Veil of Stuff feat. EXTERIOR PALNET, FUTUROPACO, SABA ALIZADEH and SOPHIA DJEBEL ROSE

Four reviews of mine on Veil of Sound again. Time for one of these posts again! This time it's a little trip through Europe and beyond and we're starting in Croatia...

EXTERIOR PALNET - Haragma II (2025)

[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

Short but sick is this assault of Dissonant Cosmic Progressive Avantgarde Black Metal, which is heavily inspired by the Sci-fi Thrash Metal of Vektor and old Voivod, including the raw vocal performance very akin to the phase from "Rrröööaaarrr" to "Killing Technology". You'll find playful quirky Virus grooves, Blut Aus Nord sensory overkill as well as surprisingly strong melodies on this self-released killer album. Bursting with creative brutality "Haragma II" surely is among the best Extreme Metal releases of the year so far!

FUTUROPACO - Fortezza Di Vetro Vol.2 (LP) (2025)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

Our next destination is Italy, well California actually. But once again Justin Pinkerton makes his signature mix of Psychedelic Surf Rock, Folk, Funk and Library Music sound so very Mediterranean that it feels as if you're having the most adventurous summer of your youth on a Vespa trip between Venice and Sicilia. Especially the Jaki Liebezeit worshipping drumming and the tasteful dynamic production make this grooving and sparkling journey a highly addictive experience, before you come down to the most relaxed Geir Sundstøl vibes of the title track.

With Jakob Skøtt's typical El Paraiso Records artwork this continuation of Futuropaco's last album from 2023 is of course also a wonderful addition to the vinyl collection!

elparaisorecords · Futuropaco: "Crollo Capitalista"

SOPHIA DJEBEL ROSE - Sécheresse (Ashen White vinyl LP) (2025)

[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

Next stops: France and Morrocco with singer / songwriter Sophia Djebel Rose (who I happened to see live in an intimate show just a couple of weeks ago) and her hauntingly beautiful Chanson Noire. A guitar, organic drones and a mesmerizing charismatic vocal performance are the cornerstones of her feminist Folk between 70's Avantgarde and contemporary Gothic. "Sécheresse" is powerful poetry become sound, a richly minimalist, touching masterpiece beyond genre restrictions.

Released by WV Sorcerer Productions it's a given that the physical copy is beauty, white vinyl, OBI strip and all... a shame that posting the fantastic cover artwork is often prohibited or punished by the bots of our brave new anti-social media world!

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SABA ALIZADEH - Temple Of Hope (2025)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

The final part of this trip brings us far through Northern Africa and the Near East to Iran, home country of composer and masterful kamancheh player Saba Alizadeh. His new electro-acoustic Ambient album, which utilizes the yearning sound of the string instrument alongside modular synths, no-input mixer sound effects, samples and appearances of guest vocalists, is inspired by the events during the "Woman Life Freedom" movement in September 2022, which was brutally shattered by the regime.

With its merging of Experimental Electronic, Modern Classical and traditional Middle Eastern music "Temple Of Hope" paints an intriguing picture of kaleidoscopic fragments, atmospheres and songs. A very serious but all the more beautiful and rewarding album.

an April appetizer with DATADYR and NITE KITE

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.  

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.