MUZORAMA 210726

This edition of Muzorama travels through the fluid territory between psychedelic jazz, future soul, broken beat, spiritual improvisation, cinematic funk and bass-oriented electronic music. The cover presents the curator as a pilot inside a futuristic cockpit, navigating an open and unfamiliar universe. It is an appropriate visual metaphor for a programme driven not by fixed genre boundaries, but by exploration: moving between musical scenes, traditions and technologies in search of unexpected connections.

Across these sixteen tracks, jazz is treated less as a closed category than as a creative method. Live musicians interact with programmed rhythms, acoustic instruments are reshaped through electronic production, and soul vocals move through abstract, bass-heavy environments. Psychedelia appears not simply through effects or retro references, but through repetition, atmosphere, altered perception and the feeling that each composition contains its own interior world.

London DJ, broadcaster and producer Alex Nut appears with “Bright,” featuring the unmistakable voice of Steve Spacek. Alex Nut’s work has consistently connected jazz, hip-hop, broken beat, soul and experimental electronic music, while Spacek remains one of the defining voices of UK future soul. On “Bright,” swinging percussion and luminous keyboard textures create space for Spacek’s fragile falsetto. The track feels intimate and futuristic at the same time: recognisably soulful, but constructed through the rhythmic and sonic vocabulary of contemporary electronic production.

Naarm/Melbourne keyboardist, vocalist, DJ and producer Kuzco contributes “Be Loved.” Inspired by UK street soul, downtempo, new jack swing and underground electronic music, Kuzco filters these influences through a contemporary Australian perspective. Saturated drum breaks, acid-coloured bass and echoed vocals give the track both emotional intimacy and rhythmic weight. It connects the sensibility of 1990s street soul with house, electro and modern beat production without becoming a straightforward revival.

The spiritual dimension of the programme is strongly present in Hill Collective’s “Fire in Orbit.” The ensemble combines saxophone, flute, piano, double bass, guitar, drums, congas and communal vocals in a piece built around collective interaction. The music is expansive but never overstated. Repetition creates a hypnotic foundation, while the musicians move between structured passages and open improvisation. “Fire in Orbit” reflects the continuing relevance of spiritual jazz as a living, communal practice rather than a historical style.

The more abstract side of the selection is represented by two releases associated with Dpercussion Recordings, a label focused on broken beat, jazztronica, future jazz and underground rhythm experiments. Opaque Structures’ “Dark Primula” combines compressed jazz breaks, heavy low frequencies and a shadowy late-night atmosphere. The track belongs to the lineage of bruk and bass music, but its structure remains unstable and deliberately difficult to classify.

Colombian trio BALTHVS bring a different form of psychedelia with “Liminal Stages.” Their music combines spacious electric guitar, deep bass and restrained percussion with influences from Latin American rhythm, global funk and neo-psychedelic rock. Rather than relying on dramatic solos, BALTHVS construct their sound through economy, repetition and gradual transformation. “Liminal Stages” is hypnotic precisely because it refuses to reveal everything immediately; the groove develops as a state of mind rather than a conventional song structure.

London artist MADELEINE contributes “Meet My Soul in the Water,” a dreamlike composition situated between neo-soul, nu-jazz and electronic music. Vocals, keyboards and synthesisers are joined by live drums and harp, producing a fluid soundscape in which the individual elements appear to dissolve into one another. The imagery of water, reflection and emotional connection is embedded within the arrangement itself. The track’s soulfulness comes not only from the voice, but from the emotional space created around it.

Ori Kaplan and Lihu Melamed’s “Merveille” brings modal jazz, psychedelic rock, Middle Eastern references and cinematic composition into the same frame. Kaplan’s saxophone background and Melamed’s work as a producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist create a sound that is both organic and carefully designed. Guitar, flute, baritone saxophone, synthesisers and restrained percussion move through an asymmetrical rhythmic structure, suggesting the soundtrack to an imaginary Mediterranean or European film.

