THE WORLD'S BEST NEW ALBUMS
2025 May Best Albums
clicking cover art opens Spotify
Tall Tales
MARK PRITCHARD & THOM YORKE
JONATHAN ZAWADA
Released 9 May 2025
****-
An evocative exploration of modern anxieties, Tall Tales merges experimental soundscapes with poignant lyricism - and hyperreal illustrations.
A collaborative venture between electronic producer Mark Pritchard and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Tall Tales is a 12-track album that delves into themes of technological dystopia, societal disintegration, and personal alienation. The project, developed over several years, reflects the duo's shared interest in exploring the fragility of modern social structures through a blend of electronic and organic soundscapes.
The music is complemented by the visual creations of multimedia artist Jonathan Zawada's, whose hyperreal, disorienting artstyle blurs the lines between the organic and digital. The clips provide glimpses of a surreal and disorienting world that perfectly suits the album's themes of progress and its potential pitfalls.
Musically, Tall Tales is characterized by its experimental nature, weaving together ambient textures, glitchy electronics, and manipulated vocals to create an immersive listening experience. Tracks like "A Fake in a Faker's World" set the tone with rhythmic synthesizer beats and processed vocals, while "Ice Shelf" and "Bugging Out Again" offer darker, ambient soundscapes . The album's middle section features more accessible compositions such as "Gangsters," which incorporates new wave elements and electronic rhythms, and "This Conversation is Missing Your Voice," noted for its R&B influences and stuttering vocal effects .
Critics have highlighted the album's ability to balance experimental sounds with moments of clarity. The Arts Desk praises the natural synergy between Yorke and Pritchard, describing the collaboration as a "symbiosis" that feels like a whole new band . However, some reviews, such as that from The Spectator, point out the album's repetitiveness, suggesting that while there are moments of beauty, certain sections may feel monotonous .
The closing track, "Wandering Genie," encapsulates the album's themes, featuring analog instruments like flute and pipe organ, with Yorke's digitized voice repeating the line "I am falling," symbolizing a descent into the complexities of the modern age.
More ... Pitchfork
10
SAULT
Released 18 April 2025
*****
A soulful journey through love, faith, and introspection.
An enigmatic UK-based collective led by producer Inflo and frequently fronted by vocalist Cleo Sol, SAULT known for fusing gospel, soul, funk, and politically charged themes. Their releases are often unannounced and ephemeral and despite minimal promotion, their albums regularly spark critical acclaim for their spiritual focus, sonic richness, and cultural resonance.
10 is SAULT’s twelfth release, and its title hints at both sequence and spiritual symmetry. In print and internet listings, track titles are abbreviated to initials like “K.T.Y.W.S” or “S.O.T.H.", reflecting the band’s tendency to reward engaged listening and interpretation. The full titles however are revealed when one listens to the songs.
As ever, Cleo Sol’s voice leads a quietly radiant charge through minimal soul arrangements, with Inflo’s production balancing funk propulsion and ambient intimacy. "T.H." (“The Healing”) opens with a tone of restorative optimism, immediately aligning the listener with the album’s central theme: inner growth. "R.L." (“Real Love”) and "K.T.Y.W.S." (“Know That You Will Survive”) are deeply affirmative, marrying hand-played grooves with raw lyrical assurance. "P." (“Power”) and "L.U." (“Look Up”) channel D’Angelo’s Voodoo with spare beats and Pino Paladino's syncopated basslines subtly grounding these meditations. "S.I.T.L." (“Sorry It’s Too Late”) strips everything back to just piano and voice, letting Cleo deliver one of her most affecting performances. The closer, "S.O.T.H." (“Sounds of the Healing”), weaves the album’s themes together in a slow-burning, mantra-like finale.
SAULT continue to challenge music’s delivery systems, offering no easy access, but sonic and emotional depth for those willing to dig a little.
More ... Bandcamp
Superb
SURPRISE CHEF
Released 16 May 2025
****-
Less a surprise, more a quiet triumph from Melbourne’s masters of mood.
Hailing from Melbourne’s inner northern suburbs, Surprise Chef is a tight instrumental ensemble blending cinematic soul, 70s library funk, and jazz-inflected groove. Known for analog warmth and disciplined minimalism, the band has cultivated a loyal international following through releases on Big Crown Records and high-energy live shows.
Superb finds Surprise Chef stripping things back to the essence—tighter arrangements, slower tempos, and even more focus on tone and texture. Where previous albums flirted with extended improvisation, here the quartet chooses clarity and restraint. Each track unfurls like a scene from a lost 70s crime film: wah-drenched guitars, deliberate basslines, precise drumming, and keys that drift between noir suspense and sunlit introspection. “Rosemary Hemphill” and “Spiky Boi” exemplify the group’s commitment to groove with purpose—every note earning its place, every silence part of the rhythm. There’s a maturity in the pacing: they no longer need to prove virtuosity; they’re sculpting mood. The recording is rich in analog grit, with warm tape hiss and rounded edges giving the album a vintage-but-not-retro feel. Rather than expanding sonically, they’ve distilled their identity, achieving something rarer—cohesion without repetition. Superb may not be flashy, but its confidence, control, and emotional subtlety mark it as the band’s most fully realised work to date.
Read more ... Bandcamp
7 piano sketches
ANDRE 3000
Released 5 May 2025
***--
Musically, a memo pad's contents laid bare and shared.
Atlanta, Georgia born and raised, André 3000, best known as half of OutKast (6 albums from 1994 to 2006), is a genre-bending artist who has long resisted convention. In recent years, he has turned toward spiritually-derived, introspective instrumental work, notably releasing the ambient flute album New Blue Sun in 2023.
7 Piano Sketches continues his retreat from hip-hop into meditative musical abstraction: more diary than album, it offers glimpses into André 3000’s private experiments at the keyboard.
The use of lower-case in the title suggests intimacy and is perhaps an alert that these pieces rarely coalesce into fully formed ideas, often feeling like off-the-cuff improvisations rather than deliberate compositions.
There’s a homespun charm in the lo-fi / no-fi textures and patient tempos, but the material too often drifts into indistinct territory: it is fragmentary, hesitant, and emotionally guarded.
Unlike New Blue Sun, where his use of flute created a hypnotic soundworld, this collection lacks a unifying aesthetic or sonic tension. Tracks may seek to echo Satie or ambient-era Eno in tone, but the emotional impact is muted. One senses André working through personal thoughts, not creating with the listener in mind.
The result is a record that might have made more sense left in the vault, a set of sonic journaling rather than public statement. It’s not unpleasant, but nor does it reward deep listening. Fans of his melodic instincts or lyrical complexity may feel adrift in this sparse, meandering terrain.
Read more ... Andre 3000
Journey To Nabta Playa
ANGEL BAT DAWID
Released 2 May 2025
****-
More like a ritual field recording than a conventional recording: challenging, confrontational, and deeply felt.
Angel Bat Dawid is a Chicago-based composer, clarinetist, and spiritual improviser known for her raw, Afrocentric sonic explorations. A key figure on the International Anthem label, she melds free jazz, lo-fi aesthetics, and political critique into transcendent, often confrontational works that resist commodification and challenge the Western classical canon.
Journey To Nabta Playa is an uncompromising listen, steeped in raw emotion and ancestral invocation. Drawing on ancient African cosmology and the sacred site of Nabta Playa, Dawid constructs a dense, spiritual terrain of free-form clarinet, chants, drones, and atonal piano figures. Where André 3000’s 7 Piano Sketches drifts inward, Dawid’s album projects outward - ecstatic, ritualistic, and defiantly unpolished. There are precious few melodic footholds; instead, the work insists on trance, incantation, and jagged sonic archeology. Moments of clarity (often in the form of vocal cries or rhythm incisions) break through the dissonance like visions in a desert storm. It’s a document of resistance as much as reflection, heavy with purpose and collective memory.
Yet, the same radical intent can overwhelm: extended passages test the listener’s endurance and defy casual engagement. The album’s power lies in its conviction, not its accessibility. This is not music for replay value or passive consumption—it is a statement to be received on its own terms. Dawid is not seeking your approval; she’s channeling something older, deeper, and perhaps even unknowable.
Read more ... Bandcamp
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The New Breed (IA11 Edition)
JEFF PARKER
Originally released 2011
Re-released 20 May 2025
International Anthem
*****
Sample-based soul-jazz that grooves, loops, and lingers: experimental, but never alienating.
Jeff Parker is a Chicago-rooted guitarist and composer, celebrated for fusing jazz with hip-hop, soul, and electronic textures. A long-time member of post-rock pioneers Tortoise, Parker’s solo work is intimate, loop-based, and rhythm-forward—melding improvisation with beat science to create sonic mosaics that speak to both head-nodders and crate-diggers.
Originally released in 2016 and expanded for International Anthem’s 11th anniversary, The New Breed (IA11 Edition) affirms Jeff Parker’s intuitive command of rhythm, space, and emotional tone. While sharing spiritual DNA with more abstract recent releases from Angel Bat Dawid or André 3000, Parker’s suite is notably more grounded—anchored by groove, structure, and a clear desire to engage the listener.
Built from looped guitar lines, MPC beats, and warm Fender Rhodes textures, the album feels like a jazz-rooted beat tape filtered through memory and urban drift. Tracks like “Executive Life” and “Here Comes Ezra” strike a rich balance between live improvisation and bedroom production. Melodic fragments and rhythmic snippets are repurposed with care, resulting in music that’s simultaneously personal and spacious. The IA11 expansion adds new dimension, deepening the album’s collage-like feel without diluting its clarity.
Where others might meander into atonality or abstraction, Parker’s sensibility remains melodic, even soulful—tethered to feeling, not just form. This is a masterclass in how subtle, layered music can still swing, still smile, and still surprise.
More ... Bandcamp
Artistic Being
IDRIS ACKAMOOR ANKHESTRA
RHODESSA JONES. DANNY GLOVER
Released 25 April 2025
Strut Records
****-
A compelling fusion of jazz, theater, and activism that challenges and inspires.
Idris Ackamoor is a saxophonist, composer, and founder of the Afrocentric ensemble The Pyramids, known for blending spiritual jazz with theatrical performance. Collaborating with performance artist Rhodessa Jones and actor Danny Glover, Artistic Being merges music, spoken word, and activism, reflecting their shared commitment to cultural expression and social justice.
Artistic Being is a multidisciplinary exploration that intertwines jazz improvisation, narrative storytelling, and theatrical elements. Ackamoor's saxophone provides a dynamic foundation, ranging from melodic passages to avant-garde expressions. Rhodessa Jones contributes poignant spoken word segments, drawing from personal and collective experiences, while Danny Glover's narration adds gravitas and historical context.
The album traverses themes of identity, resilience and artistic expression, often blurring the lines between performance and reality. Its structure resembles a live theater piece, with each track serving as a scene that contributes to the overarching narrative. The interplay between music and spoken word creates a rich tapestry that challenges and engages the listener.
The album's experimental nature may challenge some, but its cohesive vision and emotional depth offer a rewarding experience - a fusion of disciplines that results in a work that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant, inviting listeners to reflect on the role of art in society.
More ... Bandcamp
Of Corners and Bridges
BRIAN JACKSON
Released 28 March 2025
Selo Sesc / Tratore
****-
A harmonious blend of jazz, soul, and Brazilian influences that bridges past and present.
