Category: good to hear

Remembering Bonnie Tyler
Total Eclipse of the Heart
This must be the epitomy of 80ies glam. As you’ve all read, Bonnie was a coal miner’s daughter who rose to international fame on the strength of her voice and the many emotions it transported. Her real name was Gaynor Hopkins, born 1951. She changed her name several times and had more than one career before becoming a defining voice, recognised worldwide. Like so many of her co-stars, she was also a philanthropist. Bonnie provided her talent and resources to the homeless. She had been ill for a while but seemed to b e getting better when she passed on July 8.
Cleopatra Records

Aluk Todolo
Live at Rock in Bourlon 2023
Aluk Todolo is a French band from Grenoble. It was formed in 2004 by Antoine Hadjioannou (drums), Matthieu Canaguier (bass) and Shantidas Riedacker (guitar). The name Aluk Todolo comes from a mountainous region in the south of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia; it can be translated as ‘the way of the ancestors’ or ‘ancient beliefs’. It refers to a pre-Christian animist religion that still survives in that part of the world. Since their early days, Aluk Todolo have been performing regularly on stage, both in France and abroad. Their concerts are lit by a single light bulb, connected to the guitar signal.
The Norma Offensive

Ari Tsugi
Ryto Vėjas ir Mėnulis
Ari Tsugi is an international collective based primarily in London. Far from being a traditional jazz group, they are celebrated for blending the improvisational freedom of modern UK jazz with the raw energy of psychedelic space-rock and organic Brazilian rhythms. This sophomore album was released via the Slovak indie imprint Sinko Records. IInfluenced heavily by Brazilian guitar icon Fabiano do Nascimento, it was tracked under the guidance of Lithuanian producer Vilius Jokubaitis.
Sinko Records

Shintaro Sakamoto
Yoo-hoo
Shintaro Sakamoto is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, and producer. He was a founding member and the frontman for the underground Japanese psychedelic rock band Yura Yura Teikoku. After the band’s breakup in 2010, Sakamoto began independently producing music, having released five solo albums to date He is known for his laid-back psychedelic pop and soft rock sound and sounds like somewhat of a modern crooner.
Zelone records

Lalu
Prince with the Swift Warning from the album Oniric Metal
Lalu is a Prog-Metal conceptual outing from French keyboardist/composer Vivien Lalu of Shadrane and Hubi Meisel, initiated during the fall of 2003. After working two times as composer for ex-Dreamscape vocalist Meisel, Lalu felt that it was time to finally produce an album of his own and compose music without restrictions. Using leftovers from the actual Meisel sessions and other ideas he had on tape since a while, Vivien named his debut album Oniric Metal after the comments of some people who described his music as a kind of “dream” or “mood” metal.
Frontier Records

Remembering Sonny Rollins
Decision
“The poignancy of Rollins dying the day after Miles Davis’s 100th anniversary is amplified by the realisation he was the last living musician from the famous Great Day in Harlem.  photo from 1958. This picture brought together jazz’s leading lights for Esquire’s 1959 Golden Age of Jazz edition, including Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Thelonius Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charles Mingus, Mary Lou Williams and Count Basie.” (Richard Worth in The Conversation) Walter Theodore “Sonny” Rollins (September 7, 1930 – May 25, 2026) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential of jazz musicians.
Blue Note Records

Remembering Dollar Brand  (Abdullah Ibrahim)
African Marketplace
“South Africa-born pianist, composer and band leader Abdullah Ibrahim died Monday (June 15) at age 91. He began recording in South Africa in the 1950s, when he played with a pioneering band called The Jazz Epistles alongside trumpeter Hugh Masekela. Abdullah Ibrahim left South Africa in 1962 and spent most of his life away, though he did play at President Nelson Mandela’s inauguration in 1994. Abdullah Ibrahim, in his travels, recorded dozens of albums for dozens of labels around the world. Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead has this appreciation.” (David Bianculi for NPR)
Elektra Records

