Violinist and now singer Alexvndria starts off her debut EP, Hopeless Romantic, with violin plucks and string arrangements in a brief instrumental (“Epigraph”) to make you think this is going to be an avant-garde jazz album.
Nope, it’s an EP of stunning love songs. “He Loves Me” is a lush cover of Jill Scott‘s song with a full orchestra and a jazz trio backing her. “Silly Me” (with great, subtle jazz drumming from Drew Marsh) was recorded while Alexvndria was touring with The Broadway Sinfonietta, and the whole EP was recorded over four months and in six different cities. The song has Alexvndria lamenting all the time she’s wasted waiting on a lover to finally commit.
“Stay” is a similar theme, with Alexvndria waiting for her lover to even just say, “I love you.” (“I might have gave my heart too soon, but I’m dying to know.”). You hear tracks like this and wonder, “How has she not been singing this whole time?” Her voice is perfect for neo-soul and someone needs to hire her to sing on their latest trip-hop or house music project. The EP’s closer, “Twilight,” started with a bass solo and, according to a quote from Alexvndria in the liner notes I received, “Before I knew it, I was calling up a friend to improvise over it and recorded the whole song in my living room.”
The EP ends with a quick fade out, like a lover rushing out the door to make it to their flight back across the country. You want more, and part of you knows you might not get more, but you’re willing to wait and you’ll always have the memories.
Back in 2014, jazz trumpeter Takuya Kuroda released Rising Son, an album that combined jazz, hip hop, and a little psychedelia and went to number one on the Japanese jazz charts. Now, a decade later, First Word Records has reissued the album (which would cost you a pretty penny if you were to buy an original 2014 pressing) and included a new remix with it.
The album is a collection of mostly Roy Ayers covers, but with added hip hop and Afrobeat rhythms and other flourishes that remind you of late nights in Brooklyn, New York (who Kuroda is based) or Kobe, Japan (where Kuroda was born). The crisp, snappy beats from Nate Smith on the opening title track alone will grab your attention and send hip hop producers scrambling for their mixers. Kuroda’s funky and lush trumpet comes in an has those same producers thinking they can’t get this stuff into a track fast enough. “Afro Blues” definitely has Afrobeat stylings all over it, and they mix great with traditional (Is there such a thing?) jazz organ riffs from Kris Bowers.
“Piri Piri” is so slick that you might slip and fall on it as it slides out of your speakers. “Mala” has this cool 1970s jazz lounge vibe to it, reminding me a bit of some of Boz Scaggs‘ material from then. Just when you think the album can’t get any funkier, along comes “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” which will be one of those songs you want to play for everyone at every summer party from now until forever.
Kuroda’s trumpet and Corey King‘s trombone go together like hot chocolate and warm milk on “Green and Gold,” and Bowers’ keyboard work on it is the whipped cream on top. “Sometime, Somewhere, Somehow” takes its time to create a soulful love track that doesn’t rush anything…like a good lover. “Call” is over nine minutes of groovy, funky, and introspective (but never turning into mindless noodling) jazz-funk that seems perfect for both rainy and sunny days.
The album ends with a 2024 remix of “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” by Joe Armon-Jones, turning it into a synthwave jam that puts a neat, new spin on it.
It’s a groovy record, and one you’ll want in your collection. Get it now before it goes out of your price range again.
elvis, he was Schlager, the debut album from Church Chords, is difficult to describe, but that’s part of what makes it so good.
Combining recorded field sounds and samples with live performances in the studio, the album is a blend of musical influences from three cities: Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It’s the brainchild of producer / multi-instrumentalist Stephen Buono, who decided to become more of a producer / bandleader / circus ringmaster with a wide number and variety of musicians from those three cities.
The result is a neat experimental record that somehow blends electro, post-punk, psych-rock, jazz, and other stuff I can’t quite define into sort of a calm chaos. It’s like the album cover, a woman stopped along a roadway while forest burns immediately next to her and she records the growing danger on her phone…or perhaps is reciting her thoughts for future meditations.
