Album Review : Arthur Melo – ‘Mirantes Emocionais’ : a dazzling alt pop escapade from the Brazilian guitarist and composer.
In the same way that last year Bala Dejeso and Ana Frango Elétrico swung the spotlight back on the wild creativity of the Brazilian pop scene, 2024 looks like it’s facing a repeat. Alongside the whispers of the enigmatic Sessa, gathering a new album together, there’s another name filtering through to the surface, the multi-talented …
Album Review: Big|Brave – ‘A Chaos Of Flowers’ : The Montreal rock trio craft a post-metal touchstone.
Ever since Big|Brave‘s core members Robin Wattie (vocals/guitar) and Mathieu Ball (guitars) experienced a ‘loud can be quiet’ epiphany over a decade ago, ditching the acoustics and plugging in, their elemental sound has set the aerobatic thrill of Wattie’s singular voice within a swirling storm of riffs, distortion and pummelling rhythms. In some ways their …
Album Review: Benjamin Samuels – ‘Dissensation’: New name, nu jazz, new thrills – an album set to make an impact.
Straight after any hugs or handshakes the first thing musicians ask each other when they meet up is ‘Are you busy’? For sax-player, clarinettist and composer Benjamin Samuels the answer for some time now has been a ‘yes’. He’s worked with Californian fusionist Balkan Bump and Brighton’s own global beat pioneer Seb Taylor (aka Kaya …
Track/Video: Singular instrumentalist and song-writer Low Leaf announces new EP ‘Red Moon’ with the spectral jazz-blessed ‘Blue Nile’.
It’s a testament to creative energy that LA multi-instrumentalist Angelica-Marie Lopez has continued to evolve the Low Leaf project over a spell stretching back to 2011’s ‘Chrysalis’. Nothing has ever flagged in this long running flow of multi-dimensional work, anchored around Low Leaf’s instrumental foundation of piano, harp, guitar and vocals but cast off by …
Track/Video: Argentinian sound artist QOA announces new album ‘SAUCO’ with the vibrant detail of ‘LIQUEN’.
LA based, Argentinian QOA (aka. Nina Corti) is a digital sound artist and illustrator whose practice is centred on listening and tuning in. That doesn’t mean QOA’s attention is solely drawn to other conventional tunes or conversations but instead they seek out the auditory stimuli of the non-human world, plants and animals, streams and undergrowth, …
Album Review: ‘FYEAR’ – a phenomenal, poetic statement from the Montreal post-jazz ensemble (aka. FYEAR)
Music and poetry, poetry and music, the Montreal convened collective FYEAR show how potent this combination can be on this self-titled debut, out now via Constellation. Led by poet/novelist Kaie Kellough and composer/saxophonist Jason Sharp, FYEAR the ensemble has been evolving through a project-based approach for several years now culminating with the ambitious, multi-movement composition …
Track/Video: Jazz/afrobeat fusionists TC & The Groove Family announce new EP with the dynamic ‘Stand Strong’.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from TC & The Groove Family but you can’t keep a good collective down. Led by drummer Tim Cook (TC) and based around players who originally crossed paths in Leeds, the band’s 2022 debut ‘First Home’ (reviewed in BSM HERE) made a sizeable dent in the listening schedules. …
Album Review: Adam Wiltzie – ‘Eleven Fugues for Sodium Pentothal’: The composer of definitive ambient music provides an album for your deeper thoughts.
You sometimes get the feeling American composer Adam Wiltzie, despite instigating so much proclaimed ambient classical music for the last three decades, prefers the shadows to the spotlight. Whether intentional or not, Wiltzie’s key artistic contributions have usually been as part of a prolific partnership. Firstly he formed the seminal Stars Of The Lid with …
Premiere: Harvestman sends us the breath taking ‘Give Your Heart To The Hawk’ ahead of his profound ‘Triptych’ album series.
Music premieres come and music premieres go while the promo world spins around but this is one exclusive that should not pass you by. Tuning into Give Your Heart To The Hawk by Harvestman will probably change your day and maybe stretch further beyond. Here we have something that aims deeper than the surface level. …
Album Review : Urvanovic – Let’s Not Be Here : expansive chamber pop which rises above the convention.
There’s always something intriguing when a band that you thought had disappeared suddenly stick their heads above the musical whirlpool with a new album. So where have Scottish pop orchestrators Urvanovic been hiding? Their 2015 debut ‘Amateurs’, all Admiral Fallow harmonies with hints of Frightened Rabbit big music, made ripples amongst homeland fans and drew …