Panda Baer & Sonic Boom
A ? of When
“Sonic Boom and Panda Bear emerge through these 10 songs as two people with frank opinions about these times, with a real stake in the sway of the world. These tunes grapple with online exhaustion and pervasive depression, with political chicanery and ecological sustainability, all while advocating for respecting the power of luck and giving one another grace in a moment when very few of us actually know what the hell is happening. To protest AI, algorithmic playlisting, and digital exhaustion, the duo announced the 10-track LP will not be released on Spotify, Apple Music, or any streaming platforms.” ( REDDIT)
Domino Records

The Corral
Let the Music Play
Formed in 1996 just outside Liverpool (in Hoylake), The Coral was vital to the UK’s 21st-century neo-psychedelia revival. In 1996, school-friends Ian Skelly and Paul Duffy began jamming together in the basement of Flat Foot Sams pub in Hoylake. Over the following months they were joined by Bill Ryder-Jones on lead guitar, Ian’s older brother James Skelly on vocals and main songwriting duties, and then Lee Southall on rhythm guitar. The band were known briefly as Hive before choosing the name “The Coral”, and the line-up was completed with the addition of Nick Power, who joined as keyboard player in 1998. Their upcoming Album 388 is their 13th.
Run On Records

Beth Orton
Waiting, from the new album The Ground Above
Beth Orton (who has been strugling with health issues) is a legendary English singer-songwriter who pioneered folktronica in the 1990s. “The laidback Motown beats of Waiting gently drive a song (one of Orton’s catchiest) about snapping out of a doom-loop of fear, while closer Otherside emerges out of the darkness and into the light, building towards a hopeful finale – “Tell me you made it through alive” – that is halfway between Hey Jude and The Beta Band’s Dry The Rain. Ultimately, The Ground Above elegantly shores up Beth Orton’s creative resurgence. Altogether, it represents a more mature form of comedown – one that comes with midlife epiphanies and a strong sense of resilience.” (Tom Doye, Mojo)
Partisan Record

Remembering Ashla Bhosle
Evergreen Hit Songs | Bollywood Classics
Indian playback singer, businesswoman, actress and television personality Asha Bhosle, who predominantly worked in Indian cinema, passed away on April 12 at age 92. She was one of the greatest and most influential singers in Hindi cinema. A national treasure, she received every possible prize in her home country. as well as 2 Grammys, The Guinness Book of World Records acknowledged her in 2011 as the most recorded artist in music history. Bhosle was the younger sister of playback singer Lata Mangeshkar and belonged to the prominent Mangeshkar family. Renowned for her soprano voice range and versatility, her work included film music, pop, ghazals, bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, and Rabindra Sangeet. Apart from Hindi, she sang in over 20 Indian and foreign languages. The New York Times honoured her here.
Universal Music India

Remembering Afrika Bambaata
Just Get Up and Dance from The Decade of Darkness
A pioneering rapper and DJ from the Bronx, Afrika Bambaata (April 17, 1957- April 9, 2026) was often called the “Godfather of Hip-Hop”. His reputation was tainted by laler accusation of child sexual abuse. The New York Times writes: “Mr. Bambaataa, who was born Lance Taylor, was hailed as a master of records and drew from a wide range of genres and sources, including European industrial bands like Kraftwerk (‘Trans-Europe Express,’ ‘Numbers’) as well as funk and salsa. He often removed or masked the labels of his records to obscure the music’s origins..” Just like he masked his true self. His music is on another page.
Expanded Music

Dogstar
All in Now
Not everybody is aware of Keanu Reeves’ alternate career in music, but here he is shredding it on bass. Dogstar is an American alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Los Angeles, California. The band consists of drummer Robert Mailhouse, bassist Keanu Reeves and guitarist/lead vocalist Bret Domrose, who joined in to become the vocalist, which he has been since 1991. “it’s impossible not to acknowledge Keanu Reeves here. On bass, he locks in with drummer Robert Mailhouse to create a steady rhythmic backbone that keeps the track moving without ever trying to steal the spotlight. It’s solid, grounded playing that serves the song exactly the way it should.” (Blurred Culture)
Dillon Street Records

