Sons of Kemet, Pick up your burning cross
Edward Colston was a seventeenth-century British slave trader. In 1895 the city of Bristol erected a statue in his honor. She remained standing until June 7, 2020, when thousands of anti-racist protesters threw her into the sea, just days after the death of George Floyd, the African American killed by white policeman Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis. There is a thread that links the American Black Lives Matter movement to the British one: the black community is mobilizing, in New York as well as in London.
And if there is a credible musical referent for these two worlds, that is Shabaka Hutchins. Saxophonist and clarinetist who grew up between London and Barbados, Hutchins is the leader of three very interesting projects: Shabaka and the Ancestors, The Comet is Coming and Sons Of Kemet. In the past he has collaborated with Sun Ra Arkestra, Heliocentrics and more. His music has long been contaminated: it mixes jazz, dub and African tradition. It is distinguished by an uncommon percussive force, which becomes evident in its enthralling live performances.
After Your queen is a reptile, anti-monarchist and anti-racist manifesto, the Sons of Kemet are back with Black to the future, an album that Shabaka himself defined as a sound poem resulting from the “anger, frustration and perception that emerged after the death of George Floyd and the protests of Black Lives Matter”. Even the song titles, lined up, are a mini poem about black identity.
It is the two percussionists and the saxophone by Hutchings who open the dance of the disc in the splendid Field negus, which revolves around the spoken word by the poet Joshua Idehen, singer of a revolution that rejects the equality of convenience offered by whites, of a revolt “riding a black horse”. The poet Moor Mother and the clarinetist Angel Bat Dawid (who released a splendid live record in November) instead animate the enthralling Pick up your burning cross, while rapper Kojey Radical and singer Lianne La Havas enrich the single Hustle. But also the instrumental episodes, such as In remembrance of those fallen, they work very well.
Hutchings jazz is unique, not only on the British scene. IS Black to the future it is one of the best records of his young but very prolific career. Sound is never an accessory to the political message, it is an integral part of it. Music that faces the past, and goes beyond it. Like someone who has the courage to throw down a statue that does not represent him.
St. Vincent, Down and out downtown
Wearing a blonde wig, St. Vincent threw herself headlong into the 1970s. Daddy’s home, her new album, is inspired by the life of her father, released from prison in 2019 after nine years for a story linked to a financial scam, and the vinyls he made her listen to as a child. And that’s why Annie Clark sometimes unleashes an irresistible funky groove, like that of Down and out downtown.
In the long run, however, despite some emotional peaks such as the semi-acoustic song Somebody like me, the overdose of retroomania makes the disc lose its bite a bit. Despite this, Daddy’s home remains one of the best tests of St. Vincent, certainly superior to the previous one Masseduction.
I’m a dog, Hajar
As I wrote a few days ago Ira, the new record by the Sardinian singer-songwriter Iosonouncane, is a polyphonic tale of crossed borders, of mountains, deserts, prisons, rivers and soldiers, where the boundaries between musical genres and languages blur. It’s a demanding listening (it lasts almost two hours and is sung in a mixed language built by mixing Italian, English, Arabic, French, Spanish and German).
In short, if you were looking for a new one Storms you will not find it here. The songs I like the most at the moment are the ones that draw more from the North African tradition, such as the guerreggiante Hajar.
J. Cole, amari
US rapper J. Cole has just released his new record, The off-season. The record features songs produced by Timbaland, T-Minus, and collaborations with other rappers such as 21 Savage and Lil Baby. Not bad at first listen, even if the previous one Code perhaps he was more inspired.
The Black Keys, Louise
After a couple of unexceptional jobs, the Black Keys decided to go back to basics, and they did well. Their new record, Delta kream, is a collection of covers of old blues songs that influenced the band.
The album, drummer Patrick Carney said, was recorded in 2015 “in ten hours” in Dan Auerbach’s studio in Nashville. Nothing revolutionary, but a pleasant journey back along the Delta, as happens in this cover of the Mississippi classic Fred McDowell.
P.S. Updated playlist, good listening!
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