Search results for 'drum'

Khadim is a stunning reconfiguration of the Ndagga Rhythm Force sound. The instrumentation is radically pared down. The guitar is gone; the concatenation of sabars; the drum-kit. Each of the four tracks hones in on just one or two drummers; otherwise the sole recorded element is the singing; everything else is programmed. Synths are dialogically locked into the drumming. Tellingly, Ernestus has reached for his beloved Prophet-5, a signature go-to since Basic Channel days, thirty years ago. Texturally, the sound is more dubwise; prickling with effects. There is a new spaciousness, announced at the start by the ambient sounds of Dakar street-life. At the microphone, Mbene Diatta Seck revels in this new openness: mbalax diva, she feelingly turns each of the four songs into a discrete dramatic episode, using different sets of rhetorical techniques. The music throughout is taut, grooving, complex, like before; but more volatile, intuitive and reaching, with turbulent emotional and spiritual expressivity. Learn More

Big Hands, the moniker of Andrea Ottomani, presents a debut album that’s both immersive and dreamlike—a sonic journey that dissolves the line between electronic and acoustic worlds. Thauma was born from a stormy voyage across the Mediterranean and crafted using field recordings, tuned percussion, and close collaborations with a select group of musicians. The album features the haunting voice of Palestinian artist Bint Mbareh and the winding saxophone of Buster Woodruff-Bryant, weaving together deep emotion and rich textures. Modular synths meet bells, balafon, and bamboo drums to conjure a sense of mythical, rooted nostalgia—organic yet otherworldly. Learn More