With a name and album title like these, you’d probably expect some sort of extreme metal or thrashcore. Led by bassist and composer Moppa Elliott, MOPDTK is instead a New York jazz band of long standing.
Postpunk-darkwave-electro trio Vonamor presents their pulsating and enthralling new single “You the People”. Recalling the best dark pop of the ’80s, this is the second taste of their impending, eponymous debut album, an 8-track collection produced by Lucio Leoni and being released via Time To Kill Records (TTK).
Las Vegas quarter Shanda & the Howlers grab a gallon of early-60s Motown and another of 50s rock & roll for a walking, rocking time capsule on third album It Ain’t Easy.
The Individual Beings embodies the idea of a student taking what he’s learned from a master, applying it to his own notions, and coming out with a distinctive and characteristic statement.
Though best known for his work with the quirky jazz trio The Bad Plus, pianist Ethan Iverson is, at heart, a traditionalist.
Since 2004, musician/mechanical engineer Tristan Shone, AKA Author & Punisher, has worked steadily to reclaim the original definition of industrial music, composing and performing his songs on homemade creations he calls “drone machines” and “dub machines.”
After a couple of records exploring his instrumental diversity, British keyboardist Kit Downes pares down to the classic piano trio format for Vermillion.
Though he has an impressive sideperson CV (Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, not to mention a bucketful of R&B dates), saxophonist Azar Lawrence also has records as a leader going back to 1974’s spiritual jazz classic Bridge Into the New Age.
Though he was free of the cancer he’d been fighting for years by that point, Fish knew he was nearing the end as he finished his twelfth studio album, and made sure he left a hell of a legacy behind.
The album asks the question: how do we find peace when we’re under constant bombardment?
Following a brief reunion around Omnivore’s reissue of the band’s 1985 debut Town + Country and lead vocalist Jimmer Podrasky’s musical reactivation after twenty-odd years, a new album from the Rave-Ups was inevitable.
After gigging and recording as a sideperson for the last five years or so, young pianist Mathis Picard makes his full-length solo debut with Live at the Museum.
Having gotten his introduction out of the way with 2020’s Omega, the usual explosion of talent a hotly tipped young musician is obligated to display on a debut record, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins returns with its follow-up, The 7th Hand.
Like his former boss Sun Ra, who pushed jazz to its outer limits but always made time for the old-school Fletcher Henderson arrangements he loved, Mitchell swings wide here, as comfortable with squealing free jazz as with swinging bebop.
The group’s well-traveled but effective blend of shimmering jangle, wide-eyed psychedelia and dreamy grunge favors sound over subject, which makes it the perfect music from which listeners can extract their own context.
Dissolution Wave is the aural equivalent of a weighted blanket. If you’re pining for the melodic and heavy space-rock from the late 90s, Cloakroom has returned with its third album to provide the sublime but downcast shoegaze sound your spirit craves.
Parisien presents a program of sturdy compositions given vibrant life on his latest album Louise.
Tenor Time transports you to a late night set at your favorite jazz club.
As a follow up to their enchanting debut album Beauty and Loss, *Opal Canyon is back with a new album. A series of singles are planned to introduce the listening audience to their deft and delicate sound before the full album drops in early April.
There’s free improvisation, and then there’s Cecil Taylor.
A country legend rolls with changing times and reaffirms her greatness.
Slap Bang Blue Rendezvous may be almost ninety minutes long, twice as long as some wags think it should be, but the length works in the band’s favor, as they’re not a bummer in the bunch.
Guitarist Oz Noy is best known for bluesy fusion records. For Riverside, however, he’s teamed up with his pals Ugonna Okegwo (bass) and Ray Marchica (drums) for a set of standards.
Different from any of their previous or subsequent musical projects, yet very much bearing the hallmark of their respective styles, Hitsville PA has a mysterious, unique quality redolent of the literate indie-pop both excel at.
Veteran heavy hitters bring all of their talents to bear on Ode to O, their second album together at the OGJB Quartet.
As a supplement to last year’s American debut Ten Easy Pieces, Laj plucked tracks from previous recordings to compile RetroSpectacle.
Douglas Wayne’s latest single “HEY YA’LL,” rumbles along in fine Americana fashion asking the eternal question “whatcha done done?” It’s an imagined conversation with regular folk in a place like his father’s hometown in the Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina.
The world may not have ended, yet, but if the events of the last few years have fueled the inspiration of bands like Vannon, then at least we can be thankful for a work of art this powerful.
It’s difficult to feel left wanting a little more, but what Aura Blaze has given us here is breathtaking in its scope and truly impressive in its beautifully lush production.
In 2020, Rich Jacques had a health scare and decided to move out of Los Angeles. His friends Renee and Paul invited him to come and live with them and their family allowing him time to created a lot of new habits and get back to health. It was a life changing experiencer him and their generosity, support, and friendship was truly humbling. “Montecito” is a love letter to those people and that place.
Capturing a 2018 performance opening for Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds at the titular fest, Live at Montreux Jazz Festival presents Anna von Hausswolff at her most enthralling.
Ellis is a fantastically hypnotic collection of songs, and a giant step forward for 1st Base Runner’s sound.
As with all of Matthews’ other work, Ever Since Ever Since, the trio’s second LP, swims confidently in the 70s end of the power pop pool, happily indulging in the sweet melodies/tough attack modus operandi .
For Hex, Madrid instrumental rock quartet Toundra decided to go big, rather than go home.
Collect Call is the solo project of Brighton-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Joseph Thorpe. Creating electronic dream pop that ranges from soft and sensitive to loud and bombastic, his delicate textural synthesisers, energetic drums and rhythm interlace with a balanced sense of space and sincere introspective lyrics.
British-Spanish indie-folk duo Shrinari present their new long-player ‘Hold On To The Hope, Though’, a collection of deep, inspirational tracks recorded over the past few years, bringing the listener with them on a surrealistic journey on a path of discovery. You could call this music Genre Fluid, Sacred Funk or Spirit Soul. You could call it High-Frequency Music or World Folk Pop. This beautifully-crafted collection is an inspiration and full of love, light and positivity.
With a keen sense of melody and ambition to write about subjects beyond cars, girls and rock & roll, Santander, Spain’s Pulsebeats are on their way to that milestone.
A fascinating and captivating twist on grunge and alt-rock that strips the genres back to their bare essentials and injects a heavy dose of psychedelic oddness for good measure.
Brooklyn-based underground music veterans Jarvis Earnshaw and Trevor Dunn have released Hypnagogia, their first collaborative album as the Travis Duo. Together these established artists mesh and warp jazz into a novel and unique experimental sitar-laden creature.
Breath By Breath, his latest, is inspired by two things: his personal meditation practice and his emergence from lockdown.
NYC-based alternative rock outfit Black Rose Burning has released ‘The Wheel’, their second full-length album, following the band’s debut album ‘The Year of the Scorpion’, released in 2020. Running at about 50 minutes, this collection of 12 galactic offerings was inspired by love lost, love won and outer space. This sophomore album takes the band’s sound to a completely new level in terms of songwriting and composition.
It’s an ambitiously dramatic and highly theatrical album that never loses focus, and the band never forgets to have a blast in the process, making the whole thing a rollercoaster of high octane fun.
