Category: good to hear

september 2024 – good to hear

Meshell Ndegeocello
Love – from her new album No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin
Meshell Ndegeocello, born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968, is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. She “happens to be much more than merely a good musician. She’s been playing professionally since the early 1990s and, at 55, is about to release her 14th album, a collection of songs that excites her. The past — the repertoire, the old stuff, the hits — can start to feel like ‘karaoke of myself,’ she said, even if that’s never what it’s been like for us folks in the audience.” (Wesley Morris, here in The New York Times)
UMG Recordings

Hannah Kendall
Verdala
Known for her attentive arrangements and immersive world-building, British composer Hannah Kendall’s music looks beyond the boundaries of composition. Her work bridges gaps between different musical cultures, both honouring and questioning the contemporary tradition while telling new stories through it. Contrasting fine detail with limitless abandon, she has become renowned both as a composer and a storyteller, confronting our collective history with narratively-driven pieces centred on bold mission statements.
Ricordi

The Cucaracha’s Band
Akira
The Cucarach’ss Band hails from  Ontiñena, in he Spanish province Huesca, in Aragon, known for the foklore association “Raíces de Ontiñena”. Three of its members decided to give a “baturro” touch to the most popular songs. In September of 2008 they launched their band adventure with a parade through Ontiñena, attracting the attention of their countrymen. After the incorporation of two new members, “The Cucaracha’s Band”, has improved a lot, as their rehearsals and their many performances show.
Babylon Music

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Wild Gold
The Australian rock band around Nick Cave is releasing a new album on 30 August. Cave hopes the album has the “effect on listeners” that it had on him. He describes it as a “complicated record” but simultaneously “deeply and joyously infectious”. As their records reflect the band’s “emotional state”, Cave shared the impression that they are “happy” this time around. Cage, who lost two sons within seven years seems to have recuperated after this dark period in his life.
PIAS

Johnny Irion
Sleeping Soldiers of Love
This is the first single off of Johnny Irion’s upcoming album, Sleeping Soldiers of Love, out on August 9th. The album was mixed by Patrick Sansone and features an all-star cast of players including Jeff Bridges, Mike Mills of REM, and many others. Johnny Irion has solidified his reputation as one of the most spirited artists in the folk-rock genre. His career is steeped in authentic American punk & roots music, a heritage he embraced wholeheartedly.
Blackwing Music

goodnews july 2024 – good to hear

Laurie Anderson
O Superman
A hymn to the earth. “Homeland is not only a place where we were born or live; it is where our soul takes refuge and finds its own peace!” Suor Snow Raven was born in one of the most remote and cold inhabited places in the world – the Republic of Sakha – Yakutia (arctic Siberia). She was three years old when she started to learn the language of birds and animals. Her archaic music strikes a chord deep within us and reminds us what it means to be a dedicated spiritual warrior for the earth. (SGS)
Majestic Sounds

Saint Levant
On This Land
Marwan Abdelhamid, AKA Saint Levant, was born in Jerusalem to a French-Algerian mother and Serbian-Palestinian father. He spent 10 years growing up in Gaza, to which he would dedicate his first EP From Gaza with Love. In 2007, Marwan and his family were forced to flee to Jordan, later moving to Santa Barbara, California. Drawing inspiration from his origins with influences that combine traditional Arabic music, R&B and hip-hop, the young artist embraces the plurality of his own cultural heritage, the Arab community worldwide and the Palestinian struggle abroad.
MDLBEAST Records 

Bayou
Haika Wehbe
Another example iof so-called Arabizi Music, a form of Arabic pop, shows that Hip Hop has found a new home in the Middle East, with guys leerings after girls they wish to dominate to snappy sounds. Bayou was a big act at Coachella this year and his just released another single. He has moe than one ace up his slieve and is worth following, on a musicl career between Los Angeles, CA, and Amman in Jordania,
MDLBEAST Records 

Carin Léon
Bolela – Aviso importante
If you enjoy a bit of romantic summer mjusic of the old kind, this is the sound for you. If you like the south, and especially Mexico, or Italy, Carin turns back time for you to when this sound abounded. Love it! Óscar Armando Díaz de León Huez, known professionally as Carín León, (born 26 July 1989) is a Mexican singer-songwriter who specializes in regional Mexican music. León was born in Hermosillo, and won the Ltin Grammy in 2022 als best regional Mexican act.
Icarls Music

