Philadelphia, June 5th, 2021.
On this very loaded date in the somehow recent past... the five members of Irreversible Entanglements (Camae Ayewa, Keir Neuringer, Aquiles Navarro, Luke Stewart, Tcheser Holmes) gathered at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia. Their plan was to compose, create and record a new album in a single day of work.
In this special oral history (with introduction by Scott McNiece) and photo documentary (an immersive collection of shots by Bob Sweeney) piece for Tracing The Lines, IE members share reflections about being in that space/time, where in just three hours the band recorded all the sounds that would comprise their third album, the critically-acclaimed 73-minute double-LP released in November 2021, Open The Gates.
Irreversible Entanglements ON TOUR June 2023
Sat June 3rd - Turin, Italy @ National Museum of Cinema
Sunday June 4th - Zurich, Switzerland @ Moods
Tuesday June 6th - Milan, Italy @ Santeria Toscana 31
Wednesday June 7th - Stockholm, Sweden @ Fasching
Thursday June 8th - Gothenburg, Sweden @ Clandestino Festival
Friday June 9th - Helsinki, Finland @ Sideways Festival
Sat June 10th - Copenhagen, Denmark @ ALICE
IARC0049
Irreversible Entanglements
Open The Gates
2xLP / CD / Digital Album
"On Open The Gates, Irreversible Entanglements delve into new terrain, adding electronic instrumentation and lengthening their free jazz workouts." – Pitchfork
"A liberating 73-minute sprawl, constantly blurring the lines between euphony and cacophony." – MOJO
"Essential listening." – WIRE Magazine
"At times, there is more of the playfulness and street corner danceability of prime Art Ensemble of Chicago; elsewhere, washes of synth and dubby delay invade the stage, recalling nothing so much as Dennis Bovell or Adrian Sherwood’s claustrophobic productions." – The Quietus
"Open The Gates is a statement. It authoritatively signifies militant creativity as the only real language for expressing liberation and wisdom." – All Music
Energy Time.
Irreversible Entanglements are a band who cultivate the liberation technologies of jazz and associated Black music — root, stem, and branch — into the future. The band emerged organically, out of deep friendships, mutual admiration, ad hoc formations, and a shared activist concern for the beloved legacy of all Black life and culture. International in scope yet indebted to, influenced by, and committed to their specific communities, the band pulls zero punches and reserves no energy in intrepid live sets that proclaim revolutionary love for the people.
The Philadelphia, New York, and DC-based band is made up of five individuals whose uncompromising artistic visions have received wide acclaim. Poet Camae Ayewa, a/k/a Moor Mother, is a legendarily prolific, globally leading light of Afrofuturist music, art, and community activism. Bassist Luke Stewart is deservedly his generation’s most in-demand musician on that instrument, who from his work as a radio and concert presenter boasts an encyclopedic knowledge of the music from which he draws with focused and thunderous intensity. Saxophonist Keir Neuringer’s prodigious avantgarde technique is matched by an urgency in his tone and fierce socio-political determination. Trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser Holmes joined the band as an already long-standing duo, bringing with them uncontainable energy and inventiveness grounded in classic jazz and Latin and Afro-Carribbean streams.
Their 2017 self-titled debut Irreversible Entanglements – which was recorded in a single session, the first time the five musicians all played together – arrived to wide critical acclaim, hailed by many as one of the Best Albums of 2017 including NPR, Wire Magazine, and Stereogum.
In 2020, their follow-up album Who Sent You? was released amidst the early weeks of the pandemic but was nevertheless met again with wide critical praise and an appearance near the top of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz charts.
Their third album, the double LP Open The Gates, arrived in the fall of 2021 with an expanded sonic palette and increased emotional breadth. Across 73 minutes of music the band stretch out more than ever, supplementing their raw, organic punk-jazz sound with first-time experiments with electronics and synthesizers.
All three albums were co-released on the International Anthem and Don Giovanni labels, highlighting Irreversible Entanglements’ ability to make adventurous music beyond genre, both honoring and defying tradition, speaking to the present while insisting on the future.
*Deluxe Double Vinyl Package*
Open The Gates
Open The Gates comes on two classic black vinyl LPs (pressed by Smashed Plastic in Chicago and Pallas in Germany) inside a heavyweight gatefold jacket with IARC/DG obi strip and dome-patterned inner-sleeves.
*Also Available on Vinyl*
Who Sent You?
Irreversible Entanglements' second album Who Sent You? comes on a 140-gram vinyl LP (pressed by Pallas in Germany) inside a heavyweight matte jacket, with IARC/DG obi strip, insert sheet and dome-patterned inner-sleeve.
Distribution via RedEye for US, Canada, North & South America
These albums are also available on Compact Disc. Retailers in the United States or Canada or anywhere else inside of North, South and Central America... Please reach out to your sales rep at RedEye Worldwide if you are interested in making wholesale purchases of this album (vinyl LP or CD), or any other album in our catalog. Don't yet have a RedEye rep? Please just reach out to us and we'll get you hooked up!
Distribution via !K7 for Europe, UK, Australia, and ROW
These and all our albums are distributed by our good friends at !K7 and their various territory partners in Europe, UK, Australia, Asia, and everywhere else in the world outside of North & South America.
If you are a retailer or store with questions about wholesale or are just looking to get some of our records... we'd like to make things as easy for you as possible, please do not hesitate to reach out!!!