Berlin future-jazz trio Future3 collaborate with producer and singer-songwriter Kota No Uta on “Mystic Sheep,” a dreamlike piece that connects psychedelic jazz, neo-soul, folk and electronic music. Future3 consists of Irina van der Plas on keyboards and synthesisers, Miguel Couto on bass and synthesisers, and Rodrigo Ambrogio on drums. Their wider sound draws from contemporary jazz, fusion, electronic music and punk, while retaining the interactive character of a live trio.

The composition existed for some time before its release and developed through several versions as Future3 performed it live. According to the group, the piece only found its final form after Kota No Uta joined the project. Her involvement substantially transformed the material, making “Mystic Sheep” Future3’s first recorded song to include lyrics and their first composition to be co-written and co-produced with another artist.

Kota No Uta is a Berlin-based artist, producer and singer-songwriter whose experimental work is rooted in neo-soul, jazz and folk music. Her delicate vocal presence gives the track an intimate, floating quality, extending Future3’s instrumental language into a more lyrical and emotionally expressive space.

Berlin-based producer Fred P contributes “Nurture Bliss,” a meditative electronic composition shaped by deep rhythm, ambient space and jazz-informed harmony. Fred P’s music often moves beyond the functional expectations of house music, using rhythm to construct emotional and architectural space. “Nurture Bliss” occupies the border between future jazz, spiritual electronics, broken rhythm and ambient music. It is precise without sounding mechanical, and introspective without losing its physical pulse.

Dutch producer Martyn appears with “Phantom Jazz.” His work has long connected dubstep, Detroit techno, house, broken beat and bass music, but this composition makes the relationship with jazz particularly explicit. Live drumming interacts with electronic structure, allowing swing, syncopation and human timing to reshape the production. The track does not simply place jazz instrumentation over an electronic beat; it allows improvisational logic to enter the machinery of the music itself.

Toronto-based Orbital Ensemble contribute “Razão,” a piece influenced by Brazilian psychedelic music, MPB, jazz fusion and funk. Led by Brazilian-born multi-instrumentalist Felipe Sena, the ensemble combines drums, percussion, bass, guitars, saxophone and flute with additional vocal and orchestral textures. The music preserves the responsiveness and warmth of a live group while leaving room for cosmic atmosphere and studio experimentation. “Razão” belongs to a wider tradition of Brazilian music in which rhythm, spirituality and psychedelic imagination remain closely connected.

Bristol producer Sentinel 793 collaborates with vocalist Colonel Red on “Some Things Change.” Rough broken-beat drums, synthesiser stabs and deep low-end support Colonel Red’s mature and expressive soul performance. The track demonstrates the continuing vitality of bruk as a hybrid form: part bass music, part jazz-informed club production and part future soul. Its strength lies in the tension between the roughness of the rhythm and the warmth of the voice.

Henny Fat Mouth’s “Morada Hop” approaches jazz from another angle. Rather than reproducing the form of a traditional ensemble, it reduces jazz to rhythmic fragments, harmonic colour, texture and percussive interruption. Lo-fi electronic details, broken drums and downtempo movement create a compact example of jazz functioning as beat architecture rather than conventional composition.

Berlin-based trio Future3 contribute “Breeze on the Menu,” a warm and spacious piece of contemporary jazz fusion. Built around Fender Rhodes, analogue synthesisers, electric bass and live drums, the track combines instrumental fluency with a relaxed electronic sensibility. Jamichael Frazier’s flute adds an airy, almost weightless layer, giving the music the feeling of movement through a wide-open environment. Future3’s approach reflects the contemporary international jazz landscape, where improvisation, studio production and influences from soul, funk and psychedelic music exist within the same composition.

“Ela”, by Resavoir and Matt Gold, represents a more delicate meeting between jazz, Brazilian composition and psychedelic studio craft. Resavoir, the project led by Chicago trumpeter, arranger and producer Will Miller, is known for combining jazz instrumentation with orchestral pop, library music and intimate recording techniques. Matt Gold’s guitars, bass, synthesisers, percussion and electronic rhythm contribute to a track that feels handmade, warm and quietly experimental. The result is Brazilian psychedelia viewed through the sensibility of Chicago’s contemporary improvisational community.

