Your pharaonic barge for the great downstream voyage awaits.
Operating as Black Nile, brothers Aaron Shaw (sax) and Lawrence Shaw (bass) -- along with many South L.A. cohorts including Diego Gaeta and Chris Freeman (keys) and Mekala Session and Mike Mitchell (drums) -- have been cutting outrageous grooves in the studio and onstage for several years. "River of Emotion" channels their third full flow, in the wake of the deep-trippin' "Sounds of Color" and the somewhat hip-hoppier "The Further Side." Each rules mightily, and each features the brothers' precise horticulture of organic sound.
Though modern groove stands foremost in the Black Nile aesthetic, the aforementioned organic quality prevails because the Shaws usually prefer human drummers. On "River of Emotions" as on the other two albums, they enlist an army of electronic effects, and spice each keyboard, bass and sax sound with cheflike delectation. Yet the badass blues/dub "Miss Ann" ends with a drums-synth tumble that's nothing short of free jazz. And the hyperactive drums on "Insight" form a suspended coalition with the other instruments that defies ordinary notions of groove.
"Los," on the other hand, though it retains an improvisational feel, is just a fun, melodic trip on a few chords you'll want to hear again and again. And "Red Sun" funks it up old-skool so you can dance on the hood of grandpa's '79 Buick.
Black Nile don't think in terms of jazz or hip-hop, just in terms of what sounds good to them, which is why it sounds good to us whilst we recline on our divan. We hear nonstandard harmonic material and opulent aural sensuality; we also twitch our shoulders, elbows and ankles. Mind and body, rewarded.
"River of Emotions" follows a pattern set by the previous two records: It contains three or four developed tracks of around 4 minutes, and the rest sound like studio experiments that succeeded. We like it all, but if you want a sampling of Black Nile's more extended stuff from all their records, here are MetalJazz's picks.
From "Sounds of Color": "Jyro," "Unheard 1," "Unheard 2"
From "The Further Side": "Fuzzy Eye," "Gumbo (Three Parts)"
From "River of Emotions": "Los," "Miss Ann," "Red Sun"
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"River of Emotions" can cause sensitive listeners to:
1. Charge your chakras.
2. Slop your funk.
3. Dredge your silt.
4. Lick your sick.
5. Psych your sox.
6. Wobble your sacristy.
7. Jam your ham.
8. Crash your crystals.
9. Splinter your crutch.
10. Twinkle your chimes.
11. Scramble your synod.
12. Blurt your perdition.
13. Torch your loopioids.
14. Fragment your multiverse.
15. Float your bodhi.
16. Log your riddims.
17. Insist your twistids.
If symptoms persist, call Dock Ellis.
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Listen/purchase here.