This week’s guide is by CF Smith and contributors Words By Shoaib, Benny Thomas and Irfan Ayaan.
We’re back with a new Between The Cracks feature. And now, here we are in 2026 at the end of January, still brushing dust off records that should’ve never slipped past us in the first place. As ever, you’ll find us lurking in the underground, uncovering albums released last year by Kibrom Birhane and Helena Casella. We also head further back to 2024 for Lambda by Berlin-based Egyptian producer ZULI. And, there are three fresher than fresh picks courtesy of JJ Whitefield & Forced Meditation, Fabiano Do Nascimento & E Ruscha V and Lia Kohl. Explore our latest selection, and if something tickles your ears, follow the buy link to make it yours! Enjoy the music, and have a great weekend!
Albums
Lia Kohl – Music for Union Station
Lia Kohl has a knack for turning everyday sounds into something brilliant through a mix of curiosity, technique, and storytelling. Last year’s Various Small Whistles and a Song gave us one of the 2025’s unexpectedly brilliant albums, and her latest is doing the same this year. Kohl’s work centres on curiosity and patience, exploring the mundane and profound possibilities of sound. Music for Union Station turns Chicago Union Station into both an instrument and a collaborator, letting its cavernous reverb, footfall murmur, and PA‑system ghosts braid into a 43‑minute composition of brass, reeds, and strings. Close your eyes and let the tones bloom against the marble, or phrases dissolve into the station’s natural weather. Or, even better, watch thevisual and see, as Kohl explains, how “the space, audience, passerby, and station logistics are just as present in the recording as the music”. A beautiful reminder that sometimes the most moving music is the kind that listens back. – CFS
JJ Whitefield & Forced Meditation – Birth Of Consciousness
We’re almost done with January, and the new releases are now starting to come thick and fast. One release that is much needed to deal with all the utter madness in the world is this new one from JJ Whitefield. In Birth of Consciousness, JJ Whitefield & Forced Meditation fashion a sonic gateway designed to soothe the soul within our crazy modern world. As the latest entry in Whitefield’s ‘Temple Jazz’ series, this album moves in the realm of collective improvisation, acting as a spiritual vessel for deep meditation. The record draws its life force from the ancestral traces of Pharaoh Sanders, Alice Coltrane, and Sun Ra, channelling their astral energy into a modern meditative (shit, I keep mentioning that word) practice. Like the magnificent Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders’ album, Whitefield structures this album through movements like the spiritually moving ‘Stimulation’ and the mellow, organic soundscapes of ‘Awareness’, guiding the listener through a deliberate awakening of the inner self. It works as a “forced meditation,” (again, that word) stripping away external noise to reveal a lush, delicate orchestration. The perfect album to rid yourself of your negative energy.– CFS
Kibrom Birhane – Lisané Bahir
Birhane’s ethereal fusion represents a watershed moment in contemporary spiritual jazz, synthesising Ethiopian modal traditions with analogue modular synthesis into a seamless, culturally resonant whole. Jabaadhu announces the work’s spiritual intention through hypnotic rhythmic foundation, immediately contextualised by the landscape meditation Horizon. Addis Zemen bridges traditional Ethiopian tonality with contemporary jazz articulation, while Utopian introduces synthesiser treatments that feel organic rather than imposed. Winter Tezita crystallises Birhane’s vision, with elegant hornwork supported by modular shimmer and traditional percussion. The extended title track, Lisané Bahir, functions as the compositional centrepiece, unfolding across six minutes of unrushed development. Gratitude, Orbit, and Yegedel Mamitu maintain focused intention through varied textural approaches. The Amharic spiritual declarations (Elekish Eleka, Axum, Amen) ground the work in cultural authenticity. This is deeply moving spiritual music that affirms Birhane’s unparalleled understanding of improvisation across multiple traditions. – IA
Fabiano Do Nascimento & E Ruscha V – Aquáticos
When two artists with cool discographies deeper than the ocean decide to team up, you know the result is going to be something special. Aquáticos is a luminous collaboration between Brazilian guitarist Fabiano Do Nascimento and LA producer E Ruscha V that feels utterly effortless. Released via the brilliant Music From Memory, the album weaves Nascimento’s expressive nylon-stringed guitar, steeped in Afro-samba and choro traditions, through Ruscha’s cosmic analog synths and vintage drum machines. Born from spontaneous recording sessions, tracks like opener ‘Nascer’ pulse with vibrant, organic energy. ‘Rain’ is a hushed, intimate duet where guitar and machine engage in delicate conversation. Elsewhere, like on ‘Bio’, choro-leaning guitar playing wanders along shuffling to Ruscha’s meditative syncopation and stirring rushes of cosmic blips. It’s a moment when the duo’s contrasting styles, organic and electronic, achieve perfect equilibrium. The nine tracks breathe with intuitive interplay, creating lush rhythmic textures that bubble and shimmer. It’s a radiant celebration of musical conversation, pulling listeners into an immersive journey defined by joy, spontaneity, and genuine creative chemistry. Who’s up for Aquáticos 2? – BT
Helena Casella – Pit Of Impressions
Released back in March last year, Helena Casella’s Pit Of Impressions arrived as a quiet but assured debut, one that rewards patience and close listening. Rooted in neo-soul and modern jazz, the album moves with a diaristic intimacy, shaped by Casella’s Belgian-Brazilian background and her instinct for emotional detail. Her voice sits gently inside the arrangements, never forcing the spotlight, yet always anchoring the mood. There’s a strong sense of space throughout, as if each track is allowed to breathe before dissolving into the next. ‘Undefined Borderline, ‘ one of the early releases, stretches out slowly, carried by warm basslines and subtle rhythmic shifts. It feels reflective rather than dramatic, drawing you inward without announcing itself. ‘Imaginary Windows’ follows a similar path but leans more toward atmosphere, its layered textures and drifting melody evoking memory more than narrative. What really stands out is restraint. Casella avoids obvious hooks, choosing instead to build feeling through tone, pacing, and texture. Pit Of Impressions doesn’t chase immediacy. It lingers, unfolds, and quietly earns its place as a striking, emotionally grounded debut. For a completely different vibe, check out Sonetos del Amor Oscuro if you’re craving more of Casella’s brilliance. – WBS
ZULI – Lambda
Released in 2024, this one went under the radar until now. Lambda presents itself in uncomfortable ways, and Berlin-based Egyptian producer ZULI revels in the uneasiness. Moving at a slower, more pensive pace than found on his last album, ‘Digla Dive – Live’. You won’t find any earth-shaking chopped rhythms or stop-start outbursts here; instead, we’re treated to soft, textured layers, interwoven with vocal flourishes from collaborators MichaelBrailey, Coby Sey, and Abdullah Miniawy. Soft as it is, it also throbs with an intensity that lurks beneath the surface. As your mind attempts to focus on the gentle tones, it is overwhelmed by bass rumbles, industrial-metal drones, mangled loops, and razor-sharp electronics that distract in delightful ways. In ‘Trachea’, he crafts an eerie, pitch-shifting robotic melody that twists around slow hip-hop beats and cinematic drones, eventually crashing into impenetrable walls of noise in ‘The Horn’. The album’s most intimate moment arrives with the brief ‘Fahsil Qusseer’, in which ZULI delivers a poem penned by his father. Lambda deserves your undivided attention. – CFS
