This week the multi-instrumentalist JJJJJerome Ellis frames speech dysfluency through personal reflections and watery etymologies, river running from the works of the sixteenth-century French poet Guillaume Bouchet and eighteenth-century abolitionist Olaudah Equiano to contemporary thinkers like Toni Morrison and Derek Walcott. Bill Charlap and the rhythm section of Peter and Kenny Washington give a modern swing to a standard by Johnny Green and Edward Heyman. And the duo of Félicia Atkinson and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma find a shiver of warmth in long tones and shimmering ellipses, with subtle nods to Indian classical ragas and free jazz.
Arca drops a seasonal sackful of music in the form of four albums from the KiCk series, and just like the festivities in her native Venezuela, these songs feature everything from the burst and sparkle of firecrackers to the sub-bass pulse of the furruco friction drum. David Shea sorts through film samples, field recordings, and live sections from Brussels classical ensembles, inspired by the Frances Yates book The Art of Memory. And the Berlin pianist and composer Nils Frahm offers an anatomy of intimacy with unreleased solo tracks recorded between 2009 and 2021.
The London label Disciples issues an ode to 13th Floor Elevators, with the Washington rhythm duo Model Home making the first splash. Moor Mother and Rasheedah Phillips soundscape the Mmere Dane: Black Time Belt archive, which maps the displaced and destroyed black towns and freedom colonies which once dotted the United States. Re.decay lay it down for the Accra underground fixture Mawcom X, Attacca Quartet take on the Summa of Arvo Pärt, and Klein unveils the bonus to Harmattan. 070 Shake shapes her next album with plenty of interior moulding, and Hilary Woods, Heka, Chantal Michelle, J.U.S, and Combo Chimbita round out the latest tracks.
Playlists: Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
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Arca – ‘Bruja’
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Black Quantum Futurism – ‘Blackville’
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JJJJJerome Ellis – ‘Dysfluent Waters’
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070 Shake – ‘Lose My Cool’ (feat. NLE Choppa)
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Arca – ‘Ether’
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Re.decay – ‘Cosa Nostra’ (feat. Mawcom X)
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Curren$y – ‘Axe Capital’ (feat. Fiend)
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J.U.S – ‘Waves’ (feat. Danny Brown)
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Bill Charlap Trio – ‘Out Of Nowhere’
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Attacca Quartet – ‘Summa’
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Félicia Atkinson & Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – ‘Septembers’
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Chantal Michelle – ‘Night Blindness’
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Model Home – ‘Splash On The Canvas’
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Arca – ‘Hija’
