Category: good to hear

Tiny Desk Concert
DakhaBraka
“People always ask me, ‘What’s your favourite Tiny Desk Concert?’ Well, right now it’s the one recently performed by DakhaBrakha. The creative quartet from Kiev, Ukraine make music that sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard, with strands of everything I’ve ever heard. There are rhythms that sound West African and drone that feels as if it could have emanated from India or Australia. At times, DakhaBrakha is simply a rock band whose crazy homeland harmonies are filled with joy. All the while, they play tight-knit tunes featuring accordion, drums, reeds and shakers while wearing tall, Marge Simpson-looking wool hats that made me jealous It’s refreshing to hear the power of acoustic music and the many worlds of sound still waiting to be explored.” Bob Bollen, Producer
NPR Podcast

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Пташечка (Little Bird)
Vivienne Mort
The first attempts to create the band Vivienne Mort came in 2007, when singer/songwriter Daniela Zaiushkina composed her first songs. Finally, in 2010 Vivienne Mort released its debut mini album Єсєнтукі LOVE. In 2013 the band released their first full-length album Театр Pipinó at the Revet Sound recording studio and set out on a Ukrainian tour. At the same time, they made a music video for the song “Сліди маленьких рук” (Small Handprints), that was broadcast and spread on the net very quickly. In 2014 Vivienne Mort released the second mini album called Готика (Gothic) and a music video for the song “Риба” (Fish). The new mini album Filin is introduced on March 1, 2015. The new single “Ти забув про мене” (You Forgot About Me) appears shortly after that. On March 15, 2016, the band released its fourth mini album Rósa. The corresponding tour began in Poland and ended in Kyiv The video for the song “Пташечка”, which was shot in Mumbai, India.
United Music Group | July 2016

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The Best of Ozean Elzy
Okean Elzy
Okean Elzy, Elsa’s Ocean in English, O.E. for short, is a rock band from Ukraine. It is considered a cult band. The band was formed on October 12, 1994 by four friends in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv (German: Lemberg). The founding members Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, Denys Hlinin, Yuri Khustochka and Pavlo Hudimov knew each other from the band “Klan tyschi”, which was founded in 1991. Front singer Svyatoslav Vakarchuk (nicknamed “Slava”) writes most of the lyrics for Okean Elzy in his native Ukrainian. Besides, he is fluent in Russian, Polish and English. Vakarchuk became, after the 2019 parliamentary election with his own party ‘Voice’ deputy in the Ukrainian parliament. In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vakarchuk joined the Territorial Defense of Lviv oblast on March 6, 2022. (Wikipedia) These guys tends to grow on you…
Moon Records | November 17

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Zenit
ONUKA
The Ukrainian word onuka translates to “granddaughter,” a tribute to lead singer Zhyzhchenko’s grandfather and renowned folk-instrument maker, Oleksandr Shlionchyk.  Zhyzhchenko started her music career as a member of the band Tomato Jaws, a band that she started with her brother. Tomato Jaws remained active for 11 years, ultimately leading to the creation of ONUKA. Lead singer Nata Zhyzhchenko believes that she can revitalize old traditions and classic folk instruments such as the bandura and sopilka (a flute). ONUKA’s debut album was released in 2014, and it became the best-selling record of the month in Ukraine. Their first EP, Look, was released on May 15 and debuted #1 in Ukraine. ONUKA released a second EP, Vidlik on February 8, 2016. The EP includes five tracks: ‘Svitanok’, ‘Vidlik’, ‘Other (Intro)’, ‘Other’, and ‘1986’. Zhyzhchenko cites the Chernobyl disaster, and its impact on Ukraine as a major influence on the album. The EP’s name, Vidlik, means both ‘new beginning’, and ‘countdown’. (Wikipedia)
Vidik Records | December 19

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Bella Ciao 
Adaptation of the Italian Folk Song; Ukrainian-Jewish klezmer by Mishka
Khrystyna Soloviy
Khrystyna Ivanivna Soloviy (1993, Lviv Oblast) is a Ukranian-Lemko folk singer, born into a family of choral conductors. She graduated in philosophy from the University of Kyiv. In 2013, she won the Ukrainian casting show „Голос країни“ (The Voice of Ukraine) and chose Slawa Wakartschuk as her mentor. He produced her first album Zhyva voda (Living Water) which included 12 songs (ten folk songs of Lemko and Ukrainian origin and two written by herself). Meanwhile, Khrystyna Soloviy is one of the most famous singers of Ukraine. In times of peace, she sings about love. Since February 24, the date of the invasion of her country by Russian troops, the 29-year-old singer has decided to use her songs as a weapon of war.
Rectangle | February 22