Juliane Gamboa
Canto de Osannha  – Best New Artist Showcase 2025 Latin Grammy
Naming Elis Regina, Michael Jackson and hip-hop as some of her influences, Juliane Gamboa is bringing the sound of Brazil back to the big stage. Gamboa was raised in a musical family in Morro da Cocada where she sang in her catholic church choir. She graduated with a degree in Art History  from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and combines her musical career with work as an activist and curator. As a singer-songwriter she leans towards jazz, samba and MPB (Música Popular Brasileira). She says: As a Black woman raised by a hardworking family, assuming myself as an artist was very difficult for a long time. I needed to reconnect with my ancestry through silence, solitude, spirituality, and community in order to start listening to myself.”
Blue Note

Paul McCartney
Days We Left Behind from The Boys from Dungeon Lane
“The boys of Dungeon Lane” was a lyric used by McCartney in the song “In Liverpool”, an early demo for his 1993 album Off the Ground. Dungeon Lane is a road in Speke area of Liverpool, and the album is generally inspired by McCartney’s childhood memories. The lane leads from Speke to Oglet Shore on the Mersey and was popular with birdwatchers. “The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ is not only the first new solo album to be released by Paul in over five years; it is a collection of rare and revealing glimpses into memories never-before shared, along with some newly inspired love songs.” McCartney’s voice has aged remarkably well.
MPL/Capitol Records

Remembering Country Joe McDonald
Feel Like I’m Fixing to Die Rag
I wasn’t at Woodstock (we wanted to go, but the roads were already gridlocked for miles around), but when I hear Country Joe’s voice, I immediately get goosebumps. Not least because millions are taking to the streets again in the US. And demonstrators in cities across the world are joining them to show their solidarity and to emphasise their own desire for peace and democracy. The New York Times has dedicated an obituary to Country Joe. He called a spade a spade cleverly and with a scathing boldness few other lyricists have achieved before or since. Great thanks are due. (SGS)
Vanguards Records

Fuerza Regida
Marlboro Rojo
FUerza Regida was originally a Californian cover band with Mexican roots. It was founded by Jesús Ortíz Paz (lead singer), Samuel Jáimez (backing vocalist and guitarist), Khrystian Ramos (rhythm guitarist) and José “Pelón” García (sousaphonist); In 2022, Moisés López (tololoche, a type of cello) joined the line-up. Originally known as a norteño band, they later incorporated various subgenres into their music, including ‘corridos tumbados’, of which they are considered pioneers. They combine the traditional storytelling and instrumentation of the Mexican corrido (guitars, brass instruments) with trap music, hip-hop and lyrics that deal with city life, luxury, drugs and resilience.
Rancho Humilde

Chinese American Bear
Magic Number
Chinese American Bear is an American pop duo from Seattle, Washington, consisting of husband and wife Lingbo Anne Tong and Bryce Barsten. They play psychedelic C-pop music with lyrics in Mandarin and English. Tong, a classically trained pianist, studied economics at Princeton and the University of Chicago, whilst Barsten studied art. He was a member of several New York indie bands. Whilst he was learning Mandarin, he and Tong began writing music together for the first time. Unlike Barsten’s previous experiences with other bands, the music he wrote with Tong was more ‘fun’. Tong, on the other hand, says: ‘Bryce drew me into it. It was never my dream to be in a rock band and go on tour with a rock band. Now it is.’“
Moshi Moshi Records

Brontës
Asking for a Friend
Brontës are an alernativ, female fronted band out of Yorkshire. “Asking for a Friend” is the fourth digital single from Brontës’ upcoming debut album, set for release in April. Their First single, “Cognitive Dissonance,” was released on 22 August, a sunny indie rock hit full of catchy guitar licks and classic pop lyricism. Brontës are Eva on vocals and guitar, Amelia on drums and vocals, Erin on guitar and vocals, Katie on bass and vocals. With a brand new look, attitude, and sound, Brontës have reinvented themselves as a four-piece rock-pop band influenced by generations of classic pop music, such as Sabrina Carpenter, Blondie, and the Ronettes.
Last Night From Glasgow

Squarepusher
K2 Central (from the upcoming album Kammerkonzert)
Thomas Russell Jenkinson, known professionally as Squarepusher, is an English electronic musician, record producer, bassist, multi-instrumentalist and DJ whose career started in the nineties. His music spans several genres including drum and bass, IDM, acid techno, jazz fusion, and electroacoustic music. Tom Jenkinson was born and grew up in Chelmsford, Essex, England. The first school he attended exposed him to organ music. He later became interested in house, music, hardcore acid house and techno. Kammerkonzert, out April 10, follows 2024’s Dostrotime and last year’s archival release Stereotype.
Warp Music

