FOLLOWING the low-slung, out-there, conscious funk rumble of last month’s single, “Be Better”, which came heralding a second album of excellence on that reliable marque Stones Throw, Virginia’s DJ Harrison has today dropped a second deep cut from that forthcoming set; it’s called “Cosmos” and it features the verbal acuity of Pink Siifu, all wrapped in some excellent claymation. Take a dive.
The two met when Pink Siifu tapped DJ to produce some tracks on his recent set, GUMBO!, during which the “Cosmos” collaboration was also laid down.
We’re told the lyrics elucidate “the feeling of needing to get away to a higher place – whether to have fun with friends, getting a new out-of-body experience, or to deal with the stress of life.”
DJ Harrison’s album, Tales from the Old Dominion, just a fortnight away now, pays tribute to his hometown of Richmond, VA and arose from the upheavals of 2020, when the Black Lives Matter movement really went overground 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.
He says: “There are always markers and monuments to remind us of certain histories we don’t want to relive, but there are also histories that African-Americans are starting … We’re finding hope and beauty in all the bad shit that happened.”
DJ Harrison’s Tales From The Old Dominion will be released by Stones Throw digitally and on vinyl on December 3rd.
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