Kaoru Watanabe shares video for ‘Kumo No Ito (Spider’s Thread)’

25 September 2026

We love The Arch, the new album from composer and multi-instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe, which arrived last week through New Amsterdam Records in partnership with Figure 8 Recording. A sought-after collaborator, who has worked with the likes of André 3000, Yo-Yo Ma, Wes Anderson, Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran and Rhiannon Giddens, Watanabe has spent three decades honing his work with Japanese flutes and percussion, and bringing traditional Japanese music into conversation with jazz, improvisation and experimental music.

Created over the course of a year at Figure 8 as part of its Open Residency programme, The Arch saw Watanabe working closely with Grammy Award-winning producer William Brittelle and executive producer Shahzad Ismaily. Across its ten tracks, traditional Japanese instruments including shinobue and ryuteki flutes, taiko drums, narimono percussion and koto are placed alongside piano, synthesizers, saxophone and harp, all played by Watanabe.

The album came to life after a period of deep reflection for Watanabe, who turned fifty in 2025 and was also navigating the death of his mother. Looking back at his upbringing in St. Louis, his Japanese heritage, his years living and performing in Japan and his return to New York, he describes The Arch as a culmination of decades spent bringing these different musical and cultural experiences together into one singular vision.

Today, Watanabe has unveiled a wonderful visual companion for ‘Kumo No Ito (Spider’s Thread)’, one of the album’s most striking and propulsive pieces, featuring the voice of his partner Yurie Ito. Speaking about the track, he comments:

“My taiko are made by the Miyamoto Unosuke Shoten, an eighth-generation drum maker in Tokyo. The large ones are designed to be loud—a musician is drawn to sound the drum with all their energy and strength in order to be heard by the entire village. I love the idea that, with modern technology, we can juxtapose intense drumming with gentle koto, harp, shinobue, piano, and singing. The title of the piece is a reference to the short story by Akutagawa Ryunosuke titled the same. A story of paradise and hell, salvation, damnation, and enlightenment.”

The video also features a cameo from legendary dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov. Jon Fine directs. Watch it below.

Agbeko share second single ‘Work It All Out’ off upcoming album When the People Say

22 September 2026

Agbeko have a third album on the way, following their 2023 There Must Be Another Way. Entitled When the People Say, the upcoming record sees the Mancunian collective continue to draw from the rich lineage of Afrobeat as well as incorporating elements of Ethio-jazz, protest song and UK jazz into their expansive and highly energetic sound. Capturing the collective energy they are known for, on the new album Agbeko balance powerful grooves and soaring horns with songs that reflect on the world around us.

When the People Say is set for release on October 23rd through Birdwatcher Records and Agbeko first previewed it with the blistering ‘Know How’. Now they have shared a second single, ‘Work It All Out’ featuring Amber Kuti, and it’s another electrifying taste from the record. Turn up your speakers and listen to both tracks below.

Jan St. Werner previews upcoming new album, Squares Will Fall, with excerpt of title track ft. Justin Vernon

18 September 2026

Jan St. Werner, one half of German avant-garde electronic duo Mouse on Mars and an endlessly inventive artist, has announced a new solo album called Squares Will Fall. More than a decade in the making, the album brings together Werner’s love of experimentation, inventive sound design and collaboration, with contributions from Justin Vernon, Sufjan Stevens, Ben Lanz and John Colpitts, among others. Squares Will Fall originally began in 2012 as a 30-minute electronic composition, created for a friend’s 30th birthday, before continuing to change over the years. The piece later became the foundation for an improvisation between Werner and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon during the sessions for Mouse on Mars’ Dimensional People at Vernon’s studio in Wisconsin. In 2021, Werner reworked the composition into a spatial installation for the Ural Industrial Biennial, where three separate layers of the piece were played through loudspeakers suspended from the ceiling that were continually moved around the space by performers, creating a different listening experience depending on where the audience was.

Werner completed the piece this year, creating its first stereo mix at Mouse on Mars’ Paraverse Studios with his Mouse on Mars partner Andi Toma, who also contributed bass to the final version. After more than a decade of transformations, Squares Will Fall is now being released as record “preserving the piece’s open, cut-up character while translating its spatial and performative origins into a form suitable for focused listening”, as the press release describes. It will see the light of day on November 13th through Thrill Jockey and coinciding with the album announcement, Werner has let loose an excerpt of the sublime and beguiling title track. Describing it, Werner says:

“A computer music free jazz rhapsody jumbled in a space capsule with Justin not really understanding how he got on board. Justin asks the computer. The computer replies with a drum solo.”

‘Squares Will Fall’ comes accompanied by a video made by Galina Nemtseva / Icon Film.

Lourenço Rebetez announces second album, Língua Geral; listen to first single ‘Maestro’

17 September 2026

São Paulo-based composer, producer and guitarist Lourenço Rebetez has a new album on the way. Entitled Língua Geral, his second record arrives a decade after his debut O Corpo de Dentro and sees him blend Afro-Brazilian rhythms, jazz and the groove of beatmakers like J Dilla and Madlib. Produced by American-Brazilian guitarist and composer Arto Lindsay, the album features a stellar cast of collaborators including drummer and producer Kassa Overall, Japanese synthesiser player BIGYUKI and Brazilian Candomblé ensemble Grupo Ofá.

