Dazey Mag

In 1993, Carmelo Alfano sent a demo to Tom Jones, believing that one of his songs would suit the singer. He put his contact details on the cassette cover and waited for a response. None arrived. Ten years later, Mark Woodward called to ask whether he was the Carmelo who had submitted a recording a decade earlier. According to Alfano’s account, a song on the demo had been considered suitable for Jones, but the cassette cover containing his details had gone missing. The team had spent years trying to locate him. The story does not establish that Jones recorded the song, but it illustrates how an opportunity could remain unresolved for years in an industry dependent at the time on physical recordings and their accompanying paperwork. That episode is one…

The differences between Seattle and Britain have become a source of musical inspiration for Longboat. Where the project’s American birthplace offers mountains, forests and wildlife, the UK presents centuries of history woven into its everyday surroundings. That contrast informs Proud of My Postcode, an all-electronic album arriving at the end of September. Longboat’s founder currently spends time between Seattle and Britain, with plans to make the UK his permanent home in the future. His experiences in the country have supplied material for an album concerned with both historical subjects and contemporary life. Recorded at London’s Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch, with Will Davies engineering, the release approaches Britain through personal observation rather than an attempt at a definitive national portrait. “Proud of My Postcode doesn’t draw a complete picture of the…

Sidiki Camara’s journey has carried him from Mali to Belgium and Norway, and his new album Ankaben reflects the wide cultural path of his life in music. The album, whose title means “Humanity,” will be released on September 4, 2026, with a lead single arriving on August 21. Camara began playing music in Mali as a child, around the age of 10 or 11, and later committed fully to a professional musical career. After establishing himself in Bamako, he moved to Brussels, where he lived from 1989 until 2006. Since then, he has been based in Oslo, where he has become an important figure in Norway’s cross-cultural music scene. His career includes work with Boubacar Traoré, Ali Farka Touré, Mamady Keita, Karpe, Esperanza Spalding and Bill Frisell. Camara toured the…

The journey behind Thom Bishop’s new album Train Leaving Dallas stretches from Nashville writing rooms to recording studios in Florida and Colorado, and finally to the streets, pubs and emotional landscape of Ireland. Scheduled for release on July 31st, 2026, the album brings together six original songs and six reimagined classics, with “Here Comes The Night” serving as its lead single. Bishop and Billy Panda, his longtime collaborator, first wrote the album’s original songs while both were living in Nashville. Their shared history as writers and performers helped form the album’s central idea: to create original material with the staying power of classic songs, while giving familiar cover versions a fresh and contemporary identity. Bishop has summed up the project’s intention as a desire to “share some rock ‘n’ roll.”…