Previous Albums of the Day

Oppression Is Nine Tenths Of The Law

ORGANIC PULSE ENSEMBLE

Released 3 August 2025

RR Gems Records

****-

Free jazz reimagined with groove and purpose as a one-person ensemble channels jazz history into contemporary rhythm and resolution.

Organic Pulse Ensemble is the project of Swedish musician Gustav Horneij, a one-person ensemble who writes records and performs every instrument himself. Beginning with turntables beat-making and vinyl sampling, Horneij’s musical path led from hip-hop into jazz soul and funk, shaped by the influence of labels such as Black Jazz and Strata-East and figures like Sun Ra.

Over time, practical realities transformed the project into a fully self-contained studio endeavour, with multitracked horns rhythm section and percussion built in his home studio. Since its first release in 2019, Organic Pulse Ensemble has positioned groove driven jazz as a vehicle for protest uplift and collective consciousness.

Oppression Is Nine Tenths Of The Law is deeply rooted in groove. The album builds momentum through layered rhythm sections and tightly voiced horn arrangements, evoking the energy of classic big band jazz, facilitated by modern production techniques and sensibilities. The music moves with purpose, balancing repetition and variation with an ever-present sense of propulsion and collective drive.

Horneij’s hip-hop background is felt in the clarity of the rhythms and the weight of the bass lines, while the harmonic language and ensemble voicings draw directly from spiritual jazz and liberation era precedents. The music invites movement and reflection, while funk and soul elements surface naturally, grounding the album in physicality rather than theory.

Crucially, the political intent is carried by feel rather than explicit rhetoric. The album does not preach, but persuades through groove. By transmitting big band energy through a single pair of hands, Horneij creates music that feels communal even in its solitary construction.

INHABIT

SANDRAYATI

Released 5 September 2025

Decca Records

****-

A radiant, spiritually grounded debut in \which voice and ensemble playing combine to create music that feels both ancient and vividly present.

Sandrayati Fay, an artist of Filipino/Irish-American roots, was born and raised on the islands of Java and Bali Indonesia. Her songs are an expression of inspiration and perceptions that reflect her journeys and beliefs in the world revolving around human rights, identity and love.

INHABIT marks a major artistic statement: a project shaped by spiritual reflection cultural multiplicity and ensemble synergy rather than genre prescription. Her vocal approach, rooted in jazz and extended by technique, remains open to chant hymn and folk inflection, all of which gives the music an expansiveness that feels both intimate and cosmically oriented. Her collaborations with musicians across jazz and experimental scenes have positioned her as a distinctive contemporary voice, unafraid to explore meaning shape and community through sound.

INHABIT unfolds with gentle ritualistic motion, its musical language balancing lyricism with improvisational openness. The album places the voice at the centre not merely as a melodic instrument but as a textural and spiritual force, guiding ensemble colour and dynamic shape. Sandrayati’s phrasing draws on jazz tradition yet often ventures into extended vocal territory, creating lines that feel like invocation as much as song.

Instrumentation across the record is richly varied, often grounded in subtle rhythmic cycles and modal interplay. At times the ensemble folds into chant-like unison, at others it scatters into intimate solo gestures, but always the music feels cohesive, moving with shared intent rather than directionless exploration.

Thematically INHABIT negotiates presence and relationality. Love and belonging are examined not as abstract ideals but as lived experience shaped through listening and shared empathy. The album’s spatial clarity, both in performance and production, reinforces its focus on community, voice and resonance.

INHABIT is a compelling and deeply considered release. Thoughtful, spiritually aware and musically expansive, it confirms Sandrayati as an expressive force in contemporary vocal and ensemble music.

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Stephen Cummings Home Page

Joy (EP)

STEPHEN CUMMINGS

Released 21 November 2025

Cheersquad Records

****-

A short, satisfying set of deep-cut covers, delivered with a mix of determination and hope, in a character-filled, life-formed voice.

For many of us (of a certain age"), Stephen Cummings has been a beloved musical presence for all our adult lives. Some of us were around for his formative years with the band-spawning stamping-ground The Pelaco Brothers, but he strutted into most of our consciousness on the airwaves, on 3RRR, and in Melbourne's inner city pubs and halls. He was the stylish one out in front of The Sports, urging "Don't Throw Stones" and ironically, pleading "Who Listens To The Radio" and singing "Reckless", "Boys! (What Did The Detective Say?)" and (my favourite of them all) "Cruisin' in a Citroen" - wherein he memorably rhymes "Bardot" and "radio".

