2025 January's Best Albums
clicking cover art opens Spotify
Honey From a Winter Stone
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE
Released 31 January 2025
Original Harvest, Nonesuch Records
*****
This album, which - between its musical scope and lyrical honesty - sets the bar for new music in 2025.
Since emerging from Oakland, California in the late ’00s, Ambrose Akinmusire has distinguished himself as a brilliant trumpeter and ambitious composer, working across the jazz field while engaging with hip-hop and contemporary classical music. Those elements came together on 2018’s Origami Harvest, where Akinmusire’s electroacoustic jazz ensemble played off the rhymes of rapper Kool A.D. and the strings of leading New Music ensemble Mivos Quartet.
His latest, honey from a winter stone, could be seen as a sequel of sorts, with Akinmusire building on his relationship with Mivos (for whom he composed “May Our Centers Hold” in 2023) while calling on the talents of vocalist Kokayi and synthesist Chiquitamagic alongside regular collaborators Sam Harris on piano and Justin Brown on drums.
This record marks the maturation of that sound: honey is far more cohesive and easy to navigate than its predecessor. The lyrics, based on conversations with the composer, explore issues faced by Akinmusire and many Black men—“colorism, erasure, and the question of who gets to speak for my community, and why”—giving the album its emotional weight. Finally, Brown’s drumming supplies the engine and channels the ecstatic beat science of Flying Lotus and the steely tension of trap, grooving and tussling with Chiquitamagic’s synth bass grind.
Read more ... Bandcamp Daily
List of Demands
DAMON LOCKS
Released 31 January 2025
*****
This is our list of demands: Beauty, Form, Destiny, Love, Time, Future, and Light
The Chicago-based musician combines jazz, poetry and archival sounds on an album of category-defying sonic collages.
“List of Demands is not just my list,” says Locks. “The list is in conveyance, in response, and in honor of all of those great Black speakers that turned a phrase to generate movement and change. It owes as much to Rammellzee, Fred Moten and Sun Ra’s oratory excellence as it does to Kwame Ture/Stokely Carmichael, and Angela Davis, to Michael Smith and Linton Kwesi Johnson (across the pond), to Ruby Dee’s spoken recordings, and to others too numerous to mention.”
List of Demands, Damon Locks’s first foray into creating an entire album from spoken and text-based work, finds the Chicago-based musician and educator collecting cultural abstractions and reorganizing them into a firm truth. The album lays out a vision of Black liberation and transmits it outward as a song cycle of bite-sized Nikki Giovanni-meets-MF DOOM-style rhythm experiments.
The sample-based constructions are steeped in a lifetime of not only keen cultural observation, but direct communal participation in the culture. Locks’s decades-long resume connects the dots between experimental improvisation, sample based hip hop, punk, and poetry – each done at the highest level and with a list of collaborators that could spin the head of even the most jaded listener. And that seems to be the point. To jump-start the entire personality spectrum into action. Ecstatic positivity examined via his nuanced grasp of reality, all working toward that ever-evasive concept of what could be.
His depth of experience as a mic controller is certainly on display here, but his signature vocal rhythms seem to permeate the sample choices as well.
Read more ... Bandcamp
EUSEXUA
FKA TWIGS
Released 24 January 2025
*****
As long-term fans are treated to a new classic that can both match and expand on the greatness of her previous work, new fans will be treated to her genius at its most accessible. Well over a decade into her career, with her third album of equally high and always unique greatness, FKA twigs is now ready for the status of an icon with a legacy.
FKA twigs has been many things. She’s explored lust, introspection, melancholy and joy across a discography that has seen her sound go from atmospheric to energetic to heavy to weightless. By the release of her 2022 mixtape Caprisongs, her loosest effort yet, it was safe to call her one of the most accomplished musical auteurs of her generation.
Ever committed to taking her artistry forward though, with her latest effort twigs shows that she’ll create new horizons to explore if she has to. “Eusexua”, a term coined by twigs herself, refers to a euphoric state of being that can be conjured through art, music and sex. Her third album takes the concept as a title and embarks on an album-length exploration of it (notably, it is her longest release after Caprisongs).
The album’s crowning achievement, however, is undoubtedly “Striptease”. Lyrically comparing the emotional and physical self-revealing that comes with intimacy, the song’s production and performance epitomize the tense lust around which this album is built. The languid, bass-heavy production of the first half allows twigs to be at her most forceful on the chorus while sensitive on the verses, keeping the song extremely dynamic. Following that, the drum and bass of the outro, accompanied by an expressive display of twigs’ vocal range, is no short of transcendental.
Teased for over two years, “Striptease” fully delivers on the hype.
Eusexua is so clearly the work of a fully-realized creative that it would be a victory lap if it did not break so much new ground. FKA twigs is both an ambitious auteur and a maker of catchy tunes with endless replay value. It is impressive how uncompromising she is about both. While she has never toned herself down in a plea for mainstream pop stardom, Eusexua shows a mastery of her craft that, in a perfect world, would mean she doesn’t have to.
Read more ... Beats Per Minute
You & i are Earth
ANNA B SAVAGE
Released 24 January 2025
*****
Lead single ‘Agnes’, meanwhile, expands upon the album’s metaphysical theme. Through a breathless flurry of sound and real-world therapy, Savage delves into the deep, dark transformative woods. A stellar effort.
Anna B Savage is a London singer-songwriter and musician. She describes her songs as "stark, skeletal paintings of moods and reflection, using a palette of mainly voice and guitar".
Most prominent is her voice – strong and sonorous, yet with a vulnerability that feels as if she’s in the same room as you.
"You and I are Earth" is her third album, following "A Common Turn" (2021) and "In Flux" (2023) - all released in the early weeks of the odd-number new years.
The album opens as if from a soundtrack, with the sound of waves and distant voices before Savage's soulful low vocal rolls in, backed by gently strummed acoustic guitar. and tender lyrics. The oceanic theme is maintained in "Lighthouse", "Donegal" a tale of relocation - "Have I found a home here, for me, with you, forever? / Today I join the well-trodden queue / Of British people desperately in love with you ... Donegal will you please look after me" - and "Big & Wild". But You and i are Earth, is as much about healing as it is an unbowed sense of curiosity, and, more simply, “a love letter to a man and to Ireland.”
Savage's nimble guitar technique and mellow vocals recalls folk style of John Martyn and Nick Drake and record as intimately engaging as their best work. Gentleness is as radiant a touchstone on the record as earthiness, something that Savage attributes to the place she finds herself at present, both geographically and emotionally. And quite literally the record bears witness to a particular piece of earth - Ireland, and Savage’s relationship to it as her new home.
Read more ... Bandcamp
![Luke Woodfield - Undeveloped [Demo Tape]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/271e31_2b08da9c6c444bdfb946c5de80c780ff~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_300,h_300,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/Luke%20Woodford%20-%20Undeveloped%20%5BDemo%20Tape%5D.jpg)
Undeveloped [Demo Tape]
LUKE WOODFIELD
Released 1 January 2025
****-
"Overlaid with soulful chords and a sprinkle of cosmic funk, his sonic craft aims to serve a sincere desire to deliver feel-good music to the tender-hearted of the world and beyond; to create timeless, uplifting mantras for generations to come that can be sung from the depths of one's being is but one of his many wishes".
Simply describing them as "a collection of demos from the last few years. Some more complete than others." Meanjin (Brisbane) multi-instrumentalist, song-writer and music producer, Luke Woodfield has obviously started the new year well - with a clear-out of all the old stuff that had been piling up around him. And it's a good thing that he has done, too, because while he describes them as undeveloped demos - and to be fair, many run less than two minutes - they're still very litenable as a soulful, chilled set.
Woodfield's work spans over multiple mediums from music production to film-making and photography. A fusion of soul, funk / disco with influences from jazz and R&B, his music draws from late 70s / early 80s groove and is often paired with a generally heavy beat-driven production that nods to instrumental hip-hop titans like J-Dilla & Nujabes.
