Lethelium, a 24-string instrument fashioned from a bicycle wheel

You can pluck it, strike it, bow it, use your fingers, use a pick. The Lethelium is upcycled from bicycle parts and imagined in a cycle-punk zombie comic where bike parts save civilization. And all of this could only come from the imagination of Montreal artist Lateef Martin, an artist who lives a sci-fi reality others might only dream of. Or as Lateef puts it: “it reinvents the wheel.”

El Jaguar: re-amped Colombian Picó sound systems as instrument

El Jaguar, out now, is a rhythmic excursion from sound library sameness. This toolkit from boutique house MNTRA produces a deeply customizable sound world by re-amping through the legendary Picó sound systems of Barranquilla, Colombia. It’s something new, melding Montréal synth love and afro-Caribbean percussion into a new hybrid playground for producers.

Peter Kirn - May 22, 2025

Power, broken complexity in new Liliane Chlela album, “Anatomy of a Jerk”

There’s always storytelling and throughline in Liliane Chlela’s work, even in the most brutal driving grooves. Anatomy of a Jerk delivers that same narrative clarity and floor-rumbling authority, out on Mexico City’s Infinite Machine imprint.

Peter Kirn - July 5, 2024

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