Following on from releases from Thundercat and Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus’ increasingly important and consistently brilliant label Brainfeeder is preparing to release an new album, Kneedelus, featuring LA/Brooklyn instrumental quintet Kneebody, and esteemed electronic producer Daedelus.
Although they first appeared on wax together as part of Daedelus’ Remixes record from 2088, its a partnership that goes way back, as far as high school where Kneebody Saxophonist Ben Wendel was friends with Alfred Darlington, aka Daedelus. As Wendel explains “Often when I lived in LA, I would go to practice saxophone at Alfred’s house in the bathroom next to his studio. He would knock on the bathroom door and say ‘Would you mind playing something on this track?’,” recalls Wendel. “So I ended up being on at least five or six of Alfred’s albums because I happened to be there practicing. “
Taken from the album, Kneebody & Daedelus are releasing Drum Battle to wet the appetite. As expected, there’s elements of nu soul, breakbeat and electronica all mixed together into a very sophisticated piece, but this is essentially Jazz. Underpinned by this bubbling bassline and splashes of handclaps over this scattering percussion, it moves through time signutures as it explores these small fragments of melody, usually provided either by the wind in conjunction, or the organ acting alone. Sometimes they morph, sometimes they are layered, sometimes they’re lengthened, improvised, sometimes they just repeat. Skillful thing is though, it never hurts the brain, it just massages the senses.
We can’t wait for Kneedelus.