Grounded with roots within the Meanjin sphere and having collaborated with / produced for the likes of SOLCHLD, Sachem, RINA, RUDY MATOY, BADASSMUTHA and SH4RIFF, he embraces the path of emerging alongside some of the city's finest.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Cold Blows The Rain
BRIDGET HAYDEN AND THE APPARITIONS
Released 10 January 2025
****-
These songs have endured over the generations because we see both sides in them. We see the young lovers full of joy, and we see the impending tragic doom that’s coming for them, and we see all of those moments as they’ve played out in our own lives.
Is there such a thing as a “seasonal dirge”? If so, Cold Blows the Rain, the new album from Bridget Hayden & The Apparitions, is a perfect candidate for commemorating the coming of winter. Recorded in the cloudy, rain-drenched British town of Todmorden in West Yorkshire, the languid, dreamy, hypnotic music pairs perfectly with the darkness of winter.
Ironically, the songs on the album aren’t really about dark times. Their take on the British folk song “Factory Girl” opens with, “As I was out walking one fine summer’s morning,” and “When I Was In My Prime,” made famous by UK psych-folk band Pentangle, is about a lover giving a woman different kinds of flowers. In other places, Hayden puts a novel spin on a well-known composition. “Red Rocking Chair,” a frequently versioned Appalachian ballad, feels ripped from its setting here: Hayden’s voice warps around the melody and lyrics, pushing between a blues inflection or a keening Celtic lament. In another act of subversion, Hayden ends the album with an uplifting, major-key rendition of one of the creepiest ballads of lost love, “The Unquiet Grave.”
There’s an unsettling feeling to hearing songs of love, summer, and sunshine suffused with analog reverb and pulsing harmonium and slowed down to brooding tempos, but Hayden manages the tension beautifully. Perhaps that comfort in conflict comes from Hayden’s background in experimental music, from her solo work in noise and ambient to her music with bands like drone outfit Vibracathedral Orchestra, her fuzzed-out trio Schisms, or arcana label Folklore Tapes.
She also fits in easily with a long line of recent artists updating folk ballads with drone and noise aesthetics—from artists like Lankum to Hayden’s labelmate Jim Ghedi, Lisa O’Neill, and others. Ultimately, the associations of summer and hope and winter and despair come from the heart of traditional music itself.
Read more ... Bandcamp
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Jazz Money (Instrumentals)
ZACCHAE'US PAUL
Released 10 January 2025
****-
If Paul was "flipping, reversing, reimagining, reframing (as he) does it all on Jazz Money, letting no convention go unquestioned while never losing the music's appealing, grounding groove", now he strips out the lyrics to more clearly reveal the music underneath it all. Brilliant.
"Jazz Money", the debut album from the young Philadelphia based multi-Instrumentalist, composer, & producer Zacchae'us Paul, released in June 2024, was described as "an irreverent, fresh take on "America's classical music" that speaks to the 24 year old artist’s deep-beyond-his-years understanding of Black music and the African diaspora".
Paul stretches and bends jazz sounds around the Atlanta hip-hop he grew up with, the gospel sounds and philosophies that have long shaped his music making, and the Caribbean rhythms he learned studying in Puerto Rico. He has created a wholly personal sound that is youthful, and thoughtful all at once.
"When you listen to this album, listen to it again," Paul says. "A lot of the songs have multiple meanings, and I'd love for people to have different perspectives on them."
Read more ... Bandcamp
Tippin'
CARL ALLEN
Released 10 January 2025
Cellar Live / La Reserve Records
****-
"We did not rehearse before entering the studio, and we recorded the entire album in about five hours. I trusted the gifts that McBride and Potter brought to the table, allowing their interpretations to shape the music".
With over 200 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations provided soulful and syncopated support for nearly three decades.
"Tippin’ is the realization of a dream I've nurtured for quite some time."says Allen. "It’s been over 20 years since I last recorded as a leader, not counting the two records I made with my dear friend and bassist, Rodney Whitaker, Get Ready (2007) and Work To Do" (2009). Tippin’ is a record that I would want to hear as a listener." He adds, "Honoring listeners made personnel selection critical. As a drummer, the most important relationship is between the bass and drums. The dream team for this record is my friend and brother, Christian McBride (Bass), and the phenomenal Chris Potter (tenor & soprano saxophone, bass clarinet)". In addition John Lee contributes piano on "Song for Abdullah".
Read more ... Bandcamp
Soul Survivor (EP)
NUVOLE
Released 10 January 2025
****-
Their music is a goldmine for fans of understated yet memorable jazz, delivering technically refined performances and recordings.
Their Spotify profile suggests that Nuvole is "a jazz trio dedicated to revitalizing the genre by blending influences from past eras with fresh, modern ideas". Their music seeks to strike a unique balance between the contemporary and the timeless, a duality reflected not only in their sound but also in their artwork.
Nuvole’s lineup features pianist Mike Roelofs as its permanent member; the latest releases in 2024 are backed by drummer Jerome Cardinaals on drums and Jo Didderen on upright bass.
Read more ... Teles Music
6
KROKOFANT
Released 10 January 2025
****-
From the first tune Harry Davidson. it’s apparent that the classic Kroko sound is still intact with a chugging riff and catchy melody, to the more jazzy chord based tune triple dad, and the spacial atmospheric sound of «The Ballad», this album ensures to hit both rock fans, free jazzers and jazz-rock nostalgics in the gut.
Norwegian outfit Krokofant has developed a sound that is deeply rooted in the 70s, with subtle nods to King Crimson, Henry Cow, Soft Machine and a strong John Coltrane influence. Even though this is not a rare thing in today’s plethora of Norwegian jazz/rock bands, their sound is still quite unique, and Krokofant stands as one of the founders of the current progressive jazz sounds sweeping the Country.
Originally formed as a duo when guitarist Tom Hasslan met drummer Axel Skalstad, Krokofant evolved to include saxophonist Jørgen Mathisen, organist Ståle Storløkken and bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten. However the band has now contracted back to a trio - marked by this new album of brand new music.
The resurrection of the trio has rekindled the joy of a more intense improvisational interplay and fun of making songs together again. While the quintet was more of a playground for Hasslan´s prog-rock compositions, the trio is more focused on the collective and sculpting the music together rather than the more rigid song structures of the quintet.
Read more ... Bandcamp
On A Modern Genius, Vol. 1
XHOSA COLE
Released 10 January 2025
****-
“A British sensation (who) proves that he’s here for blood with this release ... He’s got technique, talent, artistry and a burning desire that shows throughout the set.” Downbeat
"On A Modern Genius Vol. 1" is acclaimed young Birmingham UK saxophonist Xhosa Cole's third album - a dynamic live recording celebrating the work of transcendent pianist Thelonious Monk, with inventive interpretations of Monk's timeless compositions.
Following his much-admired debut K(no)w Them, K(no)w Us (2021), and intriguing concept recording Ibeji (2022) - featuring Cole in duets with seven percussionists from across the African diaspora, this new release captures Cole with his quartet during an extensive spring tour of the UK in 2023 playing the music of Monk.
“We made the record off the back of a 38-date UK tour,” Cole explains. “It’s a snapshot from back-to-back dates in the middle of the tour playing this music - we were in a van trekking up and down the UK – St. Ives to Devon to Wales to Morecambe to Newcastle to Louth to Sheffield...!”
Read more ... Bandcamp
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Lonely Valley (EP)
O' LITTLE SISTER
Released 12 January 2025
****-
A delightfully heartfelt set of songs, gently delivered, that the artist describes as "an album on the contours of loneliness and the different places it finds us."
Hailing from Redcliffe, Queensland, O’ Little Sister (aka Lucinda Johnson) has been emerging as an artist for over a decade, having released an eponymous debut album as far back as 2012. Over the years, she has appeared at numerous festivals and venues up and down the eastern seaboard of Australia, along the way supporting a long list of alt. folk-rock types including Stu Larsen, Hollow Coves, Amistat, Harrison Storm, Thelma Plum, Jordie Lane, Sam Cromack (Ball Park Music) and Jack Carty (in a National Australian Tour in 2017).
In the past couple of years her recorded output has surged as released an excellent folk-flavoured album "Peninsula" with Adelaide troubadour Tom West in their side project ‘Tom and Lucinda’ in 2023.