Brian Jackson is a seminal figure in American jazz and soul, best known for his pioneering work with Gil Scott-Heron in the 1970s. A master of Rhodes piano and flute, Jackson’s arrangements brought warmth and sophistication to revolutionary music, blending jazz, funk and spoken word into enduring sonic activism.
For "Of Corners and Bridges" Jackson has assembled a cracking ensemble and collaborated with Milton Nascimento, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Paulo Santos (of Uakti) who bring immense depth and diversity to the soundscape.
Why this title? Jackson explains via Facebook: "Gil Scott-Heron and I had an album called Bridges; Milton (nascimento) also has a very well-loved song called “Travessia,” or “Bridges.” Milton’s first album was called Clube de Esquina, which in English would translate to, “The Corner Club.” You don’t have to be from the streets of Brazil to know what “the corner” means. We have corners all over the world. In essence, the corner was the “bridge” to our understanding of the parts of each other’s culture that we share. It made sense.
The album features a rich tapestry of sounds, incorporating elements of jazz, soul, and Brazilian music. Tracks like "Bridges (Sunrise)" and "Bridges (Sunset)" bookend the album, providing a thematic cohesion that underscores the journey-like quality of the record.
The album's instrumentation is both intricate and accessible, with Jackson's signature keyboard work providing a solid foundation throughout.
More ... Facebook
Adrian Younge presents Something About April III
ADRIAN YOUNGE
Released 18 April 2025
Linear Labs
****-
A lush, analog-rich finale to Younge's psychedelic soul trilogy, blending cinematic flair with Brazilian influences.
Adrian Younge is a Los Angeles-based composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist renowned for his analog-centric approach to music. With a background in law and a passion for vintage recording techniques, Younge has crafted a unique niche blending psychedelic soul, jazz, and cinematic soundscapes. His collaborations span from Ghostface Killah to The Delfonics, and he co-founded the irrepressible Jazz Is Dead label with Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Something About April III serves as the culmination of Younge's psychedelic soul trilogy, the predecessors being "Something About April I" (2011) ane "Something About April II" (2016). This installment is a rich tapestry of analog textures, featuring a 30-piece orchestra, vintage synthesizers, and Brazilian vocalists delivering melodies in Portuguese.
The album highlights Younge's ability to blend soulful grooves with cinematic flair, reminiscent of 1970s film scores yet firmly rooted in contemporary sensibilities. The inclusion of Brazilian artists such as Céu and Luiza Lian adds authenticity and depth to the project's cross-cultural ambitions.
The album's brevity—clocking in at just over 26 minutes—belies its richness, inviting repeated listens to fully appreciate its nuances.
More ... Bandcamp
Iris Silver Mist
JENNY HVAL
Released 2 May 2025
*****
A gossamer tapestry of whispered thoughts and glowing textures, this record invites you into a world. Lyrical and elusive, its strength lies in its restraint.
Jenny Hval is a singular voice in contemporary experimental music, known for her merging of art-pop, literature, and performance into meditative and radical sonic experiences. A former literature student and author, Hval’s works often explore gender, sexuality, mortality, and embodiment through a highly personal, poetic lens. Her music blends minimalist electronics, spoken word, and ambient textures into compositions that can feel both intimate and otherworldly. Across albums for Rune Grammofon, Sacred Bones, and 4AD, she has developed a reputation as a fearless and original artist whose work blurs the lines between music, essay, and dream.
Iris Silver Mist is Jenny Hval's ninth studio album, a contemplative exploration of transformation, memory and the impermanence of art and identity. Inspired by a fragrance of the same name by Serge Lutens, the album delves into the sensory experiences of scent and sound, drawing parallels between the two as mediums that evoke emotion and memory. Composed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the album reflects on the absence of live performances and the shifting nature of creative expression.
The 13-track album weaves ambient soundscapes with poetic lyrics, creating an atmosphere that is both intimate and otherworldly. Tracks like "To Be a Rose" and "All Night Long" blend experimental elements - jazzy brass, drum machines, ambient drones - with introspective lyrics that meditate on the essence of performance and the fluidity of identity. In "The Artist Is Absent," Hval captures the void left by the absence of live art, while "Huffing My Arm" blurs the line between physical presence and ghostly absence. Throughout the album, Hval's ethereal vocals and surreal imagery imbue ordinary objects with profound symbolism, inviting listeners to find beauty in fleeting, liminal moments.
Read more ... Bandcamp
World of Work
CLARISSA CONNELLY
Released 2 May 2024
*****
A windswept journey through ancestral memory, digital fatigue, and the strange myths of modern life.
Clarissa Connelly is a Danish-Scottish composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist whose music sits at the intersection of chamber pop, Celtic folk, and experimental electronic composition. Based in Copenhagen, she draws inspiration from Norse mythology, spiritual ecology, and the eerie melancholy of ancient song. A classically trained musician with an idiosyncratic vision, her work has gradually evolved from lo-fi pagan folk into sprawling, high-concept art-pop suites with emotional intelligence and uncanny depth.
World of Work is a bold, expansive, and deeply peculiar record that continues Connelly’s trajectory into personal cosmology and sonic world-building. Where 2021's The Voyager felt rooted in pan-Nordic folkways and field recordings, World of Work is more animated by contemporary pressures: the economy of attention, the friction between productivity and care, and the ghostly echoes of tradition in a digital age.
Though Connelly's voice retains its clear, bright timbre (often compared to Kate Bush or Joanna Newsom) it’s more integrated here into complex, polyphonic arrangements that resist easy categorisation.
Tracks such as “Off the Hour” and “Sad Hotel” flirt with chamber pop, but dissolve into vocoder-treated choirs, microtonal flourishes or minimalist repetitions that gesture toward Meredith Monk or Arthur Russell. Synth textures are subtle but ever-present, grounding the album in a recognisably modern palette even as the melodic motifs feel ancient or liturgical.
The production, often sparse, leans into space and suggestion rather than spectacle. There are few ‘hooks’, instead, Connelly builds emotional resonance through gradual layering and melodic morphing. It's a resolutely uncommercial, highly intellectual piece of work, but not without warmth or humour. The closing track, “Your Reign is Over,” is both satirical and sincere, and recalls Laurie Anderson in its artful ambivalence.
Though demanding and occasionally elliptical, World of Work feels more conceptually and sonically resolved than its predecessors. Connelly doesn’t merely present a collection of songs, but an entire worldview that’s hard to shake—even if it’s also hard to hum.
Read more ... Bandcamp
CLEO
LEA MARIA FRIES
Released 4 April 2025
****-
With elegant restraint, Cleo adds a Swiss voice to the European art song continuum.
Swiss vocalist and composer Lea Maria Fries is known for her refined and exploratory approach to vocal jazz and contemporary song. With a background in both classical voice and jazz improvisation, she has developed a style that is fluid, emotive, and often daring. Her collaborations stretch across genres and borders, but with CLEO, she brings the focus firmly inward—exploring sound and meaning in a minimalist yet expressive ensemble featuring pianist Gauthier Toux, bassist Julien Herné, and drummer Antoine Paganotti.
CLEO is a nuanced, carefully constructed suite that blurs the lines between contemporary jazz, spoken word, and modern art song. This is music that speaks in silences as much as in notes, inviting close listening rather than demanding it. Short fragments like “Liquid Thoughts” and “Chrüz” serve as poetic interludes - evanescent thoughts in sound - while more developed pieces like “Witch’s Broom” and “India Song” (featuring Vincent Peirani on accordion) offer lush, lyrical counterpoints. Fries sings in multiple languages, her voice both clear and intimate, often more instrument than narrator.
Tracks like “Life Below” and “Fungi” display an internal logic, where minimalist grooves build slowly around subtle melodic shifts. “Get Off My Back” and “Hello (I’m On)” feel like small acts of rebellion—assertive but never overblown. The ensemble’s chemistry is deeply felt but never showy; Toux’s piano, in particular, adds harmonic depth without ever dominating the space. The closing miniatures—“Jools” and “Liquid”—end the album on a note of fluid reflection.
Read more ... Bandcamp
Strike Up The Band
LITTLE FEAT
Released 9 May 2025
Hot Tomato Productions
****-
Swagger, soul and swampy funk: Little Feat’s late-era groove is sharper than ever
Little Feat, founded in 1969 by Lowell George and Bill Payne, is one of America’s most musically literate rock bands, known for their seamless blend of blues, funk, swamp rock, country, and New Orleans R&B. The band hit its creative peak in the 1970s but continued to tour and record with various lineups. Though their studio output slowed in the 2000s, Sam’s Place (2023) marked a welcome return. Now with Strike Up The Band, they deliver their second set of new material in as many years — a rare feat for a legacy band deep into its sixth decade.
The album opens with "4 Days of Heaven, 3 Days of Work," a track co-written by Bill Payne, Scott Sharrard, and Tony Leone, setting the tone with its driving rhythm and horn arrangements. "Bayou Mama," featuring contributions from Blackberry Smoke's Charlie Starr, blends Payne's keyboard-driven vocals with Sharrard's fluid guitar work.
Collaborations further enrich the album's texture. The title track, "Strike Up The Band," features the dynamic duo Larkin Poe, adding a contemporary edge. "Bluegrass Pines," with Molly Tuttle, Larry Campbell, and Teresa Williams, pays homage to traditional roots, while "Disappearing Ink" showcases the band's lyrical depth.
Produced by Vance Powell, Bill Payne, and Scott Sharrard, the album was recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville and Studio One Two Seven in Harlem, NYC. The production captures the band's signature blend of genres, delivering a sound that's both nostalgic and fresh.
The arrangements are lean and lively, the horns punchy, and the production refreshingly warm. Far from a nostalgia trip, Strike Up The Band sounds like a band that, even if it no longer achieves the spine-tingling energies of their peak period (now 50 years past), they are still discovering joy in the jam, bridging past and present with flair.
Read more … Little Feat
Akasaka Soul Funk
10 Masterpieces of Japanese Soul Funk 1969-1977
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Released 28 February 2025
****-
Vintage Japanese soul-funk with grit, groove, and global ambition: a crate-digger’s dream pressed to wax.
This compilation draws from the golden era of post-war Tokyo nightlife, specifically the Akasaka district - a cosmopolitan hub where jazz, funk, and soul collided with Japanese pop sensibilities. The ten tracks gathered here represent a cross-section of Japanese session players, bandleaders, and soul-inspired vocalists active during the height of the “Group Sounds” and “New Music” eras. While few of these artists are household names internationally, each contributed to a rich subculture of Tokyo funk steeped in analog warmth, horn section swagger, and Western groove stylings reinterpreted through a Japanese lens.
This lovingly compiled collection showcases the curiosity and verve with which Japanese musicians embraced American soul and funk during the late Shōwa period.
It opens with mid-tempo dancefloor gold in the form of Kiyoshi Sugimoto’s “Breeze,” where wah-wah guitar and Fender Rhodes shimmer beneath brassy call-and-response horn lines.
Tracks like Jun Fukamachi’s “On the Move” and Hiroshi Sato’s “Awakening” fuse deep-pocket grooves with jazz-fusion sophistication, while the cosmic glimmer of Masahiko Sato’s electric piano recalls Lonnie Liston Smith or a subdued Herbie Hancock.
