Kick + Clap / Because News

For his inaugural EP under new guise 'Yem Gel', NTS Manchester resident and visual artist Alecs Pierce comes through with a four-track cacophony of sounds for Dave Maclean (Django Django) run label Kick + Clap.
From previous experimental outings as Obsidian Pond, gristed petunia and, Handi Dogh he returns with this new project based solely on electronic compositions, giving the multi-instrumentalist artist a chance to further explore his electronic leanings. Operating with a clear mission statement, Yem Gel moniker seeks to live up to its name's reference to malleable 'fictional future plastics' by offering a set of genre-spanning compositions, drawing from multiple influences from ambient, drum 'n' bass or grime and leaving us wondering where he might take us next.

'To Syria, With Love', Omar Souleyman's new album released on June 2nd on Diplo's label Mad Decent. The record introduces itself as the follower of his 2015 al bum 'Bahdeni Nami', and features new 'techno' elements, thanks to arranger Hasan Alo. The first available track is 'Ya bnayya', which means 'girl' in English. Here, Omar Souleyman remembers the time where he fell in love with a beautiful brunette on first sight with a background of feasting drums.



Souleyman, who already collaborated with Björk and Four Tet, began his carreer as a wedding singer, with almost 500 live albums before the civil war bursts out in Syria in 2011. He moves in Turkey and releases in 2013 his album Wenu Wenu. In 2015, the album Bahdeni Nami gets an extraordinary amount of positive critics, of which The Guardian's just below.