode Kofi: trombone, voice, percussions
Nathaniel Braddock: guitars, piano, percussions
Daniel Tettey Black: percussions, bass
Read more ... ECM
Ensatina
HOMER
Released 15 November 2024
Big Crown Records
****-
Making this album was a refuge for Homer and it put him back on track. Ensatina is a glimpse into the different energies and influences that make Homer tick. To say he was always much more than a drummer would be an understatement, and this first solo offering is just the beginning of his next chapter.
For the majority of Homer (Steinweis') career, he’s been one of the most in demand drummers playing on recordings with everyone from Amy Winehouse to Solange, from Adele to Silk Sonic, and that is literally just the tip of the iceberg. Now, with his first solo release, Homer is stepping to the forefront as both musician and producer.
In 2020 Homer had to reckon with considerable emotional turbulence; at the same time that his band Holy Hive broke up, a personal relationship of 20+ years fell apart putting Homer in an uncertain place mentally. The fallout was significant enough for him to seek professional help.
But, with time, professional help, and support from friends and family, Homer made it through and has been forever changed. This album is a product of that period of his life.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Kind of Kenny
JASON KEISER
JOHN STOWELL, ERIK JEKABSON
MICHAEL ZILBER, DANIELLE WERZ
Released 25 October 2024
OA@ Records / Jason Keiser
*****
With Kind of Kenny, Keiser and Stowell have taken an impressive leap, shining a welcome new light on a singular, insistently surprising body of music.
SunNeverSetsOnMusic never tires of new work from the world's best jazz guitarists: Julian Lage, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Rob Luft, Leo Kottke, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mary Halvorson, Andrew Pendlebury, John Fahey ... After hearing "Kind of Kenny" I'm adding Jason Keiser to that watchlist.
Keiser is the Band Leader and founder of the professional new acoustic music fusion band; The New Acoustic Collective. Musically, Jason's specialty runs the gamut between fusion mutli-style acoustic music and jazz, as well as a heavy dose of latin music!
Over the past decade Keiser has carved out a sterling reputation as a bandleader whose musical passions range across North America’s expansive soundscape, and this album extends his exploration into arrestingly lyrical territory. After highlighting Woody Shaw’s treasure trove of intervallic leaping post-bop gems on 2023’s Shaw’s Groove, he turns his attention to another undersung trumpet maestro with Kind of Kenny, a deep dive into the ravishing music of Canadian composer Kenny Wheeler (1930-2014).
Read more ... Bandcamp
%20Remixed.jpg)
Benhayyi Al Baghbaghan (Salute the Parrot) Remixed
MAURICE LOUCA
Released 28 November 2024
Simsara Records
*****
Two years in the making (to its release in 2014), Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Salute the Parrot) landed as his most original work to date. His trademark whirlwind of percussion-based rhythms seamlessly intertwines with layers of jarring yet coherent compositions and improvisations, rendered by a host of Arab and international guest artists.
Now, a decade later Louca releases a remix album with seven of the original eight tracks reworked by contemporary artists.
Maurice Louca is one of the most exciting artists in the alternative music scene across the Arab world today.
Following years of collaborations and inconspicuous touring across Europe and the Arab world, Louca has become renowned for his powerful live shows. But those who have experienced earlier iterations of Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Salute the Parrot) at one of Louca’s performances will hear an album that is far more complex and hard-hitting.
Inspired by many influences, from psychedelic to Egyptian shaabi, Louca shatters the confines of musical and cultural labelling with eight genre-defying tracks. Like a virtual voyage between the charged intensity of confined spaces and the tranquil vastness of open landscapes, the album lays out a trajectory where beautiful and mesmerising fragments sparingly punctate the full-blown pounding episodes.
For the album artwork, Louca collaborated with Egyptian visual artist Maha Maamoun, whose videos and photographs frequently explore the construction of images in mainstream culture and the various ways in which these images are personally re-appropriated. In her photographs, Maamoun toys with our perception and shifts our expectations through subtle interventions. Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Salute the Parrot)’s artwork aptly conveys the influence of Cairo’s paradoxical subcultures and the microcosmic soundscape of Louca's work - in three subtle variations, one for each of the album’s formats.
We've spliced the two versions of the albums in our playlist this month, so that the remix follows the original.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Dunbar Heights
ALLISON AU, JODI PROZNICK, MILI HONG
Released 8 November 2024
The Infidels A Record Label
****-
Allison Au (saxophones), Jodi Proznick (double bass) and Mili Hong (drums) are three of Canada's most exciting Jazz musicians, who are occasionally able to overcome Canada's problematic geography and delight audiences together.
