International Anthem US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Alabaster DePlume's latest album is a meditation on self-worth and healing, drawing from his poetry book Looking for My Value: Prologue to a Blade, he crafts 11 tracks that feel deeply personal yet universal. His saxophone, sometimes fluid, sometimes jagged, acts as both voice and emphasis on the likes of opener 'Oh My Actual Days' swells with sax and Macie Stewart's ghostly strings, a slow march toward reckoning. 'Thank You My Pain' turns its mantra-like refrain into a rhythmic meditation on discomfort. 'Invincibility' lifts into choral release, a breath after holding under water. The instrumental 'Prayer for My Sovereign Dignity' is an anthem for self-possession, while 'Form a V' channels the discipline of jiu-jitsu, inviting confrontation. Unlike his past, more improvisation-led works, this is tightly composed, arranged and produced by DePlume himself - and the result is direct, unflinching and deeply felt.

Review: On this indie-exclusive pressing, English jazz sax man Alabaster DePlume's latest sees him in raw and expressive mood. 'Oh My Actual Days' pairs slow, swelling sax lines with Macie Stewart's strings, a march toward reckoning. 'Thank You My Pain' turns its mantra into rhythm, embracing discomfort rather than escaping it. 'Form a V' pulls from jiu-jitsu, confronting the world head-on. Instrumentals like 'Prayer for My Sovereign Dignity' and 'Kuzushi' embody movementitension, release, transformation. Packaged with an obi-strip and insert, this edition is a fitting addition to DePlume's workiphysical proof of a philosophy: dignity is not given, it's claimed.

Review: Mancunian saxophonist Alabaster DePlume's new long player is an introspective and meditative album exploring dignity, healing and self-discovery. Rooted in poetry and philosophical inquiry, the album brims with his soulful saxophone melodies and their uniquely evocative lyricism. Tracks like 'Oh My Actual Days' and 'Invincibility' convey resilience while 'Thank You My Pain' draws on mindfulness teachings. DePlume's compositions are inspired by personal growth and global injustices which reflect both individual and collective struggles. Add in his intricate instrumentation and these such deeply felt themes and you have a powerful statement.

Review: The first ever release on the International Anthem label came by way of Rob Mazurek, genius musician of of the Jersey and Chicago jazz "schools". The trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist turned ever more avant-garde on this two-suite album, which was dedicated to the lunar cycle and heard him forgoing his signature brass for a monophonic cornet experiment, recorded at Chicago bar Curio. Documenting the performance, which was delivered alongside Matthew Lux on electric bass and Patrick Avery on organ, IA transport us right on back into the room with the trio, letting us in on a real-live experience of sidereal drones, selene harmonics and waning delays, paradoxically featuring in a suite which, both of whose titles suggest, always waxes crescent.

Review: Makaya McCraven's In The Moment marked his breakout, iintroducing the world to the Paris drummer, bandleader and producer's polymathic approach to jazz and beatsmithing. Recorded over 12 months at a single venue, nearly 48 hours of live improvisation were distilled into 19 dynamic tracks here; they were cut, remixed, and reconstructed by McCraven into organic, beat-driven soundscapes, riffing on the fervour of a music scene sustained in unostentatious settings. Namely, the nightlife scene of Chicago: these sessions captured a raw, unfiltered exchange among the city's top musicians during McCraven's time in Illinois, many of whom have since risen to the raft, not least McCraven himself.

Review: International Anthem continues to serve up inspired debuts from some of the more intriguing members of Chicago's jazz and experimental music communities. The latest comes from multi-instrumentalist, composer and improviser Macie Stewart, who has delivered what's being dubbed "a companion piece for moving through life". At the heart of the album is Stewart's use of both piano and 'prepared piano' (a technique where various items such as coins and pieces of felt are attached to the instrument's strings). These picturesque and occasionally melancholic musical motifs come wrapped in atmospheric field recordings and sensitive string quartet arrangements. The results are rarely less than memorable, mesmerising and magnificent.

Review: Macie Stewart's debut on International Anthem finds the multi-instrumentalist and composer, in her own words, writing a "love letter to the moments we spend in-between," all while returning to her first instrument, the piano. Through prepared piano, field recordings and string quartets, she creates a cinematic, transient world that reflects her musical journey. Featuring collaborations with artists like Lia Kohl and Whitney Johnson, the album weaves a sound collage of memory and movement that is inspired by her travels. When the Distance is Blue muses on themes of change, longing and the beauty found in the unknown.

Review: In classic jazz style, this collaborative three-way debut album brings together three musicians at the top of their game: SML members Gregory Uhlman (guitar and effects) and Josh Johnson (saxophone and effects), and sometime Louis Cole, Sam Gendel and Chaka Khan collaborator Sam Wilkes (bass and effects). Musically, what the trio offers is undeniably unique, with International Anthem describing the album as "a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music". Certainly, there's much to enjoy, from the tracked bass, guitar and sax loops and subtle changes of 'Mavis' and the dreamlike ambient jazz of 'Arpy', to the bubbling cosmic jazz of 'Frica' and a stunning, off-kilter instrumental cover of Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles number 'The Fool On The Hill'.

Review: Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes is the debut album from Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson and Sam Wilkes, a collective of three versatile improvisers, arrangers and producers whose work spans jazz, rock and experimental. Across 11 instrumental tracks, they explore a jazz-informed take on progressive electro-acoustic chamber music that brings beauty, melody and rhythm to the fore. The record was conceived during live shows and a home session in Los Angeles and features Uhlmann's mournful fingerpicked guitar, Wilkes' bass chording and Johnson's effect-laden saxophone. Their arrangement-minded improvisation results in some nicely otherworldly textures as they push their instruments to create a spacious, lyrical sound.