Summer is ending. We must not say this out loud; it is a hard pill to swallow. For many people, summer has already ended; vacations are over, classes have begun, the water has cooled. zakè‘s Tide Requiem for the Low Sea is a long, slow, poignant goodbye, holding on until the very last moment, like the last bit of a small island before it is submerged.
The physical representation is gorgeous: a double-sided picture disc, suitable for framing, showcasing photography by Tom Meluch (Benoît Pioulard). The images inspired both the music and their titles. One can imagine clinging to one of these peaks, like Blake Lively in “The Shallows,” albeit with more sadness than drama.
Each side contains a single track, logging in at 22:46. The title track occupies…
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Chicago-based tenor saxophonist Arman Sangalang concludes the physical edition of his sophomore album Waypoints with that most tried-and-true of classics, “Body & Soul,” and summons the ghosts of countless jazz icons in the process, his purr so silky one pictures Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster nodding somewhere with approval. Yet while Sangalang knows the tradition, he’s no staunch traditionalist when he partners with guitarist Dave Miller, bassist Ethan Philion, and drummer Devin Drobka on the date. These in-demand collaborators do much to infuse the performances with the type of vitality that can make even the most exhaustively covered classic feel new.
Though he wrote the material for Waypoints, which follows his debut Quartet by three years,…
It is more than fair to say — right from the start of their kinship in early 2023, in the Sylvie Courvoisier 4 with bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Dan Weiss — that there was something innate, and perhaps more importantly, intimate, between road-clearing pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and rascally vibraphonist Patricia Brennan. Talamanti proves that big time.
Organically the sharply focused work of two fearless, free spirits, Talamanti, (the main language of indigenous, Aztec-era Mesoamericans) culminates or, dare one say, consummates, on such deliriously lasting moments (using words like tracks or songs seems to belittle the work at hand) as “In Your Pursuit,” “Trece Cielos,” “Hojas de Malabar,” and “The Time We Spent.”
Filmmaker, author, musician and Indian classical music industry academic Robert Millis presents a sequel to his 2018 book/2CD compilation Indian Talking Machine with this incredible double LP haul of instrumental Hindustani, Carnatic and folk 78rpm records from the subcontinent featuring over 25 artists recorded between 1904 and 1959 playing a panoply of instruments: jalatarang, dilruba, sarod, clarionet, pakhawaj, violin, been, kazoo, shehnai, tabla, sarangi, vina and more. Indian Talking Machine Part Two features Imdad Khan (the first sitarist ever recorded), Ahmedjan Thirkhawa, Bundu Khan, Amir Hussain, Allauddin Khan (who taught Ravi Shankar), and others both forgotten and revered.
The Indian classical instrumental tradition is…
Michael Barker spends a lot of his time playing guitar in garage punk bands in his Sydney hometown scene; he also records under the name 1-800-Mikey, which is a reference to his job in a call center. Under that name he makes lo-fi bedroom punk and garage that’s self-assured, confident, hooky as can be, and full of jangling, slicing guitars. IN YUN is the second album he’s released and it’s a sugar sweet confection that will appeal to fans of the Ty Segall and O Sees school of rock, the one where they teach that the sweatier and more immediate the sound the better. Barker certainly got top marks in class because the album is super punchy and full of the kind of hooks that sink in deep on first listen. Most of the songs are revved-up garage rockers…
If it is a truth universally acknowledged that a singer-songwriter in possession of a large songbook must be in search of a band, then Oisean Burnett has gone about things in the right way. Following a move from his native Scotland to London in 2024, he papered the musicians’ hangs with posters seeking bandmates, and Starter Car is the happy result.
Their debut album, Afterlight, follows the release of four previous singles, with opening track ‘Throwing Down’ serving as the fifth.
