Exploring togetherness, community, sensuality, childhood, loss and above all perseverance.

Kokoroko is a London-based Afrobeat-soul collective led by trumpeter and composer Sheila Maurice-Grey and percussionist Onome Edgeworth. Drawing on Nigerian highlife, 1970s spiritual jazz, and UK jazz-funk, the seven-piece band has earned acclaim for their elegant horn lines, locked grooves, and collective improvisation, emerging as key figures in the UK’s vibrant contemporary jazz ... read more

A borderless, genre-fluid celebration of global collaboration - joyful, eclectic and unapologetically bold.

Africa Express is a UK-based non-profit organization that facilitates cross-cultural collaborations between musicians in African, Middle Eastern, and Western countries. It began out of a 2005 gathering in a Covent Garden bar where Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn along with other musicians and music industry friends were angered by the Live 8 charity concert for Africa's ... read more

A homecoming through broken circuits and haunted frequencies

Fade Evare is a Melbourne-based trio led by siblings Mira and Tori Holleman, joined by synth artist Madeleine Magee Carr. Blending introspective pop songwriting with ambient textures and restrained electronic production, their music evokes personal intimacy and quiet strength. Welcome Back is their graceful debut LP, grounded in emotional and communal resonance.

Welcome Back is a soft-spoken yet striking debut, tracing the fine line ... read more

Cosmic Ethio-jazz explorers trip into analogue dreamworlds, merging dusty library textures with melodic wanderlust.

The Sorcerers are a UK-based ensemble rooted in Leeds, led by bassist and ATA Records head Neil Innes alongside drummer Joost Hendrickx and multi-instrumentalist Richard Ormrod. Their sound builds on Ethio-jazz foundations, infused with 1960s–70s cosmic library tones and analogue warmth. Their fourth LP, Other Worlds and Habitats, marks an expansive next step, enriched by ... read more

A cross-continental conversation: samba‑funk’s architect returns in a warm‑analog homage that both respects and reinvigorates.

The legacy of Brazilian keyboard luminary Dom Salvador, who is a pivotal figure in blending samba, funk, soul and jazz during the Black-consciousness movement, is revitalized here by producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. As the latest release of Jazz Is Dead’s ambitious JID series, whose mission is reimagining the works and styles of ... read more

Fred Hersch’s work is marked by its inwardness, the allusiveness, the restraint. But beneath such apparent discretion bursts a raw sensuality - the flesh of the music, its pulse. (Francis Marmande, Le Monde)​

Fred Hersch’s third recording for ECM is an essential entry into the piano trio canon for its masterful trio interplay, reliant on deeply honed communication and a refined sense of understatement. With Drew Gress on bass and Joey Baron on drums, Hersch tackles a handful of ... read more

Like a hymnal of remembrance and restraint, this collection invites us into deep spiritual reflection through its poised deployment of space, silence and soulful clarity.

Amina Claudine Myers is a visionary pianist, organist, and vocalist whose music blends gospel, blues, and free jazz. Raised on church music in Arkansas, she later joined Chicago’s groundbreaking Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), becoming one of its most soulful and spiritually resonant ... read more

Transcendent and theatrical, this live record turns a festival main stage into a sacred space of storytelling and soulful transformation. A deeply moving live milestone in her artistic journey.

Montreal-based Dominique Fils-Aimé is a JUNO-winning vocalist celebrated for her deeply rooted exploration of African-American musical traditions—from blues to gospel and soul. Her live performances, marked by expressive nuance and theatrical presence, have established her as one of ... read more

Habibi Funk excavates Libya’s cassette underground, where disco, reggae and funk thrived far from the spotlight, but close to the people.

Habibi Funk is a Berlin-based reissue label dedicated to rescuing and spotlighting vintage popular music from the Arab world, particularly recordings overlooked due to political marginalisation, format decay, or lack of international distribution. Founded by Jannis Stürtz, the label is known for meticulous archival work, on-the-ground research, ... read more

This is not a composed reflection, but a sonic document of attention under pressure.

"Crashing waves dance to the rhythm set by the broadcast journalist revealing the tragedies of the day" is a collaborative album by Charbel Haber, Nicolás Jaar, and Sary Moussa, recorded live on August 2, 2024, at Tunefork Studios in Beirut, during the Israeli aggression against Lebanon.

The session unfolded in real time: no overdubs, no edits. Electric guitar (Haber), bass clarinet (Jaar), ... read more

A work of breath, spirit and conviction, Souffles is a radiant new pinnacle in Jalal’s quest for trans-cultural musical healing.

