DakhaBrakha is a music quartet from Kyiv, Ukraine. Their “ethno chaos” sound spans years of performances prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion, but war is in everything now. They masterfully blend Ukrainian traditional music with influences from around the world, resulting in an unexpected new music.

Traditional music has seen a resurgence in Ukraine over the past decades, after being suppressed during Soviet rule. DakhaBrakha uses Ukrainian polyphony as its foundation, interweaving complex rhythmic and melodic structures from India, Arabia, Africa, and Australia. Their music is textural, layered sounds with distinctive percussive heartbeats, thumping bass lines, distorted electric guitars and influences of jazz, spoken word, rap and even punk. DakhaBrakha calls this tapestry of influences “ethno chaos.” And this chaos is a strength, allowing them to draw in strands of music that connect Ukraine with the world.

They are troubadours, activists and educators. Though their name means Give/Take in the old language, DakhaBrakha is new Ukraine, both pre-colonial and post-Soviet, working within a global network of art and music. They aim to help audiences see Ukraine not as a monolith, but as a cosmopolitan culture that takes in other cultures, and gives in return.

Brainstory’s new album Sounds Good, simply put, lives up to its name.

Based in L.A. but hailing from the Inland Empire’s own Rialto, CA, two-thirds of Brainstory, Kevin and Tony Martin are brothers by blood, while Eric Hagstrom is a brother through their music and long term friendship. While the group’s initial connection comes from the heady mixture of jazz-performance-focused music school and the grind of playing local shows, their bond has been strengthened through countless hours on the road touring and the making of two studio records—2019’s debut full-length, Buck, followed by 2021’s Ripe EP. “Being on the road, doing our own tours, and backing incredible people like Lady Wray, has sharpened our skills and really revved us up for this record,” Kevin says. “It’s been four years since our last full length record, and with everything that’s happened since, it’s like we’ve been catching up to ourselves.” That’s one way to describe change: catching up to oneself. Each member of Brainstory has gone through shifts, both personally and musically, and all of that thread through this record.

It’s easy to say that the music industry can be short on lasting, genuine relationships. However, for Brainstory, from day one it’s been about standing by each other, for each other. Their friendship started the group, and now, this expanded brotherhood is supporting them to push it further. The stars have aligned for them to take a big and well deserved step with this new album, and you can hear it in their music—music that just Sounds Good.

Li Daiguo is a prominent figure in China’s experimental, world, and new music communities. Born in 1981 in Oklahoma, USA, to Chinese parents, Li Daiguo received training in music from childhood on a variety of instruments in various styles, including western classical music and bluegrass (violin, upright bass, piano), Chinese classical music (erhu, pipa), Finnish folk music, Carnatic music, Shona Mbira,  and contemporary classical composition and improvisation.  After relocating to mainland China in 2004, Li began to develop his compositional style and blend of extended techniques for a variety of instruments, particularly pipa, guzheng, bawu, cello, upright bass, violin, and prepared piano.  His playing and compositional style makes frequent use of polyrhythms,  acoustic sounds that “sound electronic,” an eastern sense of space and emptiness, and spirituality.