Songs like “Recent Mineral” and “Apophatic Melismatic” combine killer bass riffs with soft vocals and hip-hop drums. “Spacetime Pauses” reminds me of some of MC 900 Foot Jesus‘ jazz-psych fusion tracks.
Songs like “Warriors of Playtime” bring in wild jazz horns and prog-rock guitars. “She Lays of a Leaf” has industrial beats and, I think, vocals from Chicago alt-rockers Finom to make it a weird robot-dance / lounge club groover that builds into something that would fit into a late 1970s French erotic thriller. “Owned By Lust,” on the other hand, would fit into a modern horror film with its panicked guitar licks and rambling madman vocals.
“Then Awake” has sultry vocals over a synth-bass line that moves like a snake across a sand dune at midnight. “Man on a Wire” reminds me of some Siouxsie and The Banshees tracks with the vocal stylings, goth synths, and post-punk saxophone and beats. The vocals on “I Hope You See” are layered with extra effects to almost make them unintelligible, but also make them more ethereal.
In case you’re wondering, as I was, “Schlager” is a type of European pop music characterized by catchy beats and love-song lyrics. I suppose Elvis Presleywas that for many of the masses. This record has catchy beats and love-song lyrics, but it’s not Schlager. It’s too experimental, too stream-of-consciousness, too odd.
But it’s not too much of any of that either. It’s one of the most interesting records I’ve heard so far this year.
As if bossa nova queen Astrud Gilberto‘s lovely voice isn’t enough motivation for you to pick up her 1972 album, Now, then consider that she teamed up with a stunning array of musicians on the record (as she tended to do) from Brazil and the U.S. Gilberto self-produced the record and enlisted Eumar Deodato for arrangements.
Starting with the playful “Zigy Zigy Za,” Now begins with funky jazz drums from Billy Cobham and fun organ solos from Mike Longo. “Make Love to Me” is an English-vocal ballad with a sound to it that reminds me of soft-lit late night live TV broadcasts from 1972. Longo’s piano on “Baião” could almost fit in a rock song and reminds me a bit of the kind of stuff Ben Folds plays nowadays. Gilberto has fun with the track, as it just seems to be her, Longo, Cobham, and Deodato (on acoustic guitar) having a laugh with a fun track.
“Sunday was a fun day I spent with you,” Gilberto sings on “Touching You,” another sweet ballad to her lover…but he’s not real. She can only dream about him. “Gingele” mixes groovy bossa nova with a touch of lounge-disco into a funky brew. “Take It Easy My Brother Charlie” mixes English and Portuguese lyrics and is one of the standout tracks on the record. The flow of it is infectious and gets you moving and smiling. You instantly agree with Gilberto that things will get better and not to fret about things that are fleeting.
“Where Have You Been?” is a sad tale of loneliness from Gilberto that will hit you hard if you’ve been through a heart-breaking loss. The string arrangements on it are a nice touch. The swinging beats of Cobham’s drums on “General da Banda” are sharp as a hatchet. “I have crossed a thousand bridges in search of something real,” Gilberto sings on “Bridges” – a song about her many travels around the world and how bridge, literal and figurative, has lead to or from some significant moment in her life. The album concludes with “Daybreak” and Gilberto singing “I’m walking out on yesterday.” She encourages us to go forward, to live in the now and not in a past that was gone the moment it happened.
It’s, as always, lovely sweet stuff from Gilberto. She doesn’t miss.
