For their third collaborative album, Ruth Mascelli & Mary Hanson Scott have come up with an intriguing title – Esoteric Lounge Music Now, presenting a sort of dilemma for the listeners – what should esoteric lounge music sound like now?
Well, what Mascelli and Scott seem to have in mind is their take on all things noir in music – from a vision of jazz noir soundtracks of fifties and sixties combined with the dark touches that could be found on the prime trip-hop of second part of the nineties, neatly combined and meshed into dark late night tone sculptures that combine Mascelli’s deep, darkened vocals with Scott’s, often FX-blasted reeds and other electronic embellishments. The duo draws both on their previous musical experiences (Mascelli as a part of…
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The fusion of jazz, baroque piano, vocals and traditional Central African and Middle Eastern rhythms might sound like an ambitious overreach, with too many influences competing for space. Yet Afro Baroque proves that what could have been a chaotic collision of styles instead shows how rhythm, melody and cultural expression can complement each other to produce an album of dynamic interplay that entertains throughout.
The driving force behind this cross-genre synthesis is the combination of Israeli-Italian pianist Yakir Arbib and Cameroonian drummer and vocalist Conti Bilong. Arbib has been blind since birth and suffers from synesthesia, which blends senses so that musical tones are seen as different colors. A Berklee graduate, he is equally…
This trio unites the Lebanese pianist Rami Khalifé, Albanian cellist Redi Hasa and Iranian-French percussionist, saz and zarb goblet drum player Bijan Chemirani to explore a domain of sensitive acoustic composition.
L’Antidote invest folk forms with a neo-classical air, playing with their surrounding space and savouring the creation of delightfully calming atmospheres. They make collective music that has room for individual expression.
Opener ‘Pomegranate’ matches nimble piano, softly droned cello (with what sounds like very light electronics) and flexible frame drum (daf) fluidly, while the standout ‘Dates, Figs And Nuts’ features Khalifé’s prepared piano percussiveness. There have been a few albums lately…
Réunion singer, percussionist and composer Luc Moindranzé Karioudja releases his debut album, Mon Balo, in homage to his island’s traditional maloya musical heritage. Situated around 800km east of Madagascar – an island whose cultural history is itself as proudly independent as it is African – Réunion offers a unique blend of African, Malagasy, Indian and French influences.
Tropical birdsong, wind chime-style percussion and rich a cappella vocals set the vibe from the opening moments, with Karioudja leading an overdubbed male choir in a mix of French and traditional languages. What sounds like ‘amour’ is whispered and echoed out. Barely audible hand drums and an accommodating trumpet backing hint towards Karioidja’s Afro-Cuban…
Travis Laplante is quite the polymath — a composer, improviser, and saxophonist — he has led the acclaimed tenor saxophone quartet Battle Trance, as well as Subtle Degrees, his duo with drummer Gerald Cleaver, and is recognized as a composer of meticulous, long-form pieces.
His compositional skills are on full display in his latest release, a recording of two string quartets performed by the JACK Quartet, one of the most celebrated interpreters of modern classical music today.
With these string quartets, Laplante‘s role as composer is bolstered by his fascination with resonance. While reading W. A. Mathieu’s music theory book, The Harmonic Experience, Laplante was taken by a section at…
Sam Shackleton has been subtly proving himself to be the real deal in terms of traditional folk song interpretation. It takes a competent musician to do justice to songs that were made to be sung and passed through generations; it takes an exceptional talent to truly inhabit the songs and breathe fresh life into them, as Sam Shackleton does. He has been ploughing away on the margins for five years or so now, releasing a debut album under his own label in 2022 that earned kudos for the authenticity of his approach and the stylistic echoes of artists like Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie. One look at the tone and templates of his releases reveals Sam to be a keen student of the early sixties’ folk revival; this is clearly a period wherein the attitude and approach to folk songs…
…featuring 7 previously unheard tracks.
