Hi all!
It’s been an eventful Summer:
– Polyrhythmics played across the region, including the Eclipse Festival and the High Sierra Music Festival, where I had the opportunity to share the stage with both Skerik (who I talked with on the blog here) and Karl Denson, a musical highlight for me. We added the finishing touches to the next album, set to release 9/20, and are asking fans, friends, and family to preorder it at http://www.pledgemusic.com/polyrhythmics . Check it out! There are other fun gifts and thank yous for supporting on that site as well.
– Theoretics performed at Capitol Hill Block Party and are working on a new EP. We’re continuing to move in a different direction from previous sounds, and I am really excited to continue. To me, the music fuses a more composed, layered approach with a creative and spontaneous treatment of sounds and textures, and it’s changing how I think about writing and playing music, in a good way. I hope to share it with you all soon!
– I moved to a slightly different part of town with my girlfriend, a little more out of the way but still connected to what I need personally and musically. With how busy things have been it has been difficult to really get settled (3 months later and we still have pictures to hang and boxes to unpack!), but all things in time. Honestly, it has been nice to feel as though I’m getting away a bit when I come home; it has been easier for me to focus on what needs to get done.
In other news, I’ve been more and more interested in what seems to be a particular circle of creative musicians based in London, and it’s been fun to listen to their similarities and differences in sound based on that common geography.
I had heard the Heliocentrics from Adam, our drummer in Theoretics, quite a while ago, but recently, after they released a new full length album, I went back and got back into them. In addition, they began popping up in my social media feed more. Here is their drummer and producer, Malcom Catto, giving a tour of his recording studio (just click). There also was a Gilles Peterson podcast on which Catto and bassist Jake Ferguson talked about some of their jazz influences, as well as influences outside of that genre like Ennio Morricone and Can. Unfortunately, it looks like that podcast is not available anymore.
Listening to Gilles Peterson’s playlists after that was really informative because of their stylistic range; although genres like Electronica, Jazz, and Hip Hop are more fluid in America than they were 10 years ago, in my opinion, it seems they are still more fluid in Britain.
At the same time that I was listening to the materials above, I started listening to and following saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings. As it turned out, Hutchings had worked with Heliocentrics in the past, but predominately plays with his own group Shabaka and the Ancestors, which sounds significantly different from Heliocentrics, in a good way. Again, through social media I saw more and more from him – clips of interviews, concert footage (Hutchings posted a great clip of an Ancestors show where Kamasi Washington sat in, really beautiful), etc. Also, check out his account of playing with the Sun Ra Arkestra: A Meditation on my Experience with the Sun Ra Arkestra
A fourth element of this London scene I listened to was Yussef Kamaal, a duo collaboration with another unique take on creative London music. Although the duo is no longer considered together, Kamaal Williams, aka Henry Wu, is quite active on my feed, and I’m interested to see what he does next. And, as before, even with major differences in their musical approach, sound, and style, there is a common thread – Yussef Kamaal’s album Black Focus was engineered by none other than Malcom Catto of the Heliocentrics.
Anyway, I recommend checking out any of the artists mentioned above. It has been enlightening and interesting listening to them over the last couple of months!
Art
You should play more smooth jazz. That’s what the fans wanna hear!!!!!