Numero Group announce Margo Guryan’sWords and Music, a 3xLP box set compiling the work of the late singer and songwriter, out June 7th, and unveils the set’s first offering, the inquisitive and trippy “Moon Ride,” which is her first known recording (1956). Witness to revolutions in jazz and pop, Guryan earned her place in the songwriting pantheon and then some. That she was largely unknown for decades is not the stuff of crushed dreams, but a result of her own choices and priorities. From humble beginnings to the peaks of her 1968 baroque pop masterpiece Take a Picture and the collected Demosto the recent viral ubiquity of “Why Do I Cry,”Words and Music captures the entirety of Guryan’s career, including 16 previously unreleased recordings and a 32-page booklet telling her whole story. The box set is produced by her stepson Jonathan Rosner,friend and historian Geoffrey Weiss, and Numero Group’s Douglas Mcgowan,Rob Sevier,and Ken Shipley.All of the tracks have been remastered by Jessica Thompson.
Guryan released just one album in her heyday: 1968’s Take A Picture. But, as she was disinterested in performing, touring, and promoting the work, the album went barely noticed at the time. Nevertheless, by the 1990s, the recordhad become a highly sought after cult favorite. Then, a new generation of listeners came to learn about her work when Take A Picture was reissued in 2000, followed shortly by the collected Demos, an incredible compilation of unearthed alternate takes and new-to-the-public songs that Margo supervised herself. Guryan’s life in the intervening years remained filled with music; she became a music teacher, kept writing songs, and cultivated friendships with a growing circle of acolytes.
Born in 1937 in New York City, Guryan began learning piano at age six before eventually enrolling at Boston University to study music. She spent much of her early career immersed in the jazz world, including working for Impulse! founder Creed Taylor, writing for jazz artists, and attending Lenox School of Jazz in Western Massachusetts, where she worked in an ensemble alongside fellow students Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry. Her peers were, at that very moment, exploding the consciousness of jazz. Margo, a then-recent graduate in composition, had once been told that the highest mode of education is perception. So she mostly lingered and listened. It was at Lenox where Margo became friends with her teacher, Max Roach, who in 1961 even asked Margo to pen the liner notes for his first Impulse! album.
Her early tunes were recorded by bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie, bossa nova icon Astrud Gilberto, the famed South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba, and folk hero Harry Belafonte. Jazz singers Anita O’Day and Carmen McRae all released takes on her material, as did pop singer Claudine Longetand folk-rock icon Mama Cass Elliot. “Sunday Morning,” Margo’s biggest hit, was first popularized by soft-rockers Spanky & Our Gang, followed by recordings from torch singer Julie London and country royalty Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry. In 1967, Billboard called Margo “one of the most sought-after writing talents in the music business.”
Rosner, her stepson, says, “I was introduced to Margo as a very little boy. She became my step-mom when I was three to be exact. From the moment I stepped foot into the apartment on 16th street in NYC where my dad [David Rosner] and Margo lived, I saw Margo in action – writing songs, the songs that would become the “Demos” – and playing Bach – rinse and repeat. At first, this was on a Wurlitzer, and then on a Blüthner. I was there to watch “The Hum” and “Timothy Gone” take shape, and she’d play me (on record and on the pianos) songs she’d written earlier. I loved them, and they were part of my life as a young person. But this music was almost like a family secret never to see the light of day – until it finally did. It’s hard to express how wonderful it is – and was to Margo – to see people embrace these songs – sing and play these songs and celebrate her body of work.”
The story of Margo Guryan is one of a woman who dug deep from an early age and was never afraid to change. With her keen feel for tone, phrasings, tension, presence, and lyrics that cut, her name today is synonymous with sophisticated songcraft and inimitable 1960s cool.Her ingenuity and technique set her in the tradition of chamber-pop icons like Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach while the bittersweet candor in her depictions of womanhood suggest a middleground between Carole King’s pop-factory and singer-songwriter eras. But the understated rigor of Margo’s artistic voice is all her own.
There will also be a limited-edition variant of the box set that comes with a bonus 10″ of Margo’s Chopsticks Variations. This will be the first-ever vinyl pressing of that release.