On caroline‘s self-titled 2022 debut, the eight-piece UK collective unveiled material that flirted with deliberateness and silences, crafting quietly intricate post-folk puzzles, full of strings and breath, to tantalize the patient listener. The follow-up, aptly titled caroline 2, sees the group occasionally accelerate to gear-grinding velocity, though the path to their destination is still not always a straight line.
The first single from the album, “Total euphoria,” resembles a slightly deconstructed Broken Social Scene, with twin guitars chugging out repetitive and asynchronous downstrokes and a drum thump that trips into and out of the fray. Euphoria is achieved with a kind of drunken side-step that…
By any measure, Dhafer Youssef is a rare figure in modern music, a Tunisian-born oud virtuoso who has built bridges between Arabic traditions and global jazz, between spiritual contemplation and contemporary sound. Yet even for longtime followers of his work, his new release comes as a surprise. For the first time, Youssef has joined the acclaimed German label ACT, a move that feels both inevitable and long overdue.
Artists from ACT’s roster, bassist Chris Jennings and guitarist Nguyên Lê among them, have been close collaborators for years. Hearing Lê’s lyrical, electric phrasing entwine once again with Youssef’s haunting voice feels like a reunion of kindred spirits rather than a mere session partnership. Their interplay brings depth to…
When it comes to Kadavar, two things are certain. Firstly, nothing is certain, and secondly, whatever they come up with results from an impressive creative flow.
It took Kadavar five years to release a new album, “I Just Want to Be a Sound”, which hit the shelves in spring this year. The wait for the next record is substantially shorter, as Kids Abandoning Destiny Among Vanity and Ruin is released six months after the previous album. The title Kids Abandoning Destiny Among Vanity and Ruin is a kind of wordplay, leading to the acronym “K.A.D.A.V.A.R.”. In a sense, we are facing a self-titled album, and while I wouldn’t say it’s a new start, the latest effort does echo some more familiar sounds compared to the rather melodic…
With over fifteen years of shaping and propelling the global techno scene, Belgian DJ and producer Charlotte de Witte has reached a defining moment in her career with the release of her debut self-titled LP, Charlotte de Witte. Crowned the world’s number one techno DJ for six consecutive years, she stands as one of the genre’s most influential figures, and this album is the statement and clear expression of who she is as an artist. Spanning eleven tracks and just over an hour, the record distils the core of her sound – acid-driven, propulsive, and sharply refined while uncovering a more personal dimension beneath its precision.
The album opens with ‘The Realm’, a track that immediately signals intent with spiralling acid lines and steady pulsating percussion…
Steve Morse has long been regarded as one of the most respected guitarists in rock, admired not just by fans but by fellow musicians around the world. His tone, phrasing, and ability to constantly push forward and innovate have defined his career for decades. After briefly stepping away from prior music commitments following the passing of his wife, Morse returns with renewed focus and inspiration. Reuniting with longtime bandmates Dave LaRue on bass and Van Romaine on drums, he delivers Triangulation, the first new Steve Morse Band album in sixteen years.
The group’s last outing, 2009’s Out Standing In Their Field, came just before Morse and LaRue embarked on the Flying Colors adventure with Mike Portnoy, Neal Morse, and Casey McPherson.
In the Wake of Poseidon 40th Anniversary Edition. Released in a double Digipak stored in a slipcase. Includes a booklet with new sleeve notes by King Crimson biographer Sid Smith, along with rare photos and archive material. King Crimson opened 1970 scarcely in existence as a band, having lost two key members (Ian McDonald and Michael Giles), with a third (Greg Lake) about to leave. Their second album – largely composed of Robert Fripp’s songwriting and material salvaged from their stage repertory (“Pictures of a City” and “The Devil’s Triangle”) – is actually better produced and better sounding than their first. Surprisingly, Fripp’s guitar is not the dominant instrument here: The Mellotron, taken over by Fripp after McDonald’s departure – and played even better than before – still remains…
Saul Adamczewski, co-founder of Fat White Family and frontman of Insecure Men, endured a harrowing personal collapse in 2024, spending months in a cupboard in Tulse Hill amid severe psychosis and opioid addiction. After calling his mother and undergoing withdrawal, he began rebuilding his life, reconnecting with family and bandmates. This recovery led to A Man For All Seasons, the second Insecure Men album and a creative rebirth.
