Introspective cello in Mexico, rich South African jazz and a Malian master’s marriage of kora with symphonic orchestration were among the year’s highlights
On their debut album, the Lahore band blends the free-form improvisation of Hindustani classical and jazz with sample-heavy production creating a musical dialogue about faith, spirituality, and the self.
Best Comic of the Week:
Rain Like Hammers #1 – Brandon Graham has a way of creating worlds that are completely incredible, but also feel very relatable. In this new series, he gives us Eugene, a worker in a moving city who doesn’t appear to have any friends or much purpose. He’s new to Elephant, having worked hard to get this posting, but now finds it pretty isolating and disenchanting. Graham never explains why all people seem to live on these roving cities, but when one of them suffers a catastrophe, we get to see more of how society appears to operate. Eugene’s days of sitting alone in his room eating food he didn’t prepare feels pretty familiar after the last year, and I’m sure a lot of people will relate to his position. Graham’s artwork is always a fantastic mixture of expansive empty landscapes and detailed personal possessions. His work here has a real Moëbius feel to it, and it looks great. I’m happy to see him working on such a personal-feeli