It’s Postmodern Monk, but so is Monk. Xhosa Cole Quartet’s third album and tribute to legendary composer and pianist Thelonious Monk, FreeMonk, freely reworks the legendary composer and pianist with giddy virtuosity. Even so, the album feels comparatively restrained compared [...]
The world premiere of a collaboration between alto saxophonist and composer Cassie Kinoshi with her boundary-pushing group seed. (formerly SEED Ensemble, formed in 2016) and the full might of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) under Ben Gernon, met with great [...]
The Hague’s Rewire festival is a trusted bastion of the robustly contemporary that sells out on tickets without selling out on credibility. In its thirteenth edition over three days in twenty venues, headliners included Autechre, Oneohtrix Point Never, SUNN O))), [...]
Sean Shibe (guitar) + Júlia Pusker (violin) + Mathis Stier (bassoon) + Faye MacCalman solo + Jess Gillam and Royal Northern Sinfonia with director Maria Włoszczowska Each year a small cohort of outstanding classical musicians is selected by the member [...]
There’s a philosophy to bass playing. If Albert Camus was a goalie, a supportive role with room to dream, mission critical but usually in the background, it follows that, as Ron Carter says, “The bass player is like the quarterback, [...]
Gazelle Twin’s fourth album Black Dog dramatises a fundamental insight that there is a connection between the physiology of depression and supernatural hauntings. The black dog is a familiar metaphor and also a literal shadow that producer-composer-performer, Elizabeth Bernholz, could [...]
Everything Falls Apart is a collaborative album from English producer Ross Tones and Otto Lindholm, the Brussels-based double bass player specialising in drone music and avant-garde modern classical. Especially for Halloween, AJ Dehany spoke to Ross Tones about the uncanny [...]
The Royal Albert Hall is the only place on earth with the perfect measure of grandeur and intimacy to stand up to Canadian singer, songwriter, and opera fan, Rufus Wainwright, performing with his customary verve not one but two Prom [...]
Artists/bands covered: un.procedure (Piera Onacko/ Cassie Kinoshi /Nathan England-Jones); Matana Roberts (in absentia); Agathe Max; Jessica Moss; Ondata Rossa; Big | Brave; 75 Dollar Bill; Deerhoof; Ex-Easter Island Head; Lankum; Godflesh; Hey Colossus; Oxbow; Divide & Dissolve; Ashenspire; Backxwash. Supersonic Festival is [...]
You Know I Care is a purist jazz quartet album that encourages you to engage with questions of what tradition and modernism mean when modernism has become tradition. It’s a bold statement of intent from the wickedly talented Tenderlonious aka [...]