Announcing the release of the new EP on Social Media she wrote "It’s an album on the contours of loneliness and the different places it finds us. Releasing this will be a catharsis. A moving onto other projects that have long been held in shadow and doubt. 2025 will be different. Expect more music".
The Global Texan Chronicle wrote "One of O’ Little Sister’s biggest strengths is that she is believable. The listener walks into and away with earnest tales. Poetry. And the delivery is inviting and beautiful."
This is perfectly reflected in the lyrics to "Honest" one of the standouts on her new EP. “I learnt when I was 21, nobody’s really strong / It’s just easy to fake / It means you never have to open up / To the one you love / And bare your soul for a change / No one really wants to ask for help / Then I scared myself / When I realised that I was the same." OLS describes the lyrics as "like a punch to the throat when I sing them."
Read more ... Bandcamp
Bird Higher Than Cloud
JUSTIN WALTER
Released 16 January 2025
****-
Bird Higher Than Cloud feels like a rescued lost album, which Walter self-released on vinyl and streaming, giving a newer audience - and maybe his older one, too - a chance to hear this beauty.
Justin Walter made Bird Higher Than Cloud between 2009-2012 when he was living in Brooklyn, and the album came out in 2012 on Fred Thomas' Life Like label in a double-cassette edition of 50.
The trumpeter and electronic valve instrument artist has long been back in Ann Arbor, and he has slowly but surely continued to release music via the kranky label, but this reissue was a nice surprise.
The record features 14 originals and two covers - "Young Blood" by His Name is Alive and "The Theme" by Angelo Badalamenti - and generally works with the same sonic space as Walters' kranky releases: drifty alien soundscapes with a hint of lyrical jazz.
Read more ... Ann Arbor Pulp
DÍA
ELA MINUS
Released 17 January 2025
****-
Ela seems to saddle a line between worlds of pop accessibility and experimental aplomb, her incandescent choruses always surrounded by meticulous and imaginative sonics.
New York based, Colombian artist Ela Minus' 2020 debut acts of rebellion, felt intentionally small, as if pounding inside the club with late-night reverie.
DÍA is both introspective and expansive, the wide sweep of its songs revealing more of Ela as person and producer than ever before.
DÍA is a record about becoming, from a process that entailed self-discovery at a deliberate pace to songs that seem to collectively ask where we go from here, long after we’ve been broken but long before we intend to be broken forever.
DÍA's 10 songs were mixed by Marta Salogni and mastered by Heba Kadry, the same team behind acts of rebellion.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Spindrift
BENJAMIN LACKNER
MATHIAS EICK, MARK TURNER, LINDA MAY HAN OH, MATTHIEU CHAZARENC
Released 17 January 2025
****-
As with the debut record, Spindrift is exclusively made up of Lackner originals, save “Chambary”, which was written by his long-time friend Matthieu Chazarenc. Throughout, subtle fanfares meet thoughtful lyricism in a programme that always puts melody and ensemble chemistry first.
Back with a newly formed quintet, gathered together for a particularly fruitful 2024 session in Southern France, the German-American pianist Benjamin Lackner now presents a different side of his composer-approach that should go a step further in exposing Lackner as a force to be reckoned with in the contemporary jazz world.
“I spent the last two years writing nearly 100 tunes and experimenting with two or three voices in each song,” Lackner outlines the process that led to new material. “I would write the tune, record a demo version that same day and then let it rest for a week before deciding on whether it was a keeper or not. The closer we got to the recording the more I started editing my list down and I showed up in the studio for the recording with about 20 songs. We chose the nine we deemed the best for the session. I was really blown away by how the musicians approached the music with such openness and spontaneity, despite a lot of the music having been far more written out than on Last Decade.“
Read more ... ECM
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Risk of Make Believe (EP)
SON LUX
Released 17 January 2025
****-
It is further evidence of Son Lux's wild creativity, voracious appetite for experimentation, and ability to distill seemingly disparate universes of sound into a signature unmistakably their own.
Son Lux is an American experimental band - originally the solo project and moniker of founding member Ryan Lott. The band's first three albums, At War with Walls & Mazes (2008), We Are Rising (2011) and Lanterns (2013), shaped the band's unique sound through post-rock and electronica influences.
With the release of their fourth studio album, Bones, in 2015, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang joined Son Lux, transforming the project into a three-piece band. After releasing a string of EP's and building a reputation for innovation, the band composed the music for the 2022 science fiction action film Everything Everywhere All At Once, which received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Score at the 95th Academy Awards.
Risk Of Make Believe, the band's first release since the soundtrack, encapsulates what made the trio a perfect fit for the film - an unlikely alchemy of beguiling sounds and heart-on-sleeve passion.
The EP leaves us right where we began - imagining and longing for whatever reinvention might follow.
The band has announced that all streaming and digital sales of Risk of Make Believe will go to LA fire relief efforts for the foreseeable future.
Read more ... Broadway World
The Singing Winds pt. 3
KELE
Released 17 January 2025
****-
Kele blooms when given the chance to be alone with his head and his guitar, and as soothing as it is to listen to and feel as an outsider, must feel as cathartic for him feeling from the inside out.
Kele had been busy post-lockdown with his mates in Bloc Party: touring and supporting around the world, and planning celebrations for upcoming milestones. Now some dust has settled however, it’s the right time for Kele to strip it all back to the basics and make music once again with his nearest and dearest friend: his guitar.
The Singing Winds pt. 3 is the third instalment of a solo project born in the times of lockdown and like the previously releases - The Waves pt.1 (2021) and The Flames pt. 2 (2023) - it’s time to take it all in and channel the element before moving on to the next and possible final part of the series.
The Singing Winds has been Kele’s latest mechanism to make sense of his emotions and balance out his past and present to make sure his future is a peaceful one.
The Singing Winds using electronic and indie elements to tell stories that are good, bad, and if neither, very likely ugly.
Read more ... When The Horn Blows
Breakthrough
ERIK JEKABSON
Released 17 January 2025
****-
Influenced by minimalistic and avant-garde classical composers who look to rock and free jazz for exploration, Jekabson's new album, Breakthrough, is a collection of new and revisited originals that also push boundries.
Neither a classical chamber orchestra, despite its strings, bassoon and oboe reeds, and french horn and tuba brass, nor a standard jazz big band with guitar, acoustic and electric bass, vibes, and vocalise singers, but more accurately an ensemble of 22 Bay Area musicians who created a brilliant, powerful amalgamation of classical and jazz, including free and fusion, in a contemporary, adventurous version of Third Stream. The music is not jazz improvisation 'with strings' nor jazz-like classical music in the manner of Gershwin. The arrangements are as warm as Ellington's, as comfortable as a Copland ballet, as romantic and colorful as Maria Schneider's scenic offerings, and as dynamic as Ravel and Prokofiev. Erik Jekabson is a jazz trumpeter and composer with conservatory training at Oberland and San Francisco and with jazz gig experiences in New Orleans, New York, and France.
The 69-minute album leaves the listener breathless, amazed, and excited. Orchestral, nay, Chamber Ensemble Jazz has planted the flag. More, more!
Read more ... Dr. Debra Jan Bibel (Amazon)
Dear Life
DAVID GRAY
Released 17 January 2025
****-
David takes us on a fascinating journey exploring the human condition in the most captivating and meaningful way.
Acclaimed singer-songwriter David Gray is in an introspective mood, pondering life and all the complex matters that pertain to our existence. From the highs of love to the contemplation of mortality, his 13th studio album ‘Dear Life’ is a collection of 13 tracks that encompasses everything that has been in David’s sphere for several years.
Navigating between a myriad of emotional themes which includes pondering faith, science, acceptance, illusion and more, ‘Dear Life’ takes us on a journey and whilst some of the album is his most dense and intricate work to date, parts of it are pared back and beautiful, seemingly in contrast to some of the heavier subject material.
Meditative and mellow and full of melancholic balladry, ‘Dear Life’ is a love letter to life and all its intricacies. It dissects the moments and relationships that make up the human experience, ultimately leaving an imprint on our lives.
Read more ... Clash Music
Maryam
FARAJ SULEIMAN
Released 17 January 2025
****-
Although I cannot appreciate the lyrics, I found "Maryam" to be a thoroughly engaging and satisfying musical journey, that contains the unadorned quality of a live performance, drawing without compromise upon Arabic, Tango, Cabaret and Jazz influences.