In Memoriam Ebo Taylor
Come along
Ebo Taylor passed away on 7 February. He was a guitarist, composer, bandleader, record producer and arranger who influenced African  music for over six decades. “Deroy Ebow Taylor was born on Jan. 6, 1936, in Cape Coast, the capital of the British Gold Coast colony, the future Ghana. He was the son of Samuel Taylor, the choirmaster at St. Augustine’s College in Cape Coast, and Sarah Taylor. Ebo, as he was called, started playing the piano at 6 and the organ at 9.” (The New York Times) He learned to play the guitar at St. Augustine, joined ever bigger local groups until, in Ghana, he broke through with the Stargazers. His career included partnerships with Fela Kuti, Ludacris, Black-Eyed Peas and many others. Ebo Taylor’s love of highlight and afrobeats defied set terms.(SGG)
Essiebons

Harry Styles
Aperture
Harry Styles will release his fourth album on March 6, my birthday. Thanks. The advance track presented here is well done and contains some nice surprises. Not bad for someone who entered the music scene via The X Factor and joined the boy band One Direction in 2010. Styles’ career has been meteoric. He has a clear baritone singing voice and has been compared with the young Sinatra or David Bowie. His videos regularly win prizes and charm audiences worldwide. Harry Styles is also an impressive art collector, someone who seems to know what he’s doing. Welcome back! (SGS)
Columbia

Gorillaz
The Mountain
Gorillaz, the virtual British band founded by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewett, has made its long-awaited comeback. Their new record stands out for its immersive music. Gorillaz live in a universe represented in media such as music videos, interviews, comic strips and short cartoons. Gorillaz’s projects have included collaborations with a wide range of musicians and featured artists, with Albarn as the only permanent musical contributor. Gorillaz has presented itself live in a variety of different ways throughout its history and received a number of important awards.
Parlophone

Barbican Quartet
Poem for String Quartet
Amarins Wierdsma, violin, Kate Maloney, violin, Christoph Slenczka (viola), Yoanna Prodanova, Cello – the Barbican Quartet is an original voice on the international chamber music scene. Praised for their unique sound and character, as well as for intensely personal and intelligent performances, the Barbican Quartet celebrates the individual strengths of its members and at the same forges these into a homogenous entity, exploring with fervour both the great string quartet repertoire as well as contemporary music.
Genuin

Immanuel Wilkins
Emanation /Don’t Break – from the album The 7th Hand
“The music of saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins is filled with empathy and conviction, bonding acts of melody and lamentation to gestures of space and breath, Listeners were introduced to this riveting sound with his acclaimed debut album Omega, which was named the number one jazz album of 2020 by the New York Times. The album also introduced his remarkable quartet with Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass, and Kweku Sumry on drums: a tight-knit unit that Wilkins features once again on his stunning sophomore album, The Seventh Hand.”
Blue Note Records

Lucinda Williams
The World’s Gone Wrong (full album)
To support our American friends, we are presenting you with a series of protest songs this issue. The singer-songwriter and solo guistarist Licinda Williams (1953) recorder her first albums in the seventies. Williams’ commercial breakthrough came in 1998 with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, an album presenting a broader scope of songs that fused rock, blues, country and Americana into a distinctive style that remained consistent and commercial. The success of her career has been marked with many prizes and other recognitions.
Lost Highways

Bruce Springsteen
Streets of Minneapolis
“Bruce Springsteen is dedicating his new song to the people of Minneapolis, criticizing President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration enforcement operations in the city.The lyrics of ‘Streets of Minneapolis,’ released Wednesday, describe how ‘a city aflame fought fire and ice ‘neath an occupier’s boots,’ which Springsteen calls ‘King Trump’s private army.’ Springsteen in a statement said he wrote and recorded the song over the weekend and released it in response to a second deadly shooting by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis.”(Texarkana Gazette)
Columbia