Encanto: We Don’t Talk About Bruno 
Disney Original Score
In case you have small children, you can’t have missed it. Disney’s new movie Encanto, with songs by Lin Manuel Miranda, has turned from an underground hit to a full-scale invasion! Gone are Baby Shark, obviously for babies, or Elsa, tucked away in her Nordic village. Here comes as good a story as Disney hasn’t produced in many years. In Encanto we meet the multigenerational Columbian family Madrigal, each of whom possess an exceptional magical gift, except for Mirabel Madrigal, the heroine of the story. This gift seems threatened, Has the family Madrigal and their little house been bewitched by the prescient Bruno Madrigal? This is for Mirabel Madrigal to find out with the help of her sisters Isabel and Luisa. The music – a madrigal, of course – is a sensation! (sgs)
Vevo | December 21

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African Shabtay
Marbin
Marbin is a progressive jazz-rock band based in Chicago, IL, with a unique story that stads out in today’s music world. With a do-i-yourself approach, Marbin started touring extensively in 2011, bringing their original instrumental music to every part of the United States. Through word of moths, Marbin has gained a multitude of devoted fans all over the world and has sold tens of thousands of records. Marbin has released eight albums so far, the last being Shreddin’ at Sweetwater (2021). Danny Markovitch (saxophone, Everette Benton Jr. (drums), Dani Rabin (guitar) and Jon Nadel (bass) regularly play in clubs and in jam and jazz festivals around the world. Markovitch and Rabin are originally from Israel and met shortly after Markovitch completed his military service and Rabin had graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Multi-National | October 21

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Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You: Change
Big Thief
Big Thief is a rock band from Brooklyn, New York, with roots in folk music. «Its members are Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar, backing vocals), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums). All four members attended the  Berklee College of Music, but only formed a group after each had graduated.» (Wikipedia) Dragon New Warm Mountain is their fifth album, a double pack and best of the past two years. It «is a ninety-minute meditation and answer. An album about cosmic timings and earthly connections, weaving deftly between the themes explored in their twin albumsU.F.O.F and Two Hands released in 2019. More than any other band, Big Thief’s music represents an ecosystem.» (Sophia Zu in Cherwell) Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You conveys a great sense of intimacy – music from the heart!
4AD | February 22

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LUX – Remake 2022
PJ Wassermann
LUX by Schaltkreis Wassermann was a big hit in the 80s Italian cosmic scene dominated by DJs Beppe Loda and Daniele Baldelli. LUX, with its overlays of three and four beat rhythms, continues to fascinate music lovers. On average, the track is googled five-hundred times a week on Shazam. I’ve produced a remake of LUX using analogue synths ARP 2600, ARP Avatar and Roland 100M, adding modern synthesizers. Several remixes of LUX will be released in the coming weeks and months – stay tuned. PJ Wassermann is a musician, performer and composer who has been into electronics for more than forty years: «Playing live is one of my passions. I perform to visuals by Asteriza and often jam. With my looper, I create ambient musical spaces, and I have a loose band project called Spacebike.»
schaltkreiswassermann.com | February 22

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Di Giaches de Vvert. Il Primo libro di madrigali a quatro voci. Renaissance for steel guitar: Che Giova Posseder Cittadi (Prima Parte) 
Noël Akchoté
Noël Akchoté (1986) is a French guitarist active in various experimental fields between drone, rock, jazz, and contemporary classical music. Also music journalist and author as well as founder (together with Quentin Rollet) of the French avantgarde label Rectangle. At fourteen he was performing day and night in bars and restaurants. He dropped out of school and learned to play drums and bass.
Akchoté has played with every great name. Starting on guitar at when he was eight years old, he received lessons in classical guitar in school.«French guitarist Nöel Akchoté has confounded critics since his earliest releases with his blend of swinging jazz, free improvisation, and art-song sensibilities.» (Thom Jurek, ‘Soundpage(s)’
Rectangle | February 22

The Boy Named If  
Elvis Costello & the Imposters 
A sensational Elvis Costello, who has never sounded better on vinyl, gives all on this extraordinary album that has found positive reception all around. «So much of the pleasure of The Boy Named If lies in how The Imposters deliver everything from the slow-burning ballad ‘Paint the Red Rose Blue’ to the tight R&B groove of ‘Magnificent Hurt’ with the clean efficiency of a rock & roll combo. The Imposters have never sounded better on record – and they’ve never sounded more like the Attractions either, which isn’t entirely a coincidence – and that helps give The Boy Named If its infectious kick: it may feel like an old-fashioned Elvis Costello album, but it sounds entirely fresh.» (All Music)
Capitol | January 22

