Welcome to our latest ‘Between The Cracks’. You can read a bit about each album and play it on the website via the Bandcamp player. As always, please support the artists by purchasing their music. We hope you enjoy reading and listening!
Albums
Jonah Yano – Portrait of a Dog
Playing Montreal-based Japanese-Canadian artist Jonah Yano’s Portrait of a Dog will keep you glued to the speaker – it’s that catchy! Following 2020’s ‘Souvenir’ album, Yano enlists BADBADNOTGOOD, Slauson Malone, Sea Oleena, and Eliza Niemi to create an absolute timeless feast of jazz, pop and folk goodness. Topped off by his deeply personal songwriting, it’s one of those albums that you’ll have on repeat again and again (and again)! Highlights include ‘Always’, ‘Quietly, Entirely’, ‘Glow Worms’ and ‘The Ordinary Is Ordinary Because It Ordinarily Repeats’.
Insólito UniVerso – Ese Puerto Existe
Insólito UniVerso return with a new album ‘Ese Puerto Existe’. Lush rhythms and warm harmonies abound on the 8-song record. The trio enlists Manuel Sánchez, Rafael Mejias, Francesco Pastacaldi and Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab fame. The sound on this album is bolder and more experimental as they continue to explore the diverse geography, rhythms and traditions of their home country of Venezuela that will please their fans and doubtless win them many new ones. ‘Ese puerto existe’, ‘Tiento de batalla’ and ‘El chivo’ stand out as the highlights. This incredible album is something you need, don’t sleep, folks! I might need to do a proper review of this album. Big up, Olindo crew.
Rozi Plain – Prize
Prize is the new album from Rozi Plain, musician, painter of boats, and a vital member of This is the Kit. Recorded between London, Bordeaux and Glasgow, Prize establishes Rozi as a unique force in contemporary songwriting, experimental but with a rare warmth and knack for finding the quirk in the everyday. The album features contributions from Danalogue, Cole Pluice and Alabaster De Plume, who appears on “Agreeing for Two”. Other highlights on Prize include “Help”, “Painted the Room”, and “Spot Thirteen”.
KADEF – KADEF
It wasn’t that long ago that we were waxing lyrical about Devin Brahja Waldman’s Watermelancholia album. He returns under the guise of KADEF with a new musical journey that embodies the spirit of freedom. Get ready for an hour and 20 minutes of unfamiliar soundscapes, shifting grooves, and unexpected rhythms as Waldman and his friends improvise their way through a bold set of Moroccan Gnawa-led music laced that veers between jazz and krautrock. A freeness pervades the music, creating a perfectly imperfect sound and letting the songs gradually grow into something much grander. KADEF is packed with Waldman’s love for the avant-garde and will keep you listening for the entire record.
Vussa – Marasma Vussa
We’re a little late to the party on this one (it dropped in June last year), but it’s way too good to ignore! Acquaint yourself with Antonio Feola of the Fish Factory Studio and “Marasma Vussa”, his 30-year endeavour. The album was recorded on tape with some of the best musicians in London and edited during the lockdown period. It is an album filled with deep, cosmic, meditative jazz experiments that will blow your mind. It is jam-packed with catchy melodies and heavy jazz breaks! Simply put, it’s magic.
Coultrain – MUNDUS
Coultrain has been doing his thing since 2008. He’s not the type of artist to worry about trends or what’s new; just making good music that’s fresh and high on experimentation. His latest opus fuses his honeyed tones with bits of psychedelia, avant-soul, electronic melodies, and spoken word to create a genre-blending project that is also accessible. Don’t take my word for it; have a listen for yourself if you’re looking for something a tad different. The music is incredibly creative and exciting!
Gavsborg – 1 Hour Service
Gavsborg has been doing it for me for a long time. The Equiknoxx visionary’s music always covers a lot of ground, and this new offering is no different. 1 Hour Service is a tape series on Cassette Blair, a new tape label from Gavsborg, that features one-hour showcases from artists near and far. On this first outing, Gavsborg dives through a mixture of dancehall oddities that traverse electronic, jazz, hip-hop, ambient dub and experimental beats, which were Berlin-produced, but Kingston-inspired. Dancehall doesn’t get any better than this in 2023!
Reissues
Ayizan – Dilijans
Ayizan is the name Haitian genius Alix Pascal gave to this jazz fusion project. Haitian Vodou describes Ayizan as the goddess of the earth. Inspired by traditional Ra Ra elements, the band blends them with modal/spiritual melodies. Dilijans comes across as a Haitian version of Bitches Brew, with its mystical, lyrical and abstract rhythms. Props out to Comet Records for this much-needed reissue!