Hermeto Pascoal
Música da Lagoa (Sinfonia do Alto Ribeira, 1985)
Música da Lagoa (Sinfonia do Alto Ribeira, 1985)
Hermeto Pascoal (born June 22, 1936) is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil. Pascoal is best known in Brazilian music for his orchestration and improvisation, as well as for being a record producer and contributor to many Brazilian and international albums.His career began in 1964 with appearances on several Brazilian recordings alongside relatively unknown groups. These albums and the musicians involved established widely influential new directions in post-bossa nova Brazilian jazz.
Rede Manchete

goodnews june 2024 – good to hear

Suor (Snow Raven) & Misha Mishenko
Homeland
A hymn to the earth. “Homeland is not only a place where we were born or live; it is where our soul takes refuge and finds its own peace!” Suor Snow Raven was born in one of the most remote and cold inhabited places in the world – the Republic of Sakha – Yakutia (arctic Siberia). She was three years old when she started to learn the language of birds and animals. Her archaic music strikes a chord deep within us and reminds us what it means to be a dedicated spiritual warrior for the earth. (SGS)
Sony Music

I never took my ritaline
On my knees
These guys are too good to pass up. If you don’t like (t) rap, electro or hiphop: drop it like it’s hot! For everybody else: “I Never Took My Ritalin (CH) is like a speed date between Lamborghini Tarot – the alter ego of Swiss rapper, actress and clown Martina Momo Kunz – and Belinda, the alter ego of French sousaphonist, rapper and producer Victor Hege. Their unusual abilities merge to create a crazy, hyperactive, theatrical, long-term musical experience.” Very funny too. (Rapid Open Air)
No label yet?

Tems
Love Me Je Je
Temilade Openiyi (born 11 June 1995), known professionally as Tems, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter, and record producer. She is known to a larger audience for having covered Bob Marly for the movie Wakanda Forever and has shattered many ceilings. In 2024, Tems announced that her upcoming debut studio album Born in the Wild will be released on 7th June and will be supported by the Born in the Wild World Tour. Brought up in a Christian environment, Tems is influenced by R&B and hip-hop; she cites a variety of artists as influences, including Nigerian and African artists. (SGS)
Sony Music

Omah Lay
Soso
Stanley Omah Didia (born 19 May 1997), known professionally as Omah Lay, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He grew up in Port Harcourt and comes from a musical family. Starting out as a rapper, Lay soon began to write his own music and produced several local hits until a collaboration with Justin Bieber led to international fame. A second collaboration supported his debut album Boy Alone, with which he went on tour, soon reaching record numbers of fans.
Keyquad

Arooj Aftab
Night Reign
Arooj Aftab (born March 11, 1985) is a Pakistani American singer, composer, and producer. A Grammy Award-winning artist, she has worked in various musical styles and idioms, including jazz and minimalism. Arooj is blessed with a mesmerizing voice, sweet as honey, Born in Saudi Ariabia, she and his parents moved to Lahore when she was ten. She taught herself the guitar and styled herself: after Billie Hoiliday, Mariah Carey as wel as local singers such as Begum Akhtar and Hairprasad Chaurasia. The scale of Aftab’s musical inheritances are on display in her two most recent albums, of which Love in Exile was the first and Night Reign is the second. Extraordinary.
Verve

goodnews 2024 – good to hear

End of the Day (from the film Anonymous Club)

Courtney Barnett

Courtney Melba Barnett (born 3 November 1987) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. “End Of The Day is a meditative, slow-burning and beautiful record, prioritising atmosphere, tone and texture over traditional song structures and melodic hooks. It's a fearless and stunning turn for an artist who built her formidable reputation through profound lyricism and riff-based fireworks.” (Bandcamp)
Milk Records

Psychedelics II – My Apothecary Light

William Brittelle
Producer and Grammy-winning composer William Brittelle, a creator of hyper-text and multimedia, is an avid collaborator. He has worked with a number of artists across multiple disciplines, including Roomful of Teeth, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Bryce Dessner (The National), Son Lux, Oneohtrix Point Never, A Far Cry, Lower Dens, Duran Duran, Wye Oak, Dirty Projectors, Kanye West, and the Seattle, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Alabama, Grand Rapids and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras, the Basel Sinfonietta, the Nu Deco Ensemble, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
New Amsterdam Records

Underdressed at the Symphony

Faye Webster
Born June 25, 1997, Faye Webster is an American singer-songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. Underdressed at the Symphony is her fifth studio album. It  "builds upon the frameworks she’s established and pushes them to their limits.” (Exclaim!)  She evolves a familiar intimacy within her songwriting skills on the album, blending catharsis and humor over a sonic palette of multiple genres like "indie rock, country, and R&B. The album has been well-received by music critics.
Secretly Canadian

