And there's the way their voices hang, overlap, chant in unison, linger as a chorus Ibeyi may be only two people, but there are more presences in the room. It's very much a summons to the ghosts of their history, whether in direct incantations to Santería deities or in its dedication to their father and elder sister, who both died prematurely. So their foray into the production-and-voice duo model is sung in both English and Yoruba (and a little French), with electronics that employ traditional cajón and batá drums toward hip-hop ideas. Of course, there's more behind that, namely two musical parents who raised them in France and Cuba and around Afro-Cuban religious culture. The textures are often minimal, the assembly spare. It's made by a band of twin sisters: One sings and plays piano the other sings backup and makes beats. There are a lot of things to admire about the self-titled debut from Ibeyi - an accomplishment considering that there simply aren't a lot of things in it. As did Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep or Bill Gunn's Ganja & Hess for film in their respective moments, Black Messiah sublimates some of the feeling of 21st century black life in recorded musical form. The creeping, almost resigned weariness of tunes like "Charade" suggests both the everyday melancholy and profound resilience of people darker than blue facing a violent, supremacist culture. He also brings the gentle bossa-like feel of "Really Love" and those Monk-ish changes on "Sugah Daddy." Remember the old adage that if you're late enough you'll be on time again: The experimental sonics of Black Messiah - with its barely intelligible lyrics and impressive analog mix by Russ Elevado - somehow manage to capture the muffled anger and simmering agitation that increasingly defines black life in the age of Ferguson, Baltimore and Charleston. Michael Archer to a fixed calendar anyways: After a 14-year hibernation, he pulled a rabbit trick by gifting us a tricky, sexy, modern classic that seemingly synthesizes the entirety of analog-era avant-garde soul - Hendrix, Sly, Clinton, Prince, Shuggie and more. Technically it's a 2014 album (it dropped without much advance warning mid December) but cut us some slack: Black Messiah's singles really started making waves in 2015 and D'Angelo has been killing it on tour this spring. Yet for all its flamboyance - made all the more brilliant in a brave, exacting performance from Gil Rose's Boston Modern Orchestra Project - the piece, like most great art, is a fascinating journey, one you'll want to take again and again. Play is a staggering achievement, built with wit and wonder. Late in the piece, he carefully builds an extraordinary crescendo, topped with a sweet oboe line soaring over an orchestra that twitches and roils. Through its three levels (not unlike a video game), Play unleashes spasms of melody and whiplash transitions, but also unveils landscapes of serene beauty. From the opening seconds, Norman, a Californian in his mid-30s, sets up a symphonic thrill ride.
#J COLE 2014 FOREST HILLS DRIVE FONT FULL#
Scored for full orchestra plus piano and extra percussion, Play is a rigorously constructed, wildly rambunctious beast in the spirit of older works like Olivier Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony and new ones like Thomas Adès' Tevot. Just how good is Andrew Norman's Play? It might just be the best piece of large-scale orchestral music so far in the 21st century.
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