Today is Juneteenth, the day in which we celebrate the end of slavery in the United States. But especially this year, we are reminded that there is so much more work to do for social equality.
To assist the movement for social justice, we have collaborated with several artists on new benefit release today. Each of the titles below are Bandcamp-only digital releases (at least initially). These releases are digital-only due to the timeliness of the cause, and using Bandcamp as our platform due to the fact that Bandcamp is donating their portion of all sales to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Also today, all of JNR and Artist proceeds will be donated to Black Lives Matter.
Please support these important causes by donating and downloading the incredible music below!
Deerhoof & Wadada Leo Smith
To Be Surrounded By Beautiful, Curious, Breathing, Laughing Flesh Is Enough
Sharing its name with a line from Walt Whitman's "I Sing The Body Electric" the new live album captures the band of Satomi Matsuzaki, Ed Rodriguez, John Dieterich, and Greg Saunier in peak form, and culminates in a thrilling five-song collaborative set with legendary avant-garde jazz trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith as part of New York City’s Winter Jazzfest at Le Poisson Rouge. 100% of album proceeds benefit Black Lives Matter.
Wadada Leo Smith says of the organization: "Black Lives Matter has been doing fantastic work in keeping the rights and the liberty issues up-front in the minds of the Americans and international peoples. I think that BLM organization is an excellent place to give support to and to help bring democratic practices into the American society. Since in today’s world, true democracy is not practiced anywhere on the planet. Human Rights is a colossal type of event for anyone to realize, and it’s hard to do. But it must be done and I believe it can be achieved. What makes it so hard is that true democratic principles demand that all human beings respect the rights of others, and that we develop the capacity to share the wealth, the power and the earth and the sky together, with the condition that we collectively work to build a peaceful world. For all of us!"
Saunier adds: "Part of what makes touring life so great was how unpredictable it is. All the unexpected encounters, promoters and audiences and performers willing to take a risk. That's what playing together with Wadada was for us. The corporate world seems to want to define 'musician' as 'internet content competitor' but the actual people who make music have to find ways out of that trap. That's why I'm touched that a master improviser like Wadada would bring up true democracy. To me, democracy and improvisation are linked, and they appear spontaneously at times like these, when strangers come
together to take action, and there is no rulebook."
Three new EPs from Rob Crow:
Today Rob Crow has released THREE new EPs from three distinct projects.
Optiganally Yours releases "Mr. Wilson (Redux) b/w Waves (Redux)" - reworking the band's classic material using the source audio files of the Optigan, obtained for their 2018 album O.Y. in Hi-Fi.
Goblin Cock releases two new tracks, 3/4-5/4-7/2 [Liquid Landscapes] a cover of the band Afro-Blues Quintet Plus 1. And "Your Dragging Feet" a cover of the band Polyrock.
And lastly, the new collaboration of Rob Crow + Kavius Torabi (Gong) + Mike Vennart (Oceansize) release two acoustic covers of Iron Maiden!
Download all three EPs in one fell swoop at the link below.
Thor & Friends (feat. Low & Jolie Holland)
Mystery Train ("Lower" remix)
The otherworldly Thor Harris has offered a new single from Thor & Friends, "Mystery Train ("Lower" remix)". This track is off Thor & Friends - '4' which was offered as part of our 2019 Artist in Residence, and will get a wide release this year (shhh secrets). This mix features vocals from Low and Jolie Holland.
There is also a new video, watch it here.
El Ten Eleven
Nocturne
The latest single from El Ten Eleven's epic triple album Tautology is here. Check out "Nocturne" and download / donate for a good cause.
