With so much good music coming through thick and fast, it’s easy for new music to drop online and go unnoticed. To help prevent this, we’ve picked 5 new release’s you don’t want to sleep on. Stream music from Mizan, Kaan Wafi, CONTACT FIELD ORCHESTRA, Vieux Farka Touré & Julia Easterlin and Jamie Woon. If you like what you hear support the artist.
Milan – Dark Blue
New York’s Mizan- singer, instrumentalist, producer and multimedia artist has rereleased her excellent debut EP, Dark Blue via Terrible Records. Born in Chicago and raised between Ethiopia and New York, Mizan’s world surroundings play a crucial role in her sonic storytelling. The 26 year old artist combines her love of literature, film and painting on her personal quest to make uplifting music in the face of racism and patriarchy in a world that too often turns a blind eye. A must listen.
8/10
Kaan Wafi – Pieces From Exile
“Pieces From Exile” is in memory of those lost, abducted and displaced by the war. It’s dedicated to every Free Syrian and inspired by some activists, artists and figures of our revolution.
7/10
CONTACT FIELD ORCHESTRA – Mapping The Futures Gone By
“Mapping The Futures Gone By” furthers CONTACT FIELD ORCHESTRA’s exploration of dubby broken percussion and haunting found sounds. Sirens and lasers accent plaintive woodwind arrangements set against mbiras and bluesy guitars. Fitting in a time and place that’s uniquely it’s own, MTFGB is a travelogue to a lucid dream, a mining expedition or a trip to space–somehow nostalgic and familiar, yet somehow not at all.
8/10
Vieux Farka Touré & Julia Easterlin – Touristes
Don’t be fooled by the title, Touristes. The famed Malian singer and guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, and the rising American singer and performance artist Julia Easterlin, both sound completely at home in this unexpected musical meeting. Touré is a genuinely global star, “the Hendrix of the Sahara,” whose music embraces the ancient desert blues of West Africa and the sounds of modern rock. Easterlin is Georgia-born and Brooklyn-based, and lives at the intersection of pop music and experimental songwriting. Lets hope they get together again soon.
7/10
Jamie Woon – Making Time
Jamie Woon returns after four years with his second album “Making Time”. The thoughtful and sophisticated neo-soul songs of “Making Time” have nothing to do with the brassy revivalist stuff now blasting out of commercial radio; nuances of jazzy funk, cosmic house and R&B making them more suited to small-hours intimacies than losing it on the dance floor. An outstanding and welcome return.
8/10
