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Desire Marea

Today, multidisciplinary electronic artist Desire Marea is releasing his second solo album On The Romance Of Being via Mute. The new album was recorded live with an ensemble of thirteen musicians, many songs being first take: “My ancestors gave me an instruction to record this with a live band. The reasoning? It was a way to ensure that the music carried the soul. We were all united in the most intimate parts of our consciousness. The music made us one.”

 

The band includes award-winning Sibusiso Mashiloane and Sbu Zondi, pioneers of the Durban/Joburg jazz scene, as well as Portia Sibiya, Andrei Van Wyk and Sanele Ngubane, prominent actors in South Africa’s experimental music circles. The union of these souls birthed eight movements that sonically sprawl post-gospel, spiritual jazz and the ancient music of the Nguni and Ndau peoples.  

 

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Ben Gregory

Ben Gregory releases his solo debut album Episode today via Transgressive; a majestic, multi-faceted and emotionally wrenching record born out of a period of profound personal upheaval. In 2019 Blaenavon, the much-beloved band with whom he released two widely acclaimed albums, was dissolving and Gregory was receiving treatment in psychiatric hospitals. The album began to come together during his recovery. With breath-taking instrumentals and dark, insightful lyrics, Gregory – with the help of producer and old friend Blaine Harrison of Mystery Jets and engineer Matt Twaites – pushed his music to genre-bending limits. 

 

Ben on the album: ‘Everything on “Episode” comes back to my struggle to interpret, or reinterpret, my life and its core relationships, after having my concept of reality revoked. This may sound dramatic, but it’s hard to know if you can trust how you feel about a partner, a situation, a future, when you’ve sat in a hospital bed, torn a newspaper to shreds, sat back and watched it put itself back together.’

 

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Sophie Jamieson

Following the success of her acclaimed debut album Choosing, released late 2022 via Bella Union, Sophie Jamieson surprise-released a new 5-track EP: Choosing – Live at The George Tavern. Recorded and filmed in March 2022 at The George Tavern, Shadwell, London, the EP features five of the standout songs from Choosing performed live in the raw and heartrending style which makes Jamieson such a commanding and compelling live presence. 

 

Commenting on the EP, Sophie Jamieson says: “This project began as a way to translate the carefully worked on, perfected recordings of these songs into the raw, vulnerable, living pieces they become when I play them live. I wanted to strip them back to their bones and offer the purest versions of them that I could. The location didn’t seem so important until I thought of doing it at The George Tavern, at which point it felt like the room carried almost half the meaning of the whole project. I have long been enchanted by old East End pubs that vibrate with history and community and have been simultaneously happiest and saddest sitting in them, alone. The songs we sang here are soaking with a search for solace that I and many others have conducted in places like this. 

 

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Bumpy

Naarm/Melbourne-based soul artist and Noongar woman Bumpy recently released her debut solo EP Morning Sun via Astral People Recordings.

 

The EP was self-produced by Bumpy, mixed by Theo Carbo and mastered by Lachlan Carrick. The record “celebrates community and examines the duality of human nature, balancing effortless style and restless substance”. Drawing pop, jazz and folk influences, the 5 tracks shows off Bumpy’s lyricism and smooth, powerful vocals.

 

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Temps

In late 2022 Temps introduced themselves to the world with their first singleno,no. The 40-strong international music collective devised, curated and produced by UK comedian James Acaster, will release their debut album, PARTY GATOR PURGATORY, on the 19th May via Bella Union. Featuring such geniuses as Quelle Chris, John Dieterich, Joana Gomila, Laia Vallès, Shamir, Seb Rochford and many more, Temps’ ten-track debut album was produced, curated and devised by James Acaster. Released via Bella Union, this mind-bending opus rose from the ashes of an aborted mockumentary made with Louis Theroux’s money.  

 

This week, Temps share a video for new single ‘ificouldjust featuring Yoni Wolf, Quelle Chris, Shamir, Montaigne and Ami Dang. Commenting on the track James Acaster says: “Like all of us, the party gator often wishes they possessed a little more self-motivation but instead they find themselves repeating the same behaviour for what feels like the rest of time. Also, I once again cannot believe we got all these people on the same track.”

 

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