Like the triumphal march of truth which comes in fits and starts and whose course is furious and vexed or at best only circumambulatory, this week through cascading drums, carefully plucked bass, and the squibs and squeals of her tenor sax Zoh Amba alongside William Parker and Francisco Mela recites a mother’s hymnal. The drone musician Jon Porras suspends four pieces on single iridescent chords, and Urocerus Gigas of Guttersnipe on her first tape as The Ephemoron Loop collides her formative experiences with shoegaze, rave, and psychedelic drugs into what she describes as a synaesthetic acid bath which cracks open the doors of perception.
Recorded at the onset of 2020 for the experimental music programme Late Junction on BBC Radio 3, now receiving a full release via Cafe OTO’s sweeping Otoroku series, Roy Claire Potter and Park Jiha combine Liverpudlian spoken word which deals wittily and wilfully in group dynamics and shared griefs with traditional Korean instrumentation on the yanggeum, saenghwang, and piri. The Catalan vocalist and pianist Marina Herlop scatters choral trills inspired by the Carnatic music of South India, while for his 80th birthday the composer Daniel Schmidt returns to Recital with poetic lied performed by Gamelan Encinal and Mills Student Ensemble.
Esperanza Spalding enlists the great dancer and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade for her latest formwela salve, engaging in the celebration of esteemed elder women alongside artists from the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Xenia Rubinos and Carolina Oliveros of Combo Chimbita share the burden on a rework of ‘Darkest Hour’, weather snippets and triggered keys are the tools of choice for Florent Ghys, and Jasmine Myra swells our horizons. Wilted Woman covers the grit of Detroit machinery with swathes of glistening kosmische, while tracks by Shabaka, Boldy James, Real Bad Man, and Space Between Clouds complete the roundup.
Playlists: Spotify · Apple Music · YouTube
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Space Between Clouds – ‘Wide Corners’
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Daniel Schmidt – ‘A River In Delta’
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Zoh Amba – ‘Mother’s Hymn’ (feat. William Parker & Francisco Mela)
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Wilted Woman – ‘Glossy Center’
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Xenia Rubinos & Carolina Oliveros – ‘No Me Dejes Caer’
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The Ephemeron Loop – ‘Psychonautic Escapism (Cold Alienation)’
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Esperanza Spalding – ‘Formwela 12’ (feat. Carmen de Lavallade)
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Shabaka – ‘Call it a European paradox’
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Boldy James & Real Bad Man – ‘5 Mississippi’
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Park Jiha & Roy Claire Potter – ‘Saenghwang for the milky boys’
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