Born in Bahrain but based in London since the age of nine, Yazz Ahmed is a young jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player and composer. Having already collaborated and recorded with a wide array of artists and bands to date – Radiohead, Lee “Scratch” Perry or These New Puritans to name a few – the musician has […]
Martin Hayes Quartet: The Blue Room
In a musical context, the word “quartet” can point to a small group of four classical performers as in a string, a baroque, a wind, a vocal or a piano quartet. It can also refer to a small jazz ensemble consisting of a horn, a chordal instrument, a bass instrument and a drum kit. Released […]
Elskavon: Skylight
“Elska” means love. “Von” means hope. Love and hope. Two things every single person longs for and needs, and yet two things much too lacking in our world. A professional musician composing for film, TV and web, Minneapolis-based Chris Bartels also runs his own hybrid record label/production house Anthem Falls Music as an umbrella structure […]
This is How we Fly: Foreign Fields
Formed in 2010 and featuring The Gloaming‘s Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (Hardanger d’Amore), Seán Mac Erlaine (clarinets & electronics), Nic Gareiss (percussive dance) and Petter Berndalen (drums), This is How We Fly is a contemporary folk group sometimes venturing into jazz and electronica whose centre of gravity lies somewhere between Ireland, the United States and Sweden. […]
Alela Diane: Cusp
Life and death meet in a cusp. The two are intrinsically linked. My second daughter was born on the cusp. Alela Diane Strongly influenced by British singer songwriters like Vashti Bunyan or Sandy Denny and associated with contemporary acts like Fleet Foxes or Mariee Sioux, Oregon-based singer songwriter Alela Diane’s indie-folk and eerie songs first […]
Trio Da Kali and Kronos Quartet: Ladilikan
Opening the record, Trio Da Kali’s balafon (a wooden xylophone), bass ngoni (a traditional lute) and vocals clearly transport the listener to West Africa. But the introduction of Kronos Quartet’s classical strings a minute into “Tita” triggers an unexpected yet uplifting musical shift, thus unveiling an extraordinary fusion record. Commissioned by the Aga Khan Music […]