Faraj Suleiman is a Palestinian a composer and pianist. His music is strongly influenced by Arabic/Eastern melodies and rhythms. He often incorporates those scales and modalities in his compositions. In addition to being inspired by his Arabic culture, he is also influenced by Jazz traditions.
His 2023 album "As Much As It Takes" was featured in SunNeverSetsOnMusic's World Tour #4 Palestine & Israel Blog post in 2024.
As an Arab musician/pianist trained in classical music, he constantly searches for new forms of expression to equally appeal to his "Eastern" and "Western" listeners.
To date, Faraj Suleiman has composed several albums which have placed the "Eastern" piano in the centre of the composition, ranging from solo piano compositions to quartets, quintets, arrangements for choir and full orchestras.
He also composed music for theatre and film, such as the multiple award- winning film by Ameen Nayfeh "200 meters", and "Alam" by Feras Khoury.
His new release, "Maryam" is an album of ten original compositions, seven of which are co-written with actor, director and playwright Amer Hlehel, two with dancer and architect Dima Zahran and one alone.
The album opens with the brief, dirge-like "Packed Love", followed by the sweetly presented "A Handful of Air". An exuberant, theatrical mood then emerges with the Brechtian "Bye Bye Love" and "Gone Like A Dream". "Fragments of Memory" provides a pensive interlude before the first of album's two major compositions, the jazzy, engaging "Music of Black Finale" - in which the full ensemble is given reign, with electric guitars, brass and drums propelling the narrative.
The theatrical, piano-driven mood re-emerges with "A Hell of A Dream" and is extended by the album's second major piece "I Run, Scream, Mariam". Here, a delicate piano compliments moody vocals as the piece gradually builds to a powerful peak, before it recedes symmetrically and fades to its conclusion.
The album is completed by a pair of calming, intimate pieces "Remnant of A Soul" and "Counting Two Lives".
Read more ... Faraj Suleiman
Apollo Solar Drive
SETENTA
Released 17 January 2025
****-
The overall vibe is warm and positive, propelled by the dual energy thrusters of funky, fierce beats and deceptively complex arrangements, yet going down smooth in the best sense of the word, like your favorite tropical cocktail or classic jazz dance fusion record of the 1970s. Of course this delicious treat is served with a special Setenta flavor all its own.
Paris-based band Setenta marks their 20th anniversary by releasing their sixth album, Apollo Solar Drive - their best record yet and the culmination of an odyssey of artistic discovery.
Setenta has been constantly striving for illumination through the years, yet also exploring the dark side of the human condition along the way. As the band describes it, this record is "an Afro-Latin retro-futurist tribute to the sun". If their previous album, Materia Negra, 2021, launched the Setenta space shuttle crew into the void of “dark” matter and black holes, they now change course and valiantly approach the sun at full warp speed, taking us from darkness into the light. Miraculously, Setenta manage to bring some of the rhythmic and harmonic material they’ve explored on Earth with them, yet boldly dare to go where no one has gone before, challenging themselves to take their music, and their audience, to uncharted dimensions and new realms of existence.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Stairway To The Stars
LAURA ANGLADE
Released 17 January 2025
Justin Time Records / Nettwerk Music Group
****-
"Laura has studied all the great vocal stylists of the last century. And yet she imitates no one. You feel convinced that no singer has ever been so absolutely honest with you." - David Noel Edwards, The Berkshire Edge.
Following her auspicious debut album, ‘I’ve Got Just About Everything’ (Justin Time Records, 2019) and a beautiful Juno-nominated duo recording Venez Donc Chez Moi (Justin Time Records, 2022) with guitarist Sam Kirmayer, vocalist Laura Anglade returns with her second release as a solo artist.
Born in Brousse-le-Château in the mountains of southern France and raised in Connecticut in USA, Anglade is now based in New York, the ideal base for her burgeoning international career which has already taken her to many of the world's greatest stages - Olympia (Paris), the Royal Festival Hall (London), Town Hall (New York City), the Ace Theatre Hotel (Los Angeles), and the main stage at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. She has opened for Gregory Porter at the Victoria Jazz Festival (summer 2022), and Melody Gardot (fall 2022), joining her across the east and west coasts of the United States and in Europe.
Although Stairway to the Stars is listed as a "single", it's six songs and 27 minute duration fit the Grammy Awards "album" status (min. 5 songs, 15 minutes). This is another set of mellow jazz standards and deep cuts that will further consolidate her reputation.
Read more ... Rhythm Changes
Heritage
SONGHOY BLUES
Released 17 January 2025
Studio Mali, Transgressive Records
****-
Close harmonies and delicate percussion front and centre showcase the band’s songwriting finesse on their beguiling fourth album
Each of Songhoy Blues’ albums has mapped slightly different terrain. The Malian rockers’ 2015 debut, Music in Exile, was a gripping, energising introduction to a talented outfit shaped in the terrifying cauldron of civil war. Résistance (2017) roamed previously unexplored areas such as funk and Iggy Pop with mixed results, while 2020’s Optimisme was an enjoyably florid, maximalist journey through Songhoy’s “desert blues” roots. Héritage takes a sharp left turn into the band’s first acoustic-led project, and while it lacks some of the incendiary thrills of their very best work, it demonstrates the power and acuity of their songwriting.
It helps that songs such as Toukambela aren’t particularly sparse or slow. Close choral harmonies and delicate percussion fill out the nooks normally inhabited by searing guitar solos or thumping rhythms. There’s a soulful frailty in Aliou Touré’s imploring vocal that is incredibly winning, particularly on Boutiki or in duet with Rokia Koné on Norou. As the album sounds more traditionally Malian, the slide guitar during Boroterey feels oddly out of place, yet Batto’s squalling electric solo is perfectly judged. Overall, this is yet another impressive piece of work, full of spark and wonder.
Read more ... The Guardian
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The Strength (EP)
INKSWEL, LYMA
LEONARD CHARLES, TA'RAACH
Released 17 January 2025
****-
This is a solid half hour of old school funk and soul, inspired by solid Motor City and Philly roots, infused with the grit of hip hop and updated by contemporary electronic production. Listen loud and on repeat!
All vocals written and performed by Lyma, the Amsterdam based producer, singer, songwriter, multi-Instrumentalist whose output ranges between soul, progressive hip hop and genre-agnostic dance.
All tracks produced by Inkswel an Australian music producer, internationally-recognised DJ, self-proclaimed music obsessive and champion of cutting-edge sounds for over two decades. Inkswel (born Jules Habib) has provided the backdrop to countless collaborations over an endlessly impressive career, working locally and internationally with the likes of Georgia Anne Muldrow, Illa J, Thundamentals, Lance Ferguson, Erin Buku, Kaidi Tatham, Bugz In The Attic, Osunlade, Talib Kweli, Lee Scratch Perry, Blu & Exile, Andrew Ashong,
Additional instrumentation is by New Zealand producer Leonard Charles. The feature track "Thank You", horns are credited to Nathan Forward and words to Ta'Raach (aka Lacks), a veteran MC and beatsmith of Detroit's hip-hop underground, over the course of '90's and early 2000's.
Read more ... Bandcamp
MF TEEN: Your Concurrence In The Above Is Assumed
THE PRO-TEENS
Released 17 January 2025
****-
“The diversity of tones, moods, feels and arrangements was an intentional act to mirror the diversity within DOOM's own diverse musical vocabulary. We wanted to fluctuate between putting our own spin on DOOM's classic tunes as well as staying true to the original source.” - Bandleader Hudson Whitlock aka Libby Clique-Baité.
The Pro-Teens are a collection of professional teenagers from the Darebin area in Naarm (Melb, Aus).
They indulge in Dorothy Ahsby, they delight in DOOM, they thrive on The Fabulous Three and postulate on Placebo. Their music reflects that. Utilising the Drum Set, Bass, Horn and many other freaky instruments, The Teens like to explore the gamut of sounds, grooves, moods and genres available.
