German-based fingerstyle guitarist Alexandr Misko is launching a lengthy North American tour this fall in support of his instrumental album “Final Boss,” released in April. The trek runs from early September into November, spanning club and theater dates across the U.S. and Canada, including stops at The Cutting Room in New York, City Winery Nashville, Denver’s Swallow Hill Music, and a headline appearance at the Woodstock Fingerstyle Guitar Festival. Additional dates in Port Moody, Seattle and Saskatoon were added, which the announcement attributes to demand.

Misko performs on a self-modified instrument he calls the Frankenstein Guitar, built to let him tap, strike and detune strings to produce percussive, full-band textures from a single acoustic guitar. On the album track “Intergalactic March,” he uses a prepared-guitar technique, weaving a CD (or, in live performances, a Star Wars DVD) between the strings to create a metallic effect.

Misko began on classical guitar before moving into fingerstyle, and his arrangements of “Billie Jean” and “Careless Whisper” have drawn tens of millions of views online, according to the announcement. He was named Guitarist of the Year by MusicRadar in 2018 and performed at Carnegie Hall with harpist Alexander Boldachev in 2020, a pairing the announcement says led to an ongoing collaboration between the two musicians.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Eric Alper, thatericalper.com.

Hammond organist Vel Lewis has released “Smoovee,” a collaboration with saxophonist Marion Meadows that debuted as the most-added track at smooth jazz radio, according to the announcement. The label says the single is also appearing on the Smooth Jazz Network Top 100, Mediabase Smooth Jazz, RadioWave Monitor Groove Jazz 100 and a weekend radio chart in Madrid.

The song dates back to the late 1990s, when Lewis wrote it on a home workstation with a soprano saxophone lead in mind. He later pitched it to Meadows, whom he had come to know through mutual connections dating to his time following Meadows’ RCA Records recordings. The track’s rhythm section was recorded in Rio de Janeiro with musicians Adalberto Miranda and Dede Silva, with additional percussion added in Texas by Cassio Duarte. Guitarist Paul Brown mixed the record, and Steve Hall of Future Disc Systems handled mastering.

Lewis’s career spans six decades, including work as a session organist on gospel recordings for ABC/Peacock Records, a stint with Philadelphia International Records act The Futures, television composition credits including Chrysler Plymouth commercials featuring Tina Turner, and a three-year run in Dionne Warwick’s touring band. In June 2024 he received the Houston Black Music Award for Best Jazz Male Performer from the Black Music Association and Academy of America.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Eric Alper, thatericalper.com.

Messenjah, the Kitchener, Ontario reggae band billed as the first Canadian reggae act signed to a major label, has released a new single, “No More.” The band says the track carries the same intensity as its earliest material, more than four decades after forming in 1981.

The group is led by founding member Rupert “Ojiji” Harvey alongside Carl “Carlos Bandana” Harvey, known for his work with Toots and the Maytals, with Charles Sinclair on bass, Orville Malcolm on keyboards and newest member Sammo on drums. According to the announcement, Harvey wrote “No More” with Malcolm and Sinclair, who also produced the track.

Messenjah’s history includes performances at Jamaica’s Reggae Sunsplash, an appearance in the film Cocktail, and a 1998 performance for Nelson Mandela at Toronto’s SkyDome, the same year the band won a Juno Award. Warner Music Canada previously reissued the group’s catalogue, and the band reunited for a 2014 Bob Marley tribute show in Toronto.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Eric Alper, thatericalper.com.

Newcastle-based producer Pattn has launched a new label, Repetitive Nature, timed to the autumn equinox with the release of his single “Look Into It” as the imprint’s first catalogue entry. The label will hold its inaugural event at fabric in London with a Room3 takeover on October 3.

Pattn has previously released music through fabric Records, Isolate and Live At Robert Johnson, and has played sets at venues including Phonox, FOLD, Sisyphos, Kater, Hï Ibiza and HÖR Berlin, according to the announcement. He said the new track was written after relocating his studio to the North East, describing the period as reflective before the track’s composition took on a more uplifting character.

According to the announcement, Repetitive Nature is intended as an audiovisual platform beyond a standard release vehicle, pairing music with visual design and offering a home for material from Pattn’s wider creative community. The label plans a release calendar tied to celestial dates rather than conventional promotional cycles, along with a monthly radio show on OpenLab Ibiza and a charity edit series planned for each winter solstice.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Simon Tillotson, neighbourhoodpr.com.

Chicago has renamed a street after Donda West, the late mother of Ye (formerly Kanye West), who died in 2007. The honorary designation marks a civic tribute to West, a former English professor and Chicago State University administrator who also managed her son’s early career.

The renaming adds to a series of tributes Donda West has received in the years since her death, reflecting her lasting influence on Chicago’s cultural and academic community as well as her son’s music and public persona.

Read the full story at Billboard.