No Risk, No Fun

For the first time this year, March 8th in Berlin will be a public holiday, giving us all the more reason to celebrate this momentous day. Which is exactly what the Berlin-based Pralinen collective has been doing for the past four years with its potent "Jenseits von Nelken und Pralinen" (transl. "Beyond the Carnations and the Chocolates") festival. 

Founded back in 2016, the annual event takes place on International Women's Day and is steadily gaining momentum. [...]

Que Vola? This simple phrase, which translates to 'what's up?', is not just a common greeting in Cuba, but also the name of a new French-Cuban jazz collective that is currently on the rise and has just delivered an outstanding debut album on French imprint Nø Førmat (Toto Bona Lokua, Mélissa Laveaux, Oumou Sangaré). 

Back in 2012 French trombonist Fidel Fourneyron embarked on his first trip to Cuba, to find out more about the country that inspired his first [...]

A little more than a year has gone by since Gili Yalo released his phenomenal, self-titled debut solo album, which was one of eleven African albums to receive a 5-star review by Songlines Magazine in 2018. "The whole thing has a strut to its step," writes Jim Hickson. "With Yalo singing in both Amharic and English, his band cooks up a whole range of retro flavours, from golden-age Ethiopian horns and old-school synths to the classic R&B rhythm-section sound. [...]

We love everything Berlin-based imprint Habibi Funk and main man Jannis Stürtz have been creating over the past years, including their notorious mixes of Arabic Funk. Back in 2016, as part of their globally celebrated reissue series, they released an anthology of legendary Algerian musician, multi-instrumentalist and composer Ahmed Malek's beautiful film music, which you can still stream/buy over on their Bandcamp page. 

"Arabic records have become my number [...]

Situated in close proximity to the metropolitan area of Los Angeles, Southern California's Inland Empire was a major center of agriculture at the end of the 19th century. Today the enclave is home to the "sixth largest Spanish-speaking population among all US metropolitan areas" and remains fertile in the sense of a "growing scene of Afro-Latin independent music".

Among this new generation of "intrepid musical explorers" is Yanga, a thrilling five-piece led by [...]

In her native Ukraine, alyona alyona's debut album has already become the most anticipated release of 2019. And within just a few months, the young kindergarten teacher from a village on the outskirts of Kiev became an overnight hiphop sensation. We first chanced upon her in a post by her booking agency More Zvukov. And although we couldn't understand a word she was saying, we fell in love almost instantly.

It all began, when she released the first companion [...]

We warned you last Friday. The Jewish Monkeys are back and paving the road to their forthcoming third album "Catastrophic Life", to be released in autumn. Which also means new music for all of us. Isn't life a beauty?

"All the Great Things" is the band's new single and first track off the new album and it too celebrates life in all its absurdity. The single is a catchy, Balkan-infused ska punk track, which features the Jewish Monkeys' new horn section and an [...]

Great news from our favourite band of primates: Following their support shows for the one and only Shantel and his Bucovina Club Orkestar back in November, the infamous Jewish Monkeys stopped 'monkeying around' and headed back to their concrete jungle of Tel Aviv to work on album number three. Boasting a very promising title, "Catastrophic Life" is set to be released this fall. So stay put. 

And no, we are not about to leave you hanging. Of course we've brought [...]

Attention all you film and music lovers out there! Here's a little something that's a bit out of the ordinary for you. This Friday, February 8th, 2019, will see a live screening of a Norwegian/Sámi classic, aka director Nils Gaup's intense, Oscar-nominated, action-filled feature film Ofelaš / Pathfinder (1987) and, what's more, it will be accompanied by a live soundtrack. 

The film is "set on the Finnmarksvidda plateau" with the protagonist being "Aigin, a [...]

Today marks release day for the brand new "Two Tribes" compilation on Agogo Records, which embarks on "an intercontinental journey in rhythm". Compiled by Tobi Kirsch and Ubbo Gronewold, the 12-track selection focusses on contemporary musicians in Europe incorporating African musical traditions into their own body of work. "Two Tribes" features "a broad range of constellations, ranging from musicians with roots in African countries who reside in Europe to [...]

Etkin Çekin's Berlin-based cassette label Kinship Records just restocked on Anadol's third album "Uzun Havalar" and it is pure lo-fi bliss. Named after an old-fashioned Turkish automobile brand, Anadol is the nom de plume of an instrumental synth-pop project by equally Berlin-based artist, DJ and keyboard player Gözen Atila. 

"Uzun Havalar" is a term used to describe traditional Turkish folk music (halk müziği), but listening to the album's seven, [...]

With a new album set for release this February, Shortparis are well on their way to deserved international acclaim and already being heralded as "the best Russian live act". Hailing from St. Petersburg and led by charismatic frontman Nikolay Komiagin, the band continues to build a reputation for its jaw-dropping ritualistic performances and dark, electronic soundscapes, as "irrational, spastic dance grooves" converge with "post-punk, experimental noise and [...]