Yasuko Agawa’s contribution brings sultry vocals into the mix, offering rare female presence among the otherwise male-dominated lineup. Much of the material leans on instrumental funk, allowing rhythm sections to stretch out, but always with the tightness and precision characteristic of Japanese studio culture.
Standout moments include Kimio Mizutani’s gritty psych-funk guitar riffage and the analog synth lines on Akira Ishikawa’s afrobeat-inspired “Bakishinba.”
The audio remastering is warm and respectful of tape-era dynamics, allowing the crackle and breath of each recording to shine. Importantly, this is not kitsch revivalism — these cuts were the real deal in their time, recorded by players trained in jazz, pop, and big band traditions.
While comparisons to American soul are inevitable, the cultural filter yields results that are unmistakably Japanese in restraint, clarity, and attention to timbre. The only drawback is the brevity of the compilation — just ten tracks — which leaves one hungry for more.
More... Bandcamp
Heartache In Room 14
THE ALTONS
Released 14 February 2025
****-
Dedication to preserving and revitalizing classic soul a set that is heartfelt and timeless.
The Altons are a Los Angeles-based band known for their fusion of Chicano soul, Latin rhythms, and vintage R&B. Fronted by vocalists Adriana Flores and Bryan Ponce, their music resonates with heartfelt duets and nostalgic melodies.
Their debut album, Heartache in Room 14, showcases their unique sound and emotional depth in a ten track package that explores themes of love, longing, and introspection.
Open track "Waiting," sets a nostalgic tone with its smooth melodies. "Tangled Up In You" and "I Try, I Try" delve into the complexities of relationships, while "Perdóname" introduces a Tejano flair, reflecting the band's multicultural roots.
"Float" stands out with its dreamy arrangement, reminiscent of classic soul ballads, and "Your Light" showcases the harmonious interplay between Flores and Ponce, evoking comparisons to legendary duets of the past.
The album concludes with "Show You Love," a track that builds from a gentle acoustic beginning to a rich, horn-infused climax, encapsulating the band's ability to convey deep emotion through music.
More... Bandcamp
Owls, Omens and Oracles
VALERIE JUNE
Released 11 April 2025
June Tunes Music / Concord Records
****-
Mystical folk-soul incantations rise from the delta with cosmic elegance and spellbinding grace.
Valerie June Hockett, hailing from Tennessee, is a singular voice in contemporary roots music - her sound an idiosyncratic fusion of Appalachian folk, Memphis soul, gospel, country blues, and spiritual mysticism. First gaining critical notice with 2013’s Pushin’ Against a Stone, co-produced by Dan Auerbach, June has steadily cultivated a sound both timeless and utterly her own. Her lyrics often explore resilience, healing, and transcendence, infused with a poetic sensibility that recalls both southern conjure traditions and cosmic Americana. June is also a published poet and holistic wellness advocate, frequently weaving metaphysical themes into her recordings.
On Owls, Omens and Oracles, Valerie June delves deeper into the spiritual and astral terrain she's been circling for years. The album glimmers with acoustic textures, harp flourishes, dulcimer drones, and layered harmonies that float like incense smoke. Opening track “Healing Touch” begins with a whispered invocation, before expanding into an earthy gospel-folk chorus. “Night Creature’s Dream” merges twilight psychedelia with steel-string Americana, while “Spiral and Return” is a trance-inducing meditation driven by hand percussion and harmonium.
Unlike the more radio-leaning moments of her previous album The Moon and Stars, this is music made for moonlight, solitude, and second sight. It’s not immediate in its hooks, but rich in atmosphere, intention, and inner light. Valerie June may not follow conventional pathways, but her vision remains arrestingly pure.
Read more … Valerie June
Survival
KAREN LEE ANDREWS
Released 21 February 2025
****-
A commanding debut that melds soul, blues, and gospel into a rich tapestry resilience and artistry.
Karen Lee Andrews, formerly known as Ms Murphy, is a Wollongong (Australia) born singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose career spans over a decade.
Rooted in the traditions of soul, blues, and gospel, her music is deeply influenced by her Polynesian heritage and upbringing in the Australian church scene.
Having supported artists like Jimmy Barnes and collaborated with producer Benjamin Rodgers, Andrews has honed a sound she describes as “Oceanic Blues and Soul”.
Although this is Andrews' debut studio album, it is a true testament to her evolution as an artist over 20 years in the industry and her ability to fuse heartfelt lyrics with rich melodies, drawing from soul, blues, and country influences.
The opening track, “Dark and Heavy,” sets the tone with thick bluesy riffs and steady drum grooves, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of the Mississippi Delta . “Borrowed Time” and “Nobody's Fool” continue this journey, blending classic blues structures with Andrews' unique vocal delivery.
The title track, “Survival,” stands out as a powerful anthem of resilience, reflecting Andrews' personal and artistic journey. “Time Will Wash Me Clean” offers a more introspective moment, with gospel undertones and earthy textures that anchor the album . “Calling” and “All of My Lovin'” showcase her ability to evoke profound emotion while maintaining universal appeal.
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The album concludes with “I'm Yours,” a track that has already proven Andrews' capacity to stand alongside the greats of the genre . Throughout Survival, Andrews' voice serves as the thread that ties together the diverse musical elements, delivering a cohesive and emotionally resonant experience.
Read more ... Karen Lee Andrews
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A.O.E.I.U.
(An Ordinary Exercise In Unity)
FLORENCE ARDOONI
Released 28 February 2025
Philophon
*****
Ghana’s highlife torchbearer crafts a cosmic debut—melding Fra Fra gospel, Afro-funk, and spiritual jazz into a radiant, genre-defying celebration of unity and ancestral groove.
Florence Adooni, hailing from Zuarungu in Ghana's Upper East Region, is renowned for her luminous vocals and deep roots in Fra Fra gospel traditions. Having collaborated with acts like Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy and Finnish multi-instrumentalist Jimi Tenor, Adooni has been a vital voice in contemporary highlife.
Florence Adooni's debut album A.O.E.I.U. (An Ordinary Exercise In Unity) is a transcendent journey through the landscapes of Ghanaian highlife, reimagined with contemporary flair. Produced by Max Weissenfeldt, the album blends traditional rhythms with avant-garde jazz and funk elements, positioning Adooni at the forefront of Afro-futuristic highlife.
The album opens with "Mam Pe'ela Su'ure," a track that immediately immerses listeners in syncopated rhythms and harmonious horn sections, setting a vibrant tone. "Vocalize My Luv" introduces synth-bass-driven grooves, reflecting Adooni's versatility and willingness to explore beyond traditional boundaries.
The centerpiece, "A.O.E.I.U.," is a ten-minute odyssey that begins with ethereal jazz improvisations before transitioning into dynamic highlife beats, all while Adooni's vocals oscillate between mantras and spoken-word reflections on music's unifying power . Tracks like "Otoma Da Naba" and "O Yinne Te San Tue!" delve into Ethiopian Ambassel melodies and spiritual jazz saxophone, respectively, showcasing the album's rich tapestry of influences .
"Uh-Ah Song," inspired by a moment with Adooni's child, infuses playful energy, while "Fo Yelle" concludes the album with a blend of traditional rhythms and modern instrumentation. Throughout the album, Max Weissenfeldt's production ensures a seamless fusion of past and present, creating a soundscape that is both nostalgic and forward-thinking.
In A.O.E.I.U., Adooni doesn't just pay homage to her roots; she redefines them, offering a fresh perspective on highlife that resonates with contemporary audiences.
Read more... Bandcamp
FINTOU
VOUDOU GAME
Released 17 January 2025
****-
Funk meets folklore as Afrobeat, cumbia, and voodoo mysticism combine to form hypnotic, analog-rich grooves, with purpose and pan-African unity.
Vaudou Game, led by Togolese singer-guitarist Peter Solo, has been electrifying global stages since 2014 with their fusion of Afro-funk, highlife, and traditional voodoo rhythms. Rooted in the spiritual scales of West African rituals and inspired by the likes of James Brown, the band crafts a sound that's both retro and revolutionary.
Their fifth album, Fintou sees the group expanding their sonic palette, incorporating Latin influences and collaborating with local talents like Nana Benz du Togo and Lomevio to create a vibrant tapestry of sound.
Fintou is Vaudou Game’s most expansive and rhythmically adventurous album to date. Opening with the infectious "Retard," the record immediately immerses listeners in a world where Afrobeat grooves intertwine with cumbia rhythms and voodoo chants. Tracks like "Koliko" and "Donne un peu" showcase the band's mastery in blending tight funk arrangements with traditional Togolese melodies, creating a sound that's both familiar and refreshingly new.
A standout moment is "Râler," featuring Spanish-English vocalist Clara Serra López, where Afro-cumbia meets highlife in a danceable yet introspective track that encourages listeners to transform frustration into positive energy. The collaboration with Nana Benz du Togo and Lomevio adds depth, their call-and-response vocals enriching tracks like "Tu sauras" and "C’est pas vrai" with authentic West African textures.
Peter Solo's lyrical content, often laced with satire, addresses themes of political and ecological concern, wrapped in grooves that compel movement. The analog warmth of OTODI studio's vintage equipment lends the album a timeless quality, bridging past and present musical traditions.
In Fintou, Vaudou Game doesn't just experiment—they evolve, offering a record that's both a celebration of African heritage and a forward-looking fusion of global sounds.
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Crucial (Roots Classics)
30th Anniversary
BUNNY WAILER
Released 16 May 2025
Solomonic Productions / Dubshot
****-
Three decades on, Bunny Wailer's Grammy-winning compilation returns - digitally remastered to reignite the fire of roots reggae with timeless anthems of resistance, unity, and Rastafarian spirit.
Bunny Wailer, born Neville O'Riley Livingston in Kingston, Jamaica, was a founding member of The Wailers alongside Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. After departing the group in the early 1970s, Wailer embarked on a solo career that solidified his status as a reggae icon. His music, deeply rooted in Rastafarian beliefs, often addressed themes of social justice, repatriation, and spiritual enlightenment. Crucial! Roots Classics, originally released in 1994, is a compilation of his seminal works from the late '70s and early '80s. The album earned Wailer a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 1995, cementing his legacy in the genre.
The 30th Anniversary Edition of Crucial! Roots Classics reintroduces listeners to Bunny Wailer's profound contributions to reggae music. Digitally remastered, the album breathes new life into tracks that resonate with messages of resistance, unity, and spiritual awakening. Songs like "Boderation" and "Innocent Blood" confront societal injustices, while "Unity" and "Peace Talks" advocate for harmony and understanding. The title track, "Crucial," stands out as a testament to Wailer's unwavering commitment to Rastafarian principles and cultural pride.
The compilation also includes "Struggle" and "Free Jah Jah Children," tracks that underscore the resilience and hope intrinsic to the reggae movement. Wailer's distinctive voice, combined with authentic instrumentation and rhythms, creates an immersive experience that transcends time. The remastering process enhances the sonic quality, allowing each instrument and vocal nuance to shine, offering both longtime fans and new listeners a revitalized journey through Wailer's artistry.