MF TEEN: Your Concurrence In The Above Is Assumed recognises the legacy of rap’s Illest Villain, traversing MF DOOM’s discography and personas, flipping selections from Madvillain, MM.. FOOD, Viktor Vaughan, Danger Doom and more, taking care to ensure recognisable tunes such as Doomsday and Curls are represented alongside more obscure cuts such as The Gas Face, the Third Bass song that featured the first recorded verse from MF DOOM in his original moniker of Zev Love X of the ill-fated 90s NYC rap group KMD.
breaks and left-field instrumental textures.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Recreational Substance
OZ NOY, ANDREW SYNOWIEC
Released 17 January 2025
****-
"Recreational Substance is pure ear candy for guitar freaks."
Vintage Guitar Magazine
Two great guitar players working together, sign me up!!
The album opens with an upbeat "Big City" from Synowiec. I love the heavy funky rhythm that drives "I Don't Know". The single coil lead work at times sounds like they would make great sax lines.
Even when things get bluesy, these guys know how to twist the notes and play outside the box keeping the music interesting. This one also breaks down into a quieter jazzy section, I love when songs throw little surprises in. Most importantly, this album sounds like they had a blast playing together. They capture a big beautiful acoustic sound on "Brothers" with those volume swells from the second guitar just adding to the atmosphere.
The playing is brilliant, a guitar player's dream listening to Recreational Substance.
I would love to see this quartet out on the road; hopefully they will be playing gigs.
Noy and Synowiec are terrific together, and I hope this will be an ongoing partnership with more recordings to come.
The best part is how well they blend, top-notch players doing their thing.
Read more ... Sea Of Tranquility
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Fiesta Fiasco (EP)
FIESTA FIASCO
Released 18 January 2025
****-
Not to be confused with the 6 minute short cartoon film in which Daffy Duck builds a rainmaking machine in order to rain out Speedy Gonzales's fiesta, but it spits out a small black cloud that does nothing but harass Daffy himself.
Fiesta Fiasco is a 9 piece band from Brisbane, Australia playing sizzling Ska/Reggae/Soul music that is guaranteed to have you on your feet dancing!
Combining musicians from some of Brisbane's best loved Ska bands with exciting young artists, this is Fiesta Fiasco!
Fiesta Fiasco are - Adam Haks (Trombone), Alex Taisne (Drums), Anna Roche-Kelly (Vocals) Chad (Winston) Morro (Guitars/Vocals - Lead vocal Track 4), Glyn Hickling (Trumpet Track 3) Guy Mansfield (Bass Guitar)Lydia Watkins (Vocals) Matt Muller (Trumpet Tracks 1,2,4,5) Neil Roche-Kelly (Keyboards/Vocals) Simon Brookes (Saxophones)
Read more ... Bandcamp
Halo
THANDII
Released 20 January 2025
****-
At its core, Halo is an exploration of heartbreak and faltering love, tempered by a quiet, determined optimism. Hope, as a form of defiance, can come from the darkest of spaces.
It seems appropriate that "Halo", Thandii's fourth studio album arrived on Blue Monday - the so-called bleakest day of the Northern Hemisphere year, 20th January.
Thandii is the musical love child of Jessica Berry and Graham Godfrey, touring and recording musicians that have worked with Michael Kiwanuka, Hozier, SAULT, Cleo Sol, Little Simz, Chronixx and Inflo, amongst others.
Interlude-length "Halo" opens proceedings with eerie, mood setting synth tones - a perfect prelude for what follows.
"Past" reflects on the weight of memories and the challenge of moving forward, the fat bass-line and Jessica Berry’s vocal channels a vibe reminiscent of Portishead, particularly in the way her restrained delivery is smoky, emotionally charged, and intimate.
"Glow", injects the album with a bright, uplifting energy, with its minimal production and sparkling synths. It’s about connection, presence, and the warmth that comes from a shared moment.
"Earth Angel’s", smooth rhythm and gentle melodies convey a quiet strength, a deep sense of devotion and tenderness.
"Moon" drifts into more ambient territory, it feels soft, atmospheric and a haunting. Berry’s voice here is delicate, almost fragile.
"Bang Bang" introduces a more rhythmic, percussive element, with DJ Shadow-style forceful beats and a slightly darker, more intense energy, building a sense of urgency that reflects the internal struggle of wanting and not knowing how to handle it.
"The Arc", feels intricate, the sparse production and soft vocals create a sense of stillness.
"Silence", is hauntingly cinematic, with Berry’s emotive delivery of lines like “You’re losing me, I can hardly speak... in the silence” evoking deep isolation and unspoken pain.
"Sentimental", brings a warm, nostalgic energy with dreamy keys and synths and a slow, reflective groove.
"Future" brings the album to an uplifting close, the lyrics “I can’t change the past, you can’t control the time… let’s just fall in love”, speak to growth, change, a fresh start and new love.
Read more ... NewMusikRadar
Reverie
JAWAN.mp3
Released 21 January 2025
****-
This project, produced by longtime collaborator Tonye Ayeba, showcases JAWAN.mp3's growth and artistic evolution, offering a resonant experience for fans of sophisticated R&B.
JAWAN.mp3 is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Heralded for his unparalleled storytelling and unique vocal tone, JAWAN.mp3 seeks authenticity and vulnerability in his melodies and lyrics in a way that encourages listeners to connect more deeply with themselves.
His new project, Reverie, expands on the sonic landscape introduced in his 2021 EP, The Abstract, delivering a captivating blend of abstract and modern R&B.
Featuring eight new tracks alongside the original five from the EP, Reverie is a complete artistic statement. Built on deeply personal songwriting and complex vocal arrangements,
Reverie takes listeners on a musical journey reflecting the emotional rollercoaster of the past few years. Many of these themes are explored through the lens of a romantic relationship, blurring the lines between songs about a person and reflections on JAWAN.mp3's relationship with his own emotional well-being.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Do You Feel The Same? (EP)
JELISA
Released 24 January 2025
****-
Emerging Amsterdam-based soul artist Jelisa (van Schijndel) impresses with her new EP, a collection of six excellent original songs in a smooth jazz style that sits near Sade and Cleo Sol.
As Dutch magazine "Steppin' Into Tomorrow" observed, "Jelisa already felt at an early stage of her life she was drawn to music, dancing, and developing her creativity. Starting to write her own songs when she was young, on a regular base, until today, indicates her passion for expressing herself through music.
With support from both of her parents, her career kickstarted with performing and expressing herself immediately after she finished her study of Performing Arts. She evolved into an all-around artist whether it was acting, modeling, dancing, singing, songwriting, or playing instruments. Throughout all the experiences she now decided she wanted to focus on one profession; making her own music and performing her own songs on stage with musicians that align with her and her vision.
Inspired by artists like Nina Simone, D'Angelo, and Prince, she naturally navigated her sound toward neo-soul, alternative r&b, with a hint of modern jazz. With the release of her first EP in 2022, "Season Of Vulnerability" as an independent artist, JELISA gained global recognition through the internet, live recordings, and on stage.
Posting about "I'd Rather Live In My Dream", Jelisa wrote: "This song came from that space between reality and the subconscious mind’s or even a mind’s escape. Sometimes, the dream world feels safer, or maybe more freeing, doesn’t it? Writing this helped me make sense of the thoughts beneath the surface, and now I’m turning them into something you can feel. Hope it resonates with you the way it did with me".
Read more ... Instagram, Steppin' Into Jazz
Koinè
PELEGRINO & ZODYACO
Released 24 January 2025
****-
"There is no defined goal, rather a desire to explore new sonic languages that hold firmly to Neapolitan roots while opening up to a global and contemporary musical aesthetic.” - Pellegrino
Producer, DJ and songwriter, Pellegrino is the man behind Zodyaco band and Early Sounds Recordings, a key figure of the new Neapolitan funk scene and Mediterranean sound, with his label he has released debut records from Lapa Dula, Nu Genea, Ed Longo, Mystic Jungle, Bassolino, and released iconic compilations like Napoli Segreta or IES-Italian Erotic Sounds alongside his work as remixer on Billy Cobham's "Le Lis" and Best Records.
Blending different musical genres and funk, disco, Italo, Neapolitan and jazz atmospheres, Pellegrino's music is seductive, sophisticated and evocative of a starry sky over Vesuvius.
