ListN Up playlists are commissioned by American Composers Forum. Artists are selected by ACF staff (including I CARE IF YOU LISTEN and innova Recordings).
Gladstone Deluxe is a New York based artist working with percussion and electronics. As a percussionist, Gladstone is interested in how conceptions and politics of time are embodied, and can bleed into the social topography of a culture through rhythmic performance. As a technologist, they develop systems for the augmentation and amplification of percussive messages. Their experimental approach towards composition and instrumentalism is a collision of the spiritual and the cybernetic.
Hi everyone my name is Gladstone Deluxe, and I’m super excited to be curating this playlist for I Care if You Listen. The theme for the playlist is “Experimental Truth” and every track on the playlist interprets that in a different way. It opens with a piece from Lamin Fofana which samples Sun Ra talking about the dark state of the planet that we live on. Some of this stuff on the playlist like Chaka Khan I feel like I heard almost every day as a kid. And there’s stuff in there like Drexciya that has been important to my practice for a while, and kinda, like, serves as a lighthouse for me. So, I hope you all enjoy, and have a good summer.
Alter-Destiny by Lamin Fofana
After seeing Lamin live last year, I checked out his discography and was amazed at the depth and clarity in his work, this one is no different.
Memory by Milford Graves
Milford is one of those lighthouse artists for me, as a composer and a percussionist, respectively. His music is so generous and unique.
Black Sea by Drexciya
It’s hard to just pick one from Drexciya, but this is one of my favorites.
GXGXGX by Gladstone Deluxe
I actually hadn’t heard Black Sea yet when I made this tune, but they sound similar to me. The place in my heart that Black Sea ended up occupying, GXGXGX was already in there waiting.
Exploring by Mohammad Reza Mortazavi
Mortazavi plays very timbrally, and almost forms sentences with his playing. I love that you feel very close to the instrument throughout the whole record, and these are all things I try to emulate in my playing.
Las Caras Lindas by Ismael Rivera
I found out about this song recently, because the salsa band / collective I’m a part of, Las Mariquitas, will be covering it soon. The more I listen to it, the more it moves me, and it’s inspiring how important it is to Afro-Latinx people. It made me wish we had a song like this in the African American community.
“Ain’t Nobody” by David “Hawk” Wolinski, Performed by Rufus and Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan is one of my mom’s favorite artists, and over time I’ve learned how much of an effect her music had on me and my taste. Revisiting this one over the past few years, I have a whole new appreciation for the production and synth work.
Empirical House by Ricardo Villalobos
This is from the first record I ever bought on vinyl, and still one of my favorite tunes. Villalobos creates such an intimate environment with this one, and it will never not put me in a trance.
Honest by History Dog
History Dog’s entire upcoming debut album is some very deep and dialed artistry. It’s some of the most generous new music I’ve heard in a long time, and I can’t stop thinking about it!
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