A busy live band, Starter Car have built a following in relatively quick time, and videos of gigs at places like The Windmill in Brixton and The Shacklewell Arms show a core band of guitars, bass and drums. The album was recorded in…
Dublin’s traditional music scene is very much alive and kicking. Amongst its contemporary flag-bearers are Patrick ‘Paahto’ Cummins and John Francis Flynn, aka Paahto & The Bull, two musicians who have become significant players on the scene. While they notably helped form the traditional Irish band Skipper’s Alley in 2013, the pair began playing together back in 2011 and during COVID began looking at music as a duo.
Patrick’s main instrument is the tenor banjo, but the project with John was focused partly on Patrick’s interest in bluegrass music and guitar flatpicking, so the pair decided on a guitar duet recording.
This angle immediately brings a transatlantic feel to the music, with the material present…
The 1970s was a truly glorious decade of reggae. While the likes of Bob Marley, Burning Spear and Culture powerfully highlighted political and social inequalities, and the message of Rasta, other artists, both in Jamaica and the UK, drew inspiration from the joys and pains of romantic love. The widespread popularity of love-themed reggae during this golden period is highlighted on this essential 2CD collection which brings together 46 of the most popular romantic reggae recordings ever to have seen issue.
Included are an array of major reggae hits, their number including ‘Silly Games’, ‘Tears On My Pillow’, ‘Three Times a Lady’, and ‘The Closer I Get to You’, performed by such celebrated exponents of the lovers style as Janet Kay,…
The name was an explicit signpost. Maryland’s Velocity Girl named themselves after the B-side of Primal Scream’s May 1986 second single “Crystal Crescent.” At this point, Bobby Gillespie and Co were still a Byrds-leaning, Sixties-inclined, polkadotted jangly pop outfit. There were no hints of what came later.
Velocity Girl formed in College Park, Maryland in 1989 but were embedded in the Washington, DC music scene – one which, for much of the outside world, was defined by hardcore punk and the various flavours springing from it represented by bands like Fugazi and Nation of Ulysses. Looking to any British indie archetype was atypical. As the liner notes for new compilation 1989-1992 put it, “Velocity Girl arose from a new…
Henrik Olsson‘s Antumbra Ensemble is an eponymous, genre-blending effort composed, arranged, and led by the Swedish guitarist. The Copenhagen-based outfit contains members new and old. The rhythm section, double bassist Jeppe Skovbakke and drummer Rune Lohse, and tubist Kristian Tangvik, all return from Olsson’s Hand of Benediction I and II albums. They perform in tandem and contrast with a horn section that consists of alto saxophonist Michaela Turcerová, trumpeter Erik Kimestad Pedersen, and trombonist Petter Hängsel. They assist Olsson in creating a musical universe that reflects the influences and methodologies of Henry Cow, Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus, Sun Ra, Soft Machine, Marc Ribot, and Frank Zappa, employing…
The line between poetry and music has always been a blurry one. Christopher Nolan recently claimed he cast musician and hip hop artist Travis Scott in his epic The Odyssey because the Homeric saga has been handed down through civilisations as “oral poetry, which is analogous to rap,” and therefore he was directly evolving the craft. Now, perhaps more convincingly and certainly less commercially, Tehran-based composer Siavash Amini and Brooklyn author Eugene Thacker take this statement one step further. Songs for Sad Poets, Vol. III sees the creative duo deliberately breaking down poetry into microfibres to thread back through ambient compositions, thus merging music and poetry at a more atomic level.
Songs for Sad Poets, Vol. III follows Amini and…
…Across western Algeria, the gasba, a reed flute central to Bedouin folk traditions and ceremonial music, continues to appear in new forms. Once associated primarily with saint festivals and trance rituals, its distinctive hypnotic sound now sits alongside the drum machines, synths and electronic textures of contemporary raï.
