The latest in our KLOF series includes new music from Sun Ra Arkestra, Mali Obomsawin, Eli Winter, Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble and Marisa Anderson.
Last week, we premiered Mali Obomsawin‘s “Odana”, the opening track from her new album ‘Sweet Tooth’, a suite for Indigenous resistance that flies in the face of Western tropes that insist Indigenous cultures are monolithic, trapped in time. Read more here. It is Mali’s photo that we’ve chosen to use for this mix as it was after hearing ‘Sweet Tooth’, released on 28 October via Out of Your Head Records, that the idea for this mix was sown.
Sun Ra Arkestra‘s new single Chopin is taken from their forthcoming studio album, ‘Living Sky. “Chopin’ is the first studio recording of Sun Ra’s elaboration of “Prelude in A Major” of the Frédéric Chopin “miniature Opus 28 No. 7,” which previously appeared on only a few live recordings including, ‘Pleiades: A Jazz Symphonique’, recorded at Théatre Carré Saint-Vincent, Orléans, France, October 27, 1990.
The Fire This Time, is the new single from Marisa Anderson, a nod to James Baldwin and his galvanising Civil Rights essay published in 1963. Read more here.
Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble II is the new offering from the Chicago ensemble and is out at the end of this month on Tompkins Square; you can pre-order here. Frontman Elijah McLaughlin says:
If there was a silver lining to the cloud of uncertainty that was life during the early days of the pandemic, it was that all of the isolation provided a clear break from the entrenched routines of day to day life. This respite allowed me to see in sharp contrast all of the things that were important in my life, and all of the things that were trivial, and thus expendable. It was during this time that I began to write in earnest for this 2nd Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble record.
Over the course of a year, I would bring my new compositions to my collaborators (Jason Toth and Joel Styzens), and usually after a very limited number of rehearsals we would enter the studio at the Fine Arts Building in Chicago and record the songs on an old Tascam ½” tape machine. There were four such studio sessions, in which all recorded material was culled down to these 9 songs. We recorded the material with a strong improvisational approach, and a couple of these songs are essentially first takes. I am very proud of the material on this album, and the energy we captured in the studio. I am glad to partner with Tompkins Square in sharing this album with the world.
And lastly, from an album that so many seem to be talking about (in my musical world at least), is Brain On Ice, taken from Eli Winter’s self-titled new album which I reviewed here.
The rest come from some of my favourite musicians and albums over the past year or so.
Most tracks are available via Bandcamp; links are included in the playlist below. If you enjoy it and you want to send us a tip, you can do so here.
Enjoy
Music Played
Kitsos Harisiadis – Skaros (from Lament from Epirus – “Soundtrack”)
Kenny Graham and His Satellites – Sunday (from Moondog and Suncat Suites)
Eli Winter – Brain on Ice (from Eli Winter)
Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble – Blind Valley (from Elijah McLaughlin Ensemble II)
Makaya McCraven – Tall Tales (feat. Joel Ross, Dezron Douglas, Tomeka Reid & Brandee Younger) (from Universal Beings)
Sun Ra Arkestra – Chopin (from Living Sky)
Mali Obomsawin – Odana (from Sweet Tooth)
Nick Jonah Davis – For Wally Hope (from For Wally Hope)
Marisa Anderson – The Fire This Time (from Still, Here)
Hairetis-Harper – Bells (from Draft)
Otis Jordan – Kobwebjar Soundtrack (from The Art of Magic Book)
Sarah Louise – Pulsing Lifeform (from Earth and Its Contents)
Chuck Johnson – Congee and Mamaliga (from Somewhere South -Original Soundtrack)
Cian Nugent & The Cosmos – Hire Purchase Part 2 (from Hire Purchase)
Dave Miller – This Weather (from New Comb / This Weather)
Rob Noyes & Sam Moss – Snake Month (from Rob Noyes & Sam Moss)