Língua Geral, which translates as “general language”, takes its name from the creole-like lingua franca that was once widely spoken across Brazil. A contact language developed from ancient Tupi, it became a means of communication between Indigenous peoples, Black and mixed-race communities and white settlers, before Portuguese was imposed as the official language. Rebetez uses the idea of a shared language as a way of exploring what happens when musicians with different rhythmic backgrounds come together. He comments:

“It’s the idea of finding balance in between things and fluidity, as the contact language becomes the middle between people that speak other languages as a way to communicate. I make that association with rhythm. I was particularly interested in the way musicians from different backgrounds with different rhythmic DNAs subtly distort time when they play.”

Rebetez’s fascination with rhythm is also rooted in Rebetez’s family connection to Bahia and his studies with the late Letieres Leite, the influential composer, percussionist and founder of Orkestra Rumpilezz, who was also an important figure in bringing Candomblé rhythms into jazz. He explains:

“Candomblé music interests me because of its power, and because of its very particular relationship to trance. Each deity has its own rhythm, and when you play that rhythm, the people who are consecrated to that deity become possessed. You play that rhythm, and the deity comes down and inhabits these initiates.”

On the upcoming Língua Geral, Rebetez uses claves and traditional rhythmic ideas alongside the loose timing he loves in early hip-hop. “I love that those early hip-hop loops that are just slightly wrong”, he says. “I wanted to find bridges between these worlds.”

Língua Geral is out on November 4th through Selo RISCO, Jazzybelle and Think! Records, and ahead of it Rebetez has shared the first exhilarating and magnetic single, ‘Maestro’, an homage to Letieres Leite and Grupo Ofá leader Iuri Passos. Speaking about it, he says:

“Iuri Passos is the main drummer in a very important Candomblé house for the sacred ceremonies, but is also an educator. The group is very open and interested in collaborating with other languages and making these bridges. We’ve known each other for a long time and trust each other.”

Take a listen to ‘Maestro’ below.

Anna Butterss, John Raymond & Ben Lumsdaine team up for new trio album, Beginningless

16 September 2026

Three incredible musicians in their own right, Anna Butterss, John Raymond, and Ben Lumsdaine boast an impressive body of work spanning jazz, improvisation, indie, electronic music, and beyond. The three first crossed paths in Bloomington, Indiana, more than a decade ago, with Butterss and Lumsdaine meeting as students at Indiana University in 2010 and Raymond moving to the city in 2017 to teach at the university.  Their paths continued to cross in various projects and settings, eventually leading to the formation of this trio in 2024.

Now they’ve come together for Beginningless, their first album as a trio, born from years of friendship and musical exchange. Recorded live over two days in a Los Angeles studio, Beginningless is an entirely improvised record, with very little overdubbing or post-production. Despite their improvised origins, the tracks feel structured and melodic, each one building its own distinct mood. The trio use acoustic instruments alongside pedals and effects, expanding the traditional trumpet, bass and drums setup to create something atmospheric, spacious and unpredictable, with a strong sense of groove throughout it.

Beginningless arrives on November 13th though Northern Spy and coinciding with the album announcemente, Butterss, Raymond and Lumsdaine have shared the hazy, enveloping and gripping title track. Speaking about it, Butterss comments:

“Beginningless feels like a window into an underlying stream of music that is always around us. The loping bass and drums usher in a trumpet melody, which quietly floats through the rustling landscape. There’s a sense of unhurried tranquility, a gentle amble, as the counterpoint between bass and trumpet shifts, and the atmosphere gradually thickens. Ghostly trumpet undertones and bubbling drums build to a peak while the bass carries steadily on, giving the impression that the journey might continue on long after the song has ended.”

Listen to ‘Beginningless’ now.

Josh Johnson announces new album, Animative, and shares lead single ‘Reece’

15 September 2026

Photo: Atiba Jefferson

Chicago-raised, Los Angeles-based saxophonist, keyboardist, synthesist, producer and composer Josh Johnson is one of the most daring and versatile figures in contemporary music, both through his own work and as a collaborator. He has been a big part of the sound of Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet, co-leads the all-star ensembles SML and the Openness Trio, and has collaborated extensively with Sam Wilkes and Gregory Uhlmann. As a producer, Johnson is also behind Meshell Ndegeocello’s GRAMMY-winning 2023 album The Omnichord Real Book and Flea’s recent album Honora.

Now he is gearing up to release a new album, following 2024’s Unusual Object and 2020’s Freedom Exercise. Entitled Animative, the new record marks his debut with International Anthem and Nonesuch and arrives on October 23rd, with the streaming release following on November 10th. Across its ten tracks, Animative finds Johnson continuing to explore the space between composition, improvisation and electronics, bringing together skeletal soul-jazz, post-bop, electronic minimalism and dreamy ambience. Produced by Johnson and Paul Bryan, the album features guest contributions from Meshell Ndegeocello, Macie Stewart, Marquis Hill and Ben Lumsdaine, among others. Animate also sees Johnson grow his interest for technology and improvisation, often using his saxophone to control a sampler or drum machine and trigger changes in loops and effects. Despite the sophistication of the setup, Johnson uses technology merely as an instrument, without loosing feeling. “I’m looking to make it feel more human,” he explains, describing an approach that seeks to escape the trap of technical mastery and retain the physical and emotional qualities of performance.

The title of the album is something his friends would never connect with him, considering his reserved nature. “I said the name to a few people, and they were like, ‘Animated is not how I would describe you,’” Johnson says. “But I’m really thinking about it from the perspective of causing animation, giving spirit, or connecting with spirit.”

Ahead of the album’s release, Johnson has shared the gorgeous and mesmerising ‘Reece’, offering a thrilling first taste of the album. Take a listen below.