Tiny Desk Concert

RAYE
Rachel Agatha Keen (born 24 October1997), known  professionally as RAYE, is an English singer-songwriter. Her debut studio album, My 21st Century Blues (2023) was released independently to critical and commercial success, and won Album of the Year at the 2024 BRIT Awards. The South London-bred singer-songwriter had finally made her way to NPR headquarters, her signature cherry-hued pin curls full of bounce and a radiant smile spread across her face. RAYE exudes the confidence and abilities of a veteran vocal powerhouse.
NPR Music

Prelude (from the forthcoming album Fearless Movement

Kamasi Washington
Armed with a tenor saxophone and endless ambition, musician and bandleader Kamasi Washington returns with what he calls his 'dance album'. Since the release of the triple album The Epic in 2015, Kamasi Washington has become a
acclaimed talent of modern jazz. His latest LP, Fearless Movement, is a self-produced odyssey and manages to maintain a blistering accessibility despite its length of almost 90 minutes. A whole host of other artists support him in this feat..." (Liam Casci for The Skinny)

goodnews april 2024 – good to hear

Cosmo Sheldrake
I Did and I Do and I Don’t
Cosmo Sheldrake is an English musician, composer, and producer. He is the son of biologist Rupert Sheldrake and voice teacher Jill Purce, and the brother of biologist Merlin Sheldrake. He released his first single, “The Moss”/”Solar”, in 2014 and followed it up with the Pelicans We EP in 2015. This is a gentle little love sung by one of today’s most original musicians. Cosmo’s music is rife with nature citations, representing the leading edge in what music can become. Also, he’s begun to sing and has a very relatable voice. This man is on the way to becoming a star! .
Transgressive

Nduduzo Makhatini
Izibingelelo (Greetings) live at the Centre for Jazz Studies at UKZN
“The art of the South African jazz pianist Nduduzo Makhathini transcends borders. In his music, he not only combines the sound of South Africa with that of the global North. For him, improvising is a way of accessing spirituality, both for the musician and for the audience. For more than ten years, the charismatic pianist has been impressing audiences on all continents and at many a performance.” (Moods, Zurich)
Blue Note

Aya Nakamura
Hypé
Aya Danioko (born 10 May 1995) in Bamako, Mali, known professionally as Aya Nakamura, is a French singer. She comes from a family of griot, West African storytellers, praise singers, and poets of oral traditions. Throughout her career, Nakamura accumulated five number-one songs and a number-one album in France. We may look forward to enjoying her art at the opening of the Olympics In Pais this summer. “Right-wing critics say Ms. Nakamura’s music does not represent France, and the prospect of her performing has led to a barrage of racist insults online against her. The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.” (Wikipedia and The New York Times)
Warner Brothers

Mdou Moctar
Imouhar
Mahamadou Souleymane (born around 16 August 1984), known professionally as Mdou Moctar (also M.dou Mouktar), is a Tuareg songwriter and musician based in Agadez, Niger, who performs modern rock music inspired by Tuareg guitar music. (Wikipedia) He is known for his political activism. Mdou Moctar is its current iteration is first and foremost a band. It started out peforming at traditional weddings. Of the recent political coup in Niger Mdou says: I never liked France I my country. I don’t hate France or the French people, I don’t hate American people either, but I don’t supprt their manipulative politics, what they do in Africa. In 2024, we want to be free, we need to smile, you understand?” I do and love the raw power of his music. (SGS)
Matador

Cami Layé Okún
Afro Cuban Funky Grooves
“Since the release of her 2015 debut album Nueva Era, Cuban singer Daymé Arocena has established herself as one of her country’s most expressive voices. Encompassing everything from nimble jazz scatting to luscious orchestrations and breathy phrases that soar over bata drums and Santería folk rhythms, Arocena’s four albums have explored the joyous range of Afro Cuban music.” (Ammar Kahlia, The Guardian) She grew up Havana, with a family immersed in rumba folklore. She entered the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory at age 10.
NTS Radio. La Habana, Cuba

good to hear

PJ Wassermann
Remember to Forget
PJ’s music has an ecstasy feel to it this time, reminding me somewhat of Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast. For those of you who don’t know PJ yet – he’s a Swiss pioneer of psychedelic electronic music. Active for more than forty years. PJ hails from Basel but spends most of the year in Ibiza. He does not only compose electronic music but also sings and plays the guitar, pursuing a series of musical projects, such as Ibango Tribe in Ibiza and Space Bike back home, both fully improvised.
Hyper Music

