Yanga

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 [...]

If you happen to be in London on February 1st and 2nd, you should definitely consider visiting this year's London Remixed Festival by the Global Local crew. Taking place on two days and on four stages at the Rich Mix art centre in Shoreditch, this live music culture clash showcases "the best in Latin Grooves, Afrobeats, Tropical Bass, Vintage-Remix, Desert Remix, Balkan Beats, Urban Roots, Acoustic Soundclash and Brass Band Remix".

The festival's main [...]

Brighton is probably not the first place you'd suspect to be behind a mix of vintage Tunisian cassettes. The so-called London-by-the-sea is however home to Hive Mind Records, a quality imprint specialising in "vintage and contemporary sounds from around the globe". Credit them for posthumously releasing an 8-track vinyl album of the late Maalem Mahmoud Gania's final studio recordings as well as a 30-minute cassette tribute to fellow Moroccan legend Moulay Ahmed [...]

We first chanced upon this eight-piece, London-based afrobeat collective about a year ago, when they premiered their sublime track "Abusey Junction", that featured on the 2018-released Brownswood Recordings compilation "We Out Here" and was just recently shortlisted for the upcoming "Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards Track of the Year" (to take place this Saturday, January 19th at KOKO in London). In any case Kokoroko's is a music that travels, as the "all-star [...]

Have you ever wondered, what the Yiddish queens of swing, The Barry Sisters, might sound like today? Would they have gone for more of an R&B vibe? Or what kind of music would Mickey Katz be making, who humoured Jewish audiences with his musical parodies in the 1970s US of A? The newly established Berlin trio Freylekhs'3000 is here to answer the above and many more questions. Dubbed "Jewish Retro-Futurism", they combine klezmer, hiphop and Yiddish swing with [...]

Late last year, while doing promo for her breathtaking new LP "Naz", Israeli model, singer, actress and songwriter Liraz was interviewed by Franco-German television network arte, the results of which were captured in a 2-minute clip, available on demand via arte.tv and entitled, "Liraz Charhi, chanteuse en liberté". 

The clip shows Liraz performing a short sequence in a gallery, while she provides some insight as to what inspired her album and why she decided [...]