Happy post-Election euphoria to you and yours. At last it seems that our country may actually be on the road to recovering from the disastrous past 8 years of the current administration. Indeed, there is much work to do, but there is hope. It has been an eventful year for Club d'Elf, a year that saw the band receive the Boston Music Award for Best Jazz Band, play the prestigious Festival du Monde de Arabe in Montreal, make it's 4th trip to Japan (with special guest Skerik to play at the Sense Of Wonder festival at Mt Fuji, and tour the Northeast in July. D'Elf is excited to welcome back former David Bowie guitarist Reeves Gabrels for 2 special shows later in November at The Lizard Lounge in Cambridge & Red Square in Albany, NY. (click here for shows).
Gabrels is no stranger to the band, having appeared on several releases by the group (recorded during his tenure with David Bowie), including Club d'Elf's debut CD As Above: Live At The Lizard Lounge (2000 Grapeshot Media), Athens, GA 3/28/02 (2004 Kufala Recordings), and 2006's Now I Understand (Accurate), which was the band's first studio release. Gabrels's distinctive brand of rock and avant guitar stylings is also featured on the follow-up to Now I Understand, which comprises not one, but TWO new studio releases slated for early 2009, representing two very different sides to the band's sound:
So Below (which besides Gabrels also includes regular d'Elf collaborators John Medeski & DJ Logic, as well as some of the final recorded performances of the late Mark Sandman (from Morphine) will showcase the trance-funk-electronica & post-Radiohead elements of Club d'Elf. On a very different tip is Electric Moroccoland, which will offer an intense look into the more acoustic, Moroccan-trance music influenced side of the band, with versions of traditional Berber songs & music inspired by the Gnawa, the mystical Sufi brotherhood of descendants of sub-Saharan slaves brought to Morocco over 500 years ago. D'Elf has digested and mixed these influences into a rich tagine of dub, jazz & electronica, and with the help of world-renowned Moroccan musician Hassan Hakmoun and regular d'Elf member Brahim Fribgane (who hails from Casablanca) has created a unique hybrid that is most palatable to western listeners & North Africans alike. This disc also features bassist and leader Mike Rivard's commanding playing of the Moroccan sintir, a 3 string bass lute used by the Gnawa in their ceremonies, which has been finding it's way increasingly into Club d'Elf's live performances. We will of course post updates as the release date approaches.
Meanwhile DJ Mister Rourke has a new disc that is available NOW. He has made his magnum opus TERRORVISION available for
-micro (updated 11/06/08)
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