With the name Koinè, a term that means “common language,” the work already guards a declaration of intent in its title, where languages (spoken and musical) and dialects mingle, creating a mosaic of sounds, sensations and visions that weaves the Neapolitan melodic tradition with disco, funk, jazz fusion and world music. Pellegrino abandons the patterns associated with revivalism, experimenting with new compositional dimensions and drawing from an imagery that blends vintage instruments, ethnic percussion and Mediterranean... more
Read more ... Bandcamp
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Nougayork Remixes (EP)
CLAUDE NOUGARO
PHILLIPE SAISSE, MARQUIS HILL
Released 24 January 2025
****-
Four remixes of a song from French artist Claude Nougaro's 1987 album, ahead of the 20th anniversary of his passing, extend a minute longer and are presented at a significantly more chilled-out tempo than the higher-energy original.
Widely regarded as the singer who fused the traditions of the French chanson with the energy and verve of American jazz, Claude Nougaro was born in Toulouse in 1929. Although his commercial fortunes declined during the 1970s, during the following decade Nougaro made a comeback inspired by the success of the 1987 album "Nougayork" cut in New York City.
Around the same time, he also experimented with African rhythms.
After years of failing health, Nougaro died March 4, 2004 at the age of 74. After his passing, French president Jacques Chirac said "a veritable poet has left us."
Now, just ahead of the 21st anniversary of Nougaro's passing, Grammy-nominated French contemporary jazz keyboardist, composer, and producer Philippe Saisse, (whose resume includes collaboration with artists including Al Di Meola, David Bowie, Chaka Khan, The Rolling Stones, Al Jarreau, David Sanborn, Luther Vandross, Angelique Kidjo, Dave Koz and others) and Chicago jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Marquis Hill have taken the title track from his 1987 album and produced four new remixes - "International", "Vocoder", "Full Vocal" and "Instrumental" versions.
The original version runs to 3min. 29sec. and is up-tempo and brass-heavy and Negaro's vocal occupies the middle half of the track. The remixes are a minute longer and the vocal is cut from all but one of them, and edited so that it is delivered in separated phrases that spread to twice the length of the original. All the remixes are much more chilled-out, compared to the higher-energy original
Read more ...
Mong Tong on Audiotree Live
MONG TONG, AUDIOTREE
Released 24 January 2025
****-
Mong Tong has been described as part of a new wave of Taiwanese music that draws on the country's rich cultural heritage while pushing boundaries and exploring new sonic territory. They have also been noted for their visually striking album artwork, music videos and special outfits.
Mong Tong is a Taiwanese psychedelic music band formed by brothers Hom Yu and Jiun Chi. The name "Mong Tong" is derived from the brothers' childhood nickname, which can mean something totally different in different languages from Burmese, Cantonese to Chinese.
Mong Tong's music is heavily influenced by Southeast Asian culture, including its mythology and folklore, as well as 60s and 70s psychedelic music.
Their sound is characterized by hypnotic rhythms, dreamy melodies, and otherworldly atmospheres.
Overall, Mong Tong is a unique and exciting addition to the global psychedelic music scene, offering a fresh perspective and a fascinating blend of musical and cultural influences.
Mong Tong’s 2024 collaborative album with Gong Gong Gong, ‘Mongkok Duel 旺角龍虎鬥,’ emphasizes the rock in psychedelic rock as the cornerstone of culture and experimental sound.
During their interview with Audiotree Host, FINGY, Mong Tong chats about Taiwanese rituals, ghosts, and the meaning of psychedelic music.
Audiotree is a Chicago-based music discovery platform that records, films and releases live music.
For more Taiwanese music visit our 2024 World Tour #7 Taiwan blog page
Read more ... Bandcamp
The Complete String Quartets
JOHN ZORN, JACK QUARTET
Released 24 January 2025
****-
These world class musicians, both individually and as an ensemble, have had a personal relationship with Zorn for well over a decade. Here they deliver passionate and virtuosic recordings of his complete string quartets.
JACK Quartet comprises Jay Campbell (Cello), Austin Wulliman (Violin), Chris Otto (Violin) and John Pickford Richards (Viola).
Zorn’s writing for strings is legendary, and his eight string quartets, written in a thirty-year period from 1988 to 2017, are some of the most important and original works of the late 20th and early 21st century.
Each piece is a unique world of its own, but all carry a dramatic narrative arc, a connection to tradition, and all push the players technically right to the edge of impossibility.
Imaginative, challenging, and filled with color and a wealth of emotions, this is new music at its best.
The physical Includes a 36-page booklet with extensive notes, scores, and appreciations by the musicians.
Read more ... Tzadik
Asphodels
THE VEILS
Released 24 January 2025
****-
"As always, I really just write about love and death - it's a compulsion - and that is once again the case here. But I feel as though I've never been able to express this stuff rattling about in my brain quite as directly until now. I have rarely felt proud of anything I've made for very long, but this one feels different. It's built on a strong foundation I think." Finn Andrews
Since being signed to Rough Trade when lead singer Finn Andrews was 16 years old, English/New Zealand indie/rock band The Veils have released six studio albums and toured consistently throughout their twenty year history and garnered a formidable reputation as one of the world's greatest live bands. They have also been praised by film directors Paolo Sorrentino, Tim Burton and David Lynch who have all used their music on their soundtracks.
Asphodels, the seventh studio album from The Veils, was recorded live to tape over five days at Roundhead Studios in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The album takes its name from the Ancient Greek flower of the Underworld, and lyrically, Andrews draws more from the great poets than he does from the well of more traditional rock and roll songwriters.
The collaboration between Andrews and string arranger Victoria Kelly is a central aspect of the record, and as with the band's previous album "And Out Of The Void Came Love", Kelly plays an integral role in bringing the songs to life. Andrews says "I really wanted the string arrangements to behave like another member of the band. We even fleshed the character out, like an actor playing a role. It's this collaboration with Vic that is really at the centre of this record I think."
Read more ... Rough Trade
Epilogue
ATAMONE
Released 24 January 2025
****-
"A series of beats I made and performed live with MPCLive + SP404Mk2 during Summer 2024"
Atamone (Tam Kadjulik) is a Montreal Inuk multidisciplinary audio visual artist, producer, multi-instrumentalist, live performer, DJ, 3D artist, video game programmer, animator, graphic designer, photographer, videographer, philosopher, mentor, teacher, and creative consultant who has been creating independently in the arts and entertainment scene since 2011.
An innovative pioneer, creative leader, and role model, driving current and past audio/visual technologies to their limits; exploring artistic possibilities and discovering creative solutions from various angles and degrees. With an artistic background in underground culture—hip-hop, graffiti, street art, dance, and DJ culture—and an academic background in sound engineering, film, animation, design and video game programming. Holding degrees in Sound Design for Visual Media, Visual Communication for Interactive Media, 3D Video Game Programming, and 3D Animation & Visual FX for Cinema. Embracing a hybrid approach that merges analog and digital universes for creative expression.
Using computing technologies, hardware samplers, and drum machines to process, manipulate, and sequence live instruments, analog sounds, and visuals, Atamone simmers warmhearted rhythms and graceful melodies inspired by jazz, soul, hip-hop, and electronica. Providing future beats, cinematic gems, and timeless sounds. Atamone released music on labels Tour De Manege, Inner Ocean Records, and Stay Bright Records.
Read more ... Atamore
Preludes & Songs
FRANCOIS COUTURIER
DOMINIQUE PIFARELY
Released 24 January 2025
****-
François Couturier and Dominique Pifarély, defining figures in creative music in France, renew their special connection on Preludes and Songs, an album of sensitive interaction, improvisational flair, and wide ranging artistic reference.
Almost three decades have elapsed since the last ECM album by the pianist and violinist (Poros, recorded in 1997), and although there have been shared musical adventures in the interim, this recording amounts to a reassessment and realignment of their duo work: “The idea was not to go back to where we first stopped,” Dominique Pifarély explains, “but to start from the point that each of us had reached during this long pause. Therefore we had to really pay attention to each other’s musical personality, since we had built different ideas and forms meanwhile. We absolutely wanted to respect each other’s route, and find a passage to each other.”
