This is a taster of the forthcoming album by Kumo - Slave Dances (Seven Portraits) written, and produced by Kumo AKA Jono Podmore.

Over 15 years ago, while working on an album of music based on the dance rhythms of the time, my old friend Uli Gerlach asked if I'd ever thought of investigating earlier dance music, the Foxtrot, Charleston, and so on. The idea stayed with me and, as it has been for so many of us, the lockdowns provided a chance to finally research this music and apply the findings to my own work.

My first discovery was that the essence of this music is a far cry from the superficial glitziness of Strictly Ballroom or the geriatric end-of-pier dancehall. The truth is that these are all slave dances. They all derive from African American culture of the late 19th and early 20th century and carry with them the trauma of slavery and treasured remnants of African culture. 
 
The work culminated in  Slave Dances (Seven Portraits) and an accompanying full-color zine available here:

http://www.psychomat.com/slave-dances-seven-portraits-zine

"Slave Dances (Seven Portraits) is an immensely pleasurable, brilliantly sourced weave of rhythm, texture and repurposed, reworked sounds doctored up in his
South London home studio. It is, however, a vital tool for reflection on the
connective history of Black music, remaking connections which have been erased by the habitual omission by whites of black agency in music history and its origins.

There is the sensibility of the gallery of these pieces; one could imagine them as hanging sculptures, or mixed media works incorporating diverse visual elements and materials. However, there is none of the gallery’s white-walled, silent sterility about Slave Dances (Seven Portraits), which is bristling and teeming, kinetic, and, despite the sombre subject matter, joyful, playful even. Slave Dances (Seven Portraits) is as delightful as it is educational."

David Stubbs

Slave Dances

Slave Dances (Seven Portraits) Taster

Sheet music: https://ump.co.uk/catalogue/max-noah-hymn-to-the-chasm/
www.noahmax.net
This piece was created in response to Marie-Therese Ross' solo show 'Hotel Pavot' at the Stone Space Gallery in Leytonstone, London and artworks by Dorothea Tanning. Its live world premiere took place in the gallery on Saturday 12th February 2022, performed by Lucie Biek; in the thumbnail image she is pictured performing beside a sculpture entitled 'Hymn to the Chasm', which Marie-Therese made in response to the piece.

This recording was performed by Lucie Biek and produced by Jono Podmore in December 2021. Fixed media electronics were created by Noah Max.

Hymn to the Chasm for Violin and Fixed Media Electronics, Op.36 | Noah Max, 2022

This is a magical and sublime super-sonic mix from Russel Hunter Scotlands finest! featuring bLACK aRT cIRCUS album ALIENS, written and produced by Eugene Black for ©Specimenrecords_2023

ALIENS mix

ALIENS Mix by Russel Hunter

Fernsprecher- Mitfahrer Mix 5b

This edition features a tribute to long term friend and friend and collaborator: Mark Stewart of The Pop Group.

Dub On Air with Dennis Bovell: Mark Stewart Tribute (21/05/2023)

In The Mix - The finest DJs from across the globe - and from every end of the genre spectrum – doing what they do best, sharing the music they love.

He’s been a member of Psychic TV’s live band, collaborated with Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Mark Stewart, African Headcharge and co-wrote Gary Clail’s biggest hit ‘Human Nature’.  That’s not to mention a staggering four decades of solo albums – his latest, Rare Earth Technology is just out - and recordings for Andrew Weatherall’s Emissions label and The Orb’s Orbscure, among many others. David Harrow treats us a sublime trip through the archives of his LA studio.

in The Mix: David Harrow

Book launch and ‘in conversation’, Tamsin Green with Olivia (Lilly) Edward - The Photobook Cafe, London 
1 November 2023: 6-9pm

WALKING OUT OF SLEEP: encounters with lichen territory
Tamsin Green
(manual.editions: 2023)

a book of multiple layers, that reflect the organism and the environmental conditions that they require to survive; a book of multiple encounters, from the controlled conditions of the herbarium, to wild wanderings; a book that can be read from multiple directions, or viewpoints, starting with science or experience.

The book explores one woman’s relationship with Map Lichen and the places that they inhabit. Over a period of two years she travelled to locations across the UK to spend time with the lichen in often remote and challenging terrain. She walked and slept among the lichen, sensitising herself to the elements that these friendly green crusts need to survive.. The ‘maps’ guiding her into lichen territory.

More information and images of the book can be found here: https://www.manualeditions.com/walking-out-of-sleep

walking out of sleep: Book Launch Talk

An hour long loop from the Abbysinians Declaration Of Rights

Freedom From Pity

Freedom From Pity (Jose Padilla Remix)

2 selections from one of Jaki Liebezeit's practice cassettes. 
More info in the book: Jaki Liebezeit: Life, Theory and Practice of a Master Drummer
https://unbound.com/books/jaki-liebezeit/
"Jaki used cassettes as a notepad – a rehearsal tool, recording not just himself for reference but also the groups who would play together in his room.
He enjoyed the simplicity of one button each for record and playback and that there was no complex set up with microphones. 
He also experimented with the auto record levelling system of cheap recorders."

Jaki Cassette 9-02 Excerpt1 9 (4)

kumo

Related tracks