• david.c.biddle@gmail.com

Global illage: Music to Drift into the Wilderness With

Sometimes you are blessed with good friends who have so much artistic talent they inspire the hell out of you. As I work through final edits and publication formatting for Beyond the Will of God, I have the privilege of listening to some of the most interesting music I’ve heard in a long time. My good friend Jim Hamilton, percussionist extraordinaire (a big-time student of Brazilian rhythm of all kinds), has provided me with a rough cut of extended compositions by an iteration (or something) of his electro-trip-jazz band GLOBAL iLLAGE.

Rest assured, if you pay attention, the most amazing music you will ever hear is yet to come.

I have no idea when these tracks will find their way into finished form, but you really need to be on the lookout for this album. It’s establishing one helluva supreme manifestation in my head. My novel Beyond the Will of God, is all about the transformative, transcendent power of music. It is a murder mystery wrapped up in a music mystery wrapped up in a set of cosmic questions. (And, yes, you forgot about those questions, I know, but they still require an answer!) That’s what this music is all about (except the murder).

So, I’m listening right now to some of the best free-form, swirling, groove beat, wilderness-inducing music I’ve heard since their first album, “SushiLove Sessions.” I’m kind of afraid to put on headphones and crank this stuff. Our house might float away…. 

The SushiLove Sessions was my go-to CD (a double disc tour de force) back in the early Naughts as I finished the second round of revisions to Beyond the Will of God and a teaser story called “The Significance of Music: The Egg Journals.” Sushi has an “ill side” and a “chill side.” They’re both right up there with my favorite intelligent music of all time. 
What comes to mind listening to the Global dudes is Weather Report, Miles Davis, Don Cherry, and Mahavishnu Orchestra all squeezed into a 21st Century Zip-Lock Baggie full of sparkling Brazilian and African World Rhythm served up through very loving, gentle melodic riffs that are actually surprisingly soulful and inventive all at once. This is dance music as tripped-out and far-fetched as anything you’ve ever heard, but joyous, full spirited and extremely touching in parts — and insanely wild in others. 
You can find out more about SushiLove Sessions, here. You can also track it down on either CD Baby, or iTunes. Buy it and listen to it when the sun goes down…or just before the sun comes up. I will try to keep you posted on when this next album is coming out. It’s amazing.
-DCB
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