Words and Music Tracklist: Side A 1. If I Lose (1956) 2. You Promised (1957) 3. The Wise Man Knows (1956) 4. The Morning Aer (1958) 5. Moon Ride (1956) 6. More Understanding Than a Man (1957) 7. More Understanding Than a Man (Instrumental) (1957) 8. There I Was (1957)
Side B 1. Kiss and Tell (1966) 2. Half-Way In Love (1966) 3. Goodbye July (1966) 4. Four Letter Words (1966) 5. Hurry on Home (1966) 6. I Ought to Stay Away From You (1966) 7. I Love (1967) 8. Under My Umbrella (1968) 9. I Don’t Intend to Spend Christmas Without You (1967)
Side C 1. Sunday Morning (1967) 2. Thoughts (1968) 3. Love Songs (1967) 4. Don’t Go Away (1967) 5. Take a Picture (1968) 6. Sun (1968) 7. What Can I Give You (1968) 8. Come to Me Slowly (1968)
Side D 1. The 8:17 Northbound Success Merry-Go-Round (1968) 2. Something’s Wrong with the Morning (1970) 3. Think of Rain (1967) 4. Can You Tell (1968) 5. Someone I Know (1968) 6. Love (1968)
Side E 1. Why Do I Cry (1968) 2. Spanky and Our Gang (1968) 3. Most of My Life (1971) 4. It’s Alright Now (1971) 5. Timothy Gone (1972) 6. The Hum (1974) 7. Please Believe Me (1974) 8. Yes I Am (1974)
Side F 1. I Think A lot About You (1972) 2. Iʼ’d Like to See the Bad Guys Win (1973) 3. Values (1974) 4. California Shake (1975) 5. Hold Me Dancin’ (1978) 6. Shine (1975) 7. Goodbye July (1966, recorded 2001)
Today, pioneering electronic musician and producer Prefuse 73 aka Guillermo Scott Herren releases the new single, “The End Of Air,” from his new album, New Strategies for Modern Crime Vol. 1, out March 22nd on Lex Records. One of the darkest yet cohesive releases of his career, New Strategies for Modern Crime Vol.1 was inspired by Herren’s experiences of living in New York. He reflects: “I’ve lived in NYC since the 90s but I think during the post-COVID era, most ‘media’ has become obsessed with crime statistics and inflated ‘fear’ over basic human needs. I wanted to channel this surreal landscape – where crime has become a strange form of entertainment and journalistic distraction into sound.”
“I always have a movie or some random visuals playing on mute behind me in the studio,” reveals Herren of his creative process. “It could be horror from any era or just an old Fellini film; they tend to be playing on a loop. I will turn around from the mixing board and just stare at the images to get inspired.”
Talking with the excitement of someone working on their first ever album, the re-energized veteran (once described by Pitchfork as an artist who possessed “a range of emotional grappling usually foreign to instrumental hip-hop”) adds: “It means that when you do finally hear my music, it’s hopefully created in a way that prompts you to see a whole scene play out in your head.”
This cinematic method of creating an enticing gumbo of lost soundtracks, jazz, primitive electronic production and hip hop is especially prevalent on his bold new album, New Strategies For Modern Crime Vol. 1, which sounds like the score for a surreal Robert Siodmak noir set in the year 3000
Whether pairing up MF DOOM and Aesop Rock to have a lo-fi rap existential crisis; bluntly bending an innocent Linda Perhacs psych-folk song about swirling raindrops, so it sounds more like a lost alien signal filtering in from a techno rave on another galaxy; or using the sounds of kids banging their rulers and pencils on a school table to create DIY euphoria and an innovative mimicry of Doug E. Fresh-level beatboxing, Herren (who has also operated creatively under aliases including Delarosa, Asora, and Piano Overlord) has been a consistent innovator. Having collaborated with a diverse array of artists, including MF DOOM, Ghostface Killah, GZA, El-P, Sam Prekop, Helado Negro, and more, his work reflects a constant evolution, with each album offering a new perspective on the intersection of electronic and hip-hop music.