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Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival
Anna von Hausswolff 
The daughter of the Swedish avant-garde sound artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff, composer, singer-songwriter, pipe organist, musician Anna «has written and released four full-length albums: Singing From The Grave (2010), Ceremony (2012), The Miraculous (2015) and Dead Magic (2018), often recording with a cast of other musicians. Her forthcoming release, All Thoughts Fly sees Anna in solo instrumental mode. The entire record is just one solo instrument, the pipe organ, all songs written and played by Anna von Hausswolff. In Montreux, we hear six pieces; Anna performs sensational renditions of fan-favourites from The Miraculous and Dead Magic, with the backing of a full band including additional vocals from her sister, cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff.»
Southern Lord | January 22

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To Human Power
Mirjam Hässig Quartet
A dream world, sometimes stormy, contemplative and suddenly a pinch of Dadaism, that’s what Aé! offers listening ears. Ayé! is characterized by the special instrumentation with harp, double bass, voice, ukulele and electronic beats. The musicians Mirjam Hässig (voice, composition, ukulele), Julie Campiche (harp, FX), Manu Hagmann (double bass, FX), Nicolas Bianco (drums, electronics) form a multifaceted team, which musically attentively responds to each other and creates a warm and captivating atmosphere. The quartet joined forces in the summer of 2019 and has been working on their independent repertoire ever since. After the debut tour, the music was recorded and released in November 2021.
The Orchard Enterprises | November 21

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Laurel Hell
mistki
The sixth studio album by the Japanese American rock singer-songwriter mitski is more electronic than her previous, more guitar-driven recordings. Pitchfork quotes mitski as saying: «I needed love songs about real relationships that are not power struggles to be won or lost. I needed songs that could help me forgive both others and myself. I make mistakes all the time. I don’t want to put on a front where I’m a role model, but I’m also not a bad person. I needed to create this space mostly for myself where I sat in that gray area.» Their sweet melancholy makes mitski’s songs special. They are easy to listen and to dance to. Mitski (Mitsuki Frances Laycock) grew up in Japan and lived an international childhood before settling in the US and pursuing a musical career.
Dead Oceans | February 22

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Dawn FM
The Weeknd
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (he and mitski are both born in 1990), known professionally as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter and record producer. His songs are upbeat, but he had a troubled childhood. Weeknd’s lyrics speak of his amorous needs and relationships. He began releasing his own music in 2009 to almost immediate success. He has a strong voice with a good range, he has soul, and he’s street smart. That’s why The Weeknd is the real deal, in him disco meets Marvin Gaye. He has opened for Drake, played Coachella and The Brooklyn Ballroom, remixed Beyoncé’s «Drunk In Love», won a slew of prizes and became a superstar, heading the Superbowl, in February 2021.
XO | February 22

Floating Points. Movement I
Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra
Pharoah Sanders possesses one of the most distinctive tenor saxophone sounds in jazz. Harmonically rich and heavy with overtones, Sanders’ sound can be as raw and abrasive as it is possible for a saxophonist to produce. Yet, Sanders is highly regarded to the point of reverence by a great many jazz fans. Although he made his name with expressionistic, nearly anarchic free jazz in John Coltrane’s late ensembles of the mid-’60s, Sanders’ later music is guided by more graceful concerns. Sanders made his first record as a leader in 1964. After John Coltrane’s death in 1967, Sanders worked briefly with his widow, Alice Coltrane. From the late ’60s, he worked primarily as a leader of his own ensembles. In the decades after his first recordings with Coltrane, Sanders developed into a more well-rounded artist, capable of playing convincingly in a variety of contexts, from free to mainstream.
Luaka Bop | March 21

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Live in Niamey, Niger
Mdou Moctar
The video’s narrative is about something intangible. We get glimpses, and feel the connection between the band members, and their friends and neighbors at home through a series of deliberately raw and candid moment on video. This love song’s simple beauty is amplified by the patient, lingering moments that trail off like a thought you’re OK to let go, because everything around you seems familiar and comforting. This ethereal non-linear music video is all about that familiar feeling, and how universal it can be – whether it’s in Niger or wherever the viewer maybe sharing these moments. Included are friends and family in the Tuareg community around Niamey as well as Hausa people from villages in the Dosso region. It shows the love between friends are for our home country.
Matador Records | June 21

