Kamaal Williams to Release Third Solo Album

Kamaal Williams (a.k.a Henry Wu) will release his third solo album on Black Focus.

Stings, which spans 11 tracks, is rooted in the South London jazz scene that birthed him, but “levitates into the impressionist symphonies of Claude Debussy,” we’re told, “and the cosmic realm of futuristic hip-hop and electronic beats.”

The project began during the pandemic when Wu purchased an upright piano. For the first time in his career, the Peckham-bred artist was fully independent. No label or booking agent in his ear. We’re told it’s the product of isolation, reflection, and spirituality.

Its title is partially a play on the strings that vibrate throughout the album. But it’s also an allusion to the difficulties he has overcome in the last several years. To be stung is an unpleasant and unwanted attack. Yet when a wasp stings, it drops to the ground and immediately dies. In a sense, it’s an act of martyrdom, which Williams identified with in terms of his live performances that consumed every ounce of effort and concentration.

It’s also a reference to the struggle that has forged Williams’ identity. After three albums, Wu began to search for the reasons underpinning his desire to continue performing.

The album follows 2018’s The Return and 2020’s Wu Hen. It was recorded in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago over the first months of 2022.

In addition to the album’s main body of work which stays in the orchestral framework, Wu will release three digital singles that are not included in the physical record but expand and inform the world of Stings. Through these pieces we see Williams explore electronics and vocals on new material like lead single “PKKNO” but also versions of key songs from the album, “Magnolia” and “The Last Symphony.”

Born in London and of Taiwanese descent, Wu is he creator and founder of the London-based jazz duo Yussef Kamaal, and the album Black Focus reinstated a new wave of jazz in the United Kingdom. In addition to live instrumentation, Wu also releases electronic music under his given name, Henry Wu.

Tracklisting

01. The Last Symphony
02. The Guvna
03. Stings
04. Little River
05. Dogtown
06. Repercussions
07. City Of God
08. Taiwan
09. Ronan
10. Magnolia
11. Magnolia III

Singles

01. PKKNO
02. Magnolia II
03. The Last Symphony / Magnolia (Vocal)

Stings LP is scheduled for September 27 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “PKKNO” in full below and pre-order here.

Podcast 808: Lord Genmu

In March, Wylie Cable‘s Dome of Doom released the debut album, Sigils, from the then-unknown Lord Genmu, real name Marc Vela. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Lord Genmu discovered electronic music when he was in high school by hearing the remix of Major Lazer’s “Original Don” by Flosstradamus from a friend. Right after, he heard “Wild for the Night” with Skrillex and A$ap Rocky, “then things sorta just snowballed from there,” he says—which is to say after that he was going to festivals and making his own beats. He credits his music taste to the Porter Robinson Essential Mix because his selection put him onto a multitude of artists that he had had not heard of before, which he still listens to today, including Bleep Bloop, G Jones, Rustie, and AWE. You can hear these influences across Sigils but also Devastation Beam, Noise is Love—this first two EPs—and his XLR8R podcast, which he recorded at home in Texas last month. Expect just under an hour of trap and west coast bass from a rising talent of the Dome of Doom label, featuring XLR8R favorites including Little Snake, Tsuruda, and more.

01. What have you been up to lately?
I’ve just been in my room trying to work on some music for these upcoming shows and to finish up a small release for later this year.

02. What have you been listening to?
I’ve been listening to the new Lunice album a lot. Besides that I finally started listening to Overmono so that’s been blowing me away as well.

03. Where and when did you record this mix?
I recorded it last month at my home in Austin, Texas.

04. How did you go about choosing the tracks?
So pretty much I go about selecting tracks for my sets through them reaching a certain standard, the standard being that they’re my favorite songs and that they fit in with the rest of my music.

05. What can the listener expect?
My favorite tracks and unknown tracks from some of my favorite artists.

06. How does it compare to what we might hear you play out live?
I would say this is pretty similar to what I would play live. I did get to throw in some slower songs at the beginning that I haven’t played out live before, but all around this is the Lord Genmu experience!

07. What’s next on your horizon?
I have some extremely dope shows coming this fall that I am super excited for. Besides that, I’m just going to be working on a lot of new music for the rest of this year.

