Chant Records: An Emerging Voice in Creative Music

New York-based Chant Records came seemingly out of the blue two years ago with a wave of creative world music. The result is a growing body of work that blends a spirit of invention, cross-cultural influences, superb musicianship and a joie de vivre that reflects a true love for music. In Episode 18 of the Right Brain Music Podcast we meet Jon Madof, co-founder of the Chant label.

Madof is an accomplished guitarist and leader of the internationally acclaimed band Zion80. He founded Chant with his band-mate Shanir Blumenkranz in 2018 as an outlet for distribution of original music by independent artists. The label started with output from their NYC network, but has since spread out widely. They’ve now released over 50 digital albums. The music varies widely and, in addition to the themes above, has another commonality: Chant artists test the limits of whatever genre they’re working in.

Hear our interview with Jon and generous helpings from the Chant family in the podcast.

Chant Records founders Jon Madof (center) and Shanir Blumenkranz (2nd fr right) with Jon’s band Zion80

Here’s a playlist of music included in the podcast episode, in order of appearance:

1. Zion 80 - “Tov L’Hodot”

2. eXpanseplane - “Deviate “

3. Meg Okura, Sam Newsome & Jean-Michel Pilc - “Bells, Whistles and Sirens” 

4. Yemen Blues - “Eli” 

5. Burton Green and Gillaume Gargaud - “Space Dialogue” 

6. Randi Pontoppidan - “Arctic” 

7. Roberto de Brasov and Kody Insraelite - “Space Snail” 

8. We The Gleaners - “Opening”

9. Midwood - “Ansky” 

10. Welf Dorr Unit - “Sympathicus” 

11. Midwood - “Ansky” (reprise)

12. Zion80 - “Pardes”

You can find these artists on Bandcamp or at Chant.

The Right Brain Music Podcast is presented by Right Brain Records. For details on other podcast episodes, artists and recordings, see our website. Subscribe to our podcast through any iPhone or Android podcast app.