Whether New Strategies for Modern Crime Vol. 1 paints a vivid, Philip K. Dick-esque movie in your mind or not, it’s clear the artist known as Prefuse 73 is continuing to push forward artistically.
Today, KahilEl’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, in conjunction with the legendary group’s 50thanniversary, announces its new album, Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit, out March8th, 2024 via SpiritmuseRecords, and shares lead single, “Compared To What.” In addition, the ensemble announces their 50th annual February North American Tour in honor of Black History Month.
OpenMe is a joyous honoring of portent new directions of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble; it’s a visionary journey into deep roots and future routes, channeling traditions old and new. It mixes El’Zabar’s original compositions with timeless classics by MilesDavis, McCoyTyner, and EugeneMcDaniels. Thus, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble continues affirming their indelible, half-century presence within the continuum of Great Black Music.
The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble (EHE) constantly shifts gears and tempos in a jazz-blues continuum, in perpetual spontaneity, and “Compared To What” is a powerful statement on their incomparable sound. It’s a deeply funky read of Eugene McDaniel’s eternal protest song first recorded by Robert Flack, and later, Les McCann and Eddie Harris. Featuring vocals and kalimba by El’Zabar, backed by bassist AlexHarding, the EHE’s “Compared To What” is 8 minutes of contemplative, dynamic rhythms combined with El’Zabar’s deep captivating vocals, and accompanying horn and string cacophony that tunes the listener to their higher consciousness.
“Compared To What’ was my father, Clifton Blackburn Sr’s favorite tune,” says El’Zabar. “On Saturdays he would play jazz all day, and later in the evening, he would scat, sing rhythms, and then he and I would improvise together on the grooves that he taught me. It was all ‘Compared to What.’”
OpenMe, El’Zabar’s sixth collaboration with Spiritmuse in five years, marks another entry in a run of critically acclaimed recordings that stretch back to the first EHE recording in 1981. The storied multi-percussionist, composer, fashion designer, and former Chair of the Association of Creative Musicians (AACM) is in what might be the most productive form of his career, and now in his seventies, shows no signs of slowing down. Few creative music units can boast such longevity, and fewer still are touring as energetically and recording with the verve of the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.
The EHE was founded by El’Zabar in 1974 originally as a quintet, but was soon paired down to its classic form — a trio, featuring El’Zabar on multi-percussion and voice, plus two horns. It was an unusual format, even by the standards of the outward-bound musicians of the AACM: “Some people literally laughed at our unorthodox instrumentation and approach. We were considered even stranger than most AACM bands at the time. I knew in my heart though that that this band had legs, and that my concept was based on logic as it pertains to the history of Great Black Music, i.e. a strong rhythmic foundation, innovative harmonics and counterpoint, well-balanced interplay and cacophony amongst the players, strong individual soloist, highly developed and studied ensemble dynamics, an in-depth grasp of music history, originality, fearlessness, and deep spirituality.”
With El’Zabar at the helm, the band’s line-up has always been open to changes, and over the years the EHE has welcomed dozens of revered musicians including LightHenryHuff, KalaparushaMauriceMacintyre, JosephBowie, HamiettBluiett, and CraigHarris. The current line-up has been consolidated over two decades — trumpeter CoreyWilkes entered the circle twenty years ago, while baritone sax player AlexHarding joined seven years ago, after having played with El’Zabar since the early 2000s in groups such as Joseph Bowie’s Defunkt.
For OpenMe, El’Zabar has chosen to push the sound of the EHE in a new direction by adding string instruments — cello, played by IshmaelAli, and violin/viola played byJamesSanders. The addition of strings opens new textural resonances and timbral dimensions in the Ensemble’s sound, linking the work to the tradition of improvising violin and cello from Ray Nance to Billy Bang, Leroy Jenkins, and Abdul Wadud.
