New album ‘Safe (Exits)’ out today. This is the third album for New York-based Bryce Hackford, out on the San Francisco Spring Theory label. According to his Bandcamp: “In 2017 Bryce Hackford migrated to Margate’s PRAH Foundation for a weeklong residency. Armed with a spellbook of rhythm and keyboard parts he afterwards invited a coven of musicians from various backgrounds to improvise on the tracks, with little guidance from himself and purposefully not knowing quite where the results would end up. Mixing and arranging the tracks later revealed a unique wizardry to the collaborations, each individual exploring the skeletal structures with an unbridled creative freedom, and in turn garnishing them with some incredibly inspired and inventive performances.”
#instrumental
Horatio Luna – Yes Doctor
Henry Hicks AKA Horatio Luna is a Melbourne based improviser, composer, bassist and producer. A founding member of hip-hop/soul community “30/70 collective”, he is also an active member of the Australian beatz, jazz and soul music scene. The album ‘Yes Doctor’ out on La Sape records.
Lunch Money Life – Truth Serum
Lunch Money Life are Stewart Hughes (drums), Sean Keating (guitar), Luke Mills-Pettigrew (bass), Jack Martin (electronics/trombone) & Spencer Martin (electronics/saxophone). Taken from the upcoming ‘Immersion Chamber’ album, due out early April on the London-based Scenic Route label.
Kutmah – Centenarians
Kutmah (pronounced koot/mah, real name Justin McNulty) started Sketchbook as a radio show on Dublab in Los Angeles, California. A year later, Sketchbook became the first all instrumental beat night in LA. And back in 2018, Kutmah released an excellent celebratory compilation ‘Sketchbook Radio Archives, Vol 1’ which I still cannot stop replaying (featuring previous #SOTD: Darkhouse Family – Moving 909s). Now Kutmah releases a new 10 inch on the All City record label, based in Dublin, Ireland. This Kutmah release closes off a series of 10 inches that All City made in LA heads back in 2010… Kutmah was supposed to be on that batch of releases but it has taken until now to finalise the production.
Sign Libra – Sea of Nectar
Sign Libra is the moniker of the multi-talented Latvian music producer and artist Agata Melnikova. Her new album ‘Sea to Sea’ (inspired by the “seas” of the moon’s surface, known collectively as Lunar Maria) has been released on the Brooklyn-based music institution RVNG Intl.
Nicola Cruz – Third Eye Dub (feat. Nasiri)
Nicola Cruz is a producer from Quito, Ecuador. His ‘Hybridism EP’ is a modern exotica blend of North African rhythms, ethereal Persian melodies, and chants from distant and imagined cultures. According to Cruz’s Bandcamp, ‘Third Eye Dub’ explores “the fractal realm of concentration, a point where the Oud (played by Nasiri) acts on the pineal gland. This inward journey through the cavernous depths of the subconscious sails on a smooth modular groove that transports the listener across this psychic expanse, a filigree of Persian harmonies (in Shur, to be exact) tracing outlines in the dark”. Nasiri is a multi-instrumentalist, musician & producer most known for his style of playing the Middle Eastern & Persian Sufi music. With instruments like the oud, flute & clarinet, he brings out the mystic dreamy and sometimes dark vibe in his sound. This track out on the Montreal-based Multi Culti label. Previous Nicola Cruz #SOTD: Voz De Las Montañas (Con Minük)
Tags: #electronic #experimental #folk #instrumental #world-music
Sam Gendel – Satin Doll
Title track from Sam Gendel’s upcoming ‘Satin Doll’ LP, due out on New York-based Nonesuch Records on 13th March. Gendel is a saxophonist and clarinetist, who collaborated on one of my favourite albums of 2018 ‘Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes – Music For Saxofone & Bass Guitar’. Recorded in Gendel’s native California, the album features three musicians: Gendel on saxophone, Gabe Noel on electric bass, and Philippe Melanson on electronic percussion.
Tags: #experimental #instrumental #jazz
Uwalmassa – Untitled 02
Uwalmassa provides an alternative study on Javanese gamelan compositions, experimenting with known and unknown structures. The new 12″ ‘Bumi Uthiri’ EP collects together tracks ‘Untitled 01’ and ‘Untitled 02’ (both first released as digital-only in September 2016) plus three new compositions. All tracks recorded live using a single condenser mic and then assembled using digital signal processing and audio manipulation. The EP is part of a sonic exploration project initiated by DIVISI62 – a sound and visual arts label based in Jakarta, Indonesia which examines the Indonesian identity issue within a global context.
Jon Hassell / Farafina – Flash Of The Spirit (Laughter)
Jon Hassell is an American trumpet player and composer, who has been active since the 1960s and who first collaborated with Burkina Faso group Farafina in 1987. From the reissued and remastered ‘Fourth World’ album from 1988, co-produced with the legendary studio team of Brian Eno & Daniel Lanois. Available via Tak:Til/Glitterbeat Records.
Somni – Moonlight (feat. Shrimpnose)
Somni is Leo Shulman, a Brighton-born, Los Angeles-based producer and multi-instrumentalist. who draws inspiration from the likes of LA beat scene titans Flying Lotus, Shlohmo, and Teebs, as well as UK based artists like Burial, Amon Tobin, and Portishead. This second full-length album ‘Home’ due out 21 March 2020 on Friends of Friends. Featuring the dense, hypnotic hip-hop beats producer Riley Smithson aka Shrimpnose, from the Twin Cities, Minnesota. Previous Somni #SOTD here: In Waves.
Tags: #beats #chill #electronic #instrumental