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Paint “Beast Mode” (20/20 LDN Recordings)
02. Little Snake “Unknown” (Unreleased)
03. G Jones “Unknown” (Unreleased)
04. Lord Genmu “Voices” (Dome of Doom)
05. Mr. Carmack “Dimepeice122” (Self Release)
06. Lord Genmu “Unknown” (Unreleased)
07. Lord Genmu “Noise is Love” (Self Release)
08. ISOxo “Inhuman (vip)” (Self Release)
09. Shadient “Unknown” (Unreleased)
10. Lord Genmu “Unknown” (Unreleased)
11. ISOxo x PEEKABOO “Powermove” (Deadbeats)
12. Nastynasty “sIckLitTle” (Saturate Records) (Dj pound remix)
13. Lord Genmu “Unknown” (Unreleased)
14. Lord Genmu x Little Snake “Unknown” (Unreleased)
15. Lord Genmu “Devastation Beam” (Jon Casey remix) (Unreleased)
16. Tsuruda “Gang” (Lord Genmu edit) (Unreleased)
17. Sabroi “Zoom” (Renraku)
18. Tsuruda “Wraith” (Alpha Pup) (Unreleased Eprom edit)
19. Lord Genmu “Blaiid” (Dome of Doom)
20. ISOxo “Ground” (Self Release)
21. Lord Genmu “Textured Inorganics” (Dome of Doom)
22. Lord Genmu “Dranzer” (Dome of Doom) (Unreleased super edit)
23. G Jones “Unknown” (Unreleased)
24. Lord Genmu “Hold it” (Dome of Doom)
25. Nitepunk “Hyperdust” (HARD RECS)
26. Lord Genmu “Nostalgia Bomb” (Dome of Doom)
27. Lord Genmu “Assembly Line” (Dome of Doom)
28. Knock2 “Murdah” (Sable Valley) (Isoxo Remix / Jon Casey edit)
29. Lord Genmu “TRAP – EIGHT – SIX” (Eat the Bomb)
30. SYZY “Medium Rare Milk” (Never Say Die Recordings)

Influences 24: Jan Jelinek

You can read about Jan Jelinek in his XLR8R podcast here—the German producer whose works translate popular music sources into abstract textures. Yes, rather than using traditional instruments, Jelinek constructs collages out of tiny sound particles with the help of sample- and recording technology. Since 2000, he has released material under both his own name and various pseudonyms including Ursula Bogner, Farben, The Exposures, and Helmut Schmidt. But this episode of Influences focuses on Faitiche, the label he founded in 2008. What started as a platform for Jelinek’s catalogue has widened its repertoire, adding joint projects, archival discoveries, and works by artist friends. Recorded last month, this mix begins by reflecting on the artists and releases that have shaped the label, before delving into the music that came from these inspirations: which is to say Jelinek’s favorite picks from the label. That’s what Jelinek explains here, in his own words.

“You could say that the mix hides a pivotal point: the first part brings together titles and artists that are important influences for the Faitiche label. Naturally Raymond Scott must be mentioned, whose swinging Versuchsanordnungen (a German, very bureaucratic-technical term for “experiments”) were inspiration for many early Faitiche releases. Included is also a must-have Newxotica title by the wonderful Muscut label. Its founder, Dmytro Nikolaienko, has released on Faitiche as well. Not to forget electro-acoustic classics like Denis Dufour’s Acousmatic Variations, whose catalog I’ve been working through intensively.

“Then, with the transition of Nikolaienko’s “Well-Degraded” and my own track “The water seems changed to mist and vapor,” I changed my mind and presented titles from the Faitiche catalog—a shameless attempt of label propaganda, I suppose

“So the subsequent mix presents the last 15 years of label history. Ursula Bogner titles are included—on whose release Faitiche was founded—as well as new experiments by Frank Bretschneider, Sampledelica by Jonathan Scherk, among others, plus unreleased titles by Faitiche newcomer blackbody_radiation as well as French collagist Roméo Poirier. It’s a selection of my personal favorite and not necessarily the most popular titles from the catalogue. The niche corners of a niche label.“ — Jan Jelinek

