Harpist and composer Mary Lattimore is unveiling her rework of Rosa Canina, taken from First Sounds, the debut collaborative album by Sarah Neufeld, Richard Reed Parry, and Rebecca Foon.
Lattimore, known for her transcendent and evocative solo works, brings her signature sense of intimacy and cosmic spaciousness to the piece. Her reimagining deepens the original’s meditative string motifs, layering them with shimmering harp. Her rework finds her in dialogue with kindred spirits, artists who also inhabit the borderlands between classical form, ambient meditation, and intuitive sound.
You can listen below:
Published post no.2,737 – Wednesday 3 December 2025
‘Loud ambient’ is an ironic term The Black Dog coined for music that didn’t quite fit in with their series My Brutal Life – but also took on a humourous bent when they considered how they are seen in some circles as making purely ambient music.
As this album reminds us, that is emphatically not the case, and if anything proves their most instinctive form of music. For Loud Ambient began as a response to Rothko’s artwork, specifically his use of colour fields, blending, mood and scale. The band fed these responses through work on their beloved 909, 808 and 707 keyboards.
As the band say, during recording, “everything just fell into place creatively. Surprisingly for us, the tracklisting never changed, just small tweaks here and there. That rarely happens. It marks a first for us as a band. All the stars aligned and the confidence in this album is the strongest we have ever had.
Loud Ambient was made to dance to, something we have not done in a while. We welcome the return to the dancefloor with both hands. Will you join us?”
What’s the music like?
We will definitely join The Black Dog on the dancefloor if this is the music they are dancing to! The ten tracks are completely free of padding, really satisfyingly worked, instinctive and – as they say – confidently dispatched.
This is a strong set of energised electronic music with a bucketload of melodic interest, bolstered by chunky chords above the quicker beats. There are ambient hints of course, but the likes of They Came For My Head get on with things in a pretty lively fashion. The excellent Double Drop Nightmares nips along, while Reality Comes Crashing Back In charms with its chattering and bleeping, as does the amiable Rumination Romance.
Meanwhile the rich tones of Pamphlet offer warm comfort at the end.
Does it all work?
Yes – and it’s all hugely enjoyable. A real representation of fun had in the studio!
Is it recommended?
It is indeed. The Black Dog are incredibly prolific these days, but Loud Ambient is another example of just how consistently strong their work is, whether you’re in the hammock or on the dancefloor!
Mark Burford, aka FieldLinesCartographer, writes on the Bandcamp page for this release:
According to the 6th century Greek philosopher Anaximander, ‘apeiron’ is a state of primal chaos. It is the limitless, undefinable everything from which all is created & the essential form back to which all will ultimately return. Apeiron constantly & infinitely creates the building blocks of everything, including all states of opposition such as heat & cold, dry & wet, only to then destroy & remake it all anew in a boundless, eternal cycle.
It seems that humanity in the 21st century is living in a type of apeiron with our social, political, technological & economic structures. One crisis is seemingly resolved only to be replaced with another. Alleged enemies become friends, only to return as enemies again. Technology creates solutions, but the unintended consequences of its application create a new set of problems to be surmounted. We seem to be living in a permanent state of uncertainty & flux. This creates a type of undefinable, constant anxiety. Nothing is certain & the cycle of creation & destruction of threats, fears & challenges remorselessly continues. We live in a state of perpetual confusion, the ebb & flow of humanity’s own apeiron.
What’s the music like?
Rich in colour and content, while being deeply immersive.
Uncollapsing steals in but rich in ambient content. ASummoning starts with darker colours but opens out beautifully, giving the feeling of an event about to happen, with movement in the middle ground but long arcs above. TheWaveThatBreaksUs is a deep, meditative piece, with sonorous tones and a rich, pulsing bass drone that gradually takes over.
These tracks of subtle but intense activity are complemented by the likes of Dying Embers, an immensely reassuring album closer.
Does it all work?
Yes – and is best experienced as a single entity. These long form compositions are ideally paced and beautifully scored.
Is it recommended?
It is. This is ideal foreground music for either end of the day, where its treasures are most fully revealed.
Listen / Buy
Published post no.2,733 – Saturday 29 November 2025
After several years of silence, Nathan Fake makes a powerful return with Evaporator, his first album on InFiné. Written in six weeks during the summer of 2024, the record distills two decades of exploration into a lucid, tactile form of daytime electronica — radiant, physical, and full of air. Emerging from the nocturnal pulse of Blizzards and Crystal Vision, Fake turns toward light and openness.
His analog synths and rhythmic architectures shimmer with space and energy, dissolving density into motion. Tracks like Bialystok and Slow Yamaha pulse with kinetic precision, while “Yucon” and “Aiwa” drift into dreamlike ambient clarity.
