“It's important to bring a little confrontation to audiences more often.”
Start your journey into our most recent interviews here - with music and videos. Updated almost daily.
Harry Lipton's songs are deceptively soft, padded with gorgeous harmonies and dreamy grooves. But his diaristic and private take on lyrics lends them a relatably moving, and occasionally devastatingly heartbreaking quality.
Joy Guidry's expansion as an artist parallels the expansion of jazz as a genre. Working with basson, electronics, poetry, and her voice, her latest projects push sonic boundaries into a space between the spiritual and the radical.
With a unique aesthetic and style, KitschKrieg have made it to the creative top of Germany's hip hop scene. On London's Calling, they focus on collaboration and songwriting, while staying true to their philosophy: Being professional dilettantes with a minimal set-up.
The press release to the duo's latest explorations mentions Deleuze, Nietzsche, and the "planetary movements." The music, meanwhile, performed on small pipe organ and modular, is built on direct interaction, holding a space of gradually interweaving and shifting oscillations.
"I like the idea of my music being a kind of gathering or community, where we can all feel connected to something infinite."
As Black Loops, Riccardo Paffetti pushes his laid-back, futuristic Detroit love letters forward with live drumming and cool electro beats. It's cosmic man-machine music made by humans for humans.
The multifaceted composer/producer/DJ's vision of jazz is like a dream of the Glasgow jazz scene: Soft, sensual, subtle and full of wonder for the everyday miracles of life.
“In a song you can say anything you like. But I think it is important to say something that matters to you.“
Sibel Koçer's recent trip to Vietnam resulted in sequencer music of ethereal, brightly coloured beauty. It is testimony to her admiration for the Asian electronic scene – and a restless brain in need of constant stimulation.
“It's a big thing coming,” Marina Sakimoto sings in the opening to her new album. But the music breathes a sense of intimacy and longing. Right in between nostalgia and euphoria lies the magic of her fuzz-drenched dream pop.
Places of worship hold a special meaning for Asani's response to sound. It it isn't the silence between notes that feels important to him – but a softness capable of exerting incredible power.
"A musician can’t truly be an innovator without being well informed about the history and legacy of jazz and jazz musicians."
A personal trip to Vietnam resulted in a sequencer album opening up into a galaxy of intimacy. Tangerine Dream could have written this in the mid-80s – it would have been one of their better works.
Joining forces as it's me?, Matthias Tschopp and Jürg Zimmermann aimed at something in between experimental sound art, ambient, techno and jazz. Getting there turned into a journey.
Starting from the trumpet, Zimmermann gradually developed a modular set-up aimed at experimentation and exploration. Control is an important element – but so are chance and coincidence.
The mostly Berlin-based trio are playing an airy, almost weightless version of motoric magic. Somewhere between Can and Khruangbin and forever indebted to the jam.
Studying the greats of the past and present is a pivotal part of Sorvina's process. Her stories, however, are uniquely her own – and can never be destroyed by any system.
The Belgian producer's studio has recently gone through incisive changes. But it is never the hardware that counts – but rather the will to keep going and radically question himself in difficult times.
“I asked myself if I could do something like techno without having a sequencer or drum voices - or voices at all.”
On the return of his band Los Forajidos, the Venezuelan bassist hits a lighter tone than on the politically driven predecessor. His delirious, trance-inducing grooves between tradition, trap and robotic funk remain true to his core motto, however: Ancient to the Future and Future to the Ancient.
Anger is the driving force for the Berlin formation. Recorded in a rehearsal room, their upcoming sophomore effort is a beacon for those in need of release.
"I’ve looked up and seen smiles. I’ve looked up and seen tears. Sometimes during the same song. Sometimes at the same time."
“Minimalism isn’t just reducing but it’s refining. It’s a deep search for essence and presence.”
“If I had seen Hendrix live, or Coltrane ... I would probably have become a gardener.”
Picking up a variety of raw materials from Home Depot was the first step of the creative process for Nathan Davis's new piece. Gradually, the music grew into a micro-immersive space of Youtube samples, MaxMSP manipulations and suspensefully discrete, visceral sounds.
