NEW RELEASE OF THE WEEK

KAMASI WASHINGTON - FEARLESS MOVEMENT

Kamasi Washington releases his new album, Fearless Movement, calling it his dance album.

‘Dance is movement and expression, and in a way it’s the same thing as music—expressing your spirit through your body’ he says. ‘That’s what this album is pushing.’

Dance as an embodied form of expression signals a shift in focus for Washington. Where previous albums dealt with cosmic ideas and existential concepts, Fearless Movement focuses on the everyday, an exploration of life on earth. This change in scope is due in large part to the birth of Washington’s first child a few years ago.

The album features Washington’s daughter - who wrote the melody to ‘Asha The First’ during some of her first noodlings on the piano - as well as a host of collaborators old and new. André 3000 appears on flute, George Clinton lends his voice, while lifelong friends and collaborators such as Thundercat come along for the ride, too.

SOUND PICK

MDOU MOCTAR - FUNERAL FOR JUSTICE

Recorded at the close of two years spent touring the globe following the release of 2019 breakout Afrique Victime, it captures the Nigerien quartet in ferocious form.

The music is louder, faster, and more wild. The guitar solos are feedback-scorched and the lyrics are passionately political. Nothing is held back or toned down. The songs on Funeral For Justice speak unflinchingly to the plight of Niger and of the Tuareg people.

‘This album is really different for me,’ explains Moctar, the band’s singer, namesake, and indisputably iconic guitarist. ‘Now the problems of terrorist violence are more serious in Africa. When the US and Europe came here, they said they're going to help us, but what we see is really different. They never help us to find a solution.’

The featured alums are available from Sound Records which can be found in Wellington Street, Douglas.