French-Syrian composer, flautist and vocalist Naïssam Jalal has become a vital voice in progressive European music, blending Arabic classical traditions with free jazz, Sufi mysticism, and contemporary chamber music. A collaborator of artists like Hamid Drake and Claude Tchamitchian, she’s known for forging emotionally rich, cross-cultural ... read more

From Western Sydney, the birth of a global club‑rap riot. Drill, baile funk, gqom & trap collide in an electrifying, 27‑minute, genre-bending and unapologetically bold debut

Varvie World emerges from the creative synergy between Vv Pete, a Sudanese-Australian rapper from Sydney's Western suburbs, and UTILITY, co-founder of the Trackwork (a grassroots Sydney label committed to spotlighting underground voices rooted in local culture). Their partnership, catalysed by a viral ... read more

A carefully crafted collection of melodic songs built on jazz harmony, spoken-word phrasing and electronic textures.​

Heartstrings is the new album from London-based Snowpoet, led by the creative partnership of Lauren Kinsella and Chris Hyson. Since their debut EP in 2014, the band has built a devoted audience drawn to their emotionally rich songwriting, intricate production, and distinct sonic identity. With Heartstrings, they take a bold step forward, writing and recording in the studio as ... read more

A heartfelt exploration of loss and resilience, rendered through introspective jazz and collaborative synergy.

Esthesis Quartet, comprising flutist Elsa Nilsson, pianist/vocalist Dawn Clement, bassist Emma Dayhuff, and drummer Tina Raymond formed is a collective of improvisers united by a shared commitment to exploratory jazz.

The four members of Esthesis Quartet met through chance and grew close workshopping music during the pandemic. Both Clement and Nilsson were mentored by Ron Miles and ... read more

A glowing, low-key meditation on ecology, culture, reverence and restraint.​

Chris Cheek is a Missouri-born saxophonist renowned for his lyrical restraint and melodic depth. A veteran of Paul Motian’s ensembles and a respected soloist, Cheek here collaborates with guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Tony Scherr, and drummer Rudy Royston. Together, they form a quartet of quiet virtuosos, merging jazz tradition with meditative introspection.

Keepers of the Eastern Door is a deeply resonant ... read more

The boundary-crossing Malian-French supergroup returns to celebrate Africa’s musical spirit through luminous collaboration.

French rock icon -M- (Matthieu Chedid) reassembled his collaborative Afro-French collective Lamomali for this jubilant sequel, again anchored by Malian griot royalty Toumani Diabaté (kora) and Fatoumata Diawara (vocals). The ensemble blends Malian traditional music with French pop, funk, and psychedelia, framing West African traditions in a kaleidoscopic, ... read more

An ethereal conjunction of Balinese and Danish, Áshira weaves resonant ritual, dual-tuned shimmer, and trance percussion into timeless sonic ritual.

Jan Kadereit, a Copenhagen-born percussionist and contemporary composer, collaborates with Bali’s avant-garde ensemble Gamelan Salukat, a group known for blending dual-scale tuning systems to expand gamelan’s harmonic horizons.

With Áshira, Kadereit leaves behind traditional formality to co-create a meditative yet ... read more

Her most accomplished and emotionally resonant release to date - an album of casual complexity and considerable charm.

Sasha Berliner is a rising star of contemporary jazz, bravely positioning the vibraphone as a deeply expressive lead instrument. Based in San Francisco, she’s carved a path that blends modern jazz with poetic narrative and bold themes.

Sasha performs internationally with her own group as well as musicians such as Tyshawn Sorey, Nicholas Payton, and Victor Lewis.

She ... read more

Forensic prose over ambient sketches creates more tedium than transcendence. It's all talk, without tension.

Amelia Barratt is a London-based performance artist whose background spans sound installation, conceptual text work, and experimental narration. In Loose Talk, she overlays Bryan Ferry’s instrumental sketches with a running monologue that blends forensic detail, domestic observation, and poetic detachment, drawing from the tradition of avant-garde voice art and performance ... read more

Recorded by Kankawa's longtime friend Darren Hanlon, the sessions are relaxed and warm. It's a true gift - the experience of hearing Kankawa on her own land, in her own words.

Born circa 1943 in the traditional lands of the Gooniyandi and Walmatjarri peoples of the Eastern Kimberley region of North Western Australia, Kankawa grew up with the tribal songs at cultural ceremonies. She was taken from her family to a Christian mission, where she was taught hymns and Gospel songs with the ... read more