For his euphoric solo debut, the Struts' frontman studied great poets and lyricists. In the end, however, melody is still key.
The tender, almost whispered sonic poems of the Japanese artist float in a space between sound and song. They open up intimate galaxies within the safety of your own room.
Usually, Mobley can hear and project the end result of the creative process right from the start. For his new, speculative fiction concept album, however, he had to wait patiently for the right ideas to come.
The Pennsylvania band blend brutal blast beats, spiky punk riffs and blackened atmospherics into a ferocious maelstrom - “part grief and loss, part religious imagery and part monsters of the mind.”
Konalgad's debut LP sits at the cusp between dream and nightmare, reliving and exorcising a dark phase in his life. And yet, these pieces move towards the light, not away from it – testimony to the ideal of physically playing, singing and moving his body while composing.
Songs are not the only form of lyrical expression for Ada Morghe, who also writes plays and books. But, she feels, words are particularly powerful when combined with sound: “Music reaches the heart before the mind even has a chance to catch up.”
“The mixing stages can feel very sculptural. Arranging is more like painting.”
No matter how dark and intense Ash Luke's jungle and hardcore-inspired almost-un-dj'able productions may be – there needs to be a spark of soul at their heart.
There is always potential for something new in the swing-oriented jazz of the British saxophonist. And yet, in our digital age, sometimes just hitting the stage with an all-acoustic band can be enough to grab attention.
Doyle's new album emerged from confusion and loss. Aiming at a translation of raw, unfiltered truth, she ultimately found inspiration in sensations of disconnection and disorientation.
Winn's new songs were haunted by a ghostly premonition. The devastating suicide of her father changed her as a person and an artist – but there was never any choice but to deal with it with raw honesty.
Beats, sampled and chopped lyrics, field recordings and processed instruments: In his wondrous songs, inspired by Irish culture and poetry, Daniel McIntyre excavates fossils from the future.
Gleb Kolyadin's Mobula touches on anything from minimal music to instrumental piano prog. That's because he believes that anything can be an inspiration.
"If we take “Chelsea Morning” by Joni Mitchell and you look at the lyrics, it is very easy to smell the bath bomb we created."
The Israeli pianist and ECM artist had no intention to record a solo album. Listening back to two gigs of “miniatures and tales,” he discovered a spontaneous beauty beyond planning.
For the British drummer and producer, the stage is the studio and improvisation is instant composition. His collaborative performances have myriads of roots – but jazz and a love for randomised electronic systems are key components.
Music, for Micah Thomas, fosters radical acceptance. Ahead of a trio performance at Ladbroke Hall, the pianist reflects on his views on collaboration and improvisation and how performing on stage keeps him sane.
An inveterate perfectionist Live Sollid Schulerud could never finish a track in a few hours. Perhaps that's precisely what makes her inimitable electronic songscapes, often driven by deeply personal experiences, so unique.
The British singer-songwriter loves the sensation of having her body taken over by music - turning into a medium for pure desperation and anger.
Max Walker is right – his hard-hitting fusion isn't avantgarde per se. But it is certainly part of the vanguard when it comes to rhythmical inventiveness, emotional complexity and the creation of deep, innovative textures.
4D performances caught in a time loop: Using and breaking the spell of his loops, the British fusion master replaces improvisation and composition with his personal dream-logic.
“Sound is a more direct line to the human spirit than the visual arts.“
The British pianist and composer is about to take his soulful modern jazz to stages across the UK. As always, the album versions will merely be a springboard for inspired in-the-moment actualisation.
Friendships and the bonds of love remain important catalysts for the psychedelic pop of the French duo – so do food, great melodies and studios with windows.
In his new project, the Gilla Band guitarist explores twisted house, noise and making the foundations of his tracks sound fucked.
After once being blown away by Reich's 18 Musicians, the Catalan composer no longer looks at music through a maximalist or minimalist lense. It's all about finding and honing the ideas that truly matter.
