WATERMELANCHOLIA

TRACKLISTING


A1. Brahja - Watermelancholia
A2. Brah ja - O.P.K
A3. Brahja - Sorcery of Terminology
B1. Brahja - Querencia
B 2. Brahja - Accessibility of Soul





INFO


Devin Brahja Waldman is a New York saxophonist, drummer, synthesizer player and composer who leads the group BRAHJA. Waldman has accompanied his aunt, poet Anne Waldman, since the age of ten. Waldman is a co-founding member of Radical Rever sal, Diva of Deva Loka, and Notable Deaths. He has performed with Patti Smith, W illiam Parker, Nadah El Shazly, Malcolm Mooney, Thurston Moore, Godspeed! You Bl ack Emperor, Charles Hayward, Luke Stewart and Yoshiko Chuma. Waldman is also a member of NYC's Heroes Are Gang Leaders (led by poet Thomas Sayers Ellis and sax ophonist James Brandon Lewis), of Sam Shalabi's Land of Kush, and of the Norwegi an hardcore group MoE.

As a youngster, Waldman was taken under the wi ng of avant-garde giant Paul Bley. Along with Anne Waldman and cousin Ambrose By e, Waldman is a co-producer for Fast Speaking Music -a NYC poetry and music labe l which has released recordings with Amiri Baraka, Meredith Monk, William Parker , Laurie Anderson, Eileen Myles, CAConrad, Fred Moten, Daniel Carter, Clark Cool idge, Thurston Moore, Joanne Kyger and many others.



Anci ent to the future 2.0



Watermelancholia is about the law of Karma:
a law so obvious that it often goes unspecified and ignored.
Neglecting this law invites a world of chaos.
It's been articulated in end less ways.
Some have called it Cosmic Law or Natural Law.
Others trans late it as Do No Harm.



(liner notes excerpt)



The moment the first bass note of Luke Stewart kicks in on 'Waterme lancholia', followed by the swelling drum roll of Malick Koly and the lush leadi ng voice of Janice Lowe you feel Devin Brahja will take you on a deep mind-blowi ng spiritual journey.

Channeling wild seventies Impulse vibes on 'O.P .K' or, could we say, even resonating the guts of early Art Ensemble of Chicago and the tempering spirit of Max Roach's 'We Insist' era: BRAHJA is soul searchin g their spirit on 'Watermelancholia'.

A poetic stream of consciousnes s, backboned by top-notch musicians, transcending the cosmic universe, trying to find answers and musically connecting.

Watermelancholia is a meditat ion on healing the inner schism between the sense of self - the ego - and the in ner being. It is about bringing the ego to justice; putting it on trial, as it w ere.



File under:
spiritual jazz, free spirit, soul- searching musical poetry, transcending cosmic vibes, spiritual unity, next-level melancholia, excellent music

RIYL:
Archie Shepp, Art Ensemble o f Chicago, Angel Bat Dawid, Shabaka Hutchings, Alabester DePlume, Kamasi Washing ton, Nubyi Garcia, jaimie branch...