Further Reading
23rd February 2024
This week's selection of highlights delivers the new generation of Japanese jazz, young London-based guitar talent, an Italian master, lost takes from a R&B legend and some Danish electronic mania to freak out to!
Since 2013, Danish quartet Kalaha’s multi-award-winning sound has been characterised by a melting pot of worldwide musical cultures including Brazilian Samba, Anatolian rock, African highlife, desert blues and contemporary western electronic music, resulting in acclaim from critics and vinyl connoisseurs alike.
Their sixth record 'Kalaha' follows on from their 2022 release ‘Tutku’, a collaboration with the Aarhus Jazz Orchestra and vocalist Hilal Kaya celebrating the sound of Turkish music in the 70’s. The band’s new album marks a conscious return to their early sound of an instrumental quartet.
Recorded over two snowy weeks in December in the outer banks of Nordhavn - Copenhagen’s old industrial harbour - through their collection of nine original compositions Kalaha pays tribute to their hometown, and to the memory of a rapidly gentrifying area of their city.
Using the harbour as a metaphor for a portal to the rest of the world, the ensemble’s trademark wide array of influences remains at the foundation of their sound; psychedelic rock, acid techno, surf rock, the Indian classical drone of a tanpura, dub, 70’s fusion and more come together in surprisingly effortless harmony.
Squelching synthesisers, pulsing delays, field recordings and immersive production amplify the already energetic sound of the live quartet into something larger than life and undeniably modern. While the record fluidly ushers the listener through Kalaha’s wealth of danceable grooves and catchy worldly melodies, a more careful listen will reveal the skilled jazz musicianship, adept improvisations, experienced songwriting and rich harmonic palette residing subtly underneath.