To Alex Garnett, even after 100 years, jazz is still “finding its way.” Ahead of a quintet performance at Ladbroke Hall, the saxophonist reflects on the unique UK sound, the chops of a new generation and why his discography as a leader has remained fairly small.
Teachers tried to smooth out the edge, roughness and rasp in Jon Allen's voice. Thankfully, he had a record player – and a stubborn streak.
Sri-Lankan born Dilee D has found a new home in Chicago. A firm believer in the benefits of technology, his shimmering melodic house is inspired by the constant need to push the envelope.
“What hip hop could be like is something so far from its origins that it may not be called hip hop.”
"The world needs an understanding of complexity, of the coexistence of opposing thoughts and emotions. Nothing is ever just one thing."
With a background in jazz and inspired by Frank Zappa and Edgard Varèse early on, Jason Kriveloff's take on house was always going to be different. Recorded while going through serious health issues, his new EP is a triumph of life teaming with individuality.
Debussy with contemporary grooves, Satie even dreamier than the original? Chris Gall is improvising the music of the great impressionists - looking for the link between himself, history, and the moment.
"Many of the positives we associate with the music industry are actually a result of technology rather than anything the industry itself is doing."
The electro-acoustic composer talks us through the motivations and inspirations behind her latest collection of works.
Florin doesn't think of himself as a fairly limited instrumentalist. In the piano trio Dig Dug Dug, those limitations lead to a direct and unromantic sound, bound- and borderless interactions - and plenty of surprises.
Equally wondrous, joyful, and sexy, Oliver Lutz's music is a celebration of his deep fascination with sound – be it from Coltrane, Tomita, fusion jazz or the singing of lyrebirds.
“Songs can help us see things in a new way … and that is empowering.“
These electronic pop songs, influenced equally by Sinéad O'Connor, Patti Smith and Björk, are powerful in their courage to portrait powerlessness, universal in their intimacy, consoling by channelling pain.
Tobias Fischer reflects on how the death of one of Germany's biggest singers created an infinite loop.
The term “synth pop” doesn't do this collection of dark, mysterious, and weirdly glamorous songs justice. Inviting myriads of comparisons, it remains incomparable.
The Thai drummer's global take on jazzy funk is so dreamy and groovy that it all but belies her real intention: To hit as many things at once as she possibly can.
Vega Trails are still playing subtle, spiritual trios between double bass, sax and space. This time, however, they wanted to see make their minimalist music as big as mountains.
OHYUNG firmly intends to be a pop star. Their new album has all the right hooks, infectuous melodies, and sultry beats – but bathes them in an otherworldly twilight.
A caleidoscopic continuum from hip to jazz, a transatlantic bridge, a showcase for a highly individual band sound.
Inspired by his Latin roots and applying techniques of Sushi preparation to his productions, the new album by the Pillowtalk member is a joyful collection of infectious house songs.
Music may not be as important in an ADD world. But to accordion-and-guitar-weilding jazzrock-trio Broodmen, there is still no alternative to living jazz 24/7.
The Cuban singer-songwriter's voice shines brighter than ever on Ritual. But it's the big communal choruses, performed without a metronome, which brought most joy to her.
The upcoming new DARGZ full-length is a family affair filled with warm soul, crisp beats and chopped-up contributions from London's new jazz scene.
Emerging from skeletal sketches, the global-minded duo's expansive new album is driven by the synergy between words and sounds and the beauty hidden in misunderstandings.
Combinations over Content: The Swiss saxophonist is giving in to the moment completely on his new, entirely live-recorded album.
A state of suspension, a feeling of voluntary submission: This music needs to exist.
The Brussels-based band's passionate post-rock-electronica finds an excitingly unstable equilibrium between sentimental analog nostalgia and loud, uplifting futurism.
Faced with big, burning questions, Verena Zeiner accepted her responsibility as an artist – responding with radical care and a new-found musical freedom.
High Frequency Fetishism: On his fuzz-drunk solo debut, Denis Wanic of SUIR is affectionately piercing your ears.
Unleashing an Arctic Post Metal Inferno, the Norwegian band clearly feel strongly about transmitting energy. Their goal: To help listeners raise their voices.