Preludes and Songs, then, brings their story forward, with its programme including compositions by both players and a scattering of pieces that have become jazz standards: Duke Ellington’s “Solitude”, J.J. Johnson’s “Lament”, George Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy” and Manning Sherwin’s “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square” are all transformed and liberated in these interpretations, as is Jacques Brel’s “La chanson des vieux amants”.
Read more ... ECM
Under The Surface
JULIA HULSMANN QUARTET
Released 31 January 2025
****-
Julia Hülsmann’s quartet resurfaces with a fresh Norwegian voice on horn in tow and presents an attractive batch of originals that finds the group thoughtfully exploring common ground with a knack for adventure.
When saxophonist Uli Kempendorff first joined Julia’s trio on 2019’s Not Far From Here, a new sense of expressionist urgency was introduced to the band’s interplay – a sense that is amplified and expanded upon through the addition of Norwegian trumpeter Hildegunn Øiseth here, who joins the quartet on five cuts.
As on past outings, every quartet member contributes music to the session, the leader herself being responsible for half the programme. And on the pieces where we only hear the core-foursome, the interplay becomes even more playful and free in return.
Julia: “We’re open to whatever happens with the music, as it naturally develops and changes over time. We don’t fixate on one particular way to play it, but let it morph into something new each and every time.” And that must be how the group keeps things fresh on Under The Surface – a gem in Julia Hülsmann’s increasingly impressive ECM-oeuvre.
Read more ... ECM
Ebo Taylor JID022
UEBO TAYLOR
ADRIAN YOUNGE
ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD
Released 31 January 2025
****-
Another excellent release from the team at Jazz Is Dead. The swirling horns and gritty guitars heard on Ebo Taylor JID022 are reminiscent of his seminal seventies recordings that made him one of Africa’s most prolific and revolutionary artists of all time.
At 88 years of age, the Ghanian highlife and afrobeat pioneer Ebo Taylor traveled to the US for the very first time to perform at the now iconic Jazz Is Dead concert series, selling out venues across the country. It was during this time that Ebo recorded a psychedelic afrobeat album alongside Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad. This mind-blowing collaboration is one that could not have been anticipated by Ebo fans worldwide and will surely satisfy connoisseurs of classic West African funk.
Recorded inside of Younge’s Linear Labs studio, this album captures polyrhythmic percussion and twangy, fuzzed out guitars that prove that rhythm is key. The ensemble of Ghanian background vocalists emanates a uniquely spiritual sound that takes the listener back to Ebo’s prime.
However, one of the most exhilarating components to this album is Ebo’s signature approach to vocal stylings. His heartfelt lyrics about love, peace and spirituality echo nearly a century of experience and wisdom.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Star Childt
JEFF MILLS
Released 31 January 2025
****-
Whereas “dancing” is the goal of Dance Music, the goal of this music is about “reflecting on the complexity and simplification of life”. Soundtracks for people in their evolutionary process.
Release notes for the album seek to explain it's inspiration: "Imperfections are a natural part of the world, and they can make us beautiful and unique. Nothing and everything is perfect. We can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and still we’re beautiful. A Star Child is the idea that a person can be incomplete and not self-aware, yet accept their imperfections. still direct their influence despite the arrangements of periodic and trending consequence. It can also mean that imperfections can make admirable qualities stand out more clearly".
Star Child is the newest in a series of releases, curated by Millsart, an alias of Jeff Mills, of his most eclectic and transcendent compositions that derive from his Every Dog Has Its Day project as well as new unreleased works. Vernacular creations that fall off from the “other side” of the Electronic Music tree, this project is designed for the experienced Techno music listener, and its goal is to reflect upon the pure artistry of the craft of storytelling. A realization between music and life.
Read more ... Axis Records
Cosmic Seeds
BROWN SPIRITS
Released 10 January 2025
****-
Cosmic Seeds is a major step up for Brown Spirits, who seemed to have mastered the art of making colorful and energetic yet focused psychedelia. The group's formula seemingly hasn't changed, but everything just feels brighter, heavier, trippier, and more alive.
Melbourne trio Brown Spirits signed to Soul Jazz Records on the strength of their first three home-recorded LPs, and they made their debut with the London label in 2023, issuing the sprawling, spacy Solitary Transmissions.
Follow-up Cosmic Seeds is a refinement of the band's homegrown mixture of psychedelia, Krautrock, and deep funk.
Opener "Fault Lines" is the type of ten-minute jam that seems to fly by in half that time, a vibrant splash of keyboards and delay effects set to a heavy, amorphous groove, with a perfectly timed breakdown. "Mind Rocker" establishes a steady motorik rhythm, then kicks into overdrive halfway through, turning into a propulsive freakout. "Magenta Haze" is a bite-sized slice of big, funky drums and glimmering organ melodies. "Beat on Repeat" is even closer to a gargantuan, Jaki Liebezeit-style rhythm, with starry keyboards rising above the locked-in, steamrolling drums. "Out Out Out" finds the group working their magic at a chase-scene tempo. The last two songs let the band stretch out and slow down a bit, with "Winter Solstice" being a relaxed, highly pleasant comedown, sounding much closer to "Summer Madness" than the song's title suggests.
Brown Spirits are: Tim Wold )Guitar, Keyboards, Moog, Bass and Sitar), Agostino Soldati (Drums, Percussion) and Ash Buscombe (Bass).
And big ups to whoever is responsible for the sleeve art.
Read more ... AllMusic
Woven
JEREMY PELT
Released 31 January 2025
****-
Pelt’s style is very much in touch with classic post-Second World War modernistic jazz. He knows you can never throw out the baby with the bathwater. He also avoids being too trad. Above all his balladry is timeless and instrumentalism full of grace and elegance.
Nominating "Woven" as album of the week upon its release, influential Jazz website Marlbank described Jeremy Pelt as "In a class of his own - the greatest hard bop trumpeter in the Freddie Hubbard mould that we know of anywhere – his new albums end up competing with his old albums. No one else’s matter in that regard".
The Woven players - Jeremy Pelt (trumpet); Jalen Baker (vibraphone); Misha Mendelenko (guitar); Leighton Harrell (bass(; Jared Spears (drums), Marie-Ann Hedonia (synthesizer) and Barcelona born Mar Vilaseca (vocals, track 2 only) - produce an instantly persuasive sound that melds minor mode tonalities, fleet of foot scurrying runs and slow down romantic interludes. Pelt and co. keep you guessing and yet thoroughly involved.
Read more ... Marlbank
The Summer of Secrets
LUDOVICO EINAUDI
Released 31 January 2025
Ponderosa Music Records, DECCA
****-
Nine billion streams a year. That’s the sheer scale on which the music of Ludovico Einaudi reaches audiences. The Italian, who will be 70 this November, is courteous and genial in person – I interviewed him in Montreal a couple of years ago – but is also, patently, a superstar.
In his new, 13-track album, The Summer Portraits (Decca Records), he has nostalgic and personal stories to tell. The annual break from school in the Sixties would stretch out from early June right into the beginning of September, so “Punta Bianca” captures the kind of dolcefarniente, spaciousness one might expect. Einaudi re-connects with boyhood summer holidays in Bocca di Magra, and for the video of “Rose Bay”, has released some grainy home video footage to accompany the track. Calm reigns: in a track such as “Pathos” which does ratchet up the intensity and passion, there is an almost inevitable return to calm and equanimity before the piece takes its leave.
There are other personal stories too, notably the fact that Einaudi’s maternal grandfather, Wando Aldrovandi, a conductor, refused to work for the fascists, and left Italy for Australia when Einaudi’s mother was only 12 years old. The track “Rose Bay” has the piano as a reassuring presence and a rhythmic anchor among flickering string sounds and some electronic processing. Einaudi sets great store by producing music which has an emotional candour and simplicity but a produced structure which is uncopiable. The deceptive asymmetries of the opening sections of “Episode One” briefly conjure up that unease, before ostinato and repetition remove the doubt.