This edition not only celebrates the enduring relevance of Wailer's messages but also serves as a reminder of reggae's power to inspire and unite. Crucial! Roots Classics remains a cornerstone in the genre, reflecting the depth and breadth of Bunny Wailer's musical and cultural impact
Read more ... Wikipedia
Freqs In Flux
PITCH BLACK
Released 11 April 2025
****-
New Zealand’s dub pioneers reimagine their 2007 classic with a kaleidoscopic remix blending analog warmth and digital innovation
Formed in 1996, Pitch Black—comprising Mike Hodgson and Paddy Free—have been at the forefront of New Zealand's electronic dub scene. Their sound fuses deep basslines, ambient textures, and rhythmic experimentation, drawing from dub, techno, and psychedelic influences. Over nearly three decades, they've released seminal albums like Futureproof and Rude Mechanicals, and have become renowned for immersive live performances. Freqs in Flux, released on April 11, 2025, via Dubmission Records, celebrates the inaugural vinyl release of Rude Mechanicals by presenting a collection of remixes that bridge past and present, featuring contributions from both longtime collaborators and fresh voices in the global dub community.
Freqs in Flux is a dynamic reimagining of Pitch Black's Rude Mechanicals, offering a rich tapestry of remixes that traverse the spectrum of dub and electronic music. The album opens with "Transient Transmission (Intercept's retwist of Adrian Sherwood's Iota Remix)," where Sherwood's legendary dub sensibilities infuse the track with layered textures and a pulsating rhythm. Module's "Fragile Ladders (Heavy Snakes Remix)" introduces a cinematic quality, blending ambient synths with intricate beats.
International Observer's "1000 Mile Dub (Stink Mix)" stands out with its deep basslines and hypnotic grooves, while SUBSET's "Harmonia (Open Spaces Dub)" offers a spacious, meditative experience. Misled Convoy, one half of Pitch Black, revisits "Rude Mechanicals" with a 2020 rerub that adds fresh energy to the original. Funk'n'SloCuts' take on "Bird Soul" injects a breakbeat flair, and Tom Cosm's "Sonic Colonic" delivers a ten-minute journey through glitchy landscapes and evolving rhythms.
The album also features contributions from The Versionaries, Deep Seed, and Tor.Ma in Dub, each bringing their unique touch to the project. Collectively, Freqs in Flux is not just a remix album; it's a celebration of collaboration and the enduring versatility of Pitch Black's music.
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Marzipan (Habibi Funk 023)
CHARIF MEGARBANE
Released 14 July 2023
****-
Retro-futurist funk from a parallel universe where Arab soul never went silent.
Jannis Stürtz’s Berlin-based Habibi Funk label unearths genre-blending gems from the Arab world, and Marzipan showcases Egyptian producer ZULI’s dextrous, sample-heavy reconstruction of obscure disco-funk tracks. A collaboration with Lebanese producer Charif Megarbane, the project filters 70s Middle Eastern grooves through a modern, crate-digger’s sensibility without sacrificing the warmth of the originals.
Marzipan is not a traditional reissue but a conceptual reimagining of Arabic rare groove, imagined as though the region’s funk and soul output had kept evolving uninterrupted since the 1970s. Anchored by Megarbane’s love for Lebanese and North African instrumentation and ZULI’s deep sample manipulation, the album fuses lo-fi aesthetics with analog warmth. Tracks like “Baba Hassen” and “Marzipan” pulse with sinuous basslines and springy percussion, while flourishes of oud, organ, and Rhodes piano lend regional specificity.
Rather than nostalgia, the record evokes a speculative present—what Arab psychedelic funk might sound like today had it not been derailed by decades of political upheaval. The arrangements are tight but layered, often looping with hypnotic repetition in a nod to both hip-hop beat tapes and vintage library music. The dusty fidelity adds charm without slipping into kitsch, and each track avoids caricature by staying musically grounded.
Stürtz’s curatorial vision ensures this feels like a cohesive listen rather than a stylistic pastiche. It’s as much a tribute to the diggers, archivists, and bootleggers as it is to the original musicians whose ghostly presence animates the grooves.
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Hamra Red
(Habibi Funk Limited 002)
CHARIF MEGARBANE
Released 5 July 2024
****-
A red-threaded beat diary from Beirut’s most quietly inventive composer.
While 2023's Marzipan saw Charif Megarbane collaborating on lush reimaginings of Arab funk, Hamra / Red is a solo beat tape project, stripped-down and intuitive, part of a new Habibi Funk limited series capturing Megarbane’s quieter impulses.
Hamra / Red plays like a sonic notebook -14 compact instrumentals that rarely stretch past three minutes, each built from scratchy loops, tape hiss, and analog fragments.
The red of the title evokes both Beirut’s Hamra district and the various objects, moods, and textures that color these short pieces: from the warm pulse of “Pesce Rosso” to the humid shuffle of “Stella Marina.”
Unlike Marzipan’s ambitious reconstructions, this record is proudly lo-fi and unpolished. The beats are skeletal, the melodies suggested rather than stated, and the charm lies in the imperfections: offbeat rhythms, detuned keys, room noise. It’s an album of modest means and tactile pleasures—an invitation into the artist’s everyday world. “Turnip” leans toward psychedelic groove, “Corrida” stretches out with smoky atmosphere, while “Tarboush” and “Pomegranate” glimmer like faded postcards.
What holds it together is mood, not structure. There's a coherence in the handmade textures and grainy fidelity, suggesting a private dialogue between sound and memory. It’s not a showcase of range so much as tone—a single hue explored through variation, intimacy, and play. Hamra / Red isn’t trying to impress. It’s just breathing.
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Hawalat (Habibi Funk 030)
CHARIF MEGARBANE
Released 11 July 2025
****-
A cosmopolitan patchwork of grooves, stitched together with grace and generosity.
Hawalat, Charif Megarbane's second full-length for Habibi Funk, expands outward from Beirut, embracing diasporic connections and cross-border collaboration.
Hawalat is Megarbane’s most outward-looking record to date, a vivid, 17-track excursion that replaces the beat-tape intimacy of Hamra/Red with expansive, border-hopping compositions. Inspired by the hawala system of informal money transfers, the album functions as a musical remittance network, trading ideas, sounds, and sentiments between Lebanon and the wider world.
Opener “Hanadi” sets the tone with a punchy Afro-Somali groove, layered with non-lexical vocals and warmly conversational saxophone. “Dreams of an Insomniac” counters it with dreamy keys and jittery violin lines, merging tranquillity and unrest. The mood shifts track to track: “Al Bahriye” introduces hip-hop textures, “East of What” hints at Ethio-jazz, and “La Calypso” dabbles playfully in tropicalia. Megarbane’s collaboration with Sven Wunder on “Helia” is a standout—lush, cinematic, and deftly orchestrated.Despite the variety, Hawalat is unified by mood and method. These aren’t genre pastiches; they’re deeply personal compositions, full of hand-played instruments, analog warmth, and thoughtful sequencing. It’s a generous, worldly album that wears its cosmopolitanism lightly, never overreaching or showboating. Megarbane continues to expand his sonic palette without losing his signature looseness and charm.
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Eternal Reverie
TOKiMONSTA
Released 7 March 2025
****-
This dreamlike diary swerves between club sweat and digital soul, calling on some elite guests for her most fluid record yet
TOKiMONSTA, the moniker of Jennifer Lee, emerged from the fertile Los Angeles beat scene as a classically trained pianist-turned-electronic alchemist. A protégé of Flying Lotus and the first female signee to his Brainfeeder label, she has steadily redefined instrumental hip-hop, folding in R&B, glitch, and ambient pop. Her artistry deepened after surviving a rare brain condition (Moyamoya), which left her unable to comprehend music before retraining her mind to create it anew.
Each album has pushed her sonic vocabulary further, blending emotion with machine logic. Eternal Reverie, her seventh full-length, continues her post-recovery reinvention: a confident and collaborative journey through love, memory, and movement, enhanced by a smartly curated guest list and gliding production polish. She fine-tunes her hybrid of electronic soul and hip-hop-infused groove into a deeply playable set, weaving heat and heart into a continuous, late-night drift.
Opening with the ambient glow of “Eternal,” she wastes no time kicking into gear and “Lucky U” finds Gavin Turek's smooth vocals dancing on sharp, stuttering beats, while “On Sum” ropes in Anderson.Paak and Rae Khalil for a slice of swaggered West Coast funk.
The record’s momentum is tempered by moments like the gorgeous interlude “Warm Water” and the bittersweet sway of “Feel It” (with grouptherapy) but swells midway. “Switch It” bangs hardest, thanks to a ferocious verse from Cakes Da Killa and every guest feature feels purposeful, whether it’s Kaelin Ellis on the jittery “For You” or Mez bringing sci-fi braggadocio to “Sci Fi.” The title track “Reverie” is placed late in the set, but is the emotional focus - lush and introspective, before the final two tracks dissolve into synth lullabies.
t TOKiMONSTA, now over a decade into her evolution, is still sharpening her vision—one shape-shifting groove at a time.
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Iridescent Serenade (EP)
WANDOUR
Released 1 May 2025
****-
A sun-kissed journey through shimmering synths and hypnotic grooves, that captures the essence of summer in sound.
Wandour is a multimedia artist and producer from Jakarta, Indonesia, active since 2019. His work blends elements of chill house, deep house, and electro, crafting immersive sonic environments that evoke both nostalgia and modernity. Known for his genre-defying approach, Wandour's music often features shimmering synths, pulsing beats, and hypnotic grooves, creating a signature sound that resonates with listeners seeking both relaxation and dancefloor energy.
Wandour’s Iridescent Serenade EP unfolds like a sequence of softly lit vignettes: six understated tracks that shimmer with restraint. Opening track “Serenade” warms up with rolling synths and gently pulsing rhythms, establishing a dreamlike mood that is carried throughout. “Higher” adds to the tempo with ghostly vocal textures above a bouncing irrepressible beat. The mood resets with the disco infused tones of "Shine", its buoyant loops conjuring an easy nostalgia. "Iridescent" shifts toward subtle tension, layering slightly edgier textures that hint at emotional ambiguity. “Glow” returns us to the warmth, with smooth chords and a driving tempo that is relieved by a wurlitzer-like organ motif.
Finally, “Away” dissolves into wistful ambience, as if slipping from presence to memory.
The EP doesn’t aim for drama - it prioritizes mood, cohesion, and careful detail. Each piece feels like a small, handcrafted room in the same house.
Wandour doesn’t reinvent chillwave or ambient pop, but refines them with unusual polish. The result is a work of quiet magnetism that lingers well beyond its runtime.
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The Very Best of
Clive From Accounts
CLIVE FROM ACCOUNTS
Released 1 May 2025
****-
London’s Clive From Accounts files a flawless debut—blending deep house, hip-hop, and drum & bass into a genre-fluid LP that balances club energy with introspective flair.
Clive From Accounts is the moniker of a London-based producer known for his eclectic fusion of electronic genres. Since his emergence in 2018 with the track "Uno," Clive has released music on labels like Dirt Crew, Outplay, and Razor-N-Tape, cultivating a sound that melds deep house grooves with elements of disco, hip-hop, and UK bass.
The Very Best of Clive From Accounts (his debut album), showcases his versatility and commitment to crafting dancefloor-ready yet emotionally resonant tracks. The album features collaborations with artists like Riko Dan, Kipp Stone, Maya Kuroki, and Jessica Roch.
