mcdan77
Reminds me at times of Francis Bebey and at other times of Gato Barbieri's best stuff - while remaining entirely its own thing!
Anima and Dawning Dusk are particularly good.
Favorite track: Dawning Dusk.
littlesparra
When I was a kid, our music teacher had 30 of us play individual repetitions, on xylophones. He played piano over the top, giving it a melody. Then he stopped, and let us hear our own cacophony.
I was way too young to appreciate it, but this album by Aksumi is like that, but done really, really well. Minimalist play under saxophone, leading everything joyously.
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Akusmi announces ‘Terra Incognita’ out July 3 on Tonal Union,
featuring Sarathy Korwar, Dudú Kouate, Marysia Osu and more
Cartographers and US multinational technology corporations might think they’ve mapped out most of our big, beautiful blue planet, and yet there’s always more to discover if you know where to look. French-born, London-based composer and musician Pascal Bideau takes this as his central premise on a new album of intrepid sonic exploration that delights in the sensation of being somewhere you’ve never been before. ‘Terra Incognita’ invites us to seven faraway sonic imaginariums fusing global and spiritual jazz with life affirming minimalism into a hypnotic, polyrhythmic odyssey.
This time, the albums’ sound palette is more vibrant, earthy and abundant, drawing inspiration from the radiating optimism and high-energy sources heard in Afrobeat, Highlife and Electronic Afro-pop music, sounding looser, free and primarily interested in raw sensations. Antithetical to the precise ostinatos and gamelan patterns of the acclaimed debut ‘Fleeting Future’ (2022) and ‘Lines’ (2023). Terra Incognita, then, is a hybrid blend of traditional music and modern electronics, a trip into the unknown that ambulates freely, taking pleasure in its repetitions and never staying still. Bideau suggests this unmarked territory could be as much a fantasyland as it is a transportive journey into the inner self.
“It’s probably the feeling I love the most in life,” enthuses Pascal. “It pushes you into a state of wonder and naivety that brings you back to how everything felt when you were a child.” He’s talking about dépaysement, a French word that literally translates as “uncountryfication” but has no English equivalent. “It’s the sensation you get when you visit a place you’ve never been before, where nothing makes sense and everything needs to be learnt from scratch. There are no cultural references, no familiarity, just a constant flux of new colours, smells, social and moral codes.” In an era where the concept of nation states and their need to be protected has come to dominate the political discourse, Terra Incognita embraces adventure without borders, seeking out the unexplored territory of the title, breathlessly beholding vistas and pirouetting to take in boundless panoramas.
At the outset the shimmering, phosphorescent ‘A Waking Dream’ is a nod to spiritual jazz masters, particularly Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. ‘Anima’ follows as the tempo shifts upwards into a long, layered, trance-inducing groove. The music exudes an infectiously uplifting quality, as a recurring danceable theme begins to freely permeate through the album alongside a future-searching ethos reminiscent of Sun Ra. Bideau is not the only musician on Terra Incognita. There’s the Indian-born tabla virtuoso Sarathy Korwar who adds an almost drum and bass-like kineticism to ‘Rain Dance’, Dudú Kouate, the celebrated Senegalese musician adds an array of percussions, ngoni, flutes throughout with a spirited multi-octave vocal to give a climatic end to the album on ‘Dawning Dusk’. The highly percussive ‘Drongo’s Flute’ rises step by step towards interlocking, complex rhythmic patterns built from pygmy flutes and birdsongs before ascending into the cosmos. Levitation Orchestra's Marysia Osu alongside Lluís Domènech Plana respectively bring harp and flutes whilst pulsing electronics are provided on ‘Anima’ by longtime collaborator Daniel Brandt.
Ecstatic improvisations were overlaid with an array of instruments at his disposal, many from around the world, from Africa to South East Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, gathered from his own travels or brought back by family and friends. Pascal plays flutes, clarinet, guitars, bass, mbira, balafon, dutars, marimbas, zither, adungu and many other percussions. Most prominent is the alto-saxophone which features throughout: “It’s the link that connects everything together, half-narrator, half-explorer, ambling along and reacting in real time”.
Terra Incognita then is a rarified opportunity to get lost in and to find our presence of mind, to get off-grid, or even off the map altogether. “This album is a travel diary from an unexplored land: experiencing something never encountered before and the excitement that comes with it.”
credits
released July 3, 2026
All tracks composed by Akusmi
Recorded and produced by Pascal Bideau
Additional recordings by Jan Brauer
Mixed by Greg Freeman
Mastered by Zino Mikorey
Vinyl cut by Andreas Kauffelt
Sarathy Korwar: Tabla, Percussion (4,5,6)
Dudù Kouate: Percussions, Pygmy Flutes,
Ngoni, Birdsongs, Kanjira, Tama, Vocals (1,4,5,7)
Marysia Osu: Harp (1,4,5)
Daniel Brandt: electronics (2)
Lluís Domenèch Plana: Flutes, Birdsongs (1,5,6)
Mattias Mimoun: pianos and synths (1 and 3)
Vocal arrangement on (6) by Dudù Kouate
Pascal Bideau: alto, soprano and tenor saxophone
flute, guitar, bass guitar, clarinet, synthesizer, marimba
adungu, dutar, dunun, balafon, sanza, zither, organ
log drum, drums, pygmy flutes, percussions, vocals
Cover Artwork by Jacob van Loon
Art direction and design by Adam Heron
Special thanks to Adam at Tonal Union, Clare, Miya, Léon, Laurence, Georges and Eliane for their love and support.
This album is dedicated to Eric Renaud
supported by 61 fans who also own “Terra Incognita”
this album is the justification for the hundreds of hours this year alone i have put into listening to albums. this record has so much versatility, it could be very legitimately used as background noise, or it could be a full-blown story that takes you down many winding paths of tension and emotion. the only difference between these two scenarios is whatever you wanted this album to be. if you havent already, please let this be the reason that you check this album out :3 kaycs
supported by 54 fans who also own “Terra Incognita”
steady grooves with the sax of josh johnson dancing all over it. and when he takes a break, jeff slides in with something interesting. anna is a rock keeping everything together. the drumming is just perfect. listening to this enhances my life... i work to this, i drive to this, and i play it in shared spaces. lee
supported by 48 fans who also own “Terra Incognita”
Space 1.8 came on as I was driving at night through the Iowa countryside and everything turned magical. This record has the same effect, it’s like putting sunglasses on and looking at the sky. Beautiful. secretpizza
The London jazz quartet experiment with uncanny arrangements and globally inspired interplay on their stunning debut. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 2, 2025
supported by 47 fans who also own “Terra Incognita”
This record has such a somatically calming effect on me... it pulls me into a space inhabited by sounds with an aliveness to them. I can touch and feel and laugh with these sounds as they cavort about my brain. Thank you Nala Sinephro. sarikat