Muzorama 210726 — curated by Sergi.

MUZORAMA EDITION 150726

"Muzorama 150726" explores the outer edges of contemporary electronic music, improvised sound and reimagined tradition.

The mix moves from the ritual electronics of **Takkak Takkak** and Durban club mutations by **Akiid**, through **Mohamed Bourouissa**, **Superfan** and the live improvisation of **SML**, before turning toward Tuareg guitar, Somali digital diaspora, psychedelic jazz and the Latin American underground.

Featuring music from **Amanar de Kidal, Khadija Jiijo Jeesto, Goran Kajfeš, LAO** and **arévalo**, the show traces how artists reshape memory, geography and local scenes through technology and experimentation.

Presented by "KOMUNA" and curated by SirG.

Daev Martian ft. EMAMKAY — “If I Had A Band”

Some tracks are built like songs. Others are built like imagined rooms.

“If I Had A Band” by South African producer Daev Martian, featuring EMAMKAY, belongs to the second category. The title already gives away the idea: what would happen if a beatmaker’s inner world suddenly expanded into a full band? The answer is not a neat three-minute single, but an 11-minute journey through jazz, hip-hop, soul and electronic production.

The track does not feel like a jam session, and it does not feel like a conventional beat tape either. It sits somewhere between composition and fantasy — a producer thinking in sections, textures and live-band possibilities. There is groove, but also space. There is soul, but not nostalgia. There is hip-hop structure, but the music keeps opening into something wider.

Daev Martian comes from South Africa’s forward-thinking beat and electronic scene, where jazz harmony, broken rhythm, deep-house sensibility and hip-hop imagination often speak to each other naturally. EMAMKAY adds another layer to that world: a voice and musical presence connected to conscious hip-hop, neo-soul, lo-fi and jazz.

What makes “If I Had A Band” interesting for MUZORAMA is its scale. It is ambitious without becoming difficult. It feels personal, generous and slightly self-indulgent in the best sense — the sound of an artist allowing one idea to grow as far as it wants.

MUZORAMA recommends it for listeners who like music where beats, jazz, soul and imagination are not separated into genres, but treated as one living language.

Varra — “Penguinbiome”

“Penguinbiome” by Varra sounds like a small, fast-moving ecosystem built out of broken jazz, cartoon logic and digital nervous energy.

The track is barely two and a half minutes long, but it refuses to stay in one place. IDM, jazz fusion, drum & bass, math rock and jazztronica all appear inside it — not as polished genre references, but as quick flashes of movement. It feels playful, unstable and highly detailed, like a video game level designed by someone who listens to fusion records at the wrong speed.

Varra is a deliberately elusive internet-native artist. The official Bandcamp profile gives almost no conventional biography, only a strange, casual self-description: music, video, playful ambiguity, and a large catalogue of self-released work. That lack of polished presentation is part of the charm. “Penguinbiome” does not feel like a product from a label campaign. It feels like something produced inside a private creative universe and released directly into the open.

MUZORAMA recommends “Penguinbiome” for listeners who like electronic music when it becomes playful, hyper-detailed and rhythmically strange — somewhere between jazz fusion, IDM, drum & bass and a cartoon animal running through a computer.

Zeu — “Reckoning”

“Reckoning” by Zeu feels less like a single and more like a warning before the full storm arrives.

The track is the third single from Zeu’s upcoming album Existor, following “Sympathy” and “Nostalgia,” with the full record expected on July 17, 2026 via Everything Evaporated. That context matters: “Reckoning” does not sound like an isolated song, but like one chapter in a larger emotional architecture.

Based in Northeast Pennsylvania, Zeu describes the project with stark precision: existential dread. On “Reckoning,” that phrase becomes musical language. The song moves through gothic rock, neofolk and dark alternative territory, but avoids empty theatricality. Its darkness is not decorative; it feels internal, heavy and lived-in.

There is something severe in the track’s atmosphere — a sense of memory turning into judgment, or private damage becoming unavoidable. The production is restrained, the mood is tense, and the song carries the feeling of someone standing at the edge of a personal collapse, not to dramatize it, but to finally name it.