One of the great American gospel voices about the importance of natural harmony – and the cough drops The Blind Boys of Alabama swear by.
On Ghosts Between Streams, triggered by observations of ecological destruction, the environmental impact is “both the subject and the work itself.”
No abstractions: Electro-acoustic improvisation in the age of fun.
Watch this space – in her songs and performances, the British songwriter is digging deep into the new and unknown of a genre she has a funny relationship with.
Pushing beyond autotune, Darci Phenix discovered the true potential of her voice on Sable – while retaining the dreamy, otherworldly spirit of her folk songs.
Inspired by “long days and nights that stretched into the morning”, the hypnagogic music of Aregger's trio moulds sensuality and suspense into “moments where the energy boils beneath the surface.”
Experiencing the duo's debut album MestizX is “like downloading a mountain” - a mind-altering journey through trance-inducing vocals, multilayered drumming, naked emotion and psychotropic electronics.
The Nigerian-British singer and lyricist wants to leave an imprint and offer a true representation of who she is. On her soulful and stripped-down debut album, she's come pretty close to that ideal.
The melodies of the Japanese Acid-Fusion-trio keep falling down - but the effect is one of consolation and ecstasy.
For her new album, Aimée Portioli processed, pitched and arranged wind recordings. The result is a veritable force of nature – and possibly the most powerful piece of sound art you'll hear this year.
Tradition and the present are caught in a burning, dream-like embrace in Rose Bett's songs. Each flaw and failing, each high point and low point – nothing is ever off the table.
Ahead of a new Barbican premiere, the experimental vocalist speaks about her practise, disrupting semantic sense and her love for how people say the things they say.
The deeper this single-note meditation goes, the more it creates the sensation that “we're all in this together.”
Wherever the Hamburg duo may go - the next big melancholic chorus is always right around the corner.
WHO SHOT SCOTT's music may not be overtly political. Its dopamine-spike-frenzy gives it a soundtrack-to-the-next-revolution-quality nonetheless.
Kuunatic play psychedelic rock on traditional Japanese instruments. Their process involves science fiction, mythology - and burning incense from Kyoto's Nanzen-ji Temple.
Live, Xani channels the rawness of Hendrix and Paganini. On her upcoming studio album, she expresses feelings of loss and grief through krautrock.
Propelled by two drummers, the quartet are looking for patterns between hypnosis and deconstruction, tactile grooves and grainy texture.
KARMÅ's music is a return to the core of club music: Alchemic, euphoric, and deeply spiritual. It is also simply classic songwriting.
“We must respect the great music of the past, and create something new,” moog master Yumiko Ohno says. To do this, she keeps her antennae open to jazz and electronica, installations, and DJ sets.
The Armenian diaspora continues to influence Kouyoumdjian's work. And yet, her ingenious use of field recordings roots her documentarian approach to the present.
From Kraftwerk and Cabaret Voltaire via Eric Clapton and Depeche Mode to OMD and Black Sabbath - Denis Blackham's masterings have made the world of music a better one.
Energy is an inspiring potential in the crushingly beautiful feedback anthems of Mohanna. It needs to stay untethered by the egomaniacal creatures of the world.
Hong Kong’s Cantopop is a joyful fusion of Eastern and Western influences. Now, TC:KYLIE adds jazz and historically charged soundscapes to the equation.
Using 3D ambisonic microphones, Barrett's current acousmatic works listen towards the future: Are we headed for beauty or dystopia?
Spinnen write edgy, from-the-dark-corners-of-the-basement drum-and-guitar post-punk anthems. The lyrics, however, imbue them with a “light that permeates the body.”
Nicole McCabe is learning to relinquish control. Intruigingly, that's precisely how she regains it on the mysterious, surreal-in-a-beguiling-way analog-synth jazz of her latest album.
Ambient guitarist Takuro Okada wants to play as if he were looking at water and grasping a cloud.
If inspiration hits, the Romanian pianist can spend months diving into a composer's letters, and life story. Music is living and breathing – a dialogue with the past.