Maggie Rogers
Don’t Forget Me
“My friend Sally’s getting married and to me that sounds so scary. I’m still trying to clean up my side of the street. Can’t imagine what would happen cause I’m still acting out of habit. Hoping dirty words just don’t escape my teeth. Oh and every time I try just a little. Promise that I’ll meet in the middle. I always find my way back to my feet. So close the door and change the channel. Give me something I can handle. A good lover or someone that’s nice to me. Take my money, wreck my Sundays. Love me til your next somebody. Oh but promise me that when it’s time to leave, Don’t forget me.”
Capitol

Mei Semones
Inaka
Mei Semones’ sweetly evocative blend of jazz, bossa nova and math-y indie rock is not only a way for her to find solace in her favorite genres, but is an intuitive means of catharsis. “Blending everything that I like together and trying to make something new – that’s what feels most natural to me,” says the 23-year-old Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. “It’s what feels most true to who I am as an artist.” Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Semones began playing music at a young age, starting out on piano at age four before moving to electric guitar at age eleven. After playing jazz guitar in high school, she went on to study guitar performance with a jazz focus at Berklee College of Music.
Bayonet Records

Madi Diaz
KFM
Covering mostly music and books. Focus on alternative/indie and women in music, literature and the arts. feminist. Vegan. mostly alternative, a bit bohemian. Masters in journalism from Boston University. BA from Simmons College. After high school, Diaz was accepted to Berklee College of Music. At Berklee, she began working with Kyle Ryan, the Nebraska-raised guitarist who would be her songwriting collaborator for her early career. The two began their collaboration when a fellow student, a producer looking for a project, offered Diaz the chance to record an album in Hawaii. Shortly after, Diaz dropped out of the program at Berklee.
Anti-Records

Daymé Arocena
A fuego lente (featuring Vicente Garcia)
“Since the release of her 2015 debut album Nueva Era, Cuban singer Daymé Arocena has established herself as one of her country’s most expressive voices. Encompassing everything from nimble jazz scatting to luscious orchestrations and breathy phrases that soar over bata drums and Santería folk rhythms, Arocena’s four albums have explored the joyous range of Afro Cuban music.” (Ammar Kahlia, The Guardian) She grew up Havana, with a family immersed in rumba folklore. She entered the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory at age 10.
Brownswood Recordings

february 2024 – good to hear

Lalon Fakir
Zahra, the Highest Diamond Jewel 
Lalon Fakir takes his name from a famous predecessor, the long-lived Bengal Sheik Lalon Shah (1792-1890). Here, Lalon Fakir plays two instruments simultaneously, while singing traditional Bengali folk songs. On his YouTube website he reveals that he is a sibling of Rajan Fakir and Sumon Fakir both Sufi, Folk, Qawwali, Classical & Pop singers, songwriters & composers. He is a very popular singer back home. Here you’ll find 50 of his songs interpreted by various male and female singers.

Ghédalia Tazartès
Diasporas
An extraordinary musician in the musique concrète genre, “Tazarès was was born into a Judeo-Spanish  family in Paris’ 10th arrondissement. He quickly ascended into a musical career, with musician David Fenench defining his music as ‘unclassifiable’. He rarely performed in concerts and released few albums, but was still able to make a living from dance, theatre, and cinema.” (Wikipedia) Theatrical and poetic in a highly unexpected and often humorous way, the more I listen to him, the more I like him. (SGS)
Bisou Records

Various traditional healers
Shamanic Icaros from Peru
“Shamans believe drinking ayahuasca brew puts you in direct contact with the spiritual plane, opening you up to both beneficent and bad spirits. Ultimately, the purpose of icarosis guidance. Shamans use the song to invoke the good spirits of plants and animals, as well as to keep the bad spirits away.» (Psychedelic Times). Their healing effect results from their power to ground us and touch our hearts.
Spirit Way

Year of the Dragon 2024
Chinese New Year Traditional Music
Spirited, confident and just plain fun, this music is composed and played for each new year. This year the fiery dragon is celebrated. Dragons are strong and independent but also long for support and care. “Dragon is powerful, endlessly energetic and full of vitality, goal-oriented yet idealistic and romantic, and a visionary leader. They know exactly who they are and possess the keenest sense of self among the 12 zodiacs of Chinese astrology.»
Year of the Dragon, online

The Young Gods
Play Terry Riley In C (Documentary & Live)
(You can always skip the intro in French.) The Young Gods are a Swiss industrial rock band from Fribourg, formed in 1985. The original lineup of the band featured singer Franz Treichler , sampler Cesare Pizzi and drummer Frank Bagnoud. Says Treichler: “Our encounter with the «  Sasha Waltz and Guests » dance company on Terry Riley In C  has been mind blowing. Thank you to the Elbphilarmonie to have provoke it. Thank you all of you the incredible dancers and everyone involved in this crazy collective trip.”
Tangram Music

january 2024 – good to hear

Aurora

B. Ashra
For 30 years, Berlin-based B. Ashra has been producing electronic music outside the mainstream with his solo project. His musical spectrum ranges from meditative ambient music to sound experiments and acid techno.The label Klangwirkstoff offers access to experimentation in contemporary harmonic. Through numerous live concerts in many clubs and at open air festivals, B. Ashra has made a name for himself in the international electronic music scene with his solo project.
Klangwirkstoff Records