For MUZORAMA, “Reckoning” is interesting because it comes from the margins rather than from a polished promotional machine. It is new, under-radar, emotionally direct and genre-blurred in the right way.

MUZORAMA recommends it for listeners drawn to the darker edge of post-punk, gothic songwriting and neofolk — music that does not comfort, but clarifies.

TM — “Fundo”

“Fundo” does not try to seduce quickly. It moves with patience, pressure and restraint — the kind of deep techno that is less about impact and more about depth, repetition and slow psychological movement.

The track opens Layers Of Meaning Part IV, a new three-track EP by TM, released on Porto’s Timeless O’Clock label. The title itself is important: in Portuguese, “fundo” can suggest bottom, depth, background, or something hidden underneath the surface. The music follows that idea. Nothing is decorative here. Pads, acid-touched synth lines and a stripped rhythmic structure slowly pull the listener inward.

This is techno without spectacle. It does not depend on a dramatic drop or an obvious hook. Instead, “Fundo” creates its force through atmosphere, tension and small changes in texture. It feels like a track designed for a dark room, but also for headphones — functional enough for the club, introspective enough for private listening.

Timeless O’Clock, based in Porto, has been active as both label and event promoter since 2019, and this release reflects that local underground language: minimal, serious, physical, but not cold.

MUZORAMA recommends “Fundo” for listeners who are interested in electronic music as a space of concentration — music that does not explain itself immediately, but slowly opens below the surface.

Ilaria Capalbo — “Arrival”

“Arrival” begins like an opening door rather than a declaration. The first track from Ilaria Capalbo’s new album The Brightest Sun does not rush to impress; it builds its own internal weather — bass, saxophones, guitar and drums moving through tension, space and controlled eruption.

Capalbo is an Italian-born, Stockholm-based bassist and composer whose work stands at the meeting point of modern jazz, free improvisation, rock energy and chamber-like detail. On “Arrival,” the bass is not simply the foundation. It is the dramatic center: physical, melodic, searching, sometimes almost architectural.

The piece has the feeling of a beginning, but not a simple one. It is not “arrival” as comfort; it is arrival as transformation — entering a new emotional territory where rhythm, melody and noise are all part of the same language. The quintet gives the music both density and air: saxophones cut through, guitar adds electricity, drums keep the pulse unstable enough to stay alive.

What makes the track interesting for MUZORAMA is its refusal to sit politely inside one jazz category. It is modern jazz, but also experimental music. It has composition, but it breathes like improvisation. It has force, but also tenderness.

Released in June 2026, “Arrival” is a strong entry point into The Brightest Sun — a record shaped by personal change, intensity and a very human sense of movement.

Oyubi — “Just arrive at Twiske”

Tokyo producer Oyubi does not treat club music as pure function. On “Just arrive at Twiske,” rhythm becomes geography: fast, restless, fragmented, but also strangely open, as if the track is moving through a landscape rather than simply attacking the dancefloor.

The piece comes from White birch burns, Oyubi’s debut album on TREKKIE TRAX, released in June 2026. Rooted in juke, footwork and ghettotech, the album also carries something more personal and atmospheric. Its title refers to a Bon tradition in Nagano, where white birch is burned to send off spirits — an image that connects the record to memory, loss and movement.

“Just arrive at Twiske” was inspired by the landscape of Lente Kabinet, the Dutch festival where Oyubi performed in 2025. That detail matters. The track sounds less like a closed studio exercise and more like a travel fragment: Tokyo footwork filtered through European festival air, physical rhythm meeting distant scenery.

What makes Oyubi interesting is that he does not simply reproduce Chicago footwork or global club formulas. His beats are precise and body-driven, but the structure keeps shifting. There is pressure, speed and bass, yet also a sense of observation.

MUZORAMA recommends “Just arrive at Twiske” for listeners interested in the point where club music becomes memory, movement and place.

