Rafael Toral Is Murdering the Classics

Rafael Toral Is Murdering the Classics

Rafael Toral’s most recent album, 2024’s Spectral Evolution, consisted of a single 42-minute track, divided into loose, flowing movements, but based on the chord changes of the Gershwin chestnut “I Got Rhythm.” On his follow-up, Traveling Light (October 24), the Portuguese guitarist works smaller, refashioning six jazz standards using his “space instruments”— electronic contraptions of…

Read More
Medicine Music Is Having a Special Moment

Medicine Music Is Having a Special Moment

“Music can heal, if life is put into it.” Those are the words of a holy man named Inayat Khan, plucked from his treatise, The Mysticism of Sound and Music. A renowned musicologist, philosopher and singer, he is largely credited with bringing Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, to the West during his travels through…

Read More
Mumford & Sons ‘Band’ Together With Hozier

Mumford & Sons ‘Band’ Together With Hozier

While in the midst of a world tour in support of their spring album RUSHMERE, Mumford & Sons have treated fans to a new song, “Rubber Band Man,” which features a first-time studio collaboration with Hozier. The track was produced by the National’s Aaron Dessner at this Long Pond Studio in Hudson, N.Y. Mumford recorded…

Read More
John 5’s Cathartic Instrumentalism – SPIN

John 5’s Cathartic Instrumentalism – SPIN

Instrumental music is not for everyone. Still, lots of creative people enjoy it when they seek a vibe but not a vocal that might distract from thought or focused actions–like writing music reviews. I’m writing this one while listening to guitar virtuoso John 5’s latest, Ghost, and while it’s not exactly haunting, it is a…

Read More
Chet Faker Previews New LP With ‘Real’ Talk

Chet Faker Previews New LP With ‘Real’ Talk

Australian singer/songwriter Nick Murphy will return early next year with his first album in nearly five years under his Chet Faker moniker. A Love for Strangers will arrive Feb. 13 from BMG and includes new single “This Time for Real,” a Josh Wehle-directed video for which is out now. Murphy’s last full-length at Chet Faker…

Read More