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Romeo Poirier “Negative Feedback” (Faitiche)
02. Tiziano Popoli “Twist” (RVNG Intl.)
03. Raymond Scott “The Paperwork Explosion” (Basta Audio-Visuals)
04. Andrew Pekler “Rica de Oro” (Faitiche)
05. Hollywood Edge Sound Library “Night Jungle Ambiance, #1”
06. Eyot Tapes “Ajor” (Muscut)
07. Jan Jelinek “Ernst Jandl, what are your plans for language: revolution, reform, revolt?” (Faitiche)
08. Denis Dufour “Op. 157 Acousmatic Variations” (Kairos)
09. Nikolaienko “Well-Degraded” (Faitiche)
10. Jan Jelinek “The water seems changed to mist and vapor” (Faitiche)
11. Frank Bretschneider “abtasten_halten C” (Faitiche)
12. Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek “workshop for modernity” (Faitiche)
13. Farben “Rrival Inn (all)” (Faitiche)
14. Daniel Majer “She Barely Spoke” (Faitiche)
15. Ursula Bogner (Andrew Pekler Interpretation) “Jubiläum” (Faitiche)
16. Ursula Bogner (Lucrecia Dalt Interpretation) “Winkel Pong” (Faitiche)
17. Farben Presents James Din A4 “Powerbaum” (Faitiche)
18. Romeo Poirier “Porte Contre” (Faitiche)
19. Andrew Pekler “Mirror Structures (Mirrored)” (Faitiche)
20. Triosk & Jan Jelinek “Track 2” (faitback05)
21. Beispiel “1(1.Teil)” (Faitiche)
22. Asuna & Jan Jelinek “How a spiral works” (Faitiche)
23. Trip Shrubb “Mammes lütket Aum” (Faitiche)
24. Ges “TheButcherBoyOldLadyAndTheDevil” (Faitiche)
25. Blackbody_Radiation “Rhyolite” (excerpt) (Faitiche)
26. Groupshow “Something Is Going To Happen” (Bolt, Bonk, Bound, Bowl) (Faitiche)
27. Computer Soup & Jan Jelinek “The Post-Anthem” (Faitback10)
28. Jonathan Scherk “B5” (Faitiche)

David August is Back with a New Album

David August will release a new album in October.

VĪS, which is Latin for energy or force, is the Italian-German composer’s fourth album, following 2018’s D’Angelo. It’s the result of a lengthy process of self-discovery, collaboration, and research during which August took time out in and around Rome to write music and process ideas, using the pause to inhale books about language, quantum physics, movement, and Middle Eastern mysticism.

He began to see the record as a way for him to release his ego and separate the personal from the impersonal, letting an honest version of himself speak through the noise. “As much as this sounds like a rational process,” he admits, “it was based on intuition and channeling a feeling.”

He wrote the album’s 13 pieces to play like a linear storyline, tracking the development of culture from its illusory beginnings in Plato’s cave into the wider world and observing its progression and adaptation.

The son of a classical pianist, August slipped from the academic music world into an early career as a dance music DJ-producer before he felt his artistic outlook shifting considerably. He established the 99CHANTS label in 2018, and has since used it as an output for his collaborations with jazz-noise vocalist Cansu Tanrikulu and Carnatic singer Sushma Soma on last year’s Imaginary Landscapes compilation.

For more information on August, check out his XLR8R feature here.

Tracklisting

01. ÆRA
02. VAHA
03. RAI
04. CYLO
05. FLORA
06. Y’SAR
07. ANTRO
08. ELAH
09. ARCO
10. NADIR
11. ARIA
12. DANZA
13. LIBRA

V​Ī​S LP is scheduled for October 6 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “ARCO” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Photo: Filip Preis

Moin Next on AD 93

Moin, the experimental rock project of Joe Andrews, Tom Halstead, Valentin Magaletti, has released a new EP on AD 93.

Clocked Off is the first record the group has released since their second album, Paste, in 2022. It draws influences from alternative guitar music in its many forms, using electronic manipulations and sampling techniques to redefine its context.

The band describes the release as “outsider jams that rolled out of the studio. Part experiments, part sketches.”

Andrews and Halstead are best known for their work as Raime, through which they present a uniquely bleak take on post-dub music. The pair met Magaletti, an Italian multi-instrumentalist, just before the project started out in 2013. They released their debut album, Moot!, together in 2021.

For more information on Moin, check out their XLR8R podcast, a collection of post-punk and oddballs from the ’80s, here.

Tracklisting

01. Pockets
02. No Neck
03. I Can I Can’t feat. Fritz Welch
04. Will I Have Enough Grapes

Clocked Off EP is available now. You can stream it is full via the player below and order it here.

Pangaea Reveals First Album in Seven Years

Pangaea, otherwise known as Kevin McAuley, will release a new album.

2023 will be 16 years since Pangaea’s first release for Hessle Audio, the label he co-founded with Pearson Sound and Ben UFO, and Changing Channels represents some of his most intentional, club-ready work. We’re told to expect a “jolting reminder that functional doesn’t mean complacent.”

While the title suggests a transition, the album sits within McAuley’s catalog of assertive, grooving tracks on Hessle and his own imprint, Hadal. “The LP to me feels like it’s distilled all the different elements of my music over the past 15 years, probably my most complete record to date,” he says.

It follows 2016’s In Drum Play, his last album, and 2012’s Release. He has since released EPs on Hessle Audio and Hadal.

