#5156, New Releases, June 2026

It’s the most wonderful time of the month – time to sample some of the hottest new music to have reached our earholes. Hear electrified avant chamber-folk music from the duo of American guitarist and composer Bill Orcutt with Guatemalan cellist, vocalist, composer, and improviser Mabe Fratti, who is based in Mexico City. Orcutt is also an improviser who deploys a four-string guitar in unconventional tunings. Take Orcutt’s spidery riffs and bursts of warm fuzzed-out melodies and combine them with Fratti’s distorted and amplified cello and her well-chosen vocals and the feeling is like floating in a peaceful body of water after having eaten layers of an impossibly fabulous dessert. Technically a May 2026 release, listen to the title track, “Almost Waking”. 

There’s also buoyant and dancey music by Exile Key,the artist collective based in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp, with curious and wide-ranging cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The collaboration was released for World Refugee Day (June 20.) Hear the return of the NYC-based world music ensemble Pharoah’s Daughter, performing music inspired by the lyrical song of songs. Listen also to new music from Toronto-based Ethiopian sax player Girma Woldemichael, and a new album by Lebanese-French trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf. 

Sample some of the new album from the duo of guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson and Trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire, called Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings. The record is the result of years of friendship and collaboration, as well as a Line 6 amp that Halvorson was giving away – which Akinmusire picked up and made incredible sounds with in “literally five minutes” (Nonesuch.com).

Plus, there’s new Proto-Balto-Slavic music from the California-based women’s choir, Kitka; and from British artist Digitonal, the ambient-neo-classical project led by clarinettist and composer Andy Dobson. (- Caryn Havlik)

Program #5156, New Releases, June 2026 (First aired 6/30/26)

ARTIST: Exile Key & Yo-Yo Ma
WORK: Yelele Mama[1:17]
RECORDING: Yelele Mama/Bado Mapema
SOURCE: Sony Masterworks
INFO: https://sonymasterworks.lnk.to/exilekeyyoyoma

ARTIST: Pharaoh's Daughter
WORK: Brach Dodi[2:57]
RECORDING: Songs of Desire
SOURCE: Tzadik Records
INFO: https://pharaohsdaughterband.bandcamp.com/album/songs-of-desire

ARTIST: Girma Woldemichael 
WORK: Nafqóte[3:08]
RECORDING: Nafqóte (My Longing)
SOURCE: https://girmawoldemichael.com/
INFO: Available at Spotify, AppleMusic, Amazon.com

ARTIST: Ibrahim Maalouf
WORK: ZAATAR & ZEIT[4:24]
RECORDING: Trumpets of Michel-Ange, Vol. 2
SOURCE: Mister Ibe
INFO: Available at Spotify, AppleMusic, Amazon.com

ARTIST: Exile Key & Yo-Yo Ma
WORK: Yelele Mama[5:03]
RECORDING: Yelele Mama/Bado Mapema
SOURCE: Sony Masterworks
INFO: https://sonymasterworks.lnk.to/exilekeyyoyoma

ARTIST: Oman Bagpipe Singers
WORK: The Boy Has Just Arrived from East Africa & Doesn't Know How to Speak Arabic[5:01]
RECORDING: Songs of Returning and Leaving
SOURCE: Glitterbeat
INFO: https://idol-io.ffm.to/omanbagpipesingerssongsofreturningandleaving

ARTIST: Mary Halvorson & Ambrose Akinmusire
WORK: Prelude in the Ash[6:04]
RECORDING: Slo-Mo Neon Luminate Hoverings
SOURCE: Nonesuch
INFO: https://akinmusirehalvorson.lnk.to/SloMoNeon

ARTIST: Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti
WORK: Almost Waking[6:04]
RECORDING: Almost Waking
SOURCE: Unheard of Hope / Tin Angel
INFO: https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/almost-waking

ARTIST: Kitka
WORK: Gelino[6:01]
RECORDING: Kitka:  Kolo
SOURCE: Kitka
INFO: https://kitka.bandcamp.com/album/kolo

ARTIST: Digitonal
WORK: The Winter Journal[5:04]
RECORDING: The Night Album
SOURCE: Just Music
INFO: https://digitonal.bandcamp.com/album/the-night-album

ARTIST: Digitonal
WORK: The Night Sparrow[1:08]
RECORDING: The Night Album
SOURCE: Just Music
INFO: https://digitonal.bandcamp.com/album/the-night-album