Short-lived, the band produced four critically acclaimed albums in as many years, but commercial success failed to materialise in that overcrowded era of rising talents. Cummings' solo career followed, with release of "Senso" (1984) and about 20 more albums of a restless kind of singer-songwriter of R&B and three novels in the three decades that have followed.

Following a stroke while performing in March 2020, Cummings undertook rehabilitation and courageously returned to recording, releasing "100 Years From Now" in May 2023. In our review of the album we wrote, "The album is a collection of co-writes that put Cummings’ post-stroke physical condition to the fore, both musically and lyrically. The effect of Stephen’s stroke on his singing adds a layer of bittersweet heartbreak to his already emotive style."

"Joy" takes up where "100 Years..." left off, presenting fresh interpretations of four deep cuts from other Australian artists, songs originated and recorded at various times between 1971 and 2021 by Mike Rudd (Spectrum), Jess Ribeiro, Graeme Dunn & Jude McGee (Pel Mel), and Dusty Anastassiou (Dag).

These are songs that address the challenges and uncertainties that life throws our way. Their lyrics respond with a mix of determination and hope, delivered in a character-filled, life-formed voice: "Walking on the water Lying on the sand Living in the balance Placing my heart in my hands"... "Been feeling unwell, though in time I know I'm gonna be better"... "No word from China, no sign from the keeper I tried to sleep, excuses of mine"... Is this the land for which I’m seeking? Must I travel on? The answer lies within you Your searching must continue".

Long may you continue to do so Stephen Cummings - and so continue to inspire. Keep cruisin'.

Riversphere Vol. 1

IAIN BELLAMY

Released 2 November 2025

Babel Label

****-

A fluid, textural exploration between improvisation and composition, weaving together diverse musical influences into a seamless, organic whole that mirrors the endless cycles and movements of river ecosystems.

Saxophonist and composer Iain Ballamy has long been recognised for his adventurous blend of jazz tradition and exploratory soundscapes, a practice honed across collaborations with leading European improvisers and his own ensembles, with a repertoire that commenced with Bill Bruford and Tom Robinson in the late 1980's. Riversphere, Vol. 1 brings together an exceptional band, including Ballamy (tenor and alto sax), guitarist Rob Luft, bassist Conor Chaplin’, trumpeter Laura Jurd and drummer Corrie Dick and introduces Ballamy's son Charlie (trumpet).

From the initial interplay between Luft's gently harmonic opening bars and Ballamy's probing sax, Riversphere, Vol. 1 shapes to the narrative of the album's title. As the full band joins, it is clear that this is music composed with an organic logic and responsive to collective intuition. Ballamy’s writing encourages interplay upon the theme, as individual pieces work laterally as much as forward, allowing their insights to emerge one by one, through layered interaction, as horns and guitar weave melodic lines that suggest conversation more than hierarchy.

Rob Luft’s guitar work brings a vivid harmonic openness, looping between angular motifs and warm lyricism. Conor Chaplin’s bass underpins the ensemble with steady elasticity, while Corrie Dick transforms rhythmic space into kinetic detail with agile command. Guesting on three of the ten pieces, Laura Jurd’s trumpet shines with incisive clarity and bold phrasing, with Charlie Ballamy joining on two of them.

Riversphere, Vol. 1 is an accomplished and compelling ensemble piece that confirms Iain Ballamy and his extraordinary band as one of the classiest acts in the contemporary jazz universe. Ani if the album title holds true to it's promise, there should be more of the kind in future!

Iain Ballamy Home Page

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Also recommended are "Quercus" and "Quercus Nightfall", Ballamy's previous albums with English vocalist June Tabor and Welsh pianist Huw Warren.

Tabor, Ballamy, Warren - Quercus (ECM, 2013)

Tabor, Ballamy, Warren - Quercus Nightfall (ECM, 2017)

Back and Forth

RAHEL TALTS, ROB LUFT

DONATAS PETREIKIS, MARIUSZ PRAŚNIEWSKI, JESPER LØRUP

Released 28 November 2025

Rainbow Records

****-

An unforced and luminous exchange where a quintet led by piano and guitar moves with ease, curiosity and quiet joy through a shared melodic terrain.