Tracklisting

01. Installation
02. Hole Away
03. If
04. The Slip
05. Changing Channels
06. Squid
07. Bad Lines

Changing Channels LP is scheduled for October 6 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Installation,” “Hole Away,” and “Changing Channels” in full via the player below and pre-order here.

Podcast 807: Aint About Me

Aint About Me is the project of producer Jan Wagner and Lukasz Polowczyk, a sound artist, poet, and educator based in Berlin, Germany. Its origins date back to 2020, when the pair put out a self-titled debut album in celebration of spoken word, whereby lyrics, poetry, or stories are spoken instead of sung—which is the focal point of Polowczyk’s artistic practice. In his world, a poem can be expressed not only as a poem but also as a sound-art piece, a spoken word composition backed by an experimental jazz ensemble, a site-specific audio-visual installation, a book, a series of grainy, abstract photos, or even a piece of music. In May, the pair put out indigo sine wave, their latest album, and to celebrate it Polowczyk has compiled a mix through his favorite spoken word styles past and present. A head nod to artists who are pushing the idiom forward, whose work resonates with him. “It’s a personal connect the dots, so by no means does it exhaust what’s out there,” Polowczyk says.

01. What have you been up to recently?
Indigo Sine Wave, our second full length, just dropped, so I’ve been lost in label work, but also processing this transmission, if you may. This is the first time I dug this deep with my writing, and as easy as it was on exhalation, dealing with the emotions and the perspectives that it unearthed was, and is, a lot for me to digest.

02. What have you been listening to?
I listen to a lot of old school soul and ’80s electro, funk and boogie, but from more current releases I’ve been rinsing Killer Mike’s Michael, his latest. I love how close to the bone it hits, musically and lyrically. It’s a record where he’s telling his story unfiltered, and he goes into some pretty vulnerable and dark spaces. The spectrum of emotion and how raw it is at times is just crushing. I also have Jay Z’s Reasonable Doubt on repeat, which is still my favorite.

03. Where and when did you record this mix?
I live in Berlin, and I cut this one at home. I’ve been collecting songs for it for the last three years or so, and I tried a few different versions last year, but I didn’t really feel any of them. This one came to me in one go, no second guessing, and the tracks just fell into place instinctively. And the crazy thing is that when I listen back to it now, there is this whole meta-narrative going on; it’s pretty intense.

04. What setup did you use?
I use Ableton for just about everything. I’ve been using it for years. I’ve been offered other tools along the way, but this software does what I need it to do, so I’m sticking with it. I don’t have the time to break my workflow to get to that next level fluency with some other tool.

05. How did you choose the tracks you’ve included?
Well, the idea for the mixtape was to showcase the variety of the spoken word genre and to pay tribute to artists whom I respect, past and present. As far as why I chose these songs, specifically: well, I just went with what felt good in my bones. I suppose that that’s the baseline for me: I’m after that soul! It’s so easy to produce shiny things right now, but what I’m after is someone’s unique take on the world. Every song on here leaves a dent in my chest, that is if I’m present enough to really absorb it. The thing about spoken word is that it requires your undivided attention because somebody is literally speaking to you like all the time!

06. What can the listener expect?
If somebody’s new to spoken word, this mix will be a nice introduction to the genre, a portal into it with multiple hyperlinks leading into very distinct worlds. But, other than that, I see this as like an audio book or a movie. You know how a lot of Kendrick Lamar records are structured like non-linear novels? This mix functions that way as well. There are topics on here that refract through the different songs: it’s a hall of mirrors, really. The topics it covers are: wrestling with mortality, the minefields of identity, toxic masculinity, dealing with Source, etc.

07. What’s next on your horizon?
Well, in a couple of weeks, I will be flying to Brussels to finish an EP with my brother. I’m also already collecting material for the next Aint About Me, just sketching stuff out. Who knows how long this one will take? And I’m also waiting for the kind folks from the OBEY gallery here in Berlin to green light the production of an installation they wanted me to showcase at their space and in Amsterdam, tentatively scheduled for the end of August. Let’s see if this really happens because if it does, I will have to go into that hyper-speed mode to meet the deadline!

XLR8R Subscribers can download the podcast below. If you’re not an XLR8R subscriber, you can read more about it and subscribe here.