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Toubouk Ine Chihoussay
Etran de l’Aïr
Etran de L’Aïr is one of the most respected bands in Agadez, the capital city of the Saharan guitar scene. Yet they are also a band that has remained on the fringes, stars of the Agadez working class. This changes in Fall 2021, as the band heads to Europe for their first-ever tour, including appearances at Le Guess Who and Festival Face Z. Etran de L’Aïr is one of the longest-running wedding bands in a city renowned for guitar. Constantly performing at outdoor weddings, both in the city and the surrounding countryside, Etran plays exhaustive concerts, late into the night. Even for a guitar band, they push the instrument to the extreme, with three guitars playing simultaneously, soloing over one another, creating a dreamy cacophony of sound. (Bandcamp)
Sahel Sounds | October 21

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Barn
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
The grandfather of grunge surprises us with an album that sounds exactly like he used to sound when he started out. And he has mobilized his original band at least as much as possible: “…Barn is probably the least frustrating new Young album in some time. These are 10 cogent songs about love and life, about the recent past, the years long gone and our future, delivered with verve, emotion and snarls of six-string authority. Infamously, Young’s one-time label Geffen sued this prolific but bloody-minded artist in 1983 for delivering records that “were not commercial in nature and musically uncharacteristic of Young’s previous records”. Laughably, Barn actually fulfils most of those criteria. This is a Crazy Horse record that is both raucous and highly tuneful, saturated with in-band bonhomie.» (The Guardian)
Warner Brothers | December 21

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Good Morning Music
Team Peaceful Piano Music
Soft piano Music for effective relaxation, healing meditation music
Peaceful Piano Music – for early morning lovers morning music playlist – a list of songs to keep you energized, motivated and happy for the day – It’s time to rise and shine. Whether you’re looking for soothing tunes to get you out of bed or fun songs to start your day, we’ve got the perfect music for every mood. – Wake up to great music from around the world. It’s a free service with a library of over 2,000 songs from over 50 different cultures. – Wake up to soothing sounds of soothing music, melodies and soothing sounds. Start your day with a smile and the knowledge that you will be refreshed and ready to take on whatever happens today.
EMVN | All Songs Are Our Owners | December 21

Repertio
Mario Batkovic with Clive Dreamer
Mario Batkovic displays rare skills on the accordion, in some ways reminiscent of the great late bandoneonist Astor Piazzolla. The second single, taken from his new album Introspectio is called «Repertio». It is a collaboration with MXLX and Clive Deamer, drummer with the bands Portishead and Radiohead. Batkovic is a composer for film and game scores. His first album received widespread critical acclaim with Rolling Stone listing it in the top ten avantgarde albums of 2017. His mission is to explore the song possibilities of the accordion, without effects or loops, but rather through a mutual symbiotic relationship between man and instrument. He is constantly on tour, playing the great venues and festivals of the world. As a composer, he is known for his work on Die Schwalbe (2016), Red Dead Redemption II (2018) and Unser Garten Eden (2010).
Invada Records | November 21

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Hikayeleri ile ‘Ben Yaşarım’
Ada Lea
Sertab Erener, born on 4 December1964 in Istanbul, is known for her contralto voice and its classical oriental modulations. She took singing lessons from an early age. The renowned Turkish singer, Sezen Aksu, promoted her. From age eleven, Sertab suffered from ulcerative colitis. In 1994, an operation removed her entire large intestine. As a result of this ordeal, she began to meditate and to study philosophical books. In between surgeries, she produced a second album with songs by Sezen Aksu that sold 600’000 copies; her first had been a collection of songs performed for national Turkish TV, her third contained her own songs. This is her 14th album, manifesting different styles. Sertab is also known as a philanthropist, and her song ‘Every Way That I Can’ was voted best European Song Contest Winner in 50 years.
Sony | December 21

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An Orchestrated Songbook
Paul Weller with Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Paul Weller is an English singer-songwriter, singer, musician (bass guitar) and fashion designer. He achieved fame with the revival band The Jam and is credited with being the ‘godfather of British pop’. Born in 1958 and initially named John William Weller; his parents often called him Paul. He came from a humble background and showed a great interest in music form an early age, admiring The Who, The Beatles, and Status Quo. His engaging and slightly hoarse voice tackles anything from pop and jazz standards to rock and roll. From 1992, his career moved upward and away until he became one of the most successful British musicians of his generation. He has also been very generous with his money.
Universal | December 21

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In Order to Know You
Deep Throat Choir
Deep Throat Choir is an all-female singing collective formed in 2013 by Luisa Gerstein. Having played in the bands Landshapes and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, the project was driven by the simple desire to bring music making back to a few basic elements: just voices and drums. Not for the love of choirs per se, but for the love of raw female voices thrown together, of the interplay of intricate vocal melodies and harmonies; Luisa wanted to sing and arrange the music she loved, and to hear it stripped and bolstered in that specific way that lots of voices can do. A melody sung by one voice is so different to a melody sung by many, and the same goes for words; the sentiment is altogether transformed when carried by a collective as opposed to an individual.
Bella Union | December 21