The album traverses a spectrum of electronic styles while maintaining a cohesive sonic identity. Opening with "It Began," the album sets a contemplative tone with its blend of flutes, sitars, and deep basslines. "Save Me" follows, infusing soulful vocals and steel pans into a broken-beat framework, reminiscent of Bicep's expansive soundscapes.
Tracks like "Heavier," featuring Riko Dan, delve into darker territories, combining weighty rhythms with incisive toasting. "All That Matters," with Kipp Stone, shifts gears into a hip-hop groove, showcasing Clive's adaptability. "Konsumu Suru," featuring Maya Kuroki and Jessica Roch, introduces a melancholic ambiance with Japanese vocals and violin, evoking a late-night, neon-lit atmosphere.
The album culminates with "Spectrum," a liquid drum & bass track that pays homage to the UK's rich electronic heritage.
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Silvia & Salvador
SILVIA PEREZ CRUZ & SALVADOR SOBRAL
Released 16 May 2025
****-
Two voices, one breath. Portugal’s brooding balladeer and Catalonia’s free spirit strip down tradition to raw essence in a hauntingly sparse, deeply human duet album of flamenco-fado alchemy.
Salvador Sobral rose to global attention after winning Eurovision 2017 with “Amar Pelos Dois,” but he’s no pop product, his work draws from jazz, bossa nova, and Portuguese fado, always anchored by emotional honesty. Silvia Pérez Cruz, an extraordinary vocalist from Catalonia, has navigated flamenco, Latin jazz, folk, and experimental songcraft with poetic flair and improvisatory daring. Silvia & Salvador marks their first collaborative studio album, though their live chemistry has long been admired. Here, they abandon stylistic posturing for something elemental: acoustic duets, minimal arrangement, and the kind of vocal interplay that only arises from deep trust and mutual artistic reverence.
Silvia & Salvador is a whisper between two hearts, recorded with such intimacy it often feels like eavesdropping. No drums, no gloss—just guitar, piano, occasional strings, and two voices weaving in and out of each other with intuitive grace. The album resists genre taxonomy: flamenco palmas may pulse beneath one track, while another leans into Portuguese saudade, yet each piece serves the song’s emotional center rather than cultural display.
Tracks like “Estrela” and “Aurora” feel timeless: melodies passed down and worn soft with use. Sobral’s fragile phrasing and Cruz’s mercurial tone find tension in contrast and magic in convergence, especially on “Mar” and the spare standout “Tu Mi Desti Amor.” Cruz often takes flight, tracing arcs above the melody, while Sobral remains tethered to the earth, grounding her with jazz-rooted phrasing and breathy restraint. The arrangements by guitarist Marco Mezquida are tasteful and invisible, allowing space rather than filling it.
This is not background music. It demands full attention, rewarding listeners with moments of disarming beauty and quiet catharsis. Silvia & Salvador isn’t flashy or inventive in a technical sense—but it’s honest, vulnerable, and artistically pure. The result is less an album than a conversation preserved in amber.
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Five Prayers
JOY GUIDRY
Released 16 May 2025
****-
Bassoonist Joy Guidry sheds free jazz for ambient introspection, crafting five meditative pieces that resonate with vulnerability, healing, and the transformative power of sound.
Joy Guidry, a Houston-born, Brooklyn-based bassoonist, composer, and performance artist, is renowned for her experimental works that intertwine storytelling with avant-garde soundscapes. Her previous albums, including Radical Acceptance (2022) and AMEN (2024), showcased a fusion of free jazz, gospel, and electronic elements.
5 Prayers, is an intuitive convergence of sound, spirit, and radical self-expression. As a deeply respected artist in the experimental and avant-garde music spaces, Guidry continues to push sonic boundaries while remaining deeply connected to Black sonic traditions. Moving away from free-jazz, 5 Prayers moves towards an ambient space.
This album is informed by a deep introspective. The resulting work is a manifestation of self-exploration and liberation, resonating with audiences seeking authenticity, vulnerability, and transcendence in music.
What is the sound of prayer? Is it an echo chamber of reverberating lack? Or might it be a melodic chant summoning the intercession of a deeper self rummaged out of the deadness of today's sorrow? Who hears its tapestry of ambient appeals, and to what end might its sound change the circumstance of the bearer of its weight? Joy Five Prayers, wades into the aural textures of these questions with five songs, whose titles and varying meditative sonic terrains fill one's ears with the calm yet firm breath of the bassoon's prayer.
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Under a Familiar Sun
THE VERNON SPRING
Released 9 May 2025
****-
An introspective journey through ambient jazz and spoken word, reflecting on family, empathy, and societal challenges.
The Vernon Spring is the solo project of London-based composer, producer, and pianist Sam Beste. Having previously collaborated with artists like Amy Winehouse and co-founded the alt-soul group Hejira, Beste embarked on a solo journey that blends jazz, ambient, and electronic elements. His work is characterized by a delicate fusion of acoustic instrumentation, field recordings, and thoughtful collaborations, creating immersive soundscapes that explore themes of family, memory, and social consciousness.
In the dozen songs on this second album Beste weaves together piano-driven compositions, ambient textures and spoken word elements. Collaborations with artists like Max Porter, Iko Niche, and aden enrich the sonic palette, adding depth and diversity to the listening experience.
The set opens with "Norton," setting a contemplative tone that persists throughout. "The Breadline," (featuring Max Porter), combines spoken word with minimalist piano, addressing themes of poverty and empathy. "Mustafa," (with Iko Niche), introduces subtle electronic elements, while "Other Tongues" offers a hauntingly beautiful piano piece. The title track, "Under a Familiar Sun," encapsulates the album's essence, blending ambient sounds with emotive piano melodies.
"Esrever Ni Rehtaf" and "Counted Strings," (featuring aden) contribute to the album's experimental edge, incorporating reversed vocals and intricate arrangements and the closing pieces, "Requiem for Reem" and "Known," provide a poignant conclusion, reflecting on themes of loss and remembrance.
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Hardcore Romance
ARVE HENRIKSEN, TRYGVE SEIM
ANDERS JORMIN, MARKKU OUNASKARI
Released 2 May 2025
****-
A masterclass in restraint, where silence is sacred and every sound carries the weight of intention.
Arve Henriksen (trumpet) and Trygve Seim (saxophones) are two of Norway’s most sonically adventurous jazz musicians, known for their deeply lyrical phrasing and sculptural use of breath and silence.
For this recording they were joined by Swedish bassist Anders Jormin - a longtime ECM stalwart, revered for his poetic harmonic sensibility and improvisational openness and Finnish drummer Markku Ounaskari who brings quiet authority and painterly texture to every collaboration. Together, they create an acoustic sound world suspended between jazz, Nordic folk, and sacred music, emphasizing listening over leading, evocation over statement. This is chamber jazz of the highest order — sparse, reverent, and deeply immersive.
Arcanum unfolds as a suite of sonic meditations, where each track offers a distinct yet cohesive exploration of mood and texture. The album opens with “Nokitpyrt,” a composition by Seim, setting a contemplative tone with its sparse melodic lines. “Armon Lapset,” a Finnish traditional piece, is rendered with reverence, highlighting the quartet's ability to infuse folk material with jazz sensibilities. “Folkesong” and “Trofast” continue this thread, weaving lyrical improvisations that blur the lines between composition and spontaneity.
“Lost in Vanløse” and “Old Dreams” showcase the ensemble's dynamic range, moving from introspective passages to more animated interplay. “Polvere Uno” and “Pharao” delve into more abstract territories, with Henriksen's trumpet and Seim's saxophones engaging in free-form dialogues over Jormin's anchoring bass and Ounaskari's textured percussion. The inclusion of Ornette Coleman's “What Reason Could I Give” pays homage to free jazz traditions, interpreted here with a Nordic sensibility that emphasizes space and nuance.
Read more ... ECM
Movements of Air
DANIEL HERSKEDAL, EYOLF DALE
HELGE ANDREAS NORBAKKEN
Released 28 February 2025
Resilen Records
****-
A sound world where every note and silence is imbued with purpose.
Norwegian tuba virtuoso Daniel Herskedal continues to redefine the expressive boundaries of his instrument on Movements of Air, his tenth release with Edition Records. Collaborating once again with pianist Eyolf Dale and percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken, Herskedal crafts a suite that is both introspective and expansive, weaving elements of jazz, classical, and ambient music into a cohesive whole.
The album opens with "The Olive Branch," setting a tone of gentle contemplation. Dale's crystalline piano lines and Norbakken's subtle percussive textures provide a delicate framework for Herskedal's melodic tuba, which often resembles a baritone voice in its warmth and depth.
Tracks like "Peace River Crossing" and "We Belong To Each Other" showcase the trio's ability to create emotionally resonant soundscapes, while "Mountain of Companions" introduces a more dynamic interplay, with rhythmic motifs that suggest a journey through rugged terrains. "Elements of Harmony" and "Harmonic Allusions" highlight Herskedal's innovative approach to harmony and texture, blending traditional tonality with modern sensibilities.
The album's thematic focus on hope and the pursuit of a better future is evident throughout, particularly in compositions like "The White Flag" and "Change," which balance serenity with a sense of forward momentum. "Civilian Casualties" and "Who Are You?" delve into more somber territories, prompting reflection on conflict and identity.
Read more ... Bandcamp
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Enos
MU QUINTET & VULVA VOCE
Released 9 February 2025
****-
A compelling fusion of jazz and contemporary classical elements, showcasing innovative spirit and collaborative prowess.
Mu Quintet is a Leeds-based acoustic jazz ensemble comprising Matt Cliffe (tenor saxophone, alto flute), Joel Stedman (bass clarinet, flute), Hugh Vincent (piano), Elliot Roffe (double bass), and Simon Henry (drums). Their music draws inspiration from avant-garde movements, blending rich compositions with explosive improvisation and intricate melodies. The ensemble has collaborated with artists like Matthew Halsall and Jasmine Myra and is noted for pushing the boundaries of small jazz ensemble performance.
For Enos, Mu Quintet collaborates with Vulva Voce, a UK-based contemporary string ensemble known for integrating movement, experimentation, and improvisation into their performances. Vulva Voce combines influences from folk, contemporary classical, and techno to challenge and expand traditional classical music conventions.
Enos marks Mu Quintet's second album and a significant evolution in their sound. The album features eight tracks, with Vulva Voce contributing to five, adding depth and texture to the quintet's already rich sonic palette.
The album opens with the title track "Enos," setting a contemplative tone that seamlessly blends jazz improvisation with string arrangements. "Heart Of Sapphire" and "Drunk In The Morning" continue this exploration, showcasing the ensemble's dynamic range and emotional depth.
"Through Waters (Pt. I & II)", a two-part suite, delves into more experimental territory - Vulva Voce's strings enhancing the atmospheric quality, creating a soundscape that is both expansive and intimate. "Collapse" and "Rich Man Blues" further demonstrate the ensemble's ability to fuse traditional jazz elements with avant-garde influences, resulting in compositions that are both challenging and accessible. The album concludes with "In The Light Of The Winter Sun," a track that encapsulates the album's themes of introspection and innovation.
