jeudi 26 février 2015

Damian Lazarus & The Ancient Moons - Message From The Other Side (CRMCD029)

"Message From The Other Side" is the title track from the forthcoming album by Damian lazarus & The Ancient Moons.

A career spent DJing across the globe was the catalyst for Damian Lazarus's latest project - Damian Lazarus & The Ancient Moons. Masterminded by Lazarus, the album brings together a wide assortment of vocalists, collaborators and players from around the world. Taking inspiration from Lazarus's Lazpod series, Get Lost events & Day Zero Festival in Mexico, this is music for deserts, jungles and sunrises.

Kicking off in L.A., Lazarus was joined at the production controls by James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco, Arctic Monkeys, Florence) as the album moved to London, and then final recordingsessions completed in Mexico. The resulting album, "Message From The Other Side", is a revelation. It runs the gamut from the wonderful Qawwali-flavoured techno of last year's alternative dance hit 'Lovers Eyes (Mohe Pi Ki Najariya)' to the African-tinged house of 'Sacred Dance Of The Demon', dense dark ambient of 'Inner Core', and the bubbling depths of forthcoming single 'Vermillion', this is a rich and ambitious album.
"There is nothing that compares to DJing under the stars Lazarus explains. "In the night air or being responsible for soundtracking the rising of the sun and I wanted to create an album that reflects these beautiful moments".

Lazarus brought together the widest range of musicians to achieve his goals. Initially there was Moses Sumney, an LA singer-songwriter and guitarist whose vocals light up the dynamic deep house groove of 'Vermillion', and the epic closing number, 'Tangled Web'. lazarus's long-standing friend and associate Ali Love, contributes vocals to the soulful groove of 'We Will Return'.

Other collabs came from further afield, Hossam Ramzy, an Egyptian master-percussionist, most famous for his work on Jimmy Page & Robert Plant's 'No Quarter' album laid down the amazing rhythm tracks for The Ancient Moons. ELEW (Eric Lewis), an American jazz pianist palyed a 'treated piano' in an unexpected, experimental way. Lazarus and Ford turned to Andrew Waterworth, double bassist, with the acclaimed Penguin Café for the album's lush string arrangements courtesy of Mexico's Yucatan Symphony Orchestra.

Meanwhile, Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad & Hamza Akram, are Pakistan's leading exponents of Qawwali singing, the hypnotic sacred Sufi music that Lazarus fell in love with after hearing it on the soundtrack of political thriller 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist'. They appear not only on 'Lovers Eyes (Mohe Pi Ki Najariya)', but also the spaced out, sitar-laden 'Amber Palace', a piece that features the sitar work of Sidartha Siliceo, a former student of Ravi Shankar.

Keen to include an Afro-beat flavour, Lazarus turned to the studio owner brother's wife, a princess of Guinean origin whose vocals became the centerpiece of the bubbly, joyful 'Sacred Dance Of The Demon'. Adding to the vibe on the same track is an appearance by Mozambican guitar prodigy Neco Novellas.

By gatherring this gumbo of music from across the globe lazarus has created a collection that's as happy on the dancefloor as off, a set of songs and moods that work both as an album and, when cherry-picked, as a groove that would move from Ibiza to San Francisco to the UK festivel circuit. It's also a body of work which will be coming to life and touring when they hit the road in 2015.

TRACKLIST:
01. House Of The Hidden Places
02. Adventures Of The Ancient Moons
03. Vermillion
04. Amber's Palace
05. Lover's Eyes (Mohe Pi Ki Najariya)
06. Inner Core
07. Message From The Other Side
08. Trouble At The Seance (Edit)
09. We Will return
10. Sacred Dance Of The Demon
11. Eyes Won't Let Me Hide
12. Create The Age
13. Tangled Web
14. Vermillion (Reprise)

Album to be released on May 18th, 2015.

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