OpenMe contains a mixture of originals, including some El’Zabar evergreens such as “Barundi,” “HangTuff,” “Ornette,” and “Great Black Music” (often attributed to the Art Ensemble of Chicago but is, in fact, an El’Zabar composition). There are also numbers drawn from the modern tradition, which El’Zabar uniquely arranges, including a contemplative interpretation of Miles Davis’ “AllBlues.” As a milestone anniversary celebration and a statement of future intent, OpenMe effortlessly carries El’Zabar’s healing vision of Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit.
Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit Tracklist 1. All Blues 2. Barundi 3. The Whole World 4. Return Of The Lost Tribe 5. Hang Tuff 6. Can You Find A Place 7. Great Black Music 8. Passion Dance 9. Ornette 10. Compared To What 11. Kari 12. Open Me
Ethnic Heritage Ensemble 2024 Tour Dates:
Thu. Feb. 1 – Chicago, IL @ The Promontory Sat. Feb. 3 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Blue Llama Tue. Feb. 6 – Washington, DC @ Rhizome Wed. Feb. 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Solar Myth Sat. Feb. 10 – Baltimore, MD @ An die Musik Sun. Feb. 11 – Erie, PA @ City Gallery Mon. Feb. 12 – Rochester, NY @ Bop Shop Tue. Feb. 13 – Burlington, VT @ Radio Bean Wed. Feb. 14 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rosa Fri. Feb. 16 – Toronto, ON @ Caliban Arts @ Redwood Theatre Sat. Feb. 17 – Detroit, MI @ N’Namdi Center For Contemporary Art Sun. Feb. 18 – Madison, WI @ Cafe Coda Fri. Feb. 23 – Portland, OR @ PDX Jazz Festival Sun. Feb. 25 – Santa Monica, CA @ First Presbyterian Church (Jacaranda Performance Series) Mon. Feb. 26 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
Putting a contemporary spin on baroque composition, Astrid Sonne’s music feels at once alien and traditional. The Danish, London-based composer’s output is aloof, yet ornate—a formula that yields itself well to upcoming UK tour dates with beloved dream-pop artist and scene-mate, ML Buch.
Where Sonne’s prior work landed in the experimental, even ambient camp, the new material sees her stepping into both contemporary songwriting and beat driven productions. Her new single “Boost”, premiering on Gorilla vs. Bear today,is a perfect example of the latter, pushing into more eclectic, driving terrain. It opens with woozy synth chords, which give way to pounding drums that filter in and out of murky effects. In the final minute, the track disintegrates into a misty, freeform outro.
“Boost” concludes a run of candidly released material (“Staying here,”“Overture,”“Do you wanna”) from the recently announced album Great Doubt, which notably features the composer’s own voice in a unique blend of quintessential Astrid Sonne productions and a personal take on the art of writing a song. Great Doubt will be released January 26 via Copenhagen’s Escho.
On the single, Astrid Sonne shares: “I made Boost lying in my bed, it’s a quite energetic track coming from a not very energetic place. There’s a sense of release to Boost and a feeling of not caring too much, which can be good sometimes when you need to seek out new settings.”
Astrid Sonne is a Danish, London-based composer and viola player. Throughout her acclaimed discography, Astrid Sonne has been carefully crafting different moods through electronic and acoustic instrumental endeavours. On her forthcoming album Great Doubt, to be released January 26, 2024 via Copenhagen’s Escho, this skill is refined, now with the distinct addition of the composer’s own vocal in front. The tone of each track is unmistakably Sonne’s, structured around contrasts through an impeccable sense of timing. Lyrics on the album are sparse, merely highlighting different scenes or emotional states of being, leaving the music to fill in the blanks. Yet they also form a pattern of ambiguity, consolidated through the album title, searching for answers through looking at how and what you are asking, questions for the world, questions of love. The viola, a trusted companion since Astrid Sonne’s youth, appears effortlessly throughout the album, fully integrated into the sonic universe; through a pizzicato driven arrangement in the poignant track “Almost” or along with booms and claps in mutated cinematic stabs during “Give my all”, paraphrasing Mariah Carey’s 1997 ballad. Yet the string section also gives way to explorations of woodwinds, counterbalancing the bowed movements with digital brass and airy flutes. Finally, beats and detuned piano are fresh additions to the soundscape, cementing how Sonne’s practice is always evolving into new territories.