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Servant of the mind
Volbeat
Volbeat, a Danish rock band formed in Copenhagen in 2001, playing a fusing of rock and rock, heavy metal, and rockabilly, are pleased to present a new studio album. Their current line-up are made up of vocalist and guitarist Michael Poulsen, guitarist Bob Caggiano, drummer Jon Larsen and bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen. All of their studio albums have been certified gold in Denmark. Their second album Rock the Rebel/Metal the Devil attained platinum status, and their 2010 release Beyond Hell/Above Heaven was subject to widespread international critical acclaim. They have opened for mega bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, and Nightwish. Volbeat contributed a cover of the Metallica song «Don’t Tread on Me» to the charity tribute album The Metallica Backlist, released in September 2021.
Mascot Records | December 21

La cumbia me está llamando ft. La Perla (Kaidi Tatham Remix)
Nubya Garcia
Nubya Nyasha Garcia (1991) is an incredibly talented English jazz musician, saxophonist, composer, and bandleader who cites Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane as well as Miles Davis and Marie-Lou Williams as her major musical influences. Her first instruments were the violin and viola, which she played for the London Schools Symphony Orchestra. Nubya Garcia debuted her band on 18th August at the 2021 BBC Proms held in London’s Royal Albert Hall. The Telegraph gave the performance a 5* review. (Wikipedia) She also hosts a monthly radio show on NTS, in which she showcases her varied tastes in music, with echoes spanning soul, contemporary jazz, reggae and dub.
Concord | August 21

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The NeverEnding Show
Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons was born into a family of renowned entertainers. He first gained recognition as a sound engineer for The Beatles and Pink Floyd. In 1975, with Eric Woolfson, he founded The Alan Parsons Project. They recorded a dozen albums and performed a year-long show, Freudiana, playing in Vienna. In 1992, adding guitarist Ian Bairnson, drummer Stuart Elliott, and orchestral arranger Andrew Powel, with all of whom he had worked before, Alan dropped ‘Project’ from the Band’s name. band reshuffles followed in 1996 and 2002. Here we have him at his best: great feelgood music from one of the most professional bandleaders and singers to have started out in the sixties.
Frontiers Music | October 21

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High and Lonesome
Robert Plant / Alison Krauss
«The duo has once again enlisted producer T Bone Burnett for the new collection of covers, which features songs written by Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, the Everly Brothers, Anne Briggs, Geeshie Wiley, Bert Jansch and others. A Plant / Burnett original, ‘High and Lonesome,’ also appears on Raise the Roof., serving as the album’s opening track. Krauss and Plant are backed by drummer Jay Bellerose, guitarists Marc Ribot, David Hidalgo, Bill Frisell and Buddy Miller, bassists Dennis Crouch and Viktor Krass and pedal steel guitarist Russ Pahl, among others,» (UCR) This track conveys unpolished R&B, but this is where country fans get their money’s worth.
Rounder Records | October 21

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Global Citizens Live in Paris : Afrika
Angélique Kidjo
It is a pleasure to hear Angélique speak one of her native languages and sing in another. Born in Benin, in 1960, Angélique ist a singer, songwriter, actress, and activist who hardly needs introducing. She is fluent in five languages, two European, three African, and she performs in all of them. Time called her ‘Africa’s premier diva’’. She combines beauty and strength, precision and improvisation, funkiness and tradition. Angélique is blessed with a great voice and engages warmly and directly with her audience. Next to her many musical collaborations, she has written a memoir, Spirit Rising, and she has been active for more innumerable causes, mostly involving Africa, and the planet.
Global Citizens | October 21

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Angel In The Alleyways
Dion ft. Patty Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen
Dion has released the single and video for Angel in the Alleyways. The song was written by Dion and Mike Aquilina and is one of the selections from the forthcoming Stomping Ground album.« (New Jersey Stage) The video for this gospel-like song was shot at the Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux, transported from Segovia, Spain, to Miami in the 1950s, (!) and has a hymnic quality. Springsteen’s wife, Patty, is credited with the rich sound of the alum. Dion and the Springsteens had collaborated with Dion (DiMucci) before, on Hymn to Him’, on the spiritual singer-songwriter’s 2020 album Blues With Friends.
Keeping the Blues Alive Records | November 21