Recorded in the spring of 2025, at Ray Davis’ Konk Studios in Hornsey, North London with producer Raf Rundell, the album reflects Adamczewski’s shift toward collaboration, with a band lineup including Marley Mackay, Victor Jakeman, Fat White Family’s Alex White and Steely Dan Monte.
In 2009, the Triton venue (near Paris, France) was sold out to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Univers Zero, an iconic band of the Rock in Opposition movement.
These two exceptional concerts highlighted a radical and unique style of music, at the crossroads of new music and chamber rock, skilfully blending acoustic and electric instruments, as heard on the cult album ‘Ceux du Dehors’.
Around Daniel Denis (drums), Michel Berckmans (oboe, bassoon), and Andy Kirk (keyboards and guitar), three historical figures of the group, complemented by four other talented musicians, offered an intense multimedia show, intertwining a condensed version of key pieces from the repertoire with more recent compositions.
…newly mixed with the supervision of Roger Glover and analogue-mastered at renowned Chameleon Studios in Hamburg, this new edition includes a bonus CD featuring previously unreleased instrumental takes and studio rehearsals recorded during the songwriting process.
Deep Purple’s 2005 album Rapture of the Deep generally maintains the quality of 2003’s surprisingly sturdy Bananas. It’s the second release from the re-energized lineup of vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Steve Morse, bass guitarist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice, and keyboardist Don Airey, who replaced the retired Jon Lord. The band’s comfort level has increased, and after nearly a decade onboard, Morse’s stamp is all over the place. At first, this guitar genius’ presence…
Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen has built an impressive discography through collaborations with artists including Rick Margitza, Dave Liebman and Randy Brecker, contributing to 18 albums as either leader or co-leader. Yet he is perhaps best known for the part he plays in leading one of European jazz’s most distinctive piano trios, the Aki Rissanen Trio.
The album Imaginary Mountains, the title of which is a nod to the influence of Keith Jarrett’s Personal Mountains (1989), features jazz with classical influences from Rissanen’s early training and also reflects his interest in electronic sounds. This is the fifth release from the trio, which features bassist Antti Lotjonen and drummer Teppo Mäkynen. Their long-time collaboration, both in the studio and on the road, is reflected in their…
Animal, Surrender! returns with mathy, complicated grooves. The core duo of Peter Kerlin and Rob Smith continues to concoct oddly rhythmed but intoxicating reveries, but this time adds pipe organist Curt Sydnor to the sinuous mix. This second album continues in that vein, caging ruminative, bass-toned dream sequences in prickly post-modern architectures.
Despite the new member, Animal, Surrender! still sounds like a duo. The give-and-take between Kerlin and Smith continues to define this outfit’s lurch and stutter and sway. Sydnor, though, hovers in the margins, unleashing long, spooky tremulous tones that heighten the band’s aura of surreality.
The title track, for instance, unspools long, lucid phrases from the higher strings on…
Perception is the 1973 second album by Catalyst, the Philadelphia jazz-funk quartet whose blend of soul jazz, fusion, and avant-garde set them apart as a cult phenomenon. Featuring Zuri Tyrone Brown (bass), Onaje Sherman Ferguson (drums, percussion), Nwalinu Odean Pope (tenor saxophone, flute), and Sanifu Eddie Green (electric piano), the album stretches from spacious, electric fusion to driving, groove-forward funk and episodes of free improvisation. Recently reissued to renewed acclaim, Perception is recognized for its raw, inventive energy and genre-defying musicianship that prefigures later jazz fusion movements.
Emerging from the fertile musical landscape of early-1970s Philadelphia, Catalyst…