Tag Archives: world music

Dan’s Top 31 Albums of 2020

by Daniel Kuburoglu

A bit late to the party, but here we are, nonetheless.

Let’s get the obvious out the way first. 2020 was a bad year, and this did have a knock-on effect with the amount of music that was released as well. While I personally would not say we had any absolute gamechangers this year, that doesn’t mean the year was an absolute waste. (At least, not in this one regard…) It was enough to bring me back from the dead, after all.

I may not have the same mettle for metal as Matt, nor the same dedication to deathlessly digging … Read more

Kendall Burks – Waves

by Dæv Tremblay

The Music

The Words

Kendall Burks is a musician and composer from Littleton, Colorado. Primarily using loops, he creates cinematic soundscapes, atmospheric compositions. That’s not to say that they don’t take centre stage. On Waves, this formula is put to work in a style that amalgamates progressive rock, math rock, indie folk, and world music in a whole that sounds minimalistic, rather than pompous, and that’s utterly delightful.

As the album goes on, you slowly get sucked into its quicksands. The guitar parts usually take the lead, but they are joined by many percussive and rhythmic ideas from other … Read more

Yazz Ahmed – La saboteuse

by Dæv Tremblay

British Bahraini trumpet and flugelhorn player Yazz Ahmed just released her new jazz album, La saboteuse. Mixing occidental jazz with middle-eastern music, Yazz crafted a unique and fascinating record that crosses generations and cultures. It’s really a good album to listen to if you want to travel at home, just let yourself be flown across the globe by it. La saboteuse is just full of wonderful moments, of melodies that speak old tongues and rhythms that tell old tales. I can’t recommend it enough.

Facebook
Bandcamp
Twitter
Website… Read more

Amogh Symphony release Aai, from their upcoming album IV

by Dæv Tremblay

A song about mothers of this world, and of Onamika, which you’ll remember from previous Amogh songs. On IV, they’re ditching the whole “concept album” things, and rather go for an “album of concepts”. Each song is like a soundtrack to a short movie, and we can appreciate that with Aai. The song draws strong connections with world music, as well as jazz, and with a touch of metal too. I think it’s wildly successful at what it wants to be, and I honestly can’t wait to hear more from Amogh IV.… Read more

Review: Tigran Hamasyan – Mockroot

by Ben Norton
The rhythm section on Mockroot: (from left to right) Sam Minaie (bass), Tigran Hamasyan, and Arthur Hnatek (drums) CREDIT: Maeve Stam

The rhythm section on Mockroot (from left to right), Sam Minaie (bass), Tigran Hamasyan, and Arthur Hnatek (drums)
CREDIT: Maeve Stam

Being a musical genius is hard. Not in the, “Oh, I’m a musical genius, I’m so oppressed, pity me” sense, but rather in the sense that one must live up to the expectations one has created. This is of course not a problem limited to the realm of music; all artists must ultimately struggle with it. If an artist has released material before, their new work is inevitably, and necessarily, put into a particular context. One must walk a … Read more