Tomorrow
Wyn Starks feat. Andreas Moss
«A modern-day pop-soul pioneer, Wyn Starks builds a bridge between the old-school music that filled his childhood and the grooves, hooks and genre-bending bounce of contemporary radio. It’s a sound that celebrates not only the multi-octave range of his elastic vocals, but also the power of his songwriting… Raised in Minneapolis, Wyn sang his first solos in church. The soaring power of gospel music took a hold of him at a young age, as did the pop songs, soul records, and R&B hits that he’d loisten tp at home, hidden from the rest of the world behind his family’s couch, headphones pressed to his ears. To Wyn, it all sounded like magic… And what, exactly does Wyn Starks sound like? He sounds like the rare sort of songwriter who blurs the boundaries between genres and generations.»wynstarks.com
Let’s Play House Bandcamp | February 21

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can’t stop me from dying
Ada Lea
one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden is the name of the second album by Canadian songwriter Alexandra Levy, publicly known by the moniker Ada Lea. It is a collection of walking-paced, cathartic pop/folk songs but also a book of heart-twisting, rear-view stories of life. The Album is set in Montreal and each song exists as a dot on a personal history map of the city where Levy grew up. Ada Lea has followed up the creative, indie-rock songcraft of her debut album what we say in private with surprising arrangements and new perspectives. Ada penned and demoed this batch of songs in an artist residency in Banff, Alberta. After sorting and editing, she made her way to L.A. to record them with Marshall Vore (Phoebe Bridgers) with whom she had previously collaborated.
Saddle Creek & Next Door Records | September 21

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Introvert – from the album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
Little Simz
This bombastic 4th studio album was released by the British rapper and singer of Nigerian origins early last month, and some of it was shot in Lagos. «The subject of empowering black people is strong on the intro track. Some may recently have started to discuss this topic as the Black Lives Matters movement has been more prevalent in recent time. However, Little Simz makes it clear that her thoughts on this topic aren’t new. Everything she raps abut on this is how she has been feeling all her life. (GRM) » «’Introvert’ kicks off the album with a smooth array of tribal drums, hazy choir hits, and triumphant horns… Immediately the listener is hit with an unapologetic, prideful, and cinematic vibe reinforced by the elements and vocal tendencies that present themselves later on in the track.» (Basketrap)
AWAL | September 21

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Beethoven’s 10th Symphony completed by AI
Deutsche Telekom
A first short soundbite is offered by Deutsche Telekom, the electronic access provider, the entire symphony premieres in Bonn, on 9 October. But you may still want to go on listening. AI has a lot to offer when it comes to dead composers and completing their work. “Taryn is no stranger to the music and entertainment industry. She is a singer and digital storyteller who has amassed more than 500 million views on YouTube, and she has over 450 thousand subscribers. On the other hand, Amper is making his debut…except she’s (it’s?) not a person.» (Futurism) That was four years ago, and compositions with the aid of AI composers have since exploded. Claire Boucher, aka as Grimes, who is closer to such realties than most of us, says AI will usher in an era of “luxurious communism”. That will certainly be true for artificially created music, where sharing will go way beyond caring. (sgs)
Telekom Forum | Bonn | 9 October 21

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Sister
Ásgeir
Ásgeir Trausti (Einarsson, 1992) is an Icelandic singer-songwriter and musician. He won several categories at the 2012 Islandic Music Awards as well as being awarded the European Border Breaker Award 2014. The Guardian hailed him as Iceland’s biggest musical export since Björk. It wasn’t easy for Ásgeir to break through. He was born in a village with only 40 souls far off in the lyrical countryside so that it took him a while to get well-known anywhere, he says. His father, the poet Einar Georg Einarsson, contributes  most of the lyrics to his songs. Ásgeir Trausti performs with his own band, the Ásgeir Trausti Band. He also plays guitar in the Icelandic band The Lovely Lion. (Wikipedia) He lives in Reijkjavik.
One Little Indian | September 21

When A Man (from the album Lovesick)
Raheem DeVaughn & Apollo Brown
The album Lovesick is a collaboration between the singer Raheem DeVaughn and hip-hop producer Apollo Brown. ‘When A Man’ is a take-off on the famous Percy Sledge song but not only. It transcends the original, mixes it with elements of other songs, twist and turns it, interweaving soul, funk, and classical R&B. Raheem DeVaughn (born 1975 in Newark, New Jersey) is the son of jazz cellist Abdul Wadud. He was raised in Maryland by his mother, Imani Smith, and started out as a musician in his teens. Apollo Brown (Eric Vincent Stevens) was born 1980, grew up in Great Rapids Michigan and later moved to Detroit. His career took off after he won the Red Bull Big Tune Challenge, in 2009. He is known for using antiquated technology to great effect.
Mello Music Group | April 2021

