There can be something magical about stripping music down to just an instrument and a voice, without the enhancement (distraction?) of a full-blown arrangement.
Entropy is the Mainline to God is the first full-length album under the Veldt name since 1998. And it’s a doozy.
Never one to rest on his laurels, guitarist Bill Frisell follows up not just 2020’s excellent Valentine, but also his consistent work as a sideperson and bandmate, with the new quartet record Four.
Post-punk new romantics Candy Coffins present their new album Once Do It With Feeling, a loaded 10-track collection that arrives two years after their Somehow Misplaced EP. Showcasing solid songwriting, and relating the themes addressed both confidently and cohesively, this album is emotionally and sonically saturated. Their music boasts Cure*-esque textures and melody, as well as the thematic elements and visceral delivery of *The Afghan Whigs.
Though trained in jazz, with a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, guitarist Olli Hirvonen doesn’t confine himself solely to bebop on his fourth album Kielo.
Brooklyn-based Dubliner Ronan Conroy is gearing up to release his new album The Slow Death of the LoveMyth. Since 2013, Conroy has immersed himself in the ‘Lovemyth’ project, this work culminating in this collection, influenced both by the 80s/90s goth bands he grew up listening to and ethereal darkwave bands he would be introduced to later on.
Vocalist/songwriter Sarah Elizabeth Charles exists in a creative space in between genres on her solo album Blank Canvas.
UK indie rock veterans Vernons Future present their Aquaplaning album following the lead track “Call To Arms”, a plea to save the planet from a climate emergency by joining together in our efforts.
Montreal-based indie rock / post-punk quartet The Ember Glows has released their new EP Where Spirits Play, a 4-track offering recorded at Closet Studios in Montreal with elements of Simple Minds, The Cult, Echo and the Bunnymen, early U2, Nick Cave and The Mission at the fore.
Sort of a summit of jazz professors, Another Life puts pianists and composers Dan Cavanagh and James Miley together with drummer John Hollenback to see what happens.
The harmonious blend of Elliot Cole, Fiona Gillespie, and the Makaris ensemble present a fascinating audio-visual trip for the senses in “Tam Lin”, a Celtic-Baroque folktale rock opera set on All Hallow’s Eve. Produced by Kevin Eikenburg and Four Ten Media, this period video was filmed at St. Mary’s on Grand in NYC.
UK-based Black Market Karma and iconic vocalist Tess Parks present “The Sky Was All Diseased”, an international collaboration rooted in friendship and spontaneity. This is the first taste of the band’s eleventh full-length album Friends In Noise, which will be released in mid-January via London boutique label Flower Power Records.
Bassist and composer Timothy Norton doesn’t stint on ambition for his first album as a leader: Visions of Phaedrus is inspired by Plato’s Phaedrus.
LA-based alternative rock collective Beauty In Chaos presents their ‘Halloween Surprise’’ single – “Bloodletting”. This is a dark, spooky New Orleans-infused rendition of the Concrete Blonde track, featuring BIC vocalists Whitney Tai, Kat Leon and Tish Ciravolo in a nod to the original song.
Art rock collective The Pull of Autumn presents their new single ‘Outlaw Empire’ featuring Mark Stewart, founding member of the legendary UK band The Pop Group, and remixed by the esteemed Adrian Sherwood.
What’s the difference between a jazz band and a jam band?
Legendary drummer and bandleader Paul Motian cast a long, long shadow with his eclectic work over the course of his sixty-decade career.
Ireland’s Columbia Mills may not be widely known in the US, even among Big Takeover readers, but their post-punk—infused, indie-electronic music is a perfect fit. Bassist, Uisneagh Treacy, recently discussed the band and their outstanding new LP, “Heart of a Nation” with me.
Chicago-based dark alternative post-punk outfit The Bellwether Syndicate presents the single “Dystopian Mirror’” a powerful dark and lush taster of the band’s Vestige & Vigil album, which is scheduled for release in the first half of 2023 via Sett Records and Nexilis Records, a division of Schubert Music Europe.
LA-based alt-pop artist Faith Marie presents her new single “NVM (Remix)”, an infectious downtempo song about depression and the author’s personal struggles to move forward.
Folk-Pop trio The Burnt Pines, comprised of singer and lyricist, Kris Skovmand, instrumentalist and arranger Aaron Flanders on guitar and banjo, and piano, keyboard player and arranger Miguel Sá Pessoa, have announced the release of Don’t Look Down, their affecting sophomore album, via CEN/The Orchard.
“Relentless” marks the first of four cuts to be released before the LP arrives next spring. While the group writes collaboratively, each of the forthcoming singles allows each individual band member to highlight their own style and influences within the broader context.
The Off-Off Broadway Guide to Synergism is a masterful piece of work that reminds us that great composers still draw nourishment from their inspirations.
American indie rocker Rob Munk presents his new single “Amazon”, an upbeat environmentally-conscious banger that previews his Phased Out LP. It will be released on November 18 via New Jersey’s new Magic Door Label, founded by Guided by Voices drummer Kevin March, together with producer Ray Ketchem and artist Renée LoBue.
