Recent press round-up: reviews and features for Mustik Motel artists across print various media.
UK Vibe – Steve Williams
- Tahmela Six: Alight – UK Vibe
- 4/5 stars
“The band, the album and the label are creating something worth keeping.”
“This is jazz — it is simply their way of exciting us, and nothing about it is typical.”
“No studio walls, no isolation: wind, insects and sheer distance are part of the record, and with nothing to bounce the sound back, the six are audibly listening to one another across open ground.”
Valon Kuvia – Jukka Piiroinen
- Tahmela Six: Alight – Valon Kuvia (in Finnish)
- Tahmela Six: Alight – Valon Kuvia (in English – google translate)
“Birdsong, insect buzz and the hum of wind become part of a shared, open soundscape.”
“The beautiful free jazz of the Tahmela sextet absolutely belongs on Valon kuvia’s 2026 listening recommendations list.”
Jazzrytmit – Osku Rajala
- Tahmela Six: Alight – Jazzrytmit (in Finnish)
- Tahmela Six: Alifht – Jazzrytmit (in English – google translate)
“Altogether a fine, tasteful serving of free jazz — made without ‘limits’, in a healthy rural landscape.”
“Check it out!”
Lux – DJ Bunuel
North Star Sounds
- Tahmela Six: Ground VI – North Star Sounds
- Listen around 2h 10mins
One Man’s Jazz
- Tahmela Six: Alight – One Man’s Jazz
- Listen around 51min 38 seconds
The Free Jazz Collective – Charlie Watkings
“Quartet feels like a good old-fashioned free jazz album, in the best sense. Start to finish it is imbued with that 60s viscerality, creative and raw, moving ever-forwards with driving force.”
“It feels like the second they entered the studio, something must have clicked: this sounds like a group who have been playing together for years.”
“The three musicians together achieve that holy grail of psychic connection where they seem able to turn corners and move the music on with almost simultaneous decision making.”
North Star Sounds
- Mika Kallio & Janne Tuomi: Oresme – North Star Sounds
- Listen around 1h 18mins.