Live Dates 2/3 – Oslo, NOR @ Trekanten 2/6 – Copenhagen, DK @ ALICE 2/8 – Aarhus, DK @ PART 2/14 – Barcelona, ESP @ Casa Montjuic 2/15 – Lisbon, PT @ ZDB 2/27 – London, UK @ ICA *2/28 – London, UK @ ICA *2/29 – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew *3/01 – Manchester, UK @ White Hotel *3/02 – Glasgow, UK @ The Flying Duck * * = w/ ML Buch
This is a cool synthwave album of cinematic sounds that often catches you off-guard. It’s the soundtrack to a movie you’ve never seen, but want to find just from hearing it. It might exist in another dimension, or on a dark web torrent stream. Either way, it’s one of the neatest records I heard all last year.
Speaking of cool synthwave, Mandy, Indiana‘s debut album was a stunner on multiple fronts, as it covers not only synthwave, but also cold wave, dance punk, goth, and general chaos. They’re quickly becoming one of those “bands everyone’s talking about,” so don’t miss this record.
Only King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard could get away with naming an album something like that. It was their return to thrash metal, this time built around one of their favorite subjects – protecting our fragile planet. It was one of the best metal records of the year.
This album held my top spot for a long while, as it’s a powerful stoner / psych / cosmic rock record that hits hard with shredding guitar, pleading vocals, and roaring drums. It’s all about dreams, death, and what-the-hell-are-you-doing-with-this-life-you-have-that’s-gone-like-a-flash-of-lightning-you-git introspections.
Simply put, this is the most beautiful record I heard all year, and it’s a prime example of why you should always read old e-mails. This sat in my e-mail box for about four months before I finally got to it. I’m glad I didn’t delete that e-mail in a big purge, because Halsall’s album of ambient jazz, field sounds, and slight trip-hop touches is one of those albums that changes the attitude of the room wherever it’s played.
Thanks for reading and for sticking with me another year. Onto 2024!
Italian pianist and composer, Olivia Belli is known internationally for her delicate, melodic compositions that draw inspiration from the natural world. Whether reflecting on the sun or the night sky or on her beloved local Italian landscape, this sensitive artist draws her creative impulses from nature which she shares with her audiences through her captivating, filigree-like compositions.
This first single from the Spring 2024 album already gives listeners a hint that Belli is taking things one step further here, representing in music not only the natural world around her but also the deep and meaningful spiritual world within. The word anima refers to an original animating principle or essence, translated from the Greek ‘psyche’. For Belli, ‘Anima I’ (pronounced “Anima Uno”) represents that auspicious moment just before a journey of transformation begins.
Says Belli of this first taster from the new album: “’Anima I’ has a calm, elegiac quality. I composed it during a deeply meditative moment, where I was contemplating deeper meanings in life than superficial material gains and was searching for a way to share a more profound and spiritual connection with listeners.”
The result is a restorative, intimate and tranquil track that offers respite from turmoil and stress and welcome balm for the soul.
Born in Mantova and raised in Trieste, Belli studied piano and soon developed an affinity for composers of the 20th and 21st century, such as Glass, Ligeti, Reich and Stockhausen. Always surrounded by art and music, she founded her own arts festival and worked collaboratively across a range of genres with other artists including dancers, actors, photographers, writers and painters. Despite having always performed and composed, Belli had never thought to put her own compositional work into the public arena, having always kept it private. Once she did start sharing her own music on social media and streaming sites, however, she was hugely encouraged to continue by the overwhelmingly positive responses that she received, as ever more listeners connected to her deeply personal musical messages. This process lead to her signing with XXIM Records and an outpouring of her intricate and beguiling music.