Built entirely on his ancient Cubase setup and recorded largely in single takes, Evaporator captures Fake at his most instinctive and human, while collaborations with Clark and Dextro deepen the sense of dialogue between sound and emotion, between control and surrender.
This marks not only a major comeback for one of the UK’s most singular electronic artists, but also the start of a new chapter: Fake will tour the album with a brand-new A/V live show created in collaboration with Berlin-based visual artist Infinite Vibes, expanding his luminous sound into a full sensory experience. The first few shows in Berlin, Paris, Milan and Roma have just been announced.
A luminous fusion of electronica, ambient undertones, and leftfield techno, Evaporator is Nathan Fake reconnecting with instinct, clarity, and daylight — and taking it back to the stage.
You can listen to Bialystock and The Ice House below:
Following on from this year’s critically acclaimed The Collapse Of Everything, Adrian Sherwood teams up with Speakers Corner Quartet and African Head Charge for new four track EP Barbican Heights – a project which traverses the musical worlds of dub, jazz, electronic, afrobeat, and beyond.
Barbican Heights is born out of a spirit of collaboration, bringing together one of the UK’s most innovative and influential producers, Adrian Sherwood; one of the longest serving and most iconic members of the On-U Sound family, African Head Charge; together with Speakers Corner Quartet, a rising force whose influence is integral to the sound of the contemporary UK jazz scene.
Recorded during a singular day of creative spontaneity at Wicker Studios, the three acts, alongside Alex White of Primal Scream and Fat White Family, combined for semi-improvised reworkings of classic African Head Charge composition ‘Wicked Kingdom Of This Earth’, Speakers Corner Quartet’s own ‘Topanga’, as well as two new tracks constructed from scratch during the session.
The EP title, a sly nod to a classic Keith Hudson tune, refers to the upcoming show at London’s prestigious Barbican Theatre, which will see all three artists share the same bill. The show also sees headliner Adrian Sherwood on stage with his own live band for the first time, comprised of long-time collaborator, Doug Wimbish (Living Color, Sugar Hill Gang, Tackhead), the aforementioned Alex White, plus Mark Bandola (The Lucy Show) showcasing Sherwood’s new studio album, The Collapse of Everything, and other On-U classics.
Sherwood’s first solo album in thirteen years and only the fourth in his storied career, The Collapse Of Everything was released in August to great acclaim. More reflective than earlier records in his discography, the album plays out like a Jamaican spaghetti Western with its widescreen vistas and mood shifts, incorporating everything from dust-caked desert blues to earthshaking dubs decorated in seemingly infinite detail. An expansive palette that ranges from delicate piano motifs to heavily processed sound effects move in and out of a wide-panned stereo field, at times coalescing into an almost hallucinogenic state. Mojo Magazine calls it “Sherwood’s most thrillingly exploratory solo album so far.”
The show in February 2026 will also coincide with African Head Charge marking forty-five years since the release of their first album My Life In A Hole In The Ground. Started as a studio project by Adrian Sherwood and master percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, in the basement studios on London’s Berry Street, beneath Chinatown, the group has gone on to release over a dozen studio albums (including 2023’s critically acclaimed A Trip To Bolgatanga), and developed into a potent live act, spearheaded by Noah, which has performed headline shows and festivals around the world.
Completing the lineup are Speakers Corner Quartet — a group defined by community, collaboration, and an unshakeable DIY spirit. Since forming in 2006, they have spent the past decade collaborating and shaping standout live and studio projects with artists such as Sampha, Kae Tempest, Tirzah, Dean Blunt, the late MF DOOM, and Lianne La Havas. Following the release of their critically acclaimed debut album Further Out Than The Edge (2023), the band have performed sold-out shows at The Roundhouse and Royal Festival Hall, delivered standout sets at Glastonbury and Montreux Jazz Festival, led a pioneering ICA residency exploring music and robotics, and scored the BAFTA-winning TV series Mr Loverman.
Adrian Sherwood Live Dub Sessions 2026:
5 Feb / Milan / Magazzini Generali
6 Feb / Gent / Wintercircus
11 Feb / Berlin / Metropol
13 Feb / Stockholm/ Fasching
17 Feb / London / The Barbican * w/ live band, African Headcharge + Speakers Corner Quartet
26 Feb / Madrid / Club Villanos
28 Feb / Barcelona / La Nau
26 Mar / Tennessee / Big Ears festival
27 Mar / NYC / Superior Ingredients (rooftop)
28 Mar / Montreal / Club SAT
31 Mar / Toronto / Standard Time
01 Apr / Chicago / Empty Bottle
02 Apr / Portland / Holocene
03 Apr / LA / First Fridays @ The Natural History Museum
04 Apr / SF / Great Northern
Listen / Buy
Published post no.2,728 – Tuesday 25 November 2025
Arcana.fm 