Miles Davis made Hino realise jazz is the ultimate form of music: Ageless, colourless, cool, sexy, sad, chaotic and funky like hell.
Inspired by mysterious photos by nanny photographer Vivian Maier, Harald Walkate imagines the narrative beyond the frame.
Tapping into sampling and working with experimental performance approaches, Joona Toivanen still heads one of the most unique piano trios we know.
The London duo's haunting songs carry the DNA of 70s psychedelic folk and dreamy soft rock – with just the right amount of “roughage.”
The French quintet shape their own vision of 21st century jazz, soul, and hip hop – seducing the mind, but keeping the body engaged.
Thorvaldsdottir's new work feels like a journey to the heart of sound: A slow stream of tiny particles, intimate cascades and reverberations tending towards the infinite.
Much of today's popular dance music is a "deliberate rip-off of the past," according to van Dyk. But what is the solution?
Music can just be a tool for having a good time to lisa tba. But she also uses it to support causes such as migrant solidarity and feminist struggles.
Lutz Krajenski's plays, collects, and restores Hammond organs. On his new album, he now fuses them with hiphop beats.
The Tradition is to Break the Tradition: Petra Onderuf spices up jazz with Eastern European and Balkan influences.
"My music reflects the challenges of the world I live in while expressing the values I hold dear. Music is not just an art form - it’s a tool for a better future."
Blending Yoruba culture and spiritual jazz, NIJI's Oríkì is a passionate, pristinely produced piece of deep soul searching.
Haunting and quietly intense, pianist Benjamin Lackner's second album for ECM is a work of beauty slowly descending into darkness.
The French jazz saxophonist sculpts glacially majestic soundscapes – creative antidotes to the vicious cycle of noise he's observing.
Experience and the search for essence have turned the French electro duo into architects of sound.
Inspired by an indelible Autechre performance and living alone in a mountain cabin, the French producer's music is pure exploration.
"Music can inspire, and bridge ethnic, religious, and political divides. As a musician and a composer, I want this to be my focus."
Recorded in an old underground water tank, Violeta García's new album was stolen, then returned – embarking on a journey of its own.
The legendary DJ looks back on 40 years behind the turntables - on the art of storytelling, the navigation between control and surrender.
Lauren's outsider nature shines through in increasingly minimal, life-affirming jams - but she doesn't call herself a jazz musician anymore.
For their new album of baroque music, the ensemble found inspiration in Irish synth folk and Mariah Carey. Who cares what Handel would have thought?
For Iona Evans, sheer determination in the face of rejection and belief in the world you are creating are crucial.
Every improvisation is about the state of the world for saxophonist Nicole Johänntgen. It is also a “body language.”
The Swiss-Australian pianist-composer is looking for a healing energy – inspiring both reflection and action.
Shibuya's oeuvre questions the nature of death, offering a new romanticism through the eyes and ears of AI.
"I use music and concerts as a way to forget about current events, worries or concerns."
As masters of Back to Back DJing, the French duo are constantly in conversation through music.
For the Ghanaian rapper, hip hop is a case of “either you're living it or you're watching it.”
In the prayer-like realm of “Moya,” Selaocoe translates African musical languages to the cello.
In the spiritual jazz-house of the NYC multihyphenate, improvisation is a tool for tapping into the subconscious.
“I feed off the audience's energy, and amplify it through the music. It’s a constant exchange.“
"I wanted every note to feel pure, unfiltered, and deeply authentic—a reflection of the soul and spirit of Qawwali."
The almost frighteningly intense noise-rock of the Dutch trio is inspired by a longing for the unexpected.
The Danish fivepiece's magical, multi-facetted jazz is held together by friendship, laughs – as well as lots of coffee.
"I’m definitely revealing deep secrets and singing about uncomfortable truths."
To Nathan Ott, drumming is a deeply sensory experience: Lighting will change how he plays, rhythm becomes melody, textures turn into grooves.
