Lauren Kinsella: tonight at eight

Lauren Kinsella streams this evening as part of Dublin promoter IMC's ongoing online series Piece by Piece. ''Recently,'' the experimental Irish singer says quoted on the IMC site, ''I have performed in a couple of live streams and pre-recorded …

Published: 8 Jan 2021. Updated: 3 years.

Lauren Kinsella streams this evening as part of Dublin promoter IMC's ongoing online series Piece by Piece. ''Recently,'' the experimental Irish singer says quoted on the IMC site, ''I have performed in a couple of live streams and pre-recorded performances including a gig with the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris from my studio in London, and at Café Oto and the 606 Jazz Club for the London Jazz Festival. I enjoyed these – it was a new experience having to sing to several cameras with no or very limited audience at the venues. Even though live performances are on hold at the moment, the fact that we can respond in any way is a positive thing.''

Clock too an imminent Snowpoet record, a project also involving Kinsella. Titled Wait for Me it's out via the Edition label on 19 February. Snowpoet habitually manage to harness the trick of following an avant garde method yet land in an accessible almost suspiciously melodic space preloaded with a certain antisentimental vaccine that rarely comes as standard. Coloured above all by the extraordinarily poetic Kinsella voice and the deft coating of the ensemble sound in an organic electronic wash that has a mystical magic to it Snowpoet sound like no other.

Click for 'Roots' streaming ahead of release.

The stream tonight begins at 8pm. Access via the link above. Admission is free. Donations are welcome.

Lauren Kinsella photo, top, IMC

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Francisco Mela fires us up with call-to-listen appeal of 'Calipso'

Run that lockdown voodoo down with this gem, the lead-off track from Francisco Mela's MPT Trio Volume 1. I'll definitely forgive the dusty ''vol. 1'' bit because there's nothing at all dusty about this record. To be frank I'm not that familiar …

Published: 7 Jan 2021. Updated: 3 years.

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Run that lockdown voodoo down with this gem, the lead-off track from Francisco Mela's MPT Trio Volume 1. I'll definitely forgive the dusty ''vol. 1'' bit because there's nothing at all dusty about this record.

To be frank I'm not that familiar with drummer leader Mela, although happily dredging the memory banks I managed to catch him live as one of two drummers in the Joe Lovano organisation of the day in Ronnie Scott's when Us5 made a spectacular Frith Street debut back in 2009, Esperanza Spalding also in the band at that time.

On Brooklyn label 577, whose recent records include in some astute A&R-ing fiery UK player Rachel Musson, Mela's record is a trio affair with tenorist Hery Paz and guitarist Juanma Trujillo joining him. The label description of Trujillo tune opener 'Calipso' streaming ahead of next week's release explains that the track ''features distinctive steel drums reminiscent of Caribbean calypsos.''

The track begins with Mela calling us to listen, and a raw street style readying us for who knows what. Then there's a gutsy tenor and guitar line, sort of in a watered down Albert Ayler style, a reluctant theme teased out that Mela fattens up rolling out a carpet of sounds behind. Paz takes us further with Trujillo riffing contrapuntally against him and when he eventually comes into his own paints it bluesy and jagged all over. What a trip.

Release date for MPT Trio Volume 1 is Friday 15 January