Joe Clark Music
Believe Your Eyes. A Protest Song for 2026
“It’s about history repeating itself, propaganda wearing new faces, and being told not to trust what’s right in front of us. Same playbook. Different war.” Kentucky born Calrk’s first two full-length albums, Storyteller and 10 Years Too Late, showcase an artist leaning into his acoustic roots. Word-of-mouth support quickly built him a devoted local following, and in 2024 he earned the Appy Award for Album of the Year. Both records are filled with relatable songwriting that tackles timeless struggles set against modern, often dark realities.
Sparks and Shadows

Jeremy Messersmith
Fuck This
“Let’s just get this one out of the way. Armed with his ukulele and a string arrangement by Dan Lawen, Messerschmidt unloads the F-bomb on the situation and the parties involved. He is working on turning it into a collaborative effort by offering up a lyric sheet and an uncensored version of the track and inviting vocalists to send in a file to be added to a ‘giant choir version’ of the song.” (The Current) Bandcamp plays the song uncensored; other outlets don’t. Jeremy himself calls it an “F-Bomb Dr. Seuss song.”
Bandcamp

Cloud Cult
Compassion
A lady on the corner waves a cardboard sign with a bible verse / But deep down she just wants the pain to end / And the guy in the car behind you looks totally enraged / But what you don’t know is he just lost a friend / And the demons that we’re all blaming / Are wounded parts of me and you / Yeah, most us just need a frickin’ hug. / And the Beatles are on the radio, so you roll down all  your windows / As you sing along to “All you Need is Love.”
See also this concert clip of Cloud Cult.
Earthology Records

The Kid LAROI
A Cold Play
Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard (born August 17, 2003), known by his stage name Kid Laroi (stylized as Kid LAROI), is an Australian singer, rapper, and songwriter. He was discovered by Triple J Unearthed in 2016 at the age of 13. As he gained a larger fan base, he was signed to Lil Bibby’s Grade A Productions, a joint venture with Columbia Records. He gained mainstream recognition with his 2021 single “Stay” (featuring Justin Bieber), which topped the charts in numerous countries, including his native Australia, as well as the Canadian Hot 100 and Billboard Hot 100.
Columbia

Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore
Tragic Magic
“Tragic Magic brings together Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore, two of contemporary ambient, experimental and electronic music’s most celebrated composers, for a unique collaboration at the Philharmonie de Paris, with extraordinary access to the Musée de la Musique’s instrument collection, in partnership with the French label InFiné. The album features seven immersive, evocative compositions guided by the human spirit – intimate, grounded in friendship, both earthly and cosmic – and part of a greater continuum, reflecting the solace and transformative power of artistry across generations.” (Bandcamp)
inFiné

Van Morrison
Remembering Now
Morrison began performing as a teenager in the late 1950s, playing a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands, covering the popular hits of that time. Known as “Van the Man” to his fans, Morrison rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Belfast R&B band Them, with whom he wrote and recorded “Gloria. His solo career started with the release of the hit single “Brown Eyed Girl” in 1967. He has a new album coming out on 23 January, Someone Tried to Sell Me a Brdige. Good to hear his voice so clear in this slow, spoke-word piece, promising more to come.
Warner Records

Cumbia para la Previa (Mix Fiestero)
Mix Verano 2026
Here we have a whole range of cumbia stars from who make our feet move with their music andhelp us look fordward to spring, though it still seems far away. The cumbia pop genre emerged in the mid-2000s when some musical groups from Uruguay and Argentina made covers of popular songs, mixing them with elements of cumbia and pop, and posted them on YouTube. One of the pioneers was the Uruguayan group VI-EM, followed by the Argentine group Agapornis. However, it did not gain much notoriety, but at that time other sub-genres such as cumbia villera were more popular.
Montevideo Music Group

Yumi Zouma
In Camera
Yumi Zouma are a New Zealand alternative pop band from Christchurch. The band consists of Christie Simpson (vocals, keyboards), Josh Burgess (guitar, bass guitar, vocals, keyboards), Charlie Ryder (guitar, bass guitar, keyboards), and Olivia Campion (drums). The band’s name is an amalgamation of the two friends who encouraged the group to start writing together. The band did not begin writing music together until multiple members moved abroad and began collaborating over email following the events of the Christchurch earthquake. This early material gained attention within the musical blogosphere and encouraged American label Cascine to sign the band before they had played live or held a band practice.
Cascine