Dream Attack Drum Machine — “Bootlicker”

Some new bands introduce themselves politely. Dream Attack Drum Machine do not.

“Bootlicker,” the opening track from their first demo, arrives from Leiria, Portugal, with a deliberately raw combination of post-punk tension, emo-darkness and 1980s drum-machine energy. It is short, direct and slightly ugly in the right way — built from heavy bass, synthetic pulse, simple guitar lines and vocals that sound less like performance and more like pressure escaping from a closed room.

The project appears on Headshrinker Records, a small Portuguese label that describes itself through rock’n’roll madness rather than polished industry language. That is important. “Bootlicker” does not feel like a product trying to enter a playlist. It feels like a demo in the original sense: a rough signal from a band still forming its own nervous system.

What makes the track interesting is the collision of moods. There is post-punk discipline, but also emotional excess. There is an 80s machine rhythm, but no nostalgic comfort. The title itself suggests submission, power, resentment — a small political word turned into a dark, physical song.

Released in June 2026, “Bootlicker” is not refined, and that is exactly why it works. It has the energy of something that has not yet been cleaned up by taste, management or consensus.

MUZORAMA recommends it for listeners who like their post-punk nervous, synthetic, bass-heavy and still close to the basement.

Dust Sucker Jazz by TV-99-AD

TV-99-AD — “Dust Sucker Jazz”

Some tracks do not arrive from the future. They return from a half-forgotten room where machines were still physical, rhythm was still discovered by hand, and jazz could accidentally appear inside electronic music without asking permission.

“Dust Sucker Jazz” by TV-99-AD is one of those strange returns. Officially released in July 2026 by Tokyo’s FORM@ RECORDS, the track comes from the Dutch group’s late-1990s archive — a period when the trio were working with hardware, DAT recordings, breakbeats, electric jazz fragments and the dry imagination of underground European electronics.

The title almost sounds like a joke, but the music is serious in the best possible way: loose, dusty, mechanical, warm, slightly absurd. It does not behave like a jazz track, and it does not fully belong to techno or IDM either. Instead, it moves somewhere between a late-night studio jam, a forgotten breakbeat experiment and a fictional soundtrack for an empty shopping mall after midnight.

TV-99-AD were active in the Dutch underground during the 1990s, then disappeared from view for a long time. Now, through the Japanese label FORM@ RECORDS, this material receives a second life. That international detour — Netherlands to Japan, 1990s to 2026 — makes “Dust Sucker Jazz” more than just an archival release. It feels like a small musical time capsule being opened in public.

MUZORAMA recommends it for listeners who like electronic music with history, humor, texture and a little bit of mystery.

Trentemøller on KEXP

I was on a late-night scroll when KEXP’s brand-new session popped into my feed, and I’m so glad I pressed play. Danish sound-designer Anders Trentemøller turns up with a razor-tight five-piece—he handles guitar and synths, Icelandic singer Dísa drifts at center stage, backed by bass, drums, and a guitar/keys multitasker. Tracked 11 Feb 2025 and posted in April, the 23-minute set bottles the widescreen tension of his current tour.

They open with “I Give My Tears”: woozy bass, gated snares, then a shoegaze blast that floods the room. “Dreamweavers” starts as short-wave hiss, locates a heartbeat pulse, and finally soars into a synth-pop sunrise that’s sad yet strangely hopeful. “Nightfall” circles a dusk-lit guitar loop; Dísa’s gauzy vocal floats until the band swells into full cinematic drama. For the finale they time-warp to 2013 with “Still On Fire,” ripping off the dream-pop gauze—industrial kicks, serrated bass, cold-wave guitars igniting dark-club euphoria. KEXP’s mix captures every analog echo and tom rattle, so cue the headphones. If you drifted from Trentemøller after Lost, this video is a perfect reason to dive back in—and share it forward.

MUZORAMA RECOMENDS APRIL 2025

Compilation Album – "Even the Forest Hums" (2025)
This compilation delves into the rich musical heritage of Soviet Ukraine, featuring songs and instrumentals from 1971 to 1996. Highlights include the Shapoval Sextet’s psychedelic jazz-rock rendition of a Cossack song and Vadym Khrapachov’s electronic track for the film “Flights in Dreams and Reality.” This collection offers a unique blend of experimental and traditional sounds that align with your appreciation for culturally diverse music.

