Atlas

From DJ Katapila and Alogte Oho to the legend himself, Gyedu-Blay Ambolley... We return to Ghana to cover the recently released 31st (yes, that is correct) album by the now 72-year-old renowned saxophonist, singer, guitarist and "originator of rap" Gyedu-Blay Ambolley; his second on Agogo Records. The album title, "11th Street, Sekondi", is a nod to the place he was born and that first home of his is actually pictured on the album cover. Blending Ghanaian [...]

It's been a year since Israeli/Iranian actress, model and chanteuse Liraz Charhi dropped her stunning debut album "Naz" on Tel Aviv's Dead Sea Recordings, "taking cues from Iran’s fiery and defiant female musical icons like Googoosh and Ramesh" and weaving her own narrative into the empowering mix. Now, 40 years after the Iranian Revolution and with the sad news of the situation in Iran going haywire once again, Liraz just released a powerful uptempo track [...]

Sweet Lord, this is it! A recent Instagram post by Brighton's Hivemind Records put us onto this equally recent and brilliant release on Berlin's Philophon imprint by Ghanaian gospel/Frafra artist Alogte Oho and his Sounds of Joy backing band. Similar to Ghana's Kologo master Guy One, Alogte Oho was discovered by Philophon's main man Max Weissenfeldt on a trip to Ghana in 2013, when he stepped off the bus and heard one of Alogte Oho's songs blaring from a nearby [...]

Baile funk from Italy? Yessir! "Italy's most innovative tropical bass producer," aka Ckrono, just dropped his debut single "Caramela" on Daniel Haaksman's Man Recordings and is poised to leave his mark on the global club circuit. Formerly hailing from Florence, Ckrono moved to Milan in 2017, where he launched his "Balera Favela" tropical bass night, which meanwhile attracts a rough 1.500 visitors per event and is steadily creating a niche for these booty-laden [...]

If you're familiar with Ghana's DJ Katapila, then you know his sounds hit hard. Hailing from Accra's Jamestown neighbourhood, DJ Katapila was first brought to our attention by Brian Shimkovitz's Awesome Tapes From Africa imprint, who released his debut album "Trotro" in 2016 and followed that up with the "Aroo" EP in 2018, which you can read up on here. In short, DJ Katapila has been breaking ground for the past 20 something years, "blasting his unique sounds [...]

This week finds us in a strange mood, which may just be that effect the month of November has, with the year slowly but surely coming to an end, temperatures and humanity in decline and what not. But then again, we always have that thing called music to pick us up again, that instant mood-changer there to set us on the right path or quite frankly take us far far away from here. How about Argentina?  

Today, we travel to Curuzù Cuatiá, a city in the [...]

Our dear Jewish Monkeys are currently on the road in Germany and the Czech Republic, wowing the crowds with their recently released third studio album "Catastrophic Life", which sees the band venture into unfamiliar musical territory. And we dare see, they seem weirdly rejuvenated.

Shortly before the album's official release, the Jewish Monkeys unveiled the suave new music video to album track "Le Grand Bazar", an upbeat and liberating afrobeat-flavoured tune [...]

A recent release that took us by surprise? That would have to be "Calico Soul", the debut album of nomadic Berlin-based duo Farafi, whose striking combination of captivating vocals and percussive sounds were quick to enthral us. Their story is one of modern roots, travels across the globe and a love for music both heartfelt and spiritual. Darlini Singh Kaul and Joy Tyson met in Goa, in the coastal village of Arambol. There, they discovered their shared [...]

Thank G*d it's Friday! We survived another week, the world has not yet imploded and Agent Orange is still POTUS. Shabbat shalom everybody and l'chaim! Let us raise our glasses to life in all its glorious absurdity, "Catastrophic Life" that is, as our Jewish Monkeys release their triumphant third longplayer and kick off a string of live dates. After all, who better to comment on modern-day ennui than this band of sharp-tongued, middle-aged, manly manly [...]

What sounds like the distant sounds of an orchestra tuning, getting ready to play, subtly merges into the yearning lament of a trumpet, heralding a new dawn. Ethereal, poetic, sublime, abstract yet ever so melodic are the opening moments to British-Bahraini trumpet player, composer and "high priestess of psychedelic Arabic jazz" Yazz Ahmed's recently released third album "Polyhymnia". Expectations for this one are sky high, considering the overwhelming global [...]

Once you see this Lima-based DJ and producer duo perform live, as they distribute their psychoactive potion on stage wearing folkloric masks and weaving intricate electronic tapestries of traditional Latin American rhythms and sounds, you will understand why some people call them the Peruvian Daft Punk. And though we've had Dengue Dengue Dengue and their digital cumbia aesthetic on our radar for quite some time, we curiously never got around to featuring them [...]

Oh, the horror! Yes, people. Halloween is once again upon us with its ghosts, ghouls and goblins. Well, actually that would be GOBLIN, you know, the band. If you're into horror soundtracks, then Claudio Simonetti's GOBLIN is sure to ring a bell. Formed in the early '70s, following in the footsteps of bands such as Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the now legendary Italian progressive rock band became a global phenomenon [...]