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What the Flood Leaves Behind
Amy Helm
Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Amy Helm’s third album, What the Flood Left Behind, is her most autobiographical to date, both in content and creation. These ten songs represent a gathering of ideas and experiences, friends, and collaborators. Yet, the album also marks a landing – a pause for the traveling musician and mother of two young boys seeing clarity in her calling and career. After making three albums and performing in far-flung places, Helms (born 1970) returned home to Woodstock’s Levon Helm studios, aka The Barn, just before the pandemic to record and reclaim and a sense of self. The songs themselves reflect Helm’s inner strength and personal growth. Levon Helm was the drummer of The Band and Amy’s father.
BMG | June 2021

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Eu Com Você (from the album Drama)
Rodrigo Amarante
Rodrigo Amarante de Castro Neves, born September 6, 1976, in Rio de Janeiro, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (flute, guitar, piano, vocals), composer and arranger. Rodrigo studied journalism and began to play in the band Los Hermanos. Between 1999 and 2007, they recorded several albums and were highly popular in Brazil. Since then, they have occasionally gathered for concerts and tours. Next Amarante dedicated himself to Orquestra Imperial (with Gaetano Veloso’s son Moreno) and Little Joy. From 2010 onward, he has been working solo. Amarante lives in LA and will be on tour in Europe in April 2022.
Polyvinyl | July 2021

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Anjelito
Homeboy Sandman
A great rapper and singer, funky, soft and driven at the same time. Love the lyrics. Here’s what I found: Homeboy Sandman’s favorite song is “Knocks Me off My Feet” by Stevie Wonder. His second favorite song is “I Know You, I Love You” by Chaka Khan. His favorite Michael Jackson song is “Lady in My Life”. Homeboy Sandman (Angel Del Villar II) grew up in Elmhurst, Queens, New York, and attended boarding school at New Hampshire’s Holderness School. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently enrolled in law school at Hofstra University. He withdrew from law school during his third year to pursue his career as an emcee.
Mello Music Group | August 2021

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Jean-Jacques Rojer Plays Jacobo Palm
«I’m a guitarist/ Composer/Arranger based in Amsterdam, originally from the Caribbean Island of Curaçao. The main genres I work with on stage are jazz and world music. However, I did grow up playing Hard Rock, and I’ve studied a lot of Classical music over the years. In Amsterdam I compose, teach, do collaborations with DJ’s, record with jazz singers, play with samba ensembles and a lot more… I have some experience arranging and I also play some electric bass, the Venezuelan Cuatro and the Cuban Tres guitar.» Jacobo José Maria Palm (1886-1968) was the grandson of Jean Gerard Palm (1831-1906), the ‘father of Curaçao classical music’. His daughter Irma Rojer-Palm was his most talented student. We are showing the cover for Jean-Jacques Rojer’s yet unpublished new album here, called SOKO.
Sunnyside Records | August 2021

Muito à vontade
João Donato e sui Trio
The Brazilian jazz and bossa nova pianist João Donato de Oliveira Neto began playing professionally at age fifteen. He later joined Antonio Carlos Gobim and Astrud Gilberto and was joined by João Gilberto when he had become the pianist and arranger for the band Garotos da Lua. In the seventies he went to the US where he recorded with Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente and others. Donato was the recipient of several Grammy Awards. Alexandre Carvalho dos Santos wrote, «I recommend a João Donato gig not only to someone who is interested in first class music, an impressive pianist and a selection of historic compositions. I recommend it to anyone who needs an anti-depressive, an acupuncture session or any such other form of deep relaxation.» (SGS, Source: Wikipedia)
Polydor, 1963

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Blue
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell is not only an extraordinary pure singer, with a jazzy edge, but also a proliferous composer and a great guitarist and pianist as well as having inspired countless other musicians. All this has been said again, on occasion of the 50th anniversary of her «archetypical» album, as The New York Times wrote. Blue, Mitchell’s fourth studio album, stands for the early hippie area, situated between Laurel Canyon in California and the Greek islands, where singer songwriters went to find a congenial environment, just like another Canadian legend, Leonard Cohen. Joni had been hanging out with Graham Nash, David Crosby and James Taylor but left to be by herself. After all these years, Joni Mitchell still hits home with clarity, truth and determination. See also a series of interviews around the star in The New York Times.
Reprise | June 1971

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Merzbow
Tajak
These people are producing the most laidback music I have heard in a while, and some of their visuals are pretty trippy too. All I have been able to find out is that they are an experimental band from Mexico whose first, digital album is called Amsterdam 211 (2017)
Hole Records | August 2019