Estonian pianist and composer Rahel Talts has emerged as a subtle and assured voice within contemporary jazz, valued for her melodic clarity rhythmic poise and openness to dialogue. Her work often privileges interaction over assertion, creating music that unfolds through responsiveness rather than display. UK Guitarist Rob Luft is widely recognised for his harmonic imagination and lyrical touch, bringing a flexible sensibility shaped by modern jazz folk influence and thoughtful improvisation. Supporting the pair in these recordings we round out the internationalist quintet with Donatas Petreikis (Latvia) - saxophone, Mariusz Praśniewski (Poland) - double bass and Jesper Lørup (Denmark) - drums.

Composed over a year and a half following Talts’ move from Denmark to Lithuania, the music reflects a period of personal change – looking back at the past with affection while embracing the unknown of what lies ahead.

Back and Forth places the two leading musicians in direct conversation, in a setting that is underpinned by trust and built around spontaneity and the sheer pleasure of an unadorned musical exchange.

But the overriding impression is of their ease together. From the opening moments, Talts and Luft sound entirely at home with one another, allowing ideas to pass naturally between piano and guitar without hierarchy or urgency. The music flows freely, shaped by a gentle internal momentum and the players' intuitive feel for balance.

Talts’ piano work is clean and melodic, repeatedly creating motifs that invite response. Luft answers with warmth and imagination, sometimes echoing ideas, sometimes nudging them sideways into new harmonic light. With the other three ensemble members' unobtrusive support, the interaction between all players feels playful and generous, driven by curiosity. It’s music that breathes easily and invites the listener to do the same.

Rahel Talts Home Page

Higher Together (EP)

Music for Sydney NYE Fireworks 2025-2026

JONO MA

Released 19 December 2025

Sonar Music

****-

A rare instance of fireworks music that feels structurally and emotionally aligned with the display - immersive electronic choreography for sound and light in true partnership.

Jono Ma is a composer, producer and multi-instrumental performer whose work bridges club, electronic, ambient and experimental approaches. Best-known as founding member of Australian act Jagwar Ma, his precision sound design and creative adaptability has also been extended to multiple contexts, including co-founder and director of Sydney production house Sonar, production for other artists and music for TV and computer games.

Higher Together was commissioned for Sydney’s New Year’s Eve 2025-26 fireworks, a context where music too often defaults to surface spectacle. Rather than opting for familiar orchestral tropes or tired pop cues, Ma embraces contemporary electronic idioms, shaping sound that interlocks with the pyrotechnic sequence itself. The result is music conceived from the outset as choreography in time, integrating sonic motion with visual flourish to visceral effect.

From its opening moments there is a sense of purposeful momentum, as the 12 minute piece moves through a series of distinct yet interrelated sections, each matched to the arc of the Sydney midnight spectacle: anticipation further lift and the eventual release.

The music asserts a choreographic logic of its own, shaping and shaped by the fireworks it accompanies. Ma’s palette blends deep pulse with ambient wash, propulsive rhythm with crystalline tension. Synthesisers are sculpted to suggest both breadth and precision, while bass-driven grooves give forward motion without overwhelming nuance. There’s a generosity of space too - breathing room that allows transitions to land and thematic ideas to unfold.

Like Handel's famous 19 minutes pre-curser, (written for the London fireworks in Green Park 1749, more than twenty years before Europeans had entered Sydney harbour), Ma's music also works as a standalone listening experience - rhythmic enough to hold attention, yet rich in textural detail upon repeated plays.

Higher Together is a distinctive and successful commission: electronic music for spectacle that feels thoughtfully composed and deeply connected to its context. It stands as one of the more artful approaches to music for public display in recent memory.

Sonar

FLUGEL

ANDRIS MATTSON

Released 2 January 2026

Sonar Music

****-

A warm and soulful exploration of the flugelhorn’s expressive potential , through the conjunction of mournful lyricism, nuance and technical experimentation.

"Combine the flugelhorn with the harmonic interface of an accordion"
That is what Mattson set out to do in the summer of 2025. And through much experimentation and trial and error, the "flucordion" was born. What followed was an extended period of exploration into the instrument’s harmonic and compositional possibilities.

Whereas previous records by Mattson (with more production heavy approaches) took many months or years to complete, FLUGEL was different. For him, the spirit of the flucordion has always been, at its core, a live, one-take instrument. Both the album and its accompanying short film (released on YouTube) were created with this ethos in mind.

FLUGEL (German for "wing") was recorded in Mattson’s living room over a few days in November 2025 and released a few weeks later.