Alternative music legend Chris Connelly presents “Ripcord, Ripcord”, the second single from his forthcoming album Eulogy to Christa: A Tribute to the Music & Mystique of Nico. Written by Connelly, this song was inspired by a little known detail about Nico’s life – her rape by a military offering while she was a teenager holding a bureaucratic position for the U.S. Army. This traumatic incident would inform the rest of her already war-torn life.
Two generations of Cuban jazz pianists come together for Front Street Duets.
A Fab Four masterwork, refurbished and expanded.
Saxophonist Ivo Perelman is one of the most prolific players in music, any music. Not only does he record frequently, but the results are often multi-disk sets.
Inspired equally by bebop and an eighteenth century French Christian cult, Seances puts the players through Dunn’s paces on a set of knotty, dynamic compositions with a new twist.
Veteran Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen is well known not only for his expert, tasteful playing, but also for his extraordinary compositions. For Affirmation, however, he’s taking a different road.
The duo’s sixth LP together, The Strange Case of Persephone Nimbus is their most ambitious yet. (Just look at the cover.)
For Anime Mundi, Nagano strips her support down to a trio, but without stinting on the space-filling sound she essayed last time.
Lumenette has released their debut album, “All Around My Head.” Vocalist Christine Byrd has created a sonic stunner built on the gorgeous post-rock and ambient instrumentals of her husband’s Nashville-based outfit, Hammock. This is a must listen.
Ron Carter is undeniably one of the titans of jazz. Though best known for his stint in Miles Davis’ Second Great Quartet in the 1960s, the bassist has racked up hundreds, if not thousands, of recordings and performances with jazz musicians far and wide, including dozens of his own albums as a leader.
Joined, as usual, by pianist Matthew Shipp and bassist Brandon Lopez, Dickey adds a new face to his ensemble: saxophonist Tony Malaby.
Russian/Ukrainian composer *Evgueni Galperine*pulls his artistic sources from a few different areas – the advanced harmonics of Shostakovich, the dramatic tension of Tchaikovsky, the lush minimalism of Arvo Pärt – and molds it into his own distinctive point of musical view.
Free comes ahead of a full album release marked for early next year and sees Bristol, UK due Leathers doing what they do best – boiled down, no-nonsense, groove-driven, minimalist rock and roll.
Eschewing power pop, Barr looks to different, more sophisticated forms of American pop music as inspiration.
This new single from Clay Joule shows a very different side to the artist, one that is more reflective and whistful but which is no less positive and life-afirming.
Guitarist Doug Wamble has always had one foot in jazz and the other in the blues, and his latest album Blues in the Present Tense continues his successful crossbreed.
Just three years out from being minted as a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer with Roxy Music, Brian Eno returns with his 22nd solo LP. Adding vocals to many of his compositions, the new record paints a thoughtful, artful, dreamy, and bleak emotional portrait of our planet at present. Listen in.
The latest in a fruitful string of releases, The Persian Leaps released their widely acclaimed Drone Etiquette album in late 2021. Here again, they dish out a fine new collection of 90s college rock-inspired compositions, their distinct sound built on a magnetic alternative rock foundation.
Born in Berlin and based in the U.S., pianist Benjamin Lackner has led several ensembles throughout the years, including his eponymous trio.
As with the originals, the Montreal-to-New York musician keeps the performances riff- and tune-oriented, using his prodigious technique for short bursts of feeling, just like a good blues guitar solo.
The new NØISE track “Automatic (Ree-Vo Remix)” appears on Ree-Vo’s new limited edition 10” vinyl, which also features collaborations with* Object Object*, Dälek and iconic industrial dancehall artist The Bug. Limited to 500 copies, the cover artwork is a tribute to Lee Perry. The 10” vinyl is being released together with Ree-Vo’s debut album All Welcome on Planet Ree-Vo, pressed on turquoise-blue gatefold vinyl (and also released on CD and digitally). The 10” release was released on orange vinyl.
Inside Outside is the new EP by Stafford-based singer Ben Calvert. Ben is a prolific artist with a string of releases under his belt including many with the legendary cult label Bearos.
Former (?) Connection singer Brad Marino has spent the last couple of years conquering the power pop world, but for Basement Beat he’s going for something slightly different.
As New York-based garage rock purveyor Dmitry Wild gears up to release his Electric Souls album, he brings us the Jesus and Mary Chain -flavored single “Sweetest Thing”, which is about fear and our tendency to cyclically return to that feeling before we can finally overcome it.
Art pop band Elk City presents their new single “Your Time Doesn’t Exist”, from their forthcoming Above the Water LP, which opens a new chapter in the Montclair, New Jersey band’s evolutionary story. Vibrant, raw-edged and bold, it showcases a new guitar-rich lineup featuring members of Versus, Luna and the Psychedelic Furs side-project Feed.
