RICHMOND, Virginia producer and multi-instrumentalist DJ Harrison is set to release his first full set for Stones Throw in four years, with Tales From The Old Dominion due in the first week of December; and with a first taster, the low-slung out-there funk rumble of “Be Better” landing right now, it looks set to be a delight in time for the holidays. Take a listen to that below, feel your centre of gravity shift into bass boogie.
2020, Jesus, we all lived it, right, also presented as a time of personal challenge for the musician born Devonne Harris, and one which overlapped with the personal-political, the Black Lives Matter movement truly overgrounding Stateside. He watched as statues of Confederate generals were toppled in Old Dominion, his home state, giving rise to a surging optimism, and he channelled that feeling into a new body of work back at Jellowstone, his home studio. What emerged was Tales From The Old Dominion, a record paying tribute to his hometown, Richmond, and the black musics both in dialogue and thriving there.
“Be Better”, a tune from its title down full of of self-empowerment, urges both DJ himself – and anyone who tunes in – to strive to improve. And it comes with a dirty, beautiful groove to boot.
Expect the album to skip with easy confidence across a landscape of instrumentals, soul, groove and genre-melting Southern flavours – looking forward to a brighter tomorrow.
DJ sums it up: “When I’m gone, my music is going to outlast me. It could spark the change someone needs to hear, whether it’s now, later on down the road, even two hundred years from now.”
DJ Harrison’s Tales From The Old Dominion will be released by Stones Throw digitally and on vinyl on December 3rd.
Connect with DJ Harrison elsewhere on the net on Instagram, Twitter, Spotify and Bandcamp.
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