Award-winning media artist Jess Irish’s new documentary short film, This Mortal Plastik, unravels the enduring problem of plastics through an unusually artful exploration of this beguiling banality. Described as “a personal dive into the world’s most impersonal substance,” Irish paints a playful and provocative story of its history, science, adoption, and impact which now pervade every facet of modern life. A recent Chain NYC (“Best Director of a Documentary Short”) and Cannes World Film Festival winner (for “Best Environmental Film” – June 2021 Edition), it is scheduled to screen at two festivals this month. Read the rest of this entry »

September 15, 2021 [UPDATED Oct. 1, 2021] – Tirgan, North America’s preeminent hub for Persian arts and culture, is proud to announce the virtual presentation of The Scarlet Stone, a multidisciplinary and collaborative music/dance/animation work that merges expressive modern aesthetics with Persian traditions. Composer/Director Shahrokh Yadegari created this profound cultural experience in conjunction with dancer/choreographer Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam based on the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi and the last work of Siavash Kasrai, Moher-ye Sorkh (The Scarlet Stone). Read the rest of this entry »

Garden Broom Recordings is set to deliver its inaugural release, Integration, a 5-track EP, by the artist duo NMND on February 12, 2021. This is the first collection of music to surface from the partnership between producer/technological ace McLean Macionis and hypnotic vocalist/composer Mana Contractor. The music of NMND (or ‘No Mind’) draws equally on organic and electronic sounds, creating eclectic collages rich with otherworldly textures, haunting vocals, and tightly programmed beats. Integration focuses on the evolution and manipulation of the human voice through technology, utilized to harness the power of improvisation.

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With his new album, Year Of The Living Dead, out today, February 26, 2021 on Kompakt, Vienna-born and LA-based producer John Tejada finds a blissful extended moment of balance between the new and the familiar. Anyone who’s followed his career to date, which has included four previous albums for Kompakt, outings for storied labels like Plug Research, Playhouse and Cocoon, and numerous remixes and collaborations–most recently, his Wajatta duo with comedian and musician Reggie Watts–will immediately sense the warmth and eloquence that Tejada brings to his gilded, pliant techno and electro hybrids. But there’s more here, too; an explorer’s glimmer in the producer’s eye, as he gets to grips with new ways of working and being, while offering a reflective opening for the listener, something echoed in artwork by graphic designer and ‘contemplative artist’ David Grey.

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Drew Aron, one time classical guitarist turned folky singer-songwriter, will release his debut EP, Familiar Faces, on Elegant Regrets Music this November 13, 2020. In advance of the EP, Aron will put out two singles along with videos for each. “Running,” the first single, is due out on October 2, and will be followed by “Sugar Maple,” due out October 23. Familiar Faces will also have a video release. Read the rest of this entry »

Lo-Flo Records was a germ of an idea in the 1970s, and ultimately conceived in 2015 by the inimitable songwriter, composer, arranger, librettist, Jane McNealy. The label officially launches with its very first release, “Turn Away from Darkness,” a gospel tribute to triumph over adversity, which will premiere on August 28, 2020, along with a timely music video. The single precedes the label’s debut album, Running Around, which is scheduled for release on October 2, 2020. It will be available on digital platforms as well as in limited quantities of vinyl and CD.

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Adult Karate (the musical moniker for versatile artist K.C. Maloney) is poised to release his second album, My Friends Are Internet And I Want To Break You Open, on July 31, 2020, on tastemaker label Plug Research. More than a year and a half in the making, this new album is a true expression of the artist’s musical evolution, a culmination of both his personal life journey and the integration of his various musical influences. This dynamic, boundary-crossing release defies genre pigeonholing and seamlessly glides between musical styles while Maloney’s candid, sometimes confessional lyrics and reverbed-out vocals hold the whole picture together. Read the rest of this entry »

John Tejada, a frequent guest on Touched Music compilations, hatched the idea of turning the final project for his CalArts “Advanced Electronic Music Production” class into a compilation album for the established label. John Tejada Presents Future Stars features 15 of Tejada’s students at their best, as well as an exclusive original track by Tejada himself called “NYC83,” which imagines an alternative of a classic b-boy breakin’ tune. Established as a non-profit, the record label benefits Macmillan Cancer Support in the UK among others. Touched Music will release Future Stars digitally on Friday, May 15, 2020, with 100-limited edition CDs to follow shortly after. The best way to support the charity—and the only way to procure the beautiful physical CD—is to purchase from Bandcamp. The release will also be available on Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, Bleep and many other platforms.

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The latest project of the Rebel Babel Ensemble is a universal tribute to hip hop pioneer DJ Premier. The transcultural international big band, perhaps the world’s largest (currently boasting over 11,000 members from sixteen countries), unleashed “Tribute to DJ Premier,” its herculean video “gift” to Preemo and the world, on the legend’s birthday, March 21, 2020. For this particular orchestration and video project, Rebel Babel and its conductor and co-founder Łukasz “L.U.C.” Rostkowski arranged samples from DJ Premier’s work for a jazz big band collaboration that was recorded in eight European and U.S. cities with just under 100 musicians involved. Read the rest of this entry »

Coin & Ghost, LA’s theatrical home for remixed mythologies, will present its latest world premiere, Mama Mama Can’t You See, by Cecilia Fairchild and Stan Mayer. Opening on Friday, March 20, and running through Saturday, April 18, 2020, the new play explores a particularly harrowing moment of Mayer’s life as a U.S. Marine, and the implications of that moment across the boundaries of death, sex and love. Directed by Coin & Ghost’s Artistic Director,Zachary Reeve Davidson, the play is a metaphysical journey in which the experience of modern war becomes a shared identity among four Marines in Iraq and four sex workers from the American Civil War, who find themselves crossing paths in the space between life and death. The show will run for five weekends at New American Theatre in Hollywood.