• Music

    Ясный — Svetly – Project 0

    Our friends at the ever-brilliant Russian record label, internet radio station and magazine Meticulous Midgets continue to work with interesting bands within the country and (now) internationally. Ясный — Svetly are a Moscow-based band which has a very forward-looking sound, yet the music they produce sound incredibly nostalgic, with wisps of Berlin School electronics, NDW industrial elements and post-punk beats which makes this sound like a marriage between Suicide and Tangerine Dream.  A brilliant release.  

  • Music

    Rivers Of Glass – By the Light of Burning Bridges

    I can’t say I’ve heard of post-country music until today, but as it reminds me of post-rock, this is a genre that will definitely be worth exploring.  Rivers Of Glass offer an instrumental album of shimmering guitar playing, sounding like an ambient music version of rain.  It’s a sublime listening experience.

  • Music

    Various Artists – L​éve L​éve: Sao Tomé & Principe Sounds 70s​-​80s

    From the Bandcamp site of our friends at Bongo Joe Records: Léve-Léve is the first ever compilation devoted to music from São Tome and Principe, two small islands situated off the coast of Gabon in central Africa. The album unravels a story of liberation where the music of Africa, Europe and the Americas unify with a carefree spirit personified by a phrase the islanders use all the time: “léve, léve” (“take it easy”). With echoes of Angolan semba and merengue, of Brazilian afoxê, of coladeira from Cape Verde and dance music from the Caribbean, it is a sound fiercely proud…

  • Music

    Verckys et l´Orchestre Vévé – Congolese Funk, Afrobeat & Psychedelic Rumba 1969-1978 (Analog Africa Nr. 17)

    On October 13th,the African music world world lost an absolute demigod in the form of Verckys Kiamuangana Mateta. How important was he? Well, going by Wikipedia, he, “was a Congolese saxophonist, composer, bandleader, producer, record label founder, and music-business executive. He was renowned as a talented and prolific musician, and was the first indigenous African to own a record label, through which he introduced many major Congolese artists to the world.” Analog Africa introduced this giant to the greater music world in 2014, and he was the first Congolese artist I was introduced to before TPOK Jazz (which featured Franco…

  • Music - Music Promo

    Fairuz – Kifak Inta LP

    There is no doubt who the reigning queen of Arab music is.  Fairuz, once and always a beautiful songstress from Lebanon, has had this legendary cult album reissued by our dear friends at Wewantsounds, and it will be arriving on November 4, 2022.  Unfortunately, there may not be a digital release, but you vinyl hounds have your chance to order a gem.  From Wewantsounds Bandcamp site: Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Fairuz’s classic album ‘Kifak Inta’ produced by her son Ziad Rahbani in the late 80’s and only released on cassette and CD in 1991. Composed and arranged by Rahbani,…

  • Music

    EABS – Slavic Spirits

    I am floored at how consistently good Polish jazz is, and though I find the idea of dabbling in demonology somewhere between hokey and morally bankrupt, what matters for people who read this blog is consistency in great music. From EABS’ Bandcamp site: “The idea for “The Darkness”, the composition opening the Slavic Spirits LP, was born out of collective improvisation performed before a Komeda-inspired medley of “Free Witch and No Bra Queen / Sult” played in concert. It came as a surprise to us that this new album, devoted to broadly understood Slavism, turned out to have its roots…

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – Pharoah’s Tarot

    Pharoah Sanders left this mortal coil on September 24, 2022, after leaving a stellar body of work and his influence on countless musicians including Jeff Gburek.  The influence was profound, and you can hear it on this album, where the guitar glides into something free, not as in noisy free-jazz, but something free-floating, gentle, relaxing, almost heavenly.  It certainly bears the stamp of his own work, and that of Sanders, but I hear also a touch of Sonny Sharrock in this mix as well. This is experimental music that is gentle on the ear and on the mind.

  • Music

    Doc Wör Mirran – Second Try

    Doc Wör Mirran got its start as a multi-disciplinary project out of Nürnberg, Germany in around 1985, and for nearly 40 years, the band have continued to produce strange, intriguing avant-garde rock and experimental music.  From their Bandcamp site: “Contrary to most compilations which compile the greatest hits of an artist, “Second Try” is a compilation that highlights the drumming talents of DWM’s drummer Stefan Schweiger. He compiled, edited and partially remixed this album himself of his favourite tracks, and added new sounds and samples to make some of the tracks quite different from the “normal versions”. Stefan also contributed…