Damon Locks - Black Monument Ensemble
Where Future Unfolds
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Damon Locks - Black Monument Ensemble - Where Future Unfolds
What people Are Saying
“This Is A Major Work That Should Be Encountered By Anyone Remotely Interested In Modern Aural And Performance Art, Improvisation And Truth.”
“Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble’s Where Future Unfolds Is The Embodiment Of Genre-Defying Music. Looking To The Past As Well As The Future, They Encourage Listeners Towards Engagement, Empowerment, And Participation.”
“It Is The Sound Of The Best Kind Of American Spirituality And Freedom, A Product Of Heavens Imagined By Both The Grounded Traditionalists Of The Black Church And By The Afrofuturist Likes Of Sun Ra.”
“Embracing The Street Corner, The Amen Corner, The Block Party And The Black Panther Party, Locks Offers Up An Accessible Avant Garde That Is Fierce, Funky, Fresh And Free As A Motherfucker.”
“This Is Uplifting Activist Jazz For Tumultuous Times.”
“Favourite Album Of 2019.”
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Damon Locks - Black Monument Ensemble
Where Future Unfolds
Released May 31, 2019
Available on LP/CD/Digital via our Bandcamp page
Where Future Unfolds is a new work spirited by Chicago-based sound & visual artist Damon Locks. Starting as a solo sound collage piece (where Locks pulled samples from Civil Rights era speeches and recordings to create an improvisational pallet for performance on his drum machine), over 4 years the project has blossomed into his 15-piece Black Monument Ensemble – featuring musicians (including Angel Bat Dawid on clarinets and Dana Hall on drums), singers (alumni of the Chicago Children's Choir), and dancers (members of Chicago youth dance company Move Me Soul). Where Future Unfolds is a live capture of the ensemble's epic debut at the Garfield Park Botanical Conservatory on the West Side of Chicago. Recalling the spirits of Phil Cohran's Artistic Heritage Ensemble, Eddie Gale's Black Rhythm Happening, Archie Shepp's Attica Blues, and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, the album presents an inspired, innovative & immediate intersection of gospel, jazz, activism & 808 breaks.
Notes
Musicians:
Angel Bat Dawid (clarinets), Dana Hall (drums, percussion), Damon Locks (electronics, bells, voice), Arif Smith (percussion).
Singers:
Phillip Armstrong, Monique Golding, Rayna Golding (on "Rebuild A Nation"), Eric McCarter, Tramaine Parker, Lauren Robinson.
Dancers:
Anna Martine Whitehead, Raven Lewis (Move Me Soul), Cheyenne Spencer (Move Me Soul), Mary Thomas (Move Me Soul), Bryonna Young (Move Me Soul), Tiarra Young (Move Me Soul).
Lyrics & Compositions by: Damon Locks.
Recorded & Mixed by: Charlie Mammoser.
Mastered by: Casey Rice & David Allen.
Costumes Designed by: Jamie Hayes at Production Mode.
Photography by: Daris Jasper & Chris Hershman
Album Art by: Damon Locks
Layout & Liner Design by: Craig Hansen
Recorded Live at Garfield Park Conservatory, as part of Red Bull Music Festival, Chicago, November 15th, 2018.
All rights reserved
About Black Monument Ensemble
Originally conceived as a medium for Chicago-based multi-media artist/activist Damon Locks’ sample-based sound collage work, Black Monument Ensemble (BME) has evolved from a solo mission into a vibrant collective of artists, musicians, singers, and dancers making work with common goals of joy, compassion, and intention. Galvanized by Locks’s conceptualizing, poeticizing, and guiding vision, the contributors come from all facets of the diverse wellspring of Black artistic excellence in Chicago, bringing their unique perspectives and experiences to uplifting, anthemic, and highly animated musical performance.