Afrocop - Wax Thématique #19 | New Vinyl LP

Smooth telepathists, Seattle trio Afrocop have delivered their debut LP—just in time to score the most exciting moments of the Summer Olympics. Stitched together with flamboyant precision from myriad sessions in various studios, Afrocop extrapolates on the nonchalantly cosmic jams that the group has laid down in live performance and earlier, digital-only releases, including 2020’s Moondust. Afrocop enters the musical underground poised to be heard by true heads worldwide. As longtime Afrocop fans know, they are inveterate sonic chameleons. They’ve been honing their prodigious improv chops for over a decade on the live circuit, playing everything from corporate gigs to psychedelic-music festivals to residencies at classy Italian restaurants and wine bars, and in many spaces in-between. No matter the setting in which they flex their dynamic creativity, keyboardist Noel Brass Jr., drummer Andy Sells, and bassist Carlos Tulloss flaunt an uncanny versatility: they can beautify the background like ambient masters, get up with it à la Miles Davis’ filthiest electric-era band, or fling you into deepest, fusionoid space on a nanosecond’s notice. “Everything was improvised,” says Brass of the seven tracks on Afrocop, while noting that there was some editing. “With [“Splitting The Atom: Sunflower Envelope”], we told SCNTFC, 'use your best Teo Macero mixing techniques.' Because we want this to be a listening experience. When we play live, we're trying to mesh with how people are feeling. We make it different every time, not just, 'here's this change.' Andy might start in a weird time signature and then go into a Latin swing and next thing you know, we're somewhere else.” The album’s opening track, the aforementioned “Splitting The Atom,” instantly alerts listeners that Afrocop are heading outward bound, with soulful afterburners. This is transcendent jazz funk elevated by Brass' organ drones and interstellar-space-thriller swoops, Tulloss's bulbous bass throbs, Sells' “‘'Funky Drummer' goes to grad school" beats, and guest percussionist Jayson Powell’s transportive congas. Vibrating with vibrant life forces and at once earthy and spacey, this nearly 11-minute track sets the lofty tone for Afrocop.  The mellow, dub-infused funk of “Seeking New Strata” comes off like Massive Attack remixing Lonnie Liston Smith. Using his Nord Wave’s Mellotron setting, Brass conjures harmonic majesty that contrasts spicily with Sells' drumming, which has the precise funkiness of Ziggy Modeliste. Afrocop’s sly humor surfaces on the title “Les McCan't”—a reference to late, great soul-jazz keyboardist and Noel favorite Les McCann. After Brass’ spare, icily ruminative piano intro, Sells finesses more methodical funk drumming while Tulloss' bass provides subliminal, elastic cushioning. “The 'Les McCan't' thing was almost a joke,” Brass recalls. “I was just messing around, trying to come up with something on a piano. But the true, improvisational aspect of it came through.” Speaking of titles, Brass says that they “are either easy to come up with or extremely tedious and tough. I'm always writing and coming up with stuff from dreams, random streams of consciousness. A lot of those ideas are just me sitting with the music. We used to have a document with hundreds of possible track titles all of us had come up with. We would grab words off of there. It was crazy psychic wordplay, almost. You don't always want it to be straightforward. Afrocop's a Rorschach thing.”

• JAZZ / FUSION / FUNK] Wax Thématique #19
  
• Release Date: 07/27/2024