pilole 2020 agosto/settembre

AGOSTO 2020	SETTEMBRE 2020
IDRIS ACKAMOOR & THE PYRAMIDS "Shaman!" Influential jazz collective Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids return with an epic new opus,‘Shaman!, featuring a fresh line-up including original 1970s Pyramids member Dr. Margaux Simmons on flute, Bobby Cobb on guitar, long-term associate Sandra Poindexter on violin, Ruben Ramos on bass, Gioele Pagliaccia on drums and Jack Yglesias on percussion. Shaman! marks another significant landmark in The Pyramids' discography with the band at the peak of their powers. [ file under: spiritual jazz ]		THE APARTMENTS "In and out of the light" A hypnotic, unforgettable set of songs, In and Out of the Light came together in a new way for The Apartments. Recording began in Sydney, at the end of winter, 2019. Working a few hours a day, one or two days a week, the album was finished in the summer, the final mix being completed the day before coronavirus lockdown hit Australia in 2020. [ file under: down under indie pop ]
ELLEN ALLIEN "Auraa" Ellen Allien, one of Berlin’s most ardent techno ambassadors, proudly unveils her latest full-length expedition into the realms of underground electronica. Brimming with creative energy, Ellen’s new LP AurAA follows her 2019 release Alientronic, and is her third album in three years. Raw, emotive and capable of transporting you from reality to an electrofied fantasy, AurAA explores the notion of unseen energies cont- rolling our planet. [ file under:berlin techno ]		DOVES "The universal want" The Universal Want is the fifth studio album by British rock band Doves.The album was released by Heavenly Recordings and Virgin/EMI on 11 September 2020. The Universal Want is the band's first album following a hiatus that began in 2010; the band members pursued solo projects in the interim. Three digital singles preceded the album's release across mid-2020: Carousels in June, Prisoners in July and Cathedrals of the Mind in August. [ file under: madchester indie ]
C418 "Minecraft- volume beta" The second official soundtrack of Minecraft. 140 minutes in length and extremely varied. Featuring the all-new creative mode, menu tunes, the horrors of the nether, the end's odd and misleading soothing ambiance and all the missing record discs from the game! [ file under: ambient soundtrack ]		FLAMING LIPS "American head" American Head is the best and most consistent studio album from The Flaming Lips since the release of their most successful brace of albums The Soft Bulletin & Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Similar to those albums, the 13 songs on American Head are classically structured and feature the same sonic and production qualities. [ file under: psyche alternative ]
NUBYA GARCIA "Source" Award-winning saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia announces her debut album Source via Concord Jazz. Produced by Garcia herself in collaboration with celebrated producer Kwes (Bobby Womack, Solange, Nerija), the album is announced after the release of lead single “Pace” and a rousing live performance on the BBC’s 2020 Glastonbury Experience. Source explores a multidimensional jazz sound layered with soul, afro-diasporic sounds and hints of dub-step along the way. [ file under: nu-jazz ]		MAMMAL HANDS "Captured spirits" Consisting of saxophonist Jordan Smart, pianist Nick Smart and drummer and tabla player Jesse Barrett, the trio have forged a growing reputation for their hypnotic fusion of jazz and electronica and have recieved glowing recommendations from the likes of The Guardian and Gilles Peterson. Drawing on their love of electronic, contemporary classical, world, folk and jazz music, Mammal Hands take in influences including Pharoah Sanders, Gétachèw Mekurya, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Sirishkumar Manji. [ file under: crosover drums and bass ]
DENT MAY "Late checkout" Bearing the torch of classic American songwriters that have inspired him like Harry Nilsson, Carole King and Randy Newman, May has gingerly cultivated his iPhone note scribbles and subconscious melodies into songs that could stand the test of time. Leaving the comfort of home-recording, May set out to elevate the production quality on Late Checkout while maintaining some intimacy through sparse arrangements. [ file under: pet sounds ]		MAKAYA MCCRAVEN "Universal beings E&F sides" An addendum to Makaya McCraven's critically-acclaimed 2018 release Universal Beings, which The New York Times said "affirms the drummer and beatsmith's position as a major figure in creative music," Universal Beings E&F Sides presents fourteen new pieces of organic beat music cut from the original sessions, prepared and produced by Makaya as a soundtrack to the Universal Beings documentary film. [ file under: spiritual jazz ]
