Listen along: Bandcamp | Spotify

Of the Earth is more layered, complex, and avant garde to my ears than his previous work. Completely self-written, recorded, produced, and mixed by the artist himself, this work combines his mastery of the saxophone and flute with machine beats and ethereal synthesizer sounds layered with ambient samples and recordings. It also is clearly more adjacent to his work with his psych jazz-rock band The Comet is Coming.

Favorite tracks:

• A Future Untold (track 1) reminds me of Nala Sinephro, it could easily be a lost movement from Endlessness.
• Dance in Praise (track 6), amongst others, reminds me of HUMAN ERROR CLUB, with any likeness found in the synthesized instruments.
• My absolute favorite track is Marwa The Mountain (Track 8). It’s so joyous, sounds full of life. It feels like a lively sunny day on a busy city street and I just want to stroll in the sun to get a coffee or buy a book.

Shabaka - Of the Earth (2026) cover art

I first discovered Shabaka Hutchings’ work at a music listening bar in Kyoto on a trip in April of 2023. Located in a quiet little side street in Kyoto, we spent a relaxed evening at Hachi Record Shop and Bar browsing vinyls, listening to contemporary jazz releases curated by the young proprietor, and tasting sake. It was our first time going to a listening bar, starting my fascination and love for listening bars as a third space to relax and discover music with others.

The exterior of Hachi Record Shop and Bar, taken from Cinra.net’s article about the bar.

A memento of my own stay at Hachi’s in April 2023. The double-circle motif of the stained glass windows on the outside are echoed by the custom speaker grills behind the bar, as well as in the bar’s branding.

Why am I publishing again, now?

This blog has been pretty much dead for years now…

Listening to music and discovering new stuff to listen to is something I have lovedw since I was a teenager. Finding my way through increasingly specific genres of music, underground artists, and niche subgenres is a form of joy I partake in nearly daily. Even more, I get a kick from sharing my finds with friends and hearing what they think (and hoping they validate my taste in music).

In the past few months, I’ve been writing short blurbs about albums that I am listening to for the first time, or returning to, both old and contemporary releases. At this point, I write a few a week. And since I already like to share these albums with friends… why not polish them up a bit post them here?

I’ll be posting (or trying to) tiny posts about music I like, in near-realtime as I discover them.