Randy Gloss isn't just a world-class hand percussion virtuoso. He's not just an iconic educator in the percussion world, or a leader in his community. He's an avid artist, brimming with expansive vision and infectious enthusiasm, and on his debut solo album, ...The Ayes Have It, Vol 1: Self Portraits in Percussion, he gives us an intimate window into his rhythmic and sonic world.

Here at Orenda Records, we receive a lot of music to review for release consideration. But it's not every day that a tuba, guitar, drums trio crosses our desk - and it's even rarer to hear such a formation explode with the kind of commanding vigor and infectious levity that the LA/Brooklyn bicoastal band Evil Genius embodies. Steeped in genre bending, wry wit, and dazzling virtuosity, this trio’s impressive debut, Bitter Human, is like nothing you've ever heard, and might make you smile way more than you think.

For someone who initially wanted to be an astronaut, composer Derrick Spiva Jr. writes music that could be more rooted in our Earthly humanity. Drawing his inspiration from disparate cultures the world over, and embracing a global view of our connected spirits, Spiva's music is transcendent, unifying, danceable, and as the Los Angeles Times says "enormous fun." His debut album Prisms, Cycles, Leaps is a lush, rhythmic, and soaring exploration of our modern humanity, bound by sound, and propelled by incredible optimism and pure joy.

Daniel Corral's Diamond Pulses is a profound meditation, whether by intent or accident, on the connectivity of souls. It glistens in a sort of magical starlight, like aliens dancing under a cosmic disco ball, and, well, "pulses" with a dreamlike vitality that entrances the the imagination. Drawing on cultural influences as broad as Balinese rhythms, Terry Riley and Harry Partch, and even modern EDM, the sound reaches into outer space while kicking Earthen dust with dancing feet. 

We live in a world more globally connected and interwoven than at any point in our known history...well, at least the accepted version. For all the cat videos, memes, and political vitriol spewed forth by the great "like machine" that is social media, that interconnectedness yields some truly wonderful moments, and in some cases, even beautiful collaborative art.