Romare – “Meditations On Afrocentrism” – [Black Acre]

Something about the EP title, artwork and even the song
titles (each one meriting a parenthetical boost) had me
expecting more of a dissertation with electronic sparkle,
rather than kind of chill dancedown at the backroom of
the club. But then I found
http://soundcloud.com/romare/footnotes-meditations-on
and that is a powerful patchwork that summons maybe 100
voices to speak as one. Before I found that I had written
that Romare is deft at plucking samples, the drip-drop of
kalimba on “Down the Line” the fife like sounds (Otha
Turner?) on “The Blues.” But the sampling of the footnotes
is at a whole other level and just comands attention, the
fact that this 13 min footnote was somehow not allowed on
to the record is a crime (not nearly as nasty the crimes
spliced into the footnotes). Any ways. the house flavors
here cook alright on their own, but having the index of
hearing them in the integrated fashion speaks of a ton of
promise for Romare (perhaps a nod to Romare Bearden?)
and future work. Hmmm, the Black Acre label too with
its hint of property (sample?) rights, also makes me
think the target here is as much the brain as the feet.
Intriguing…
-Thurston Hunger