COLORED 2LP

Afriqua - Colored Format: 2LP Label: R&S Barcode: 5055274709536 Berlin-based producer Adam Longman Parker announces "Colored", his first full-length LP as Afriqua for R&S Records. The album is a celebration of the unifying power of Black culture through the prism of electronic music. Tracklist A1. Tema (ft Ruven) A2. Dope A3. Sociodelic A4. Shout B1. Birdlandia B2. Noir B3. Upstream (ft Zap Mama) B4. Turner C1. Zenith C2. Native Sun C3. Go Tell It (ft Salamon Faye) C4. Whatever Means D1. Jumpteenth D2. Burn D3. Space Dookie (ft Big Farma) After releasing successful singles šSoul Correction,› and šChronic Cool,› and the back-to-back Aleph and Vice/Principle EPs, a full-length album was the ideal format for Parker to expand on the sounds typified in his dancefloor productions. Colored is a natural culmination of Parker™s stylistic spectrum, spanning from house and techno to experimental and abstract electronica. His heightened attention to production quality was inspired by seminal records in the canon of Black music, including work by Quincy Jones, Roy Ayers, and Weldon Irvine (who also hailed from Hampton, Parker™s hometown in Virginia). Colored, h owever, is a distinctly šun-nostalgic› album and these classics served more as archetypes of musical achievement than bases for imitation. šTo the extent that it hearkens back, it does so in the sense of the sequencing and arrangement, in the pursuit of sonic accomplishment across the record," says Parker. Growing up in Virginia, Parker was exposed to a niche of local electronic music pioneers including The Neptunes, Timbaland, and Missy Elliot, artists whose early-2000s contributions to the movement are often overshadowed by their pop leanings. šThe Virginia sound,› Parker says, is far more intrinsic to his process than the oft-replicated models of American house and techno: šBlack electronic music doesn™t have to be from the Midwestžthis isn™t from Detroit, this isn™t from Chicago. It™s from Virginia.› From the ritual chants on šShout,› to Motown™s African roots on šUpstream,› and the George Clinton-era psyfunk of šSpace Dookie,› Colored ™s diverse musical influences read like a lesson in Black music history. This panoramic approach extends to the album™s collaborators as wellž lyrical wizard and J.Cole collaborator Salomon Faye, Belgian Afro-pop vocalist Zap Mama, LCD Soundsystem bassist Tyler Pope, and Parker™s brother, producer and songwriter Ruven. Colored was recorded at a number of studios across Europe and the U.S., including Octagon in London, moon in Brooklyn, Funkhaus/Saal 3 in Berlin, and ICP in Brussels. The bespoke album artwork was created by Atlanta artist Eric Mack. Parker spent two years composing and assembling Colored, which thematically bridges the past and present milestones of Black music from their Southern roots to their most modern incarnations. šThe overarching theme,› he says, šwas reconciling this branch of the Black musical tree with its origins. It's not divisive, it's about celebrating the rightful origins of the music we all enjoy.› at Comunité in Mexico, Concrete in Paris, and The Block in Tel Aviv.