Tracklisting

01. Aint About Me “Watching Kali Sashay with My Arm in Her Jaw Locked” (Self-Released)
02. Gil Scott Heron “Me and the Devil” (XL Records)
03. Christion Scott aTunde Adjuah “Ancestral Recall” feat. Saul Williams (Ropeadope Records)
04. DJ Krust “Coded Language” feat. Saul Williams (Talking’ Loud)
05. Moor Mother “Blame” feat. JustMadNice (Anti)
06. Algiers “Can the Sub Bass Speak” (Matador)
07. Ryuichi Sakamoto “Fullmoon” (Milan)
08. Roger Robinson “Nightshift” (Jahtari)
09. Bilal “Day 3 / Voyage to a New World” feat. Erykah Badu (Highbreed Music)
10. Shabazz Palaces “Bad Bitch Walking” feat Stas Thee Boss (Sub-Pop)
11. Samora Pinderghues “Masculinity” feat. Immanuel Wilkins (Stretch Music)
12. Rosa Anschütz “Methane” (Quiet Love Records)
13. Aint About Me “The Sister Friend of a Black Hole” (Self-Released)

Manchester’s Sferic Welcomes Zaumne for New Album

Zaumne will release a new album on Manchester label sferic.

Zaumne is the alias of Polish sound artist Mateusz Olszewski, who blends elements from ambient, dub, minimalism, field recordings, and spoken word samples across his work, which he describes as “emo dub.” He released Élévation, his last album, in 2021 for Mondoj in Warsaw.

Parfum, Olszewski’s latest album, is an exercise in escapism and wandering on which he traces a line between fantasy and reality through vaporised dub-pop and dreamlike ambient.

“Fragrant atmospheres and dub-delayed ASMR balms are interspersed with wood-block chimes and frisson inducing, tip-of-the-tongue recitals of Baudelaire’s ‘Les Fleurs Du Mal,'” we’re told.

It features vocal cameos from YL Hooi and Metoronori, and the muted sax of Patrick Shiroishi.

The record is mastered by Miles Whittaker with photography by Kenji Ishikawa.

Tracklisting

01. Voyageur
02. Sorcières feat. YL Hooi
03. Oeil Rouge
04. Éther
05. Tête
06. Nymphes
07. Ombres feat. Metoronori
08. Prairie feat. Patrick Shiroishi
09. Fantôme

Parfum LP is scheduled for July 7 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Sorcères” featuring YL Hooi below.

Haniah Rani Next on Gondwana Records with Third Album

Hania Rani, a Polish pianist, will release her third album, Ghost, on Gondwana Records.

Ghosts builds on Rani’s her earlier successes Esja and Home with an expanded yet still minimal setup of piano, keyboards, and synths, and it features more of her mysterious, bewitching voice. It features Patrick Watson, Ólafur Arnalds, and Duncan Bellamy of Portico Quartet.

If Rani’s debut, Esja, was about exploiting her principal instrument, and Home saw her take steps towards a fuller expression of her art, Ghosts is where she unites her varied interests on what she describes as her first “real” album. It draws upon her fondness for Enya, The Smile, James Blake, and Pink Floyd. As the name suggests, it’s sometimes eerie, even haunted.

Alongside the announcement, Rani has shared “Dancing with Ghosts.” The lyrics are inspired by a two-month residency in a small studio in Switzerland’s mountains, where Rani was working on a soundtrack, released earlier this year as On Giacometti, for a documentary about Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti.

Tracklisting

01. Oltre Terra
02. Hello
03. Don’t Break My Heart feat. Duncan Bellamy
04. 24.03
05. Dancing With Ghosts feat. Patrick Watson
06. A Day in Never
07. Whispering House feat. Olafur Arnalds
08. The Boat
09. Moans
10. Thin Line feat. Duncan Bellamy
11. Komeda
12. Utrata
13. Nostalgia

Ghosts LP is scheduled for October 6 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Dancing With Ghosts” featuring Patrick Watson in full below and pre-order here.

Photo: Rein Kooyman

Sampha Announces New Album with New Single

Sampha has returned with a new single, Spirit 2.0.

Released today via Young, “Spirit 2.0” is Sampha’s first solo music in over six years, following his 2017 debut album, Process. Since then, he has contributed to Kendrick Lamar’s Mr Morales & The Big Steppers (on “Father Time”) and Stormzy’s This Is What I Mean (on “Sampha’s Plea”).

“Spirit 2.0” is the first song to be released from a new album. It features musical contributions from Yussef Dayes, El Guincho, and Owen Pallet alongside vocals from Yaeji and Lisa-Kaindé Diaz of Ibeyi.

“It’s about the importance of connection to both myself and others, and the beauty and harsh realities of just existing. It’s about acknowledging those moments when you need help—that requires real strength,” Sampha, real name Sampha Lahai Sisay, says.

If Process was an artist figuring out his own place in the world, we’re told, Sampha’s latest music “opens to new life and lives in awe of what’s beyond.”

Tracklisting

01. Spirit 2.0

Spirit 2.0 is available now, with a stream below.

Photo: Jesse Crankston

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