A Horse with No Name (feat. Blake Colie)

Dirtwire
The artwork for this video is psychedelic, the arrangement solid, the song not new, but well-liked. “Dirtwire consists of Evan Fraser, David Satori, and Mark Reveley, who all play a variety of uncommon musical instruments. They perform a form of swamptronica experimental music that incorporates electronic music and instruments from around the world, are is based in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where they began as a duo of Evan and David, with Mark joining in 2016. All three met at the California Institute of the Arts.» (Wikipedia)
Ingrooves

The Greater Wings

Julie Byrne
Melodious and melancholy are the adjectives that come to my mind when listening to Julie Byrne wistful voice and poetic lyrics. The singer songwriter and guitarist hails from Buffalo, New York. she was influenced by her father’s guitar playing. Spoiler: his first name was not David, and Julie began to play when she was seventeen because he no longer could due suffering from multiple sclerosis. She began to tour when she was eighteen but also studied environmental sciences, feeling a strong connection to nature. To date, she has recorded three albums.
Ghostly International

This Can’t Go On (from the album Iechid Da)

Bill Rider-Jones
An up- and coming musician, Bill Rider-Jones grows on you if you keep on listening. He was born in West Kirby Merseyside, England, and his debut album, If…  featured the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, garnering positive reviews. His 2nd album, A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart, was released 2011, and was also well-received. His 3rd album documenting his departure from orchestral music to embrace minimal folk songs as well as alternative folk rock. His latest work Iechid Da, is out this month.
Domino

Celestial Candyfloss (from the album Sadness Sets Me Free)

Gruff Rhys
Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys, born in 1970, is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, film maker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993, which obtained mainstream success. “‘Celestial Candyfloss’ is a classic example of the Rhys trademark knack for wrapping up the familiar and classic with the weird, wonderful and unexpected.» (Juno)
Rough Trade Records

december 2023 – good to hear

Mon Laferte
Tiny Desk Concert
on Laferte reminds me of Amy Winehouse, but her music is more like Latin  Swing with a good touch of Django Reinhard or Stéphane Grappelli thrown is, as well as more Mexican traditional flourishes. Mon favors a burlesque look; her singing is sure and pure. The Chilean Mexican musician, singer, composer, and painter is known for her diverse musical style and captivating stage persona. She has won four Latin Grammy Awards and two MTV Europe Music Awards. (Wikipedia)
Universal Music

Margaret Glaspy
Act Natural
The twenty-two-year-old singer songwriter was born in Sacramento California Her album Echo the Diamon was released last August. “This record came from trying to meet life on life’s terms, instead of looking for a happy ending in everything,” says the now New York-based musician. “The whole experience of creatin g it felt like effortless catharsis.” Margaret Glaspy sounds like someone who’ll go far to me.
ATO Records

The National
Laugh Track (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
Formed in Brooklyn in 1999, The National are from Cincinnati, Ohio. Made up of vocalist Mark Berninger, the twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner, as well as the brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf, later joined by Karl Resniak, Mark Berninger’s wife, Carin Besser, contributed to the lyrics from the beginning. The band’s style has been called “literate Rock” by the Guardian: 2dark, melancholy, and difficult to interpret.” Over the years, they’ve received many awards and gone on many tours.
4AD

André 3000
Trapped (from the album New Blue Sun)
Known as one part of the Southern hip hop du Outkast, André Lauren Benjamin (1975) has had a spiritual awakening. In the wake of recent experiences, he embarked on a musical journey of his own where he expresses his creativity freely as never before. The trip seems to lead through various landscapes of the mind, taking us to an actual jungle of sounds from the choral to the animal, in an intricate symphony about the interconnected of all being.
Epic Records

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov
Mahler Symphony Nr. 9 (Trailer)
Semyon Bychkov’s Mahler series, the first from a Czech orchestra in 40 years, is tackling the symphonies in no particular order and with varying degrees of success. This instalment proves something of a triumph. Whatever weight you place on Mahler’s Bohemian and Moravian connections, the First is a late 19th-century composition envisioned initially as a large-scale symphonic poem.
Deutsche Grammophon

 

 

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