Juno-award winning Jazz Saxophonist, Composer and Arranger, Allison Au (pronounced “ow”) refuses to be defined. Her work weaves a mosaic of influences into a seamless and soulful sound, a concoction steeped in the tradition of Jazz but skillfully laced with elements of Classical, Pop, R&B/hip hop, Latin, and world music.
Two time Juno-nominated bassist, composer, producer and educator Jodi Proznick has earned a reputation as one of Canada’s finest jazz artists. Her group, the Jodi Proznick Quartet, was awarded the Acoustic Group of the Year and Album of the Year in ‘08 and the Galaxie Rising Star at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival in ‘04. Most recently, Jodi was awarded the Jazz Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards and the Platinum Jubilee Art and Music Award from the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.
Mili Hong began playing drums at the age of 16. She spent most of her life in South Korea until her early 20s when she moved to Vancouver, Canada to study English and Music. Although she originally planned to move back to Korea after completing her studies, she decided to remain in Vancouver to experiment and explore her new life in Canada’s thriving and diverse music scene.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Surprise!
AIRELLE BESSON, JONAS BURGWINKEL, SEBASTIAN STERNAL
Released 8 November 2024
Autre Distribution France
****-
This is a trio whose music is both considered and free, communicative and compelling.
Leading the new wave of young European improvising trumpeters, Airelle Besson is a formidable, compelling and frankly astonishing talent. Sometimes embracing a baroque sense of form and lyricism, she can turn on a sixpence and send forth grooves that mark her out as a fine jazz presence and a thoughtful and articulate composer.
With the elegant and lucid playing of pianist Sebastian Sternal and drummer Jonas Burgwinkel bringing his classic jazz and avant garde sensibilities to the table, listening to each other and to the moment, they build an architecture of eloquent and clean sound, without clutter, but with masses of heart.
Read more ... The Journal of Music
To The Rising Moon
STEPHAN MICUS
Released 15 November 2024
ECM
*****
To the Rising Moon is Stephan Micus’ 26th solo album for ECM. It features instruments from Colombia, India, Xinjiang (China), Bavaria, Cambodia, Egypt and Borneo, which have never before been combined in one composition.
People often call themselves a multi-instrumentalist when they play three or four instruments, but Stephan plays eight on this album alone and countless more since his first ECM album, Implosions, in 1977.
Here, there’s one that takes centre stage that he’s playing for the first time, the Colombian tiple. It’s a little smaller than a guitar and is considered the national instrument of Colombia. Although still frequently played in its traditional, highly-European influenced context, modern composers hardly make use of it. “For me this instrument has the quality of light, of something shining,” Stephan says. “It’s like these metal strings are sparkling and for me the tiple pieces have a very positive energy.”
The tiple has 12 steel strings in four triple courses and it’s a composition for two tiples, "To the Rising Sun", that opens the album with ringing strings.
Throughout the album the plucked tiple pieces alternate with more reflective tracks with bowed strings.
It’s only in the final track, "To the Rising Moon", that the two worlds of the plucked tiples and bowed strings finally come together. It’s like a hymn to something that is eternally up there in the night sky, something consistent while there is so much turbulence in the world below.
Stephan Micus’ last album Thunder (2023) paid tribute to thunder gods around the world and featured as its headline instrument the mighty, four-metre long Tibetan dung chen trumpet. The contrast between the cosmic blast of that album and the delicate intimacy of the plucked and bowed strings of this one makes it clear why Micus has produced such a wide range of music over nearly 50 years.
Read more ... ECM
het tij
AKI
Released 6 September 2024
W.E.R.F. Records
*****
This expansion enriches the color palette of their music and brings out a new depth. Together they create a unique sound that takes listeners on a journey of warmth and melancholy, somewhere between cinematic landscapes, jazz and minimalism.
From Antwerp, Germany, Aki is an emerging jazz collective led by drummer Anke Verslype. The core of the group consists of guitarist Willem Heylen, bassist Ruben De Maesschalck and harpist Marjolein Vernimmen. They perform atmospheric jazz with at its base uncomplicated, restrained melodies whose boundaries are pushed during improvisations.
With two previous EPs, "Warme Dagen (Warm Days)" and "Niobe," aki has already impressed.
In the fall of 2022, they surprised their audience with the debut of their first full-length album, titled "Nader," released under W.E.R.F. records. This album featured an exciting collaboration with Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet, who added a new dimension to their sound.
For their latest album and upcoming tour, aki once again joins forces with Joachim Badenhorst and asked Niels Van Heertum (euphonium) as a guest.
Read more ... Bandcamp
The Understated
BEN WOLFE
Released 0 August 2024
Resident Arts Records
****-
Weaving his web like a musical work of art, not so unclassifiable if you have classical music references, but all these musical styles are of course at the heart of what made this artist. The saxophone lines are written in resonance with the author’s inner universe, so classifying this album as “Indispensable” is more than necessary, since with this album we enrich ourselves intellectually.
