Gonjasufi - A Sufi and A Killer on CD

Description

With a sonic sprawl that’s just as epic and compelling as his back story, there’s an undeniable parallel between the real, oxygen-breathing world inhabited by Warp’s latest maverick, Sumach Ecks, and the imaginary one he explores in his music. On Planet Earth he’s a reformed drug addict turned yoga teacher; a student of spirituality who flits between the badlands of the Mojave Desert and LA with his family. On record, he’s just as open-minded. Ecks is a freewheeling nomad who wanders wherever his creative impulse takes him – and A Sufi and a Killer sees him travelling further and wider than most. It’s a stunning, genre-transcending record that should appeal as much to fans of the esoteric, fuzzbox-psychedelia unearthed by Andy Votel and the Finders Keepers label (especially on his DedNd) as it will those fond of dubstep, the spliff-frazzled paranoia of trip hop, J Dilla’s vision of cerebral, emotionally rich hip hop, the head-in-the-clouds acid folk of Marc Bolan’s Tyrannosaurus Rex and dust-blown, voodoo-tweaked blues. And that’s just for starters. Given the number of times Ecks has been called a 21st century mystic, thanks in part to mumbled-cum-rapped lyrics like “This is your only life so it’s only right to take your own advice...” (Advice), we’ve been given the impression that A Sufi and a Killer is almost shamanistic – a primal scream into the ether. That’s just too simplistic. What it is: a terrific, trippy adventure that sees Ecks (armed with shiny new tools and beats) travelling the same freaky-deaky space that another desert-dwelling weirdo, John Fahey, arpeggio-d and raga-d through all those years ago – a ghostly, moody, wyrd cosmos with an ever-changing landscape. From the bizarre Bollywood collision of Kowboyz&Indians and the Middle Eastern Morricone-like march of I’ve Given, to Holidays, on which Ecks sounds like Pharrell just released from the loony bin, the underwater digi-funk of Candylane and the howling Suzie Q, there’s something for every curious pop fan in these 19 tracks. That Brainfeeder producers Flying Lotus and The Gaslamp Killer are involved, alongside LA beat masters Mainframe and AJDM, only adds to the appeal of this alluring and mystifying character. --Chris Parkin Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window Product Description In these recent heady days, hype spreads like digital swine-flu and new artists are subjected to the sea change of an entire career before ever developing their sound. So to exist outside of the spotlight and develop a sound at once ready for the masses online, yet rooted in the fierce individualism of artists past may seem somewhat of a quaint notion until you hear Gonjasufi. At the moment, he stands just outside the spotlight cast on his friends and collaborators Flying Lotus and The Gaslamp Killer, but the sonic brotherhood that exists is implicit rather than as similarities in sound. Drawing from unearthed strains of global psychedelia and merging it with a rejuvenated sense of hip-hop clarity currently distinct to the West Coast, Gonjasufi is more than just a songwriter, MC or performer. His debut album "A Sufi And A Killer" recalls moments in love as well as trading sinister threats with enemies, sometimes within the same song. 

Track Listings
1 Untitled (Bharatanatyam)
2 Kobwebz
3 Ancestors
4 Sheep
5 She Gone.
6 Suzie-Q
7 Stardustin'
8 Kowboyz & Indians
9 Change
10 Duet
11 Candylane
12 Holidays
13 Love of Reign
14 Advice
15 Klowds
16 Ageing
17 DedNd
18 I've Given
19 Made