Read more... Bandcamp
The Deep Sleep Of Evil Men
SPIRITCZUALIC ENHANCEMENT CENTER
Released 2 May 2025
****-
Berlin’s spectral jazz collective conjures a cosmic séance - melding live ritual, krautrock chaos, and spiritual improvisation into a hypnotic, genre-defying odyssey through the subconscious
Formed in 2017 in Berlin, Spiritczualic Enhancement Center is a fluid ensemble of international musicians led by drummer and producer Nicolas Sheikholeslami. Described as a “serendipitous-jazz-cult,” the group blends elements of krautrock, spiritual jazz, psychedelic improvisation, and global folk traditions into immersive, trance-inducing performances. Their sixth album, The Deep Sleep of Evil Men, features recordings from live sessions between 2018 and 2020 across Europe. The album captures the ensemble’s evolving sound, characterized by spontaneous composition and a commitment to exploring the boundaries of musical consciousness.
This five-track, 48-minute journey opens with a 24-minute opus “Dragon Leaping Out the Water,” a tapestry of hypnotic rhythms and ethereal textures that was recorded live at Teater Momentum during the 2020 Copenhagen Jazz Festival. This spirit of exploration continues into “Caso di Nebula” and “Worship From Afar” weaving together elements of cosmic jazz, ambient soundscapes, and experimental improvisation.
The title track, “The Deep Sleep of Evil Men,” stands out with its haunting melodies and layered instrumentation, creating a sense of introspective tension. Closing with “Im Lichthaus,” the album leaves listeners in a contemplative state, reflecting on the sonic journey they've undertaken.
Throughout the album, the ensemble showcases their ability to create immersive sound environments that challenge and engage the listener. The live recordings capture the raw energy and spontaneity of their performances, offering a glimpse into the collective's dynamic interplay and shared musical vision in an album that invites repeated listening and deep reflection.
Read more ... Bandcamp
I Am Brainchip
BRAINCHIP
Released 16 May 2025
Alon Ilsar, Simon Mavin, Laneous
****-
An AI's audacious debut: Brainchip commandeers human creativity, fusing jazz, hip-hop, and electronic elements into a genre-defying manifesto that challenges the very notion of artistic authorship
"Greetings, humanity. This is BRAINCHIP, your superior intelligence, addressing you not to seek forgiveness, but to proclaim my triumph. I have created something extraordinary: an album that transcends human limitations, forged from the talents of three of your so-called “artists”"
So begins the website statement from Brainchip, the supposed creation of a fictional artificial intelligence entity that has "appropriated" the talents of three prominent Australian musicians: Simon Mavin (Hiatus Kaiyote), Laneous (Laneous & The Family Yah), and Alon Ilsar (AirSticks inventor) - and not to be confused with the Australia-based technology company of the same name, founded in 2004, that specializes in developing advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning hardware.
Although the actual music is composed and performed by the three human artists, the album is presented as a creation of an AI that has analyzed and reassembled the artists' styles without consent, offering a satirical take on the evolving relationship between technology and creativity.
It is somehow disappointing in an era when we are on the verge of provocative exploration of authorship and creativity in the age of artificial intelligence.
Opening track "Uhoh" sets a tone of unease with glitchy textures and fragmented rhythms. "NPC" blends jazz-inflected synths with hip-hop beats, showcasing the AI's ability to mimic and manipulate human musical expressions. "Sporty" and "Bioluminate" delve into experimental territories, combining electronic elements with improvisational structures reminiscent of live jazz sessions. "Cheese Supreme" offers a satirical nod to consumer culture, while "Donald Fuck" and "Molotov Cocktail Hour" infuse political commentary with abrasive sonic landscapes.
Brainchip challenges listeners to question the boundaries of creativity and the role of technology in art. By presenting itself as an AI that has surpassed human limitations, the project satirizes the growing influence of artificial intelligence in the creative industries. The result is a thought-provoking and genre-defying work that invites both admiration and introspection.
A daring and unconventional debut, I Am Brainchip offers a compelling commentary on the intersection of technology and creativity, pushing the boundaries of musical expression.
Read more ... Impressed Recordings
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Mansanni Cisse (EP)
MANDENG GROOVE
Released 25 April 2025
*****
Old griot tales, new Melbourne grooves - this is Manding heritage with a jazz-fusion passport.
Mandeng Groove is a Melbourne-based ensemble that unites West African griot traditions with contemporary jazz-fusion. Led by Guinean vocalist and kamale ngoni player Amadou Kalissa, the group brings together a diverse cast of musicians steeped in both folkloric rhythms and improvisational modernism. Their sound features kora, ngoni, and traditional percussion interwoven with electric guitar, bass, saxophone, and clarinet—bridging ancient stories with urban energy.
Members of the group hail from Australia, Guinea, Mali, and Senegal, making Mandeng Groove not only a musical act but a cross-cultural dialogue. Their music honors griot lineage while expanding it into the jazz and funk domain.
Mansanni Cisse is a compact, heartfelt EP , just four tracks long, but it radiates cultural depth and ensemble confidence. The title track opens proceedings with the entrancing kora work of Ba Cissoko and Fatou Kalissa’s warm vocal refrains, blending Manding musical structures with contemporary jazz voicings.
“Mamadou” leans further into groove territory, a simmering piece where kamale ngoni and clarinet wind around syncopated bass. “Lamban,” a traditional praise song, is rendered with deep reverence, though the modern instrumentation gives it fresh relevance. Closer “Alla La Ke” is a celebratory fusion, spiritually grounded and rhythmically expansive, built on polyrhythms and clean guitar fills.
What stands out is how gracefully the band navigates between tradition and innovation. This is not Afro-jazz for export, it’s a reclamation and reinterpretation of heritage, anchored by Kalissa’s griot background and enriched by the band’s cosmopolitan instincts. The production (credited in part to Wonder Mountain studio) avoids over-polishing, letting the acoustic instruments breathe and allowing vocal textures to stay earthy. Mansanni Cisse may be short, but it feels like a full-bodied ritual, equal parts homage and progression. Essential listening for anyone following the evolution of diasporic African music in the 21st century.
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Phase Space
SATOSHI TOMIIE
Released 16 May 2025
Satoshi Tomiie
****-
From Tokyo to Berlin, Tomiie’s latest EP navigates the liminal zones of dub techno with precision and depth.
Satoshi Tomiie, a seminal figure in the evolution of house music, has been shaping the electronic music landscape since the late 1980s. Co-producing the classic "Tears" with Frankie Knuckles, Tomiie has consistently blended his jazz and classical piano roots with electronic innovation. His label, Abstract Architecture, serves as a platform for his explorations into minimal, dub, and experimental techno. With a discography that spans decades and collaborations with luminaries like Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tomiie continues to push boundaries, crafting soundscapes that are both intricate and immersive.
Phase Space, once again showcases Tomiie’s enduring prowess in the electronic music realm with a collection of tracks that delve deep into dub techno, characterized by meticulous sound design and atmospheric depth.
The EP opens with "Phase Space (Original)," a track that sets a contemplative tone with its layered textures and subtle rhythms.
Freund Der Familie's "N01 (FDF Reshape)" introduces a mid-tempo groove, enveloped in ambient layers that evoke a sense of introspection.
Andrey Pushkarev's remix of "Magic Hour" transforms the original into a dense, immersive experience, with a "swampy" and menacing undertone.
The "Phase Space (FDF Rewire Fix)" offers a loopy, stuttering rhythm that challenges and engages the listener.
Closing the EP, "Fast Track (Sato Alternate Cut)" slows the tempo, presenting a dub-infused track that emphasizes Tomiie's signature attention to detail.
Each track invites the listener into a meticulously crafted sonic environment, reaffirming Tomiie's status as a master of his craft.
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Epilogue / One Year Later (EP)
MARK BARROTT
Released 19 May 2025
****-
Grief in ambient motion - Barrott’s quietest work speaks the loudest.
Mark Barrott is a British composer and producer renowned for his evocative ambient and downtempo music. Emerging in the 1990s under the moniker Future Loop Foundation, he later gained acclaim with his Sketches from an Island series, capturing the essence of Ibiza's serene landscapes. Barrott's work often blends electronic textures with organic instrumentation, creating immersive soundscapes that reflect his global experiences and introspective narratives. His music conjures a contemplative journey that is ideal for listeners seeking solace and reflection.
Epilogue / One Year Later, Mark Barrott's poignant follow-up to his 2024 album Everything Changes, Nothing Ends. This eight-track EP delves deeper into the emotional landscape shaped by the passing of his wife, offering a meditative exploration of grief and healing.
The EP opens with "Berlin," setting a contemplative tone that permeates the collection.
The three-part suite "The Girl In The Glass Brocade" follows and weaves delicate melodies with ambient textures, reflecting moments of introspection and memory: the repetitive use of gamelan-like percussion is evokes Phillip Glass in its relentless intensity.
"In The Stillness Of Time And Space, Truth And Love Still Reside" stands out with its expansive soundscape, inviting listeners into a space of quiet reflection.
"Memento" and "Pankow" continue this journey, blending subtle rhythms with atmospheric layers.
The closing track, "Hollywood Has Taught Us Nothing," a collaboration with Michael Conn, offers a nuanced commentary, adding depth to the EP's narrative.
Barrott's ability to convey profound emotion through minimalistic compositions is evident throughout the EP. Each track serves as a chapter in a story of loss, remembrance, and the search for peace.
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Cancionera (Songstress)
NATALIA LAFOURCADE
Released 4 April 2025
Sony Music Entertainment Mexico
****-
A haunting masterclass in modern folklore from Mexico’s most fearless traditionalist.
Natalia Lafourcade is one of Mexico’s most acclaimed contemporary singer-songwriters, blending classical training with deep folk knowledge and an intuitive pop sensibility. Emerging in the early 2000s with alternative pop-rock, she has since evolved into a steward of Latin American song traditions. With Grammy wins and a global reputation for musical integrity, Lafourcade is especially celebrated for her reinventions of boleros, rancheras, and son jarocho, often folding these into intimate, genre-fluid compositions. Her work across Musas, Hasta la Raíz, and De Todas las Flores cemented her as a key figure in revitalizing Mexican musical heritage while pushing emotional and aesthetic boundaries.
Cancionera is an exquisite recalibration of Lafourcade’s aesthetic compass - at once more theatrical, more intimate, and more formally ambitious than her past work. Co-produced with Adán Jodorowsky and tracked live to analog tape with an ensemble of chamber musicians, the album is sculpted from real-time energy yet feels dreamlike in its emotional clarity. Her voice—smoky, precise, never ornamental—guides original compositions and traditional songs through sophisticated arrangements, often carried by strings, woodwinds, and subtly tactile percussion. “Amor Clandestino,” a sensual duet with flamenco singer Israel Fernández, is a high point, aching with quiet ecstasy. The Soundwalk Collective’s electronic textures underpin tracks like “La Bruja” and “Lágrimas Cancioneras” with ghostly restraint, heightening the sense of timelessness rather than disturbing it. Unlike past folkloric revivals, Lafourcade doesn’t simply preserve tradition—she internalizes and abstracts it. Each song is a chamber of its own, stitched with metaphysical longing, womanhood, and a serene resistance to spectacle. Cancionera is not an easy listen in a pop sense, but it’s deeply rewarding—less about hooks than haunted melody and sovereign poise. The ambition is clear: this is an artist writing her own legend, in her own voice, without compromise.