The lead instrumental voice is almost invariably Einaudi’s piano. He records the piano tracks in his home studio in the Southern Piedmont, Melo Fiorito in Dogliani, but thereafter there is a whole production process involving recordings at Abbey Road – individual strings, string orchestra, percussion, some light ambient electronics – and a major involvement from the influential Berlin-based producer, engineer and score mixer Francesco Donadello.
The UK has had a particular story in the way Ludovico Einaudi’s music has been received – and appreciated (or not) ever since the early 1990s. On the one hand, it is an intrinsic part of the history, commercial success and brand identity of Classic FM, but the Italian has also always had his detractors and naysayers in this country.
That kind of long-entrenched animosity don't trouble him, or indeed Universal/ Decca any more. The stories and biographical opening-up around “The Summer Portraits” are being claimed to be demystification, which might be overclaiming, but they won’t do any harm. It is exactly what the pianist/composer's loyal, increasingly and even surprisingly young fan base want and expect. Einaudi clearly has another hit on his hands.
Read more ... The Arts Desk
Renascence
CYMANDE
Released 31 January 2025
****-
A brave and mostly brilliant attempt to revive half-century-old magic. It feels churlish to point out that they haven’t achieved perfection as they once did, because this really is a great record – they’ve absolutely shot for the moon and ended up among the stars.
When you’ve achieved the truly sublime, trying to recapture it can be bittersweet. Cymande, for the mere three years they existed in the early 1970s, were one of the very best bands on the planet: a unique mixture of Rasta spirituality and African-inspired percussion with Curtis Mayfield conscious funk plus a particularly British melancholy and melodic hooks for days.
It got them a brief flush of fame in the US, but nothing at home and they broke up disillusioned, before being gradually revivified by getting sampled by the biggest names in hip hop.
Since the 1990s, they have reformed in various permutations up to and including the full lineup for various gigs and recordings. Their 2016 comeback album, while by no means terrible, tried to modernise their sound but got stuck halfway through the Eighties production-wise and didn’t really channel the spirit they’d proved they could deliver on the live stage.
This album, however – despite the subsequent passing away of two original members – really does capture that sound and energy. The lilting, liquid guitar lines, insidious bass melodies, heaps of congas and Tony Allen style drum all lock together with unmistakeable Cymande style, and even the way seemingly straightforward social conscience lyrics are given a bittersweet tang of forlorn hope (wondering if they are “chasing an empty dream” as the opening track has it) is uncannily like their classic period.
The whole thing is given a warm bath of lavish string arrangements, which helps keep it fresh, and at various points, particularly on the closing “Darkest Night” and “Carry the Word”, the old magic is fully recaptured. The only issue is that the melody writing doesn’t always have the subtlety that was there before and choruses – most notably on the downright Hollywood-ish “Only One Way” on which guest Celeste belts it out – sometimes tend to the anthemic. Not that that’s exactly bad: indeed laying on the sentimentality does dovetail with the triumph of recapturing a vibe a full half century on…
Read more ... The Arts Desk
Nyron Higor
NYRON HiGOR
Released 31 January 2025
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This album is a testament to the timeless themes that define Higor’s artistry, as well as his creative drive to overcome the obstacles he faces.
At the forefront of a rising wave of Brazilian artists captivating international audiences, Nyron Higor brings a quiet yet potent sense of wonder to his new self-titled album.
Born in Maceió, Higor’s latest work is rooted in the traditions of Northeastern Brazilian music and golden-era MPB. Within the peaceful surroundings of his home, Higor weaves these roots together with global influences and contemporary production techniques, for a uniquely dreamlike vision of hope.
Album opener "Ciranda" sets the tone with a slow frevo rhythm, as wistful trombone melodies and melancholic acoustic guitar harmonies create an atmosphere both intimate and grand. Lead single "São Só Palavras," featuring Alici Sol and Bruno Berle, captures both the lightness and depth of young love in an all too fleeting minute-and-a-half moment of soaring brilliance.
Building upon the instrumental sound of his debut, “Louro Cantador” with its playful organ, birdlike whistles and elegant acoustic guitar, emanates a kind of rare natural beauty, as each sound dances amidst the gentle pulse of Higor's bass—his main instrument.
Through ten carefully crafted tracks, Higor’s acuity for sound and silence draws listeners into a place that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant. “Above all, I value making music that brings me genuine satisfaction. I’m always looking for depth in the things I create.”
Conveying his feelings of jubilance for his work, Higor notes, “This work is liberating, contemplative and victorious!” Each track invites the listener to experience the raw intimacy, the joy and longing, and the otherworldly ingenuity of Brazilian music, which seems to endlessly keep us coming back for more.
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Paris
NILS FRAHM
Released 6 December 2024
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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.
Recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris and one and a half years after releasing his magnum opus ‘Music For Animals’ - described by PopMatters as “a musical waterfall of monumental proportions” - Nils Frahm shares a new live album via his LEITER label.
Having first come to prominence with delicate vignettes for piano, Nils’ instrumental range has expanded to include a mountain of vintage synths and keyboard instruments. These include a custom-made organ as well as the final glass harmonica constructed by Gerhard Finkenbeiner, a master glassblower who, in the 1980s, resurrected the instrument – first invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761 – and then died in 1999 in mysterious, still unresolved circumstances. Nils’ grasp of dynamics and tension has likewise expanded, and not only does he reinvigorate his work during concerts for this wider range of possibilities, but he also keeps developing it as he tours.
If he leaves the stage to the same uproarious jubilation with which he was initially greeted, Paris makes it clear why he’s been so in demand. He’s been booked, frequently for multiple nights, at halls around the world, including Sydney’s Opera House, London’s Barbican and LA’s Orpheum Theatre.
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Dragonfly Season
HUDSON MACUSHLA
Released 15 December 2024
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Dragonfly Season is the promising debut album from this Melbourne/Naarm artist - a moody, atmospheric set of soundscapes conjured from a mesmerising array of heavily distorted and intimately amplified acoustic instruments and electronic sources, overlaid by similarly-manipulated human vocals.
The album's opening songs "Golden Nail" and "Shifting Shape", "Another Chance" and "Ootheca" (a type of dragonfly egg capsule) establishes a mournful atmosphere through which Macusha's ethereal (though illegible) vocal floats eerily - alternately husky, high falsetto or firm - as if David Lynch had re-mixed Bon Iver from beyond.
The album's centrepiece "Dragonfly" is an interplay of vocal and instrumental lines - opening with a single, angelic voice that is soon joined by others, intertwining, rising and falling before merging with the percussive backing in noisy compression, suddenly clearing to deliver some of the more legible (though cryptic) lyrics of the album". The sonic space established around the vocals, through the use of distortion, recurring trumpets and percussion, is visceral and the highly mechanical crackling effects suggest the magnified rubbing of dragonfly wings. A shorter companion track "Tired" follows and serves to re-orient the listener, before we are taken into a new dreamlike environment of "In the Garden". Here again, the backing is sparse and fragmentary, the lyrics tortured, pleading, longing. The instrumentation fuller and less percussive.
Penultimate song "Plastic Diamonds" presents a collage of autotuned vocal grabs and samples which gives way to "Headless" - the album's second longest piece, that is cinematic in its approach - laden with strings and synths, the soundtrack to an unseen movie.
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Tea For Three
ARI HOENIG TRIO
ARI HOENIG, GADI LEHAVI, BEN TIBERIO
Released 13 December 2024
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Ari is widely noted particularly for his drumming not being relegated to just keeping tempo, or being a side issue to the music he plays in, but rather for elevating drumming as an indispensable part of the performance.
Ari Hoenig is a jazz drummer, composer and educator known for his unusual and intense approach to drumming emphasizing complex rhythms in direct harmony with other group members.
Commenting on this release Hoenig observed "This is the first time I’ve recorded two consecutive records with the same personnel. I do hope the reason for this will be apparent upon listening. This group continues to grow and offers new musical paths every time we play together. I’d like to thank Gadi Lehavi and Ben Tiberio for their creativity, musicianship and friendship. Jordi Pujol for his generous support of my music for the last decade.
Recorded at Big Orange Sheep Studios, Brooklyn, New York, on July 28, 2023, Hoenig was joined by Gadi Lehavi (piano) and Ben Tiberio (bass).
Read more ... Bandcamp