Through thickets and plumes of fog using a plangent yet plummy blend of saxophone, clarinet, voice, prepared guitar, and percussion, this week the multi-instrumentalist Ashley Paul renders haunting smiles, fading thoughts, and tingling spines in the company of the double bassist Otto Willberg and bass clarinetist Yoni Silver. The experimental hip hop duo Prison Religion bid to buck convention in the mould of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, and Wild Up release the first ever recording of the babbling, fledgling, and exuberantly queer-themed ‘Joy Boy’ as an introduction to their second volume of works by the minimalist composer Julius Eastman.
A journalist who seeks to examine a series of mysterious gatherings faces gruelling mental trials punctuated by monstrous and bloodcurdling sounds, as the TORMENTA collective from São Paulo and the Kampala-based Nyege Nyege Tapes band together for the score to their first psychedelic horror film. From the heart of the thriving Leeds jazz scene, the saxophonist Jasmine Myra draws inspiration from Shabaka and the Ancestors, while from Barcelona the Venezuela-born producer Luis Garbàn reunites with his frequent collaborator Arca to explore the nether regions of rowdy old-school reggaeton under the name Safety Trance.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith embodies a new vocal entity, Pontiac Streator deals in smouldering and restlessly captivating dub, and Daniel Schmidt directs ten pieces of naturalistic lied performed by Gamelan Encinal and the Mills Student Ensemble on his third album for Recital. Enumclaw strive for love but start to panic, while Moor Mother opens up chasms in the rap game alongside AKAI SOLO and the singer-songwriter justmadnice. Harkin dovetails a meditation on childhood with a piece of ambient deep listening, FKA twigs unfolds the dark dangers of love, and tracks by Yaya Bey, DJ Nativesun, Lean Year, Blackhaine, and Moseley complete the roundup.
Playlists: Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
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FKA twigs – ‘killer’
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Safety Trance – ‘El Alma Que Te Trajo’ (feat. Arca)
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Moor Mother – ‘RAP JASM’ (feat. AKAI SOLO & justmadnice)
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Yaya Bey – ‘pour up’ (feat. DJ Nativesun)
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Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – ‘Is it Me or is it You?’
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Prison Religion – ‘Torn Up Body’
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Pontiac Streator – ‘Picture Of The Woods’
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Blackhaine – ‘Armour Freestyle’ (feat. Moseley)
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Lean Year – ‘The Trouble With Being Warm’
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Harkin – ‘Driving Down A Flight Of Stairs’