SALLY ANNE MORGAN "Thread" Sally Anne Morgan is an artist and multi-instrumentalist whose mastery of traditional folk forms is matched only by her ability to push the bounds of those forms into fresh, imaginative pastures. Sally Anne’s debut solo album Thread establishes her as an unparalleled voice in contemporary folk. With a penchant for tuneful melodies, combined with hypnotic rhythms, the result verges on pop. [ file under: folksy ]		KELLY LEE OWENS "Inner song" Inner Song runs with the success of Kelly Lee Owens’ eponymous debut LP, an album where the London-based artist’s reverb-heavy vocals were layered atop melodious techno productions. However, this record also finds Owens pushing her sound further than she has done previously. On Inner Song, Owens’ vocals are more intimate, the club tracks hit even harder, and her stylistic experiments more daring. [ file under: electro pop ]
SAM PREKOP "Comma" Sam Prekop’s boundless imagination is guided by his strong sense of melody. For more than 25 years, as a solo artist or as part of The Sea and Cake, Prekop creates a singular sound inventive and warm. His distinctive vocals, guitar playing and work on modular analog synthesizers are inventive, delicate, and always bear his signature sense of melody. Comma finds Sam Prekop for the first time working extensively with beat programming, focusing his enveloping synthesizer pieces around a newfound rhythmic pulse. [ file under: minimal pop ]		SUZO SAIZ & SUZANNE KRAFT "Between no thing" MFM048 sees the release of a special collaboration between two unique voices within the ambient landscape, Suso Sáiz & Suzanne Kraft, with their collective debut album. Treated with overdubs and edits by the duo at Suso's studio in Madrid in 2019, the album slowly began to take on it’s final form. It would eventually be completed when Suso sent one final piece, resulting in something of a remote jam session between the two, which would become the closer of the record as well as the title song. [ file under: music from memory ]
TENDERLONOUIS "Quarantena" When COVID-19 hit the UK back in March this year the music game changed almost overnight, no more gigs, no more studio sessions with the band, many music stores and outlets shutting up shop. This drastic change offered plenty of time for reflection, opening up a new portal of exploration for Tender, he purchased his first piece of studio equipment at the age of 16 and has since then amassed a serious arsenal of studio hardware. Some people collect stamps, some of us collect records, Tender collects synths and drum machines. [ file under: electronic jazz ]		SAULT "Untitled (black is)" The mysterious Sault return with album number three that was announced when the whole album was played on BBC 6 Music’s Gilles Peterson’s show. This is the most essential album for 2020. The 18 track album is an absolute joy whilst delivering a powerful message. Each tracks title nods towards revolution, expression and a celebration of black culture. The sound once again mixes R&B, funk, soul and hip-hop together. For fans of classic soul, ESG and groove. [ file under: indie nu soul ]
KAAMAL WILLIAMS "Wu hen" Wu Hen is the sophomore album from Kamaal Williams, an invitation to elevate to a higher state. Cinematic strings and virtuoso saxophone are textural additions that make for a deeper, multi-layered experience than previous releases. Bringing groove back to the forefront, Wu Hen oscillates between celestial jazz, funk, rap and r&b reinforced with the rugged beat-heavy attitude of grime, jungle, house and garage – a self-styled fusion Kamaal describes as Wu Funk. [ file under: broken beats ]		ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF "All thoughts fly" Sacro Bosco (“Sacred Grove”) is the starting point for Anna von Hausswolff’s new album All Thoughts Fly. Here in solo instrumental mode, the entire record consists of just one instrument, the organ, and represents absolute liberation of the imagination. Sacro Bosco is a garden, based in the centre of Italy, containing grotesque mythological sculptures and buildings overgrown with natural vegetation, situated in a wooded valley. [ file under: experimental ]
WINTER "Endless space (Between you and I)" Samira Winter delivers the third album of heady psychedelic shoegaze by her eponymous, bi-lingual indie band Winter via the Bar-None label. With lyrics as ever in both Portuguese and English, Endless Space (Between You & I) ought to see the talented songwriter and singer build up her profile even further. [ file under: dreampop ]		ANDREW WASYLYK "Fugitive light and themes of consolation" This is the third in a trio of records by Andrew Wasylyk which unearth and reshape the landscape of Eastern Scotland as shimmering and inventive instrumental music. The record is threaded with the influences of people, place and musical lineages – David Axelrod, John Barry, Virginia Astley, Mark Hollis, Alice Coltrane – yet as with all of Andrew’s solo work it has a deft, clear voice all of its own. [ file under: modern classical ]