“The process of DAW to Bandcamp to CDJ is starting to run out of mileage. Exploring new ways to present your work is going to be the fun part.“
"I lost a fair amount of my top end hearing so I gravitate towards bassy sounds. It’s a physiological response at this point."
"If producion gets a lot more easy, it's gonna take the fun out of it."
From Blomqvist Sound to Blomqvist Archives
"I’m often moved by sounds where the organic meets the digital."
"Music gives us the strength to stand together against anyone who’s trying to destroy inclusivity and freedoms."
"Reacting in the moment is like meeting someone for coffee—you’re not going to recite memorized stories."
"My own voice isn't loud enough to be heard. So I'll let the music speak through big speakers."
"Each album has a different theme. On this album, the word “graveyard” was the theme.”
"We like to bring technology to the forefront and play with it."
"Jazz has lost its meaning as a specific style. It’s a way of making music."
"I like when the score is a little removed from what’s happening on screen."
"Some of my music could be played by a child in their first year of piano study. There are so few notes, yet they say so much to me."
"To sing is to convey a message from the soul - in any way the song calls for."
“Maybe I’m just trying to fill a void, an emptiness. It’s addictive magic.“
“Drummers are natural leaders. They lead bands they play in even when it is not official.”
“My daily work consists of expanding my toolbox - so I can move from any given idea to any other given idea.“
"I want to make anthems for the place I am from for the people that share my background."
"I am always asking why things are so messed up? That topic is unfortunately always relevant."
"The owner of a jazz club told me that I should be careful that people still understood our music. But isn't the jazz club the right place for unbiased listening?"
"Singing should be accessible to everyone - not only ‘allowed’ to a few."
"Writing feels like a bridge between the seen and unseen, between what we feel and what we want to understand."
"The evolution of human music may go back to sex. This would bring the music of other species further inside our radius of understanding."
“My goal was to compose loop-based music that is calming and meditative but never dull.“
"It’s incredible to think that something I created nearly three decades ago still resonates with people."
"I enjoy every single aspect of making a record. Except for actually doing a take!"
"My intentions for using silence are very different from those of John Cage."
"I’m still trying to figure out how to play things I learned as a child!"
For Seckou Keita, the Kora is a simple instrument channeling ancestry, secret techniques and storytelling.
"Being innovative and having a personal voice is part of the tradition. It isn't opposed to it."
“I don’t mind being a fool. Sometimes that's what allows real music to happen.“
“The conception that 4/4 is kind of the “normal“ thing is super unrealistic.”
"Hands rubbing on a balloon is probably my worst sound in the world. Should be illegal."
"I’m obsessed with what it all means. Trying to understand and find deep appreciation in our total existence."
“I normally am not loud and extreme. But I sometimes love to be that way whilst playing.“
“I consider myself lucky to have been part of it. Then I get the washing up done.“
"Scoring The Brutalist was a delicate dance between the dialogue, score and sound."
"These are more than mere recordings. They are a narrative of a rapidly changing landscape."
“For my live album, I had to listen to 400 improvisations of myself.“
"Christian's hurdy gurdy rhythm reminded me of the Agikuyu tribe from Central Kenya."
"I'd prefer a vision of diversity rather than merely showcasing the culture of rich civilizations."
"You are not a machine which needs to endlessly churn out a ‘product.’ If you’ve only got one album in you that’s fine."
"I can feel thrown off if a random love song appears in the middle of a breakup album."
"One day, maybe soon, silence will become a luxury product."
“The rustling of wind through trees, birdsong, and human voices are not separate elements. They're part of a cohesive soundscape.“
"This album is a record of how my identity has been evolving."
"People think that Krautrock must have a motorik beat. But there was so much more new and fresh stuff in Krautrock."
“I respect artists who use their craft for the betterment of society. But my music is an escape, like a dream.“
"Most of the feedback I get is, “this song helped me with a breakup.” Sounds right to me."
“I have to go in without any expectations - I always seem to find something unexpected.“
"The core idea of MM Works is the dynamic we get when playing together. That is hard to get online."
"When my second daughter was born, I created all kinds of compositions to the rhythm of a heart beat monitor!"