Each Ben Wolfe album is always a pleasant surprise, and here we find him in the following configuration: Ben Wolfe, bass – Orrin Evans, piano – Nicole Glover, tenor saxophone – Aaron Kimmel, drums – Russell Malone, guitar – Sullivan Fortner, piano. It is a form of complex and harmonious jazz that might be difficult to access for some, as one must admit that a good overall knowledge of jazz is necessary to appreciate this album. Wolfe has always been drawn to finding beauty in subtlety. He perceives a certain tranquility and elegance in Coltrane’s Quartet, Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Sevens, the legendary Miles Davis groups and their rhythm sections, as well as the music of Charlie Parker. Although he certainly enjoys the immense energy of this musical world, it is the other side, the elusive and magical aspect, that continuously captivates him, the unspoken.
Read more ... Paris Move
The Old Country
KEITH JARRETT
GARY PEACOCK, PAUL MOTIAN
Released 8 November 2024
ECM
*****
Thirty years later, it was time to revisit the material. Keith Jarrett and Manfred Eicher selected the eight previously unreleased pieces that comprise The Old Country, a second volume from the Deer Head performance.
Keith Jarrett’s recordings from the Deer Head Inn have a special place among his recordings devoted to explorations of jazz standards and the American songbook. And The Old Country is a document of particular historical significance, from several perspectives.
The Deer Head Inn, situated in Pennsylvania’s Delaware Water Gap Region, has presented live music continuously since 1950, making it one of the US’s oldest jazz clubs. In 1961, the club gave Jarrett, then 16 years old, his first gig as leader of a piano trio. When owners Bob and Fay Lehr retired, handing the reins over to their daughter Dona and son-in-law Christopher Solliday, Jarrett offered to play there again, to honour the club’s ongoing commitment to jazz.
On September 16, 1992, Jarrett, joined by Gary Peacock and Paul Motian, played to a packed house. There had been no promotion, but news of the event had spread by word of mouth. The Deer Head is an intimate venue and the Allentown Morning Call paper subsequently reported that, “of the 130 people inside the club, 30 had to stand. On the porch outside, another 50 or 60 people stood.
”When At The Deer Head Inn was issued in 1994, the press agreed. “The music has the dash and the unabashed lyricism of Keith Jarrett’s best work,” wrote Stereophile.
Gramophone, meanwhile, spoke of “spellbinding” playing, and the Los Angeles Times hailed “a compendium of grace”.
Read more ... ECM
saman
OLAFUR ARNALDS, JOSEPH EHRENPREIS
Released 15 November 2024
Etymology Classics
****-
A restful recital of four transpositions of Olafur Arnalds songs, for two guitars or 8-string "Brahms guitar", by this young guitarist.
Joseph Ehrenpreis is a multi-instrumental guitar performer. His specialization includes the 8-string “Brahms Guitar,” an instrument invented by David Rubio and Paul Galbraith in 1994 that uses an endpin and a resonance box, boasting an extended upper and lower range.
Ehrenpreis, a native of Skokie (Illinois), currently a student at Yale University, describes it as “the love child of my two instruments, the cello and the guitar.”
He is gaining a national reputation for creating a repertoire for the instrument through his own transcriptions of works originally written for cello, harp, piano, and violin.
Read more ... wfmt
In A Landscape &
Heard On Tour
MAX RICHTER
Released 6 September 2024 & 23 November 2024
UMG Recordings
****-
Now, he’s reflecting on these years of music making, looking back to move forward. Released 20 years after The Blue Notebooks, In a Landscape returns Richter to the themes that have made his career with a heavy dose of nostalgia. And while his compositional style functions like a well-oiled machine, In a Landscape shows that there’s still room to evolve by exploring the darkness that churns within his gentle music.
Over the last two decades, Max Richter has perfected the art of writing lovely and intimate instrumental music, indebted to Brian Eno, Philip Glass, and Romantic era classical alike.
Since the release of his debut Memoryhouse in 2002 and the landmark The Blue Notebooks in 2004, the German-born composer’s brand of tonal, postminimalist composition has dominated the classical scene, with labels like New Amsterdam Records and Bedroom Community championing and furthering the crossover classical ethos.
For his part, Richter has basically become a popstar, claiming more than a billion streams to his name and a slew of big-ticket film and television scores.
Read more ... Paris Move
SunNeverSetsOnMusic | Sun Never Sets On Music | www.sunneversetsonmusic.com
A monthly digest of innovative new music from around the world
especially Jazz, Contemporary, International, Folk, Avant-garde, Soul, R&B and Soundtracks
including album artwork, album reviews
and YouTube playlists, Spotify playlists.