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Hacia El Vacío
Mabe Fratti featuring Claire Rousay
Taken from the upcoming album Será que ahora podremos entendernos? (Will we be able to understand each other now?) Mabe Fratti is an extraordinary young experimental Guatemalan cellist and composer. She has made in Mexico City her home. «This song is about the quest to understand something that has been said and how slow the process of explaining can be,» Fratti said in a statement. «How words serve as a kind of bridge, but that finally there is a point where we can only trust that we understood. (San Antonio (TX) based percussionist/composer) Claire Rousay intervened in this song with field recordings and cymbals.» Read more here. 
Unheard of Hope Records | April 2021

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Max Bruch: String Quintet in E flat major
WDR Symphonieorchester Chamber Players
Following what Fanfare described as «characterful, cogent, committed» accounts of Beethoven string quintets last year, the WDR players turn their attention to the chamber works which the eighty-year -old Bruch composed in 1918, inspired by the virtuoso violinist Willy Hess (who had performed in the premieres of his Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola and the Konzertstück for Violin and Orchestra). Max Bruch (1838-1920) saw music as «the language of God» and was confirmed in his romantic worldview by a long and happy marriage with the singer Clara Tuczek and an equally successful career. At the height of his fame, he spent three seasons as the conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society.
Virtigo | Juni 2021

Ice Melt
Crumb
The American psychedelic indie rock band – not to be confused with the Swiss blues and rock cover band of the same name – met in college and consist of Lila Ramani (guitar, vocals), Jesse Brotter (bass, vocals), Bri Aronow (synthesizers, keyboard, saxophone), and Jonathan Gilad (drums). They released their first album, Jinx, in 2019. The singing is often evanescent, musical harmonies dominate and make for easy listening. Indie Current described them as “psychedelic slackers”, a less positive way of calling them laid back. Due to an orchestral twist, their precise music is reminiscent of psychedelic pioneers such as The Moody Blues. Originally from Boston, they made Brooklyn their home. For an interview in Rolling Stone click here
Citrus City records | April 2021

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Living My Best Life
Motown Moe
More easy listening. Motown Moe is a smooth jazz producer and pianist from Detroit area. «As a youngster Moe would spend endless hours listening to jazz music ranging from Ronnie Laws o MFSB. The instrumental music of the 70’sreally consumed him, especially sounds coming out of Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound studio. Moe had interest in learning the sax, guitar and piano at an early age… » but joined the Air Force instead, where he began to play around and compose on a small keyboard. Music remained a hobby for many years until he learned the technical side of music production while working as a miner and in a car assembly line until he gained recognition and began to play music in earnest, joining many well-known artists of the Motown area.
Windy Records | May 2021

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Jazz EP
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Rodrigo y Gabriela is a Mexican guitar duo. Their third album Rodrigo y Gabriela was the first instrumental album ever to reach Number One on the charts in their adopted country Ireland. They also use their acoustic guitars with percussive virtuosity. Their music is influenced by various styles such as new flamenco, heavy metal and rock. They used to play in trash metal band Tiera Acida without much success, before moving to Ireland. Success came when they were discovered by Damien Rice and opened for one of his tours. They gained international attention through their elaborate cover versions of the hits Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin and Orion by Metallica. In 2011, they collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides.
Rubyworks/ATO | May 2021

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String of Souls
Acid Test
The Canadian experimental band formed in Toronto, in 1990. Twenty-five years after the release of their first album, Drop, the wizened and revitalized band, comprised of original members Lucy di Santo (vocals), guitarist Steve Fall, keyboardist/producer Adam (Atom) Perdy, and new drummer Tim van de Vem are picking up from where they left off. Acid Test’s new music is as adventurous, as genre-bending, edgy and visceral. But there is a also a gravitas and vibrancy to the songs, something that has come through the lives of each of the band members have lived on the intervening decades, before the initial thought of a reformation took hold, after the death of former member Mike Harland, in 2012. They’ve been back for a while now.
Heavy Psych Sounds | May 2021

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Still Life
Fougère
London-based musician and composer Fougére (Jamie Norton) is pleased to announce details of his debut album Still Life. A personal, inspirational thought piece fused with neo-classical influences. “A few years ago I became really interested in the work of Italian artist Giorgio Morandi, a painter of the kind of still life composition that communicates a sense of tranquillity and privacy. I was looking for this same sense of stillness and minimalism within this music; To try and capture a mood or moment, as if it were a still life painting.” Having composed under his birth name for so long, Norton took his moniker ‘Fougère’ from one of his passions: smell. It’s the term for one of the main fragrance families,
Studio Fougère | May 2021