Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by Daft Punk‘s Thomas Bangalter, Lettuce‘s Adam Deitch and an all-star tribute to Count Basie. Read on for more insight into the records we have queued up to spin.
Thomas Bangalter – Mythologies
Daft Punk‘s Thomas Bangalter released his first foray into composition for orchestra with his newly released solo album, Mythologies. The record features the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine under the direction of Romain Dumas. Bangalter co-founded Daft Punk with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. The influential French dance music duo announced their retirement in February 2021. Bangalter released his last solo album Outrage in 2003. Bangalter was tapped by choreographer Angelin Preljocaj to create music for the ballet Mythologies, from which the album gets its name. A press release described Bangalter’s first independent orchestral competitions:
The composite nature of the themes that are tackled by the librettist and choreographer Angelin Preljocaj reflects the range of nuances deployed by Thomas Bangalter, whose 90-minutes timeless score shows scant regard for conventional stylistic boundaries. The body of work reveals a love of Baroque music and hints to traces of American minimalism, its brief phrases subjected to a process of progressive variation. A nuanced and colorful work, Mythologies is the outcome of a lengthy journey.
The project dates back to the autumn of 2019, when Angelin Preljocaj invited Thomas Bangalter to write the music for a new work that was to mark the culmination of several years of collaboration with the Opéra National de Bordeaux. The piece was intended for ten dancers from the Opéra National de Bordeaux’s ballet company, ten others from Preljocaj’s own company and the house’s resident orchestra. This invitation arrived at the very moment that Bangalter was itching to write for a full orchestra.
The form, the stakes and the creative process involved in Mythologies are all radically different and represent a new stage in Bangalter’s development over the last thirty years of writing, composing and performing music, during which time he has explored the world of technology and the relationship between humankind and machines in his seminal work with Daft Punk. This score does not draw on the resources of electronic music but instead involves the large-scale traditional force of a symphony and, as such, it embraces the history of orchestral ballet music in a gesture that is both personal and collaborative.
The work of this album comprises twenty-three scenes and as the name indicates delves into the legacy shared by all of humankind by embracing the ancient and modern myths that reflect and shape us.
Adam Deitch – Take Your Time
Out today from Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch via his Golden Wolf Records imprint in partnership with Regime Music Group is Take Your Name, his new solo album. The self-produced 11-track effort is the latest feather in a cap that includes co-founding Break Science, leading The Adam Deitch Quartet, producing Pretty Lights and 50 Cent, playing in John Scofield’s band and numerous other accolades.
The Colorado-based musician was inspired to make the album by the creative works released during the pandemic by his peers. “Enter the Quarantine era, and all of my awesome musician friends were expressing themselves on Instagram,” Deitch explained. “Amazing pianists like world-renowned Jason Moran, synth wizard Shaun Martin, and many more were posting musical gems on their respective accounts. The idea came to me that THIS was the new proverbial ‘record bin’ I could mine. The concept for TAKE YOUR TIME was born.”
Various Artist – Late Night Basie
An all-star tribute to jazz legend Count Basie arrived today via Primary Wave Music. Late Night Basie “captures the essence of the man and his music with each song a modern-day interpretation of a Count Basie classic,” as per a press release. Produced by Paul Peck, Late Night Basie boasts contributions from Terence Blanchard, Talib Kweli, Nicholas Payton, The Count Basie Orchestra (directed by Scotty Barnhart), Cimafunk, Larkin Poe, The Soul Rebels, Lettuce, Jazzmeia Horn, Ray Angry, Will Lee & Shawn Pelton, Jimmy Vivino, Weedie Braimah and more. Previews for Late Night Basie included “Didn’t You” by Lettuce featuring Talib Kweli and The Soul Rebels’ “St. Thomas” featuring Nicholas Payton, Cimafunk and Weedie Braimah.
Compiled by Scott Bernstein, Nate Todd and Andy Kahn.
