Elisee Akowendo hails from the Ivory Coast and grew up singing gospel music, developing a deep love of music that would come to define his life. Elisee traveled to Israel with his church group to perform, and after that, he was set to begin his master’s degree back home. But he took a chance on […]
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The city of Kidal in Northern Mali sits like a dot at the edge of the Sahara. It’s a place of paradox—the semi-permanent home of nomadic Tuaregs, the seat of a nation-state that lasted less than year once Al Qaeda and the French military pinched it from either side. It exists, and yet for many […]
Spaghetti-Westerns and electronic music seem dichotomously opposed by their very nature. One is built on leather and six-shooters while the other is all about computers and modern tech. But if Westworld taught us anything, it’s that bringing the future and the past together can lead to some truly intriguing results. Dirtwire have been bridging that divide in […]
In Their Words: “In ‘Franklin’s Key’ everything is speaking — not just the vocals. The saw, the bari sax, the percussion … it’s all ‘talking.’ I’m a cartoon junkie, from Merry Melodies to Chuck Jones to Loren Bouchard. When I close my eyes and listen to this track, I’m suddenly in a haunted house circa […]
In the wake of platinum superstar Adele (and Amy Winehouse before her), pop music has had no shortage of soulful divas with big backing bands attempting to bring the brash, bold sounds of the early ’60s into the new millennium, but few have done it as convincingly as the seven-piece Chicago group the Right Now. […]
Ani Cordero has grown so much over her short career in front of the microphone. I can hear it in her latest album, Querido Mundo. Since her days as a founding member of the alternative Latin rock band Pistolera, Cordero has immersed herself in as many styles, genres and cultures as she could, all in […]
“Bhangale,” the new single from Brooklyn eight-piece Red Baraat, fuzes jazz, go-go, North Indian bhangra, and Sri Lankan-inspired drumming into a knitted blend of polyrhythmic panache. Meanwhile, the brass section—sousaphone, trombone, saxophone, and trumpet—ignites the track with a rush of interwoven improvisations. By calling out “bols,” the mnemonic “alphabet” of syllables used to describe tabla rhythms, the band explore what it means to communicate music between […]
Everyone will tell you that they love reggae, yet most people don’t know their Ziggy Marley from their Damian Marley to their Stephen Marley. It’s still largely an underground genre which is a shame because the reggae scene is thriving with tons of talent such as Stick Figure. Started as a one-man band project by Scott Woodruff in […]
A year ago at this time, Morgan Heritage was 20 days away from winning its first Grammy Award for best reggae album with its 10th studio album, Strictly Roots. Now the critically acclaimed group is ramping up a world tour and finishing up its forthcoming new album — a taste of which premieres exclusively today […]