With Roadburn, Blood Incantation, Tangerine Dream and several fantastic new albums I personally don't need my upcoming musical April to be much more exciting. But who doesn't love some luxury, right? So here's my recommendation of two great albums coming up this month anyway:
DATADYR - This We Know (release: April 25th 2025)
Weather Report, but as a trio of guitar, drums and upright bass? Something like that is the base of Datadyr's Jazz Fusion sound.
On their new album the Norwegians fully explore what they have hinted here and there on their 2022 debut "Woolgathering" or even more explicit with the song title "Onkel Amerika" on the following "Keymaster" EP:
Exploring the gap between the romanticisation / idolization of the US and the reality of America being part of a new authoritarian axis of evil "This We Know" feels like an obituary. A mostly light and happy one which intends to make the bereaved smile, but at its core still a blue look back nonetheless. Mixing their already very American Progressive Fusion sound with lots of Blues, Country, North American Folk and Bluegrass and giving their instrumental compositions titles like "Dallas Alice", "Looking For Colorado" or "Star Spangled Banjo" Datadyr wear their mission openly on their sleeves. The result often gives vibes close to the jazzier side of Danish Psych masters Causa Sui, which is of course a good thing.
And no matter if you fully indulge in listening to this album as a requiem to a dream never fulfilled or just enjoy it for its great musicianship and songwriting solely on its own - it works either way. As the icing on the already delicious cake two tracks on the album feature awesome saxophone contributions by Aksel Røed, whom you should recognize from his album "Do You Dream In Colours?", which has also been released by Is It Jazz? Records.
On their new album the Norwegians fully explore what they have hinted here and there on their 2022 debut "Woolgathering" or even more explicit with the song title "Onkel Amerika" on the following "Keymaster" EP:
Exploring the gap between the romanticisation / idolization of the US and the reality of America being part of a new authoritarian axis of evil "This We Know" feels like an obituary. A mostly light and happy one which intends to make the bereaved smile, but at its core still a blue look back nonetheless. Mixing their already very American Progressive Fusion sound with lots of Blues, Country, North American Folk and Bluegrass and giving their instrumental compositions titles like "Dallas Alice", "Looking For Colorado" or "Star Spangled Banjo" Datadyr wear their mission openly on their sleeves. The result often gives vibes close to the jazzier side of Danish Psych masters Causa Sui, which is of course a good thing.
And no matter if you fully indulge in listening to this album as a requiem to a dream never fulfilled or just enjoy it for its great musicianship and songwriting solely on its own - it works either way. As the icing on the already delicious cake two tracks on the album feature awesome saxophone contributions by Aksel Røed, whom you should recognize from his album "Do You Dream In Colours?", which has also been released by Is It Jazz? Records.
NITE KITE - Erratic Erosion (release: April 11h 2025)
A warm, deeply relaxed sound is brought to us by the debut album of Belgian Electronic artist turned Acoustic/Ambient/Jazz collective Nite Kite.
Soothing, almost ASMR-like Electronic rhythms organically mix with real life Jazz drumming, while modern synths mix with neoclassical piano and smooth double bass lines. While all these elements are definitely live-tracked, there are several other sounds left, which leave you unsure whether they're improvised on the actual instrument or either emulated or sampled. However the answer doesn't really matter, because the blurry fusion of analogue and electronic parts really is responsible for a lot of this project's charme.
Mostly instrumental this beautifully mellow, melancholic album also features a couple of very convincing vocal performances on the songs "The Dancer" and "Laat Me Achter".
If you'd made me guess the label I would definitely say Denovali Records, because it would fit nicely into their roster of Ambient, Neoclassical, Experimental, Electronic and Doomjazz artists. That would be a trick question though, because "Erratic Erosion" actually is an independent release.
Mostly instrumental this beautifully mellow, melancholic album also features a couple of very convincing vocal performances on the songs "The Dancer" and "Laat Me Achter".
If you'd made me guess the label I would definitely say Denovali Records, because it would fit nicely into their roster of Ambient, Neoclassical, Experimental, Electronic and Doomjazz artists. That would be a trick question though, because "Erratic Erosion" actually is an independent release.