| | Full Review | Ratings (59) |
Give your Rating |
| 4.0 excellent | Bedex | February 16th 22 |
Actually jammed this on Feb 11 but forgot to upload the soundoff. I really, really enjoyed this album and its neverending groove, starting from the fabulous intro track and even from its first few seconds. The little dissonances and the cool repetitive vocals eg on 2 reinforce the spiritual/transcendental vibes, though they largely disappear for most of the middle section of the album. Yes it's nothing revolutionary but I do thnk it is delightfully executed. The midtrack reprise on 8 with all the flutes and instruments is simply lovely for example. By 10 I did concede this was getting a bit long, though in a vacuum the track itself is quite cool and finally brings back the transcendental vox from much earlier, and always with the GROOVE. 11 works great as a nice conclusion track on the more contemplative starry side of things with the piano and brass duo, although its veeery end does fall a bit flat. Fak it I just liked this too much to not go for a sweet 4.1
Bump |
| 3.4 great | Erwann S. EMERITUS | March 18th 20 |
Shabakin' hard. Crazy to imagine all the hot jazz albums recently out are made by the same dude. Once again, this puts its African roots into the jazz fusion, with some parts that reminded me of spiritual jazz (plus his backing band being South African). Thus, this can be considered the least original record of the bunch, as the sound is resolutely turned to the past. So yeah, this spiritual jazz influence is what differentiates this band from The Comet Is Coming (more of a psych nu jazz collective) and Sons of Kemet (afrobeat and jazz-funk), and the album's statement goes hand in hand with the aesthetic choice: it's the most socio-political record Shabaka released yet. It's a shame it's too long; 45 minutes would have been perfect for this album. Nonetheless, more than any other Shabaka record, this is one that will be appreciated mainly by its holistic sound rather than by separate cuts. This makes for his most challenging album to get into: it's neither as bombastic nor as funky. This is serious shit. In times when global warming brings us closer to the inevitable when our species is destined for an impending fate, such works are not warning anymore: they are fierce observations of everything inherently wrong with our society. The Comet has nearly come, but we can still look at what is truly inside of us for a short while, and, maybe, make things a tad better.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | zundza | November 11th 25 |
| 4.0 excellent | TwigTW | January 7th 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | gilly | December 6th 20 |
| 3.5 great | wg98 | April 30th 20 |
| 3.5 great | doofy | March 30th 20 |
| 4.0 excellent | ghworin | March 18th 20 |
| |
Give Your Opinion on We Are Sent Here By History
|
