Cumbia is a Latin Americana traditional music form that originates from Colombia and has ever since spread across the whole Spanish speaking sub continent. It blends elements of indigenous South American melodies, African rhythms and European ways of developing harmonies and progress chords. With that style in mind as model nowadays many young artists from the Western hemispheres begin to develop an electronic variant that brings new life to the dancefloors of the old ghost town. Among these Danish electronic artist and DJ Kenneth Rasmussen and his band JUNGLELYD formed in 2015 explore the pathways of modern South American electronic music. Digital cumbia, Tropical bass, Zouk, Moombathon, modern sounds based on traditional Latin music for dancing purposes, all that had a slight impact on the creativity of JUNGLELYD which combine digital devices and analogue instruments in their music. The delicate flute playing adds a touch of souljazz to the hypnotical mix. All rhythms are a perfect blend of electronic beats and live percussion, while guitars, bass, brass and wood wind instruments build a rather vivid melodic superstructure. After two EPs in 2017 the band will release their debut album in 2020 on SOUNDS OF SUBTERRANIA, a label that explores the adventurous paths in music.

The album begins with a relaxed cumbia styled tune that is an anthem to the greatest life elixir I personally know. Coffee. The lightweight guitar harmonies develop, float upon spacey synthesizer waves and follow rhythmical patterns that just intrude your locomotor system where they cause ongoing dance moves. Slightly more complex in its rhythmical structure, still as groovy as a cool piece could be „Boots“ comes jumping up and down from your speakers. Tropical island images enter your mind but still the electronic elements and fantastic melodies keep this song from being just a typical Latin music tune. They add the psychedelic expression of spacerock to the haunting music from the Andes. And haunting is the best adjunct to descripe the third tune „Lucerito de la Manana“ which prominently features singer Luna Ersahin on lead vocals and mystical South American pan flutes. I am not certain if that keeps the guinea pig invasion away, to point at my favorite episode of South Park, but anyway, this song with even comes up with a touch of psychedelic jazz at the end due to freaky saxophone lines. Dub, psybient, cumbia join together for the next tracks and in opalescent colours JUNGLELYD play their mostly instrumental music to their audience, which consists of psychedelic fanatics, cumbia lovers and electronic music aficionadoes. One can find a whole new spiritual world in this futuristic exotica style. The jungle to which it drags the listener exists only on giant computer screens all around the listener’s mind. I can see the dancefloors in todays clubs steam and boil while dance hungry souls float through the night. The musicianship of this collective is extraordinarily high, the wind instruments showcase an unusual dedication and determination for additional colour effects on mainly electronic sound creations. And the sweet twangy guitars here and there bring back memories of times when the ideal world also found its expression in dreamy sounds. This album is an ongoing dream and you can make it yours if you dare to explore the digital jungle created by JUNGLELYD.

Re-Press Third studio album from US three piece, Listener. As with their previous two records, Time Is A Machine marks a definite shift in Listener's sound, particularly evident with the introduction of Kris Rochelle on drums. Musically this is a more powerful rock and roll driven record, coupled with ambient post rock moments and carefully layered instrumentation. Dan Smith deliberates strong poems about our human emotional tendencies dealing with hopes, hurts, and fears in his distinctively unique vocal style. You can separate underground music fans into people who have heard of LISTENER and those who haven’t. LISTENER is releasing their third album, Time is a Machine, and people everywhere are crying on cliff edges and carving their ex-lovers names into tree trunks in anticipation. What started as Dan Smiths’ solo hip-hop project in 1991 has morphed into a band that undertakes classic DIY-style tours, playing basements and private living rooms and bookstores, sending audience members running out in tears with their intensely personal lyrics. Once you hear this Fayeteville, Arkansas band, you will obsessively play songs, over-analyze lyrics and realize the words apply to all the frustrating, sad and mystifying areas of your life. You have been warned.

Thrusting a particularly fervent and confrontational sound that Dan Smith, Christin Nelson and Kris Rochelle term “talk music,” LISTENER is poetry over sound. Lyrics are laden with heartbreaking images: a wooden heart, wrecking balls, dams overflowing. This is Rainier Maria Rilke and Sylvia Plath by way of the American South. LISTENER’s second album, Wooden Heart (2010) brought them wider recognition, with the title track reminding us “we only have what we remember” over a yearning pedal steel. Dan’s Appalachian-influenced accent doesn’t so much sing as spit, shout, demand, yell and plead with you to see and accept the obvious. LISTENER’s sound has no equivalent, but the band has the energy early punk like Ian Mckaye projects MINOR THREAT and EMBRACE mixed the post-hardcore sound you would expect from MEWITHOUTYOU. The songs often have classic guitar tones coupled with intense and forcible horns. The rising and crashing crescendos are comparable to NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL, it’s sort of like a marching band run amok but still melodic enough to be relatable. This LP sees the band reflecting on the passage of time. LISTENER hasn’t sacrificed any of the edge and scariness that characterized earlier releases, but they are moving in a more pensive direction; the album is awash with quieter moments, amidst the sonic assaults. The album crashes into your heart with Eyes to the Ground for a Change, which has Wild West style guitar, like a saloon showdown that will end with everyone slumping over in defeat. Not Today is a fully-formed song: more approachable and traditional in terms of structure. The album features Dan’s gorgeous lyrics: Good News First asks for the good news first “to numb the pain.” Tornadoes reflects that you “didn’t leave/didn’t give up,” prescient in the light of the recent tragic tornado in Oklahoma. Everything Sleeps shows the more hopeful and positive tone of the album, telling us “If we give everything we have /every single time /everything we have every single time we may get to live/ what’s next.” For LISTENER fans, the answer is obvious. (NBHAP / Kika Jonsson)