As I sit here watching the highlights from Glastonbury Festival 2022, I am smiling quietly to myself as many of the acts that have made it on to the Pyramid stage started out playing on the lesser known stages a few years ago and I think back to how many times we have hosted news on releases and tours by these acts so quite a heartwarming thing to see!
Highlights for me this year SO FAR have been GABRIELS, Holly Humberstone, SQUID, HAIM, IDLES and Supergrass and with a whole day still yet to go, I’m sure there will be more to tell you about on the next playlist which should be running in just a few days time.
SO, onto this playlist, who is on it and what can you expect? well, it’s embedded below, simply hit the play button and check out some amazingly talented acts that deserve 30 minutes of your time. If you have time, please scroll further and learn a little more about our featured acts and who knows, one day, they too might be gracing the Pyramid stage at Glasto!
See you on the other side…..
Ivan Shopov & Mahlukat
An adventure to break the boundaries of distance & creativity, recorded in 10 days. The fascinating Turkish/Polish duo Mahlukat really bring the WOW factor to their music, residing in Germany, they teamed up with the outstanding Bulgarian producer Ivan Shopov for a 10-track album, encapsulating cinematic & world music, folk & electronica.
Here are some interesting facts about both Ivan Shopov and Mahlukat;
Ivan Shopov has participated in over 250 releases, both solo & collaborative, including 120 vinyl releases
Mahlukat’s Güldeste & Kasia have numerous awards & scholarships for their music and over 20 joint releases with collaborators worldwide
Ivan Shopov’s project TRIGAIDA reached #1 in US Chill Out radio charts in 2021
Supported by over 10k independent playlists combined, including curators like Sofar Sounds, London Elektricity, Stereofox, Zugvøgel Festival, Outtalectuals Records
Very high Stream / Listener ratio & audience engagement
Both Ivan Shopov & Mahlukat have toured all over the world Ivan Shopov has scored the “Speculators” movie soundtrack
Of the project, Ivan Shopov added, “This project started as an adventure to break the boundaries of distance and creativity. We went for music based on intuition and pure joy from the creative process instead of a defined direction and goal. This worked very well, as we found our creative boosts while sharing ideas and sounds with each other over distance. It felt like we always played together and it was time to sit down and record those ideas that were generated over time. The production and the recording were done in less than 10 days and we all felt like an unreal experience, getting the whole album in shape so quickly.”
Dhumavati is inspired by the pure joy of creativity & making music, as well as by nature & all living things. This is truly a magnificent listening experience from start to finish with the project fusing downtempo & electronica, with trip-hop and more cinematic pieces – all wrapped up in an ethereal Hindu/Buddhist-inspired melodies and Oriental percussion, it really is a feast for the senses that needs to be explored further.
Starting off with “Leyla”, which is also the first single, the album opens up your senses with gentle violins and a rich drum section, soaked in dreamy vocals. The second single “Māyā”, featuring Evan Hathfield’s amazing sitar & Amalgamy’s gadulka, shows the more progressive electronic side of the project with driving beatwork, warm keys, and Güldeste’s graceful voice.
The electronica highlight of the album is undoubtedly “Aithra” which resembles the early Bonobo work – pacing synths & drums and a saxophone from Julian Maier-Hauff that will just melt your heart. And the title track, “Dhumavati” will leave you absolutely speechless – a cosmos-like cinematic journey with mesmerizing violin & piano, deep percussion, and outworldly vocals.
The project also features world-famous Bulgarian kaval flutist Theodosii Spasov (in “Dost Kervani”), Peter Hinz with vocals (“Beyond”) & tabla (“Afgan”), and Laila Mahmoud with kanun (“Afgan”).
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The Very Bad Days
The past few years have been difficult for all of us. If the world was going to end, wouldn’t it have been nice to have at least a couple of zombies? Maybe a Godzilla or an alien invasion? All we got was murder hornets and a thousand commercials saying “In these unprecedented times...” Are you sick of hearing that, too?
Who’d have thought that the apocalypse would be so… over-marketed? What happened to the days when the end of the world was full of explosions and horsemen and giant robots? Join The Very Bad Days as they dream of better Armageddons and appreciate all the “little apocalypses” that occur in our lives every day.
If Jack Black joined the Chili Peppers, or Cobain was a President of the United States of America, or Harley Poe met Harvey Danger, The Very Bad Days wouldn’t have to rock so hard. But here we are. Whether as an acoustic coffee shop conversation or a funky electric boomfest in a downtown Minneapolis brewpub, seeing The Very Bad Days is as fun and strange as seeing Bigfoot in your backyard.
A poignant, unexpectedly sweet, and fucking hilarious dive into punk existential Ghostbustery. They proudly brew a dark yet playful blend of indie originals and revisionist punk covers that tease the creepiness out of otherwise innocent yesteryear favorites. Whimsical accounts of socially anxious demons. Emotional eulogies for real dolphin suicide. 90’s pop saudade. There's no shortage of terrible, horrible, no good very bad days to sing about.
After reading this, you simply MUST check these guys out….GO!
Socials
SO there you have it folks, another 9 awesome tracks for you to get your ears around. If you liked any of them, please hit them up on the socials and tell them, mention that you heard them on the musomusofm on the radar playlist and they might even buy me a cookie if our paths ever cross!
Please take a moment to spread the word on social media, it’s on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, just head to musomusouk on either platform and give it a LIKE, SHARE, THUMBS UP or whatever you can!
Until next time…..