The recordings collected here come from Oran, the port city of Western Algeria widely regarded as the birthplace of raï. Before raï became an international pop phenomenon, its foundations were rooted in older Bedouin musical traditions from the surrounding countryside: gasba flute melodies, guellal drum rhythms, improvised folk poetry and songs performed at weddings, zerdas and informal gatherings. Many of the musical…
Porchlight is Paige Anderson’s first release since becoming the sole frontperson of Two Runner, a folk duo which began life in 2020 when she met her former bandmate Emilie Rose. The duo toured extensively, both nationally and internationally, releasing their debut album, Modern Cowboy, in 2023. While Emilie stepped away from life on the road in 2025, she makes an appearance on Porchlight. The release also follows the end of a long-term romantic relationship and, so perhaps not surprisingly, the song themes encompass transition, loss, and journeys – both literal and personal – while also embracing the potential of a future as yet unknown. Despite dealing with the ambiguity of a new start, this is a fully assured sophomore release, built on songs…
…featuring two previously unreleased tracks recorded live in Nashville.
For 36 years and 14 albums, Texas songwriter James McMurtry has, in a sense, followed in his father’s footsteps, presenting his brand of country noir music as Larry McMurtry embraced literature in novels like “Lonesome Dove.” The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy is McMurtry’s second release on New West Records, coming four years after he pushed at the framework and notions of roots music with The Horse and the Hounds.
The new album features appearances by Sarah Jarosz, Charlie Sexton, Bonnie Whitmore, Bukka Allen, and others, as well as his familiar backing band with BettySoo on accordion & backing vocals, Cornbread on bass, Tim Holt on…
Lex Walton operates on the extremes of hope and despair; from the outside, it just seems like irony. She will reference cult director Vincent Gallo (as “Vinny Gallo”) and Owl City’s childlike 2009 hit “Fireflies” on the same EP. Her song titles, like “In This House, We Don’t Call the Cops; We Call Chosen Family” and “Preteen on Omegle Blues,” can be off-putting. Walton is prolific and, among a certain Brooklyn trans scene, ubiquitous — aside from appearing in lo-fi trans anthology series Castration Movie, she’s the bassist in Prairie Princess, and this summer, aided the band’s lead singer Emerson Borakove in staging Airy Foist at a Geese set. Her solo songs are anything from keyboard demos to 12-minute blown-out opuses. For Car Seat Headrest fans who…
The Tunnel of Love Express tour is marked by changes: the addition of a horn section for the first time on E Street since 1976 (save for a few dates in 1984 including August 19 and 20); the billing of Bruce Springsteen featuring the E Street Band; and where those seven musicians were positioned on stage. In retrospect, none seem material in terms of lasting impact.
Perhaps the most significant change in 1988 was Springsteen’s public embrace of adulthood and its inherent and often private complexities, explored so movingly on the tour’s namesake album, Tunnel of Love. Much of the yearning and pining romanticism found on Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and The River gave way to starker realizations (“When you’re alone…
Melbourne-born, Berlin-based singer-songwriter Ned Collette collaborated with some notable names on his last release, 2024’s Our Other History, including Dirty Three’s Jim White and Mick Turner, Leah Senior and The Necks’ Chris Abrahams. The collaborations continue on his new album, Mixed Light, with Senior and Abrahams once again, plus long-term band members Joe Talia (drums) and Ben Bourke (bass).
Collette is back on Melbourne label It Records, who put out 2018’s masterful Old Chestnut, after releasing Our Other History on Ryan Davis’s Sophomore Lounge. Mixed Light feels decidedly more coherent than its predecessor, moving adroitly between musical styles and coalescing into a deeply satisfying album.
…Lily Seabird’s third full-length, Lightspheres On Their Way, defies simple categorization. It’s the kind of record that breathes and moves to a rhythm all its own. It adopts a unique mythology (the idea of “lightspheres”), allows its songs to pick their own pain, and wonders and reckons in its own language and time about the deeply personal in a way that feels strikingly universal.
A warm, humming harmonium blows through opener “The Pulley,” soft-strummed guitars and Seabird’s searching voice are all that tether the skies to the ground. “Am I still allowed to pray / Even if I don’t believe anymore?” she asks on high. It’s the type of wonder that makes us poke at the stars as children; as adults, the questions have a way of following us back down…