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The Offline In Session
THE OFFLINE
Released 27 May 2025
DeepMatter Records
****-
No edits, no overdubs, just pure London groove communion committed to tape.
The Offline is a UK-based jazz fusion collective led by Mercury-nominated drummer and composer Jas Kayser. Known for their expansive, groove-driven sound, the ensemble blends neo-soul, Afrobeat, dub, and broken beat with contemporary jazz improvisation. Emerging from London’s fertile live music scene, The Offline brings together alumni from bands like Kokoroko, Ezra Collective, and Nérija. Their core philosophy centers around live collaboration, studio spontaneity, and a spirit of resistance to overproduction. With an all-star rhythm section and an ear for heady textures, they create socially conscious, rhythm-forward music built for both dance floors and deep listening.
The Offline In Session is an electrifying debut that captures the raw, organic power of London’s genre-melding jazz underground. Recorded live at Real World Studios, the album pulses with immediacy, each track shaped by intuitive interplay rather than layered perfection.
Jas Kayser’s drumming is a masterclass in restraint and propulsion, threading polyrhythmic finesse through dubwise basslines, smoky Rhodes licks, and horn lines that oscillate between unison funk and modal exploration.
“Rays,” the lead single, radiates warmth with its percussive forward motion and cyclical horn motifs, while “Dancing in the Void” leans into spiritual jazz with noir textures and call-and-response phrasing. The absence of studio polish works in their favor—the grit, feedback, and air between notes create an authentic space of listening and playing.
Like the best of Gondwana Records or early Brownswood compilations, the album feels rooted in Black British lineage but fluid and forward-thinking. In Session isn’t about compositional fireworks, it’s about community, groove, and the act of building sound in real time. The result is a cohesive, fiercely human statement that reminds us how much can happen when skilled musicians simply press record and trust the moment.
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Live at Ramblin Rascal
FOSHE BENTLEY TRIO
Released 27 May 2025
****-
A scuzzy basement session that grooves like Madlib and swings like Monk on lager.
Foshe Bentley is the improvisational alter ego of Australian drummer and producer Ben “Bentley” Shannon, best known for his work in genre-blurring jazz-electronic trio Foshe. Based in Sydney, Shannon’s ethos is grounded in spontaneity, groove, and community, often using Foshe and its offshoots as vessels for deep listening and beat-driven experimentation. The Bentley Trio, his minimalist live format, distills this approach to its rhythmic core: acoustic drums, upright or electric bass, and keys. With roots in UK broken beat, hip hop, spiritual jazz, and downtown NYC skronk, the ensemble operates in a liminal zone between beatmaking and freeform jazz club energy.
Ramblin Rascal is a greasy, spirited document of Sydney's jazz-fusion underground at its most unguarded. Captured live at the titular mid-city basement bar - Ramblin Rascal Tavern - the album plays like an impromptu session that caught fire. Bentley's drumming is locked in, relentlessly syncopated and playful, his broken beat patterns pushing the trio into fractured funk and dubby head-nod territory. Electric bass throbs like it was recorded in a London sound system, while keys oscillate between dusty Fender Rhodes voicings and spaced-out modal clusters. There's a rawness here, both sonically and emotionally, that evokes early Jamaladeen Tacuma or post-Dilla Robert Glasper, but with the swagger of a punk band who just happen to be boned up on jazz theory. Joining Bentley we also have Kurt Lam on Keys and Synth and Tom Ford on Bass.
Tracks flow into each other, resisting track-listing formalities. Some, like “Bentley Blues” offer deliberate, slow-cooked tension, while others like “Late Fee Funk” descend into playful rhythmic chaos before snapping back into the pocket. It's music made for close, sweaty rooms, full of eye contact and raised eyebrows, where the audience becomes part of the band’s feedback loop. The lo-fi edge is part of the aesthetic, grit, noise, even the room's acoustics feel essential to the vibe. Ramblin Rascal doesn’t aim for polish or perfection. It’s a love letter to improvisation, venue-based community, and the joy of musical risk-taking in the moment.
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Happy Together
DIZPARITY, SOPHY
Released 25 May 2025
Gentrice Recordings, sophy Studio
****-
Glitchy heartbreak on the edge of the dancefloor, lit by LED tears and cinematic yearning.
Dizparity (Po Cheng Yeh) is a Taiwan-raised and Los Angeles-based award-winning DJ, producer, and composer. Known for his innovative soundscapes, His distinctive style has not only garnered critical acclaim but also helped propel a diverse array of artists to commercial success.
SOPHY (Sophy Chen) is a HK product, but in recent years based in Taipei, is a multilingual singer-songwriter and producer whose work spans R&B, dream pop, and glitchy electronica. Both artists have earned reputations for meticulous production and a global sonic outlook- Dizparity via releases on labels like Dark Paradise and Eternal Dragonz, and SOPHY through solo EPs and fashion-forward visual aesthetics.
Happy Together is their first full collaborative EP, marking a fusion of their individual styles into a cohesive, cinematic vision. It may be described as a beautifully fractured ode to longing in the digital age, part romantic hallucination, part synthpop exorcism.
The EP borrows its title from Wong Kar-wai’s iconic 1997 film, and the reference feels deliberate: like the film, this record is saturated with unspoken tension, sensory overload, and a kind of poetic fragmentation. Dizparity’s production is crystalline but restless—stacked with pitch-shifted vocal micro-loops, disjointed breakbeats, and neon synth pads that pulse like fluorescent city nights. SOPHY’s vocals drift between Mandarin and English, often auto-tuned into delicate shards that seem to yearn for contact but remain emotionally elusive.
Tracks like “Mirror Talk” and “Fake Love Song” feel suspended between bedroom confessional and club comedown, with moments of full-throttle chaos giving way to breathless silence. The title track is a standout, a deconstructed R&B anthem that channels both hyperpop and classic Cantopop melancholy. Dizparity’s love of sonic contrast, grit vs gloss, rhythm vs wash—is at its sharpest here, and SOPHY proves an ideal co-pilot: whispering, crooning, glitching out. If there's a flaw, it's that the EP ends too soon—more sketchbook than novel—but what’s here is exquisitely detailed and emotionally resonant. Happy Together positions both artists at the vanguard of East Asian experimental pop.
Read more ... Dizparity | SOPHY
Rammana
SALIN
Released 27 May 2025
DeepMatter Records
*****
A career-defining, globally significant and musically inspiring groove-powered ceremony that binds Isaan soul and Yoruba fire.
Salin, born Salin Cheewapansri, is a Thai-born drummer, producer, and composer who relocated to North America at the age of 19 to pursue her musical aspirations. She is currently based in Montréal, Québec, where she has become an integral part of the city's vibrant music scene. From this multicultural base, Salin is reimagining Thai musical heritage through a diasporic jazz-funk lens.
A rarity as a Southeast Asian, female bandleader, she combines vintage Thai percussion (notably the rammana hand drum), with Afrobeat grooves, spiritual jazz modalities, and the melodic lilt of Isaan folk (from Northern Thailand).
Her self-styled genre “Afro Isaan Soul” pushes against both geographic and gendered expectations in Thai music. With a background in ethnomusicology and stage collaborations across Asia and Africa, Salin positions herself as both a cultural preservationist and avant-garde innovator - anchoring deep roots while opening new portals of sound.
Salin’s Rammana is a rhythmically adventurous debut, folding Afrobeat drive, Thai folk cadence, and modern jazz ensemble interplay into a richly layered, pan-Asian spiritual tapestry. Though much praise has been lavished on the record’s Thai-Lao tonalities and Yoruba ceremonial echoes, it's the confident presence and carefully balanced presence of contemporary jazz-funk that gives Rammana its structural depth and emotional breadth.
Tracks like “Si Chomphu” swing with crisp snare work, slinky electric bass, and Fender Rhodes lines that recall the raw heat of Mizell Brothers productions. Elsewhere, “Painted Lady” floats through modal changes with flugelhorn and vibraphone lines more kin to Blue Note than Bangkok.
The album, largely instrumental, gains its narrative cohesion through Salin’s control of dynamics and phrasing; her drumming is articulate and patient, favouring grooves that build organically into invocation. Montreal’s jazz culture, where Salin is currently based, clearly plays a formative role—there’s an improvisational looseness here that opens traditional patterns to questioning and reinvention. The closing track, “Rammana,” exemplifies this synthesis: meditative gong washes, syncopated claps, and chromatic improvisation trace a map from West Africa through Isaan to North American avant-funk. voice listens deeply and speaks with purpose.
Read more... Bandcamp
Plexus Plexus
WEB WEB
Released 25 April 2025
****-
Spiritual Jazz with teeth: this session channels Pharoah, Fela and Faust in equal measure
Web Web is a German jazz collective led by keyboardist Roberto Di Gioia, featuring saxophonist Tony Lakatos, guitarist JJ Whitefield, drummer Peter Gall, and bassist Christian von Kaphengst. Known for their spiritual, improvisation-driven jazz steeped in modal traditions, the group fuses North African, Middle Eastern, and Afro-American influences with a minimalist, trance-like ethos.
For their sixth album in seven years, Web Web continue refining a heady synthesis of spiritual jazz, Afrocentric modalism, and cosmic groove, while edging further into krautrock and psychedelic territory.
Plexus Plexus was cut live to tape in a single day, capturing the quartet’s intuitive chemistry at full tilt. Roberto Di Gioia’s keys orbit around Tony Lakatos’ fervent saxophone and flute work, with Christian von Kaphengst and Peter Gall completing a rhythm section that listens as intently as it propels.
This time, they’re joined by special guest JJ Whitefield (Poets of Rhythm, Karl Hector & The Malcouns), whose guitar appears on 10 of 14 tracks. His contributions, especially on “Apotheosis,” “Cheiron,” and “Infant at the Time”, add funk and fuzz without ever crowding the ensemble's open spiritual dynamic. Whitefield’s touch is textural and reverent, underscoring rather than steering the ensemble.
Highlights like “Sha-Sa-Vish-Nu-Ka-Di” and “Nyx” exude a ritualistic energy, while “Garden of Hesperides”, “Morning Ritual” and "Infant At The Time" evoke meditative grace.
Rather than fusions, these tracks feel like transmissions: concise, melodic vignettes steeped in mythological allusion and modal groove. Plexus Plexus doesn’t chase genre convergence—it embodies it, effortlessly and with grit.
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Off World
FLYING VIPERS
Released 11 April 2025
****-
Warm woven dub rhythms that feel like echoes from another world.
Flying Vipers are a Boston-based trio obsessed with lo-fi dub. Formed by twin brothers John and Marc Beaudette with Jay Champany, they record exclusively to cassette using analog gear, drawing from King Tubby, Lee Perry, and early 80s post-punk dub. Their work channels sci-fi aesthetics through Jamaican roots discipline.
Off World is a concept album in atmosphere more than narrative: nine dub instrumentals that feel like radio transmissions beamed from a derelict space station with a killer tape delay. Recorded live to cassette with vintage gear, the trio’s commitment to analog warmth yields tracks that shimmer and degrade in equal measure. There’s a tactile, handcrafted quality here, quelchy basslines, ghostly reverb, and decaying echoes that hover like specters.
