The Leaf Lab

Holy Spring is the second solo album by Australian percussionist, drummer and composer Laurence Pike - an article of faith, expressing the sense that the ritual of performance can transcend the confines of style, structure and concept to connect with something universal. The name of the album is beautifully ambiguous, evoking a wellspring, but also rebirth, and more besides. It sounds constantly, effervescently fresh, just as it should when its creation was a series of surprises to its own creator. The listener, just like the musician, are privy to what Pike describes as the music simply playing itself.Improvisation has played a role throughout Pikes long and diverse career in music. Whether as part ofPVT, Triosk or Szun Waves, or collaborating with Liars, legendary jazz pianist Mike Nock, DD Dumbo orthe mighty Bill Callahan, he has long been a responsive musician for whom sensitive listening leads tospontaneous invention.

Our saviours Danalogue The Conqueror, Betamax Killer (both Soccer96) and King Shabaka (Sons Of Kemet, The Ancestors) bestowed upon us their Mercury Prize shortlisted debut album Channel The Spirits on April 1st 2016CE. From simpler times, this was a prophetic document. A celebration. The beginning of the end. For those recent converts, here is Channel The Spirits (Special Edition). Here is the universe in a microcosm; the life-force distilled down to its raw essence: sex and dancing. Here is a package that includes the debut Prophecy EP from 2015CE. Here are three previously unheard tracks: the fabled Ancient Tapes.

Szun Waves: New Hymn to Freedom [CD]

Laurence Pike continues in a rich creative vein with the release of Prophecy, his third solo album in as many years. Inspired to write and record in response to the evastating wild fires in his native Australia, the percussionist, composer and producer has created a work for our times. Adopting the working formula of 'one take' studio performances for drum kit and sampler; channelling the moment through Pike's singular, organic use of electronics, and intuitively constructed arrangements. There is an instinctive and emotional resonance here, driven by his reaction to the climate emergency.

Distant Early Warning is the debut solo album by Australian drummer, percussionist and composer Laurence Pike. For the best part of two decades Pike has operated at the cutting edge of the electronic and jazz music worlds, releasing albums to critical acclaim and touring the world with his bands PVT (formerly Pivot), Triosk and Szun Waves, and featuring on numerous albums, tours and soundtracks as a collaborator. On Distant Early Warning he carves himself a moment of reflection. The calm in the eye of the storm. An ominous portent as the rocks appear on the horizon. Originally conceived as a technological and spiritual jazz suite for drums, Distant Early Warning is a series of solo performances for kit and sampler recorded live in a single day. "For a long time I've been feeling there's a central part of my musical voice that didn't have an outlet," Pike says. "So this album is definitely a product of inner necessity."

Pike Laurence: The Undreamt-Of Centre [CD]

Such is the inability to properly define the work of Bill Wells that he's connected to everyone from Sun Ra to Ennio Morricone. And yes, both references, and all in between, hold fast. Wells is the go-to man in the Glasgow scene for superior arrangements, having worked with Belle & Sebastian, The Pastels, Arab Strap, Future Pilot AKA, Telstar Ponies...the list goes on. Pick Up Sticks is a collaboration between Wells, storied trombonist Annie Whitehead and To Rococo Rot's Stefan Schneider, with contributions from Berlin-based singer-songwriter Barbara Morgenstern. The recordings were mainly improvised in a Berlin studio over five days of sessions, engineered by Tarwater's Bernd Jestram. It sees Wells moving away from his piano-based work with the emphasis shifting to a warm, engaging group sound, coloured with the tonality of Whitehead's trombone and Schneider's distinctive electronic vocabulary.