​New Release: DJ Koze's "Music Can Hear Us" (Released April 4, 2025) 

DJ Koze returns with an album that seamlessly blends introspective melodies with dance-inducing rhythms. Collaborations with artists like Sophia Kennedy and Damon Albarn add depth to the eclectic electronic compositions. This release resonates with your fondness for experimental electronic music and innovative collaborations.

New Release: Demilitarize by Nazar (Scheduled for release on April 25, 2025)

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Angolan producer Nazar's forthcoming album is inspired by introspection and classic cyberpunk aesthetics. The lead single, "Anticipate," sets the tone for an album that promises to blend electronic music with personal narratives, reflecting on themes of mortality and resilience.

Overlooked Gem – Mabe Fratti's "Sentir Que No Sabes" (2024)

Guatemalan cellist and composer Mabe Fratti offers an experimental sound that defies categorization. Her album "Sentir Que No Sabes" combines avant-garde elements with emotive melodies, appealing to your appreciation for leftfield and culturally diverse music.

 

Timeless Classic – Tim Maia – "Tim Maia (1970)

Tim Maia’s debut album is a groove-soaked cornerstone of Brazilian soul, infused with funk, gospel, and rock energy. His deep voice and raw charisma fuel this genre-defying classic, bridging Rio’s samba spirit with American soul. It’s a vital record for understanding Brazil’s musical crosscurrents in the '70s—spiritual, funky, and unfiltered.

New Music by MUZORAMA / Rediscovering the Joy of Music

After a long hiatus, I finally found time this weekend to dive back into one of my favorite pastimes: curating innovative music videos. This fresh playlist spans a diverse range of genres, showcasing the incredible creativity in today's music scene.

From the indie folk musings of Goldie Boutilier to the alt-pop brilliance of Nilüfer Yanya, the selection covers expansive musical ground. We journey through electronic landscapes with RÜFÜS DU SOL, explore jazz fusion with Ezra Collective, and delve into soulful territories with Michael Kiwanuka.

The videos themselves are a feast for the eyes, ranging from surreal narratives to minimalist visualizers. Whether it's the genre-bending sounds of Glass Beams' raga-disco fusion or the raw energy of Remi Wolf's quirky pop, each entry offers something fresh and exciting.

This eclectic mix reminds us why music videos remain a vital art form, pushing the boundaries of both sound and vision. Dive in and rediscover the magic of innovative music and visuals.

New Music curated by Muzorama

Ai Review: flypaper - "old friend"

radioelectronauts.com

In a landscape teeming with auditory experiences, flypaper's latest single "old friend" emerges as a poignant chronicle of relational ebbs and flows. Rory Sear, the creative force behind flypaper, once again captures the essence of indie rock's introspective side with a track that delves deep into the heart of change, longing, and the timeless dance of friendship.  "old friend" is an odyssey through the realms of nostalgia, uncertainty, and hope, masterfully encapsulated within the confines of a four-minute musical journey. The song’s reflective and somewhat melancholic tone is immediately engaging, drawing listeners into a narrative that is both personal and universally relatable. The narrative probes the resilience of connections as they weather the storms of distance and life's inevitable challenges. With an undercurrent of nostalgia and a palpable longing for a return to simpler times, Sear navigates the complexities of human relationships with a delicate precision that is both moving and profound.  Musically, "old friend" straddles various genres, comfortably situating itself in the interstices of indie rock, alternative rock, and pop rock, with touches of indie pop and dream pop. Its lo-fi and shoegaze elements add layers of texture, creating an immersive soundscape that complements the song's thematic depth. The choice of instruments – guitar, drums, bass, synthesizer, and piano – works in harmony to evoke a mood that is simultaneously melancholic, reflective, intimate, nostalgic, and peaceful.

flypaper's new EP another orbit is due out May 10 via PNKSLM Recordings