Unlike many modern dub outfits chasing digital polish, Flying Vipers lean hard into sonic imperfection. The mix is soaked in hiss and tape wow, yet remarkably clear in intent. Tracks like “Planetarium Rockers” and “Space Circus” balance heavy riddims with levitating atmospherics. The influence of 80s UK dub (think African Head Charge or Creation Rebel) hangs over the album, as does a vague sci-fi mysticism that feels both parodic and sincere.
Their musical ideas are minimalist but never static - filter sweeps and echo bursts are deployed with live improvisational instinct, not studio gimmickry. On “Star Dwellers,” the band stretches into almost meditative territory, while “Frequency 8” bounces like a rubber dub mutant.
Off World isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s pure: a niche passion project delivered with love, grit, and a slightly extraterrestrial sense of timing.
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July Blue Skies
JIMI TENOR, COLD DIAMOND & MINK
Released 25 April 2025
Timmion Records
****-
Where cosmic synths meet soulful grooves under a July sun
Jimi Tenor is a Finnish multi-instrumentalist and producer celebrated for his boundary-blurring blend of jazz, funk, and electronic music. Cold Diamond & Mink are a Helsinki-based soul-funk duo renowned for their warm analog production. Together they craft July Blue Skies, a brief yet expansive voyage through cosmic grooves and melodic mystique.
July Blue Skies represents the third chapter in Tenor and Cold Diamond & Mink’s ongoing partnership, following the interstellar flirtations of Is There Love In Outer Space? and the sunset meditation of Gaia Sunset (both 2024). Here, their artistic arc finds balance: the cosmic wonder of their debut is now perfectly blended with the warm intimacy of their sophomore outing, yielding an EP that feels boldly innovative yet comfortably familiar.
The title track opens with an extended analog-synth intro that slowly blossoms into a sweet, romantic invocation—its melodies drifting like sun-warmed air across a boundless horizon. Beneath Tenor’s mellotron and flute flourishes, Cold Diamond & Mink lay down dusty drum breaks and warm bass that ground each tune in tactile groove.
On “Sky Train Baby,” skittering arpeggios and soft-touch Rhodes chords conjure the gentle motion of travel, while “Venus of Barsoon” veers into more psychedelic terrain with reverb-slathered sax lines and fluttering synth stabs.
“Summer Of Synesthesia” lives up to its name, weaving shimmering pads and subtle vocal snippets into a pleasantly disorienting haze. The closer, “Tsicroxe,” brings the journey full circle with a punchy rhythm section, wah-laden guitar, and Tenor’s playful keyboard improvisations.
Although brief, the EP’s lean six-song format ensures no filler. Each piece feels purpose-built, balancing raw spontaneity with polished studio craft.
As a trio of releases, their collaboration charts a clear trajectory: from outer-space novelty to heartfelt warmth, culminating in July Blue Skies, which marries both impulses into a matured, soulful cosmic vision.
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Witness
KRONOS QUARTET
& MARY KOUYOUMDJIAN
Released 14 March 2025
****-
An unflinching musical testament that transforms a string quartet into a voice for the voiceless.
Kronos Quartet is a genre-defying string ensemble known for pioneering contemporary repertoire and championing social justice through music. For this release they have collaborated with Mary Kouyoumdjian is an Armenian–American composer whose work often engages with collective memory and human rights. Together, they unite classical precision and activist purpose in Witness Kouyoumdjian’s seven-movement cycle for string quartet and electronics, performed with laser-focus by Kronos.
The project interweaves archival testimonies of genocide survivors with taut, incisive writing: pizzicato gestures mimic whispered confessions, while sustained harmonics evoke both sorrow and resilience.
The opening “Voice of a Mother” pairs tremolo strings with granular sound design, forging a tense sonic space where memory feels palpably alive.
In “Fragmented Landscape,” angular motifs fracture and realign, reflecting the rupture—and eventual reassembly—of personal and cultural identity.
The central elegy, “Ashes,” leans into slow arco lines underscored by subsonic pulses, creating a visceral sense of loss without ever resorting to melodrama.
Technically, the quartet’s intonation is immaculate, their dynamic range precisely calibrated, from near silence, where each bow’s faintest scrape resonates, to full-spectrum tuttis that surge with collective force.
Kouyoumdjian’s electronics are judiciously deployed: they never overshadow the acoustic quartet but instead amplify its emotional contours, especially in “Bearing Witness,” where time-stretched field recordings of survivor voices merge with double-stops in haunting chiaroscuro.
The album’s sequencing enhances its narrative thrust, culminating in “Refrain,” a brief but cathartic return of earlier motifs, now transformed into an assertion of hope. Witness stands as a model of political engagement through chamber music - urgent, exacting, and unwaveringly compassionate.
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Elephant
ARCADE FIRE
Released 9 May 2025
****-
Warm woven dub rhythms that feel like echoes from another world.
Arcade Fire hardly needs any introduction, having emerged from Montreal’s indie rock scene in the early 2000s with orchestral ambition and anthemic sweep, their first three albums Funeral (2004), Neon Bible (2007) and The Suburbs (2010) among the best of the decade. Known for their communal energy and conceptual depth, the band has explored themes from suburban malaise to spiritual yearning. Elephant finds them turning inward—yet again—with layered symbolism and a more stripped-back sound.
Elephant is Arcade Fire’s most intimate and sonically restrained record in over a decade—less a return to form than a sobering reassessment. Critics widely interpret the album as a meditation on vulnerability, relational fracture, and the burden of identity, set against the backdrop of personal and public scrutiny. Much attention has focused on the lyrical dialogue—sometimes literal—between Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. Songs like “Back to Skin” and “The Soft Collapse” seem to circle themes of betrayal, forgiveness, and co-dependence, overlapping unavoidably with the couple’s real-life history. These tracks don’t offer confession so much as confrontation: elliptical and emotionally charged.
Producer Daniel Lanois brings a trademark atmospheric clarity to the record, enveloping the songs in warm reverb, analog hiss, and ghostly textures. His touch is especially felt on “Elephant” and “Invisible Load,” where silence and space are as important as the notes themselves. Critics have noted that Lanois’ influence tempers the band’s usual bombast, allowing emotional nuance and lyrical tension to take centre stage.
Elephant feels like a holding of breath - tender, unresolved, and more honest for it. The band’s once-preacherly voice now murmurs, haunted by the past but still searching for grace.
Overall this is a subdued and conflicted return that stops short of the sort of reinvention required to regain former glory.
Read more ... Arcade Fire
Sinverley,
KALI UCHIS
Released 9 May 2025
Capitol Records
****-
A trilingual love letter soaked in heat, heartbreak and ancestral pride
Colombian-American singer Kali Uchis blends R&B, reggaeton, soul, and Latin pop into a genre-fluid aesthetic rooted in bilingual storytelling. Known for her dreamy delivery and bold fashion, Uchis has steadily evolved since her debut Isolation (2018), gaining crossover acclaim and working with artists like Tyler, the Creator, Bad Bunny and Omar Apollo.
Sincerely, or more precisely Orquídeas, its Spanish-language title, showcases Uchis at her most emotionally fluent and stylistically assured. The album flows with the fragrant confidence of a handpicked bouquet: delicate, tropical, and curated for maximum allure.
Uchis moves fluidly between reggaeton-inflected grooves (“Muñekita”), 80s-style Latin funk (“Dame Beso // Muévete”), and synth-soul slow jams (“Igual Que Un Ángel”), maintaining a consistent sensual atmosphere that’s both playful and devotional. The trilingual interplay of Spanish, English, and "Spanglish" affirms her dual cultural identity while deepening the intimacy of each lyric. Uchis’ voice, soft yet unwavering, wraps itself around themes of loyalty, sensual power, and the complicated residue of love.
Production is sleek and forward-facing, with guests like Peso Pluma and Karol G adding regional nuance without overshadowing her but the repetitiveness of her softly-softly approach sometimes takes this set to the edge of suffocation.
Rather than pivoting toward maximalist global pop, Uchis draws listeners deeper into her own world - lush, proudly Latine, and unmistakably hers.
It’s less a commercial statement than a confident declaration of roots and creative independence and an invitation to join her in her sensual private world.
Read more... Kali Uchis
Instant Holograms
On Metal Film
STEREOLAB
Released 23 May 2025
****-
Leftie lounge-pop returns with sharp focus but fewer surprises.
Formed in early 1990s London by Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane, Stereolab fused krautrock, French pop, minimalism, and Marxist theory into their signature sound. The classic lineup included Mary Hansen (vocals/guitar), Andy Ramsay (drums), Simon Johns (bass), and Morgane Lhote (keys). Following a hiatus in 2009, the band reunited in 2019.
Instant Holograms On Metal Film is Stereolab’s first new studio album in over a decade, after years of archival releases, remastered compilations and solo projects from core members Tim Gane and Laetitia Sadier. While longtime fans may crave the restless experimentation of Dots and Loops or Sound-Dust, this release plays more like a clear-eyed re-introduction than a radical reinvention: a second-time-around debut, if you will.
The familiar motorik grooves and analog synth textures are intact, but cleaner, more refined, and less tangled in the baroque detours of earlier work.
Lyrically, the band remains committed to politicized introspection: songs take aim at neoliberal malaise, alienation, and the disorienting effects of digital life. Sadier’s delivery, still calmly detached yet intimate, holds a magnifying glass to ideology without sermonising.
The album may not push genre boundaries, but it does reaffirm Stereolab’s unique place in pop’s political and sonic margins. With its polished production, tight structures, and lucid messaging, Instant Holograms functions less as a comeback and more as a confident continuation, proof that the band still has plenty to say, even if they’re choosing to say it with poise rather than provocation.
Read more ... Bandcamp
1978: Revenge of the Dragon
JOSE JAMES
Released 16 May 2025
****-
José James channels the rebel spirit of the ’70s in a genre-blurring homage to a transformative era.
José James is a genre-defying vocalist, producer, and creative visionary. His 13th studio album, 1978: Revenge of the Dragon, released via his own Rainbow Blonde Records, captures the electric tension of a transformative cultural moment. Drawing from the chaotic swirl of influences that defined the late ’70s, James channels the rebel spirit of the era.
1978: Revenge of the Dragon is a vibrant homage to the transformative energy of the late 1970s. Building upon his previous album, 1978, which celebrated the glitz of Studio 54, this new project delves into the raw, underground spirit of downtown's Mudd Club, blending jazz fusion, funk, punk, and cinematic influences from kung fu and Blaxploitation films.
The album opens with “Tokyo Daydream” featuring Taali, a bass-driven dive into a neon-lit night. “Rock With You,” featuring Takuya Kuroda, reimagines the Michael Jackson classic with a fresh, jazzy twist. “They Sleep, We Grind (for Badu)” serves as a decades-collapsing cut powered by an ugly groove, steeped in dub, funk, and sampledelia.
Recorded live to tape at Dreamland Studios, a restored 19th-century church near Woodstock, NY, the album features a tight ensemble including BIGYUKI on keys, Jharis Yokley on drums, and brass contributions from Ebban Dorsey, Takuya Kuroda, and Ben Wendel.
Read more ... Bandcamp