Irreversible Entanglements: Tiny Desk Concert
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Published 2024-02-26
“When did your heart break?” It’s the question that Camae Ayewa asks to open this Tiny Desk, and one that's still rattling in my head. That soul puncture is an essential piece of Irreversible Entanglements, a free jazz band rooted in punk ethos.
Individually, these folks have made some of the most creative and challenging music of the past decade: Ayewa’s ever-evolving project Moor Mother, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser Holmes’ telepathic duets, saxophonist Keir Neuringer’s sonic monuments and bassist Luke Stewart’s restless projects as improviser and instigator. Deep catalogs for deep listeners.
For this Tiny Desk, the band runs through six songs without breaks, starting with “Fireworks,” a personal favorite, then leaning into music from Protect Your Light, which was released on Impulse Records (aka, the house that John and Alice Coltrane built). Joined here by guest vocalist Kyle Kidd, it’s a joy to see Irreversible Entanglements work as a unit: hard-struck funk bass lines seamlessly shift to the horns, which constrict and expand the melody, and elastic drums create a fluid palette for Ayewa to spit, yawp and intone her poetry. To close, she gives us a crucial message to take into the darkness of this year or any: “We need your light / We can’t stop shining / We must be the sun.”
SET LIST
“Fireworks”
“Soundness”
“Free Love”
“Our Land Back”
“root ᐸ=ᐳ branch”
“Protect Your Light”
MUSICIANS
Camae Ayewa: vocals
Aquiles Navarro: trumpet, synth
Keir Neuringer: saxophone, synth
Luke Stewart: upright bass
Tcheser Holmes: drums
Kyle Kidd: backing vocals
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Lars Gotrich
Director/Editor: Kara Frame
Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Estefania Mitre
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
#tinydesk #nprmusic #irreversibleentanglements
All Comments (21)
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My type of musicality, Poetry, ritual, freedom, invocation, rawness, BEING, LOVE!!! Thank you all for being, for sharing your light with us. ❤
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Incredible, the most pure expression of modern Afrofuturism, the spirit of Sun Ra lives in all of these musicians.
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High trip 27 minutes. It's freedom time. One of today's most interesting bands. I listened to this album once a day on headphones while working all last week. Rare are the artists who really offer something different. Free way of writing music. Change from melodic progressions and repetitive lyrics. Huge thanks to the band, keep up your excellent project. We can all be free. Protect your light.
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2 minutes in and the acid is kicking... i didn't even take any acid
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So great! Overwhelming, but that’s the idea… such a closeness, yet so fluid. And how Luke is not dripping blood is beyond me!
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Their name drew me in, the spoken word, incantation, and instrumentation kept me interested. 💫
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That's what happens when you combine free jazz and spoken Word, It was so much emotional and perfect. Absolute fire🔥
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Had to listen to this twice. Amazing performance! Touches my soul.
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one of my favourite tiny desk concerts yet, love the way they move between tracks seamlessly. Moor Mother has such a command of attention and the way her and the band naturally interact through the music feels so alive and both masterful and effortless. can’t wait to see them in concert later this year.
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Moor Mother and Irreversible Entanglements, their music always brought so much to me and I always loved following their artistic journey, since the jump. So rich and layered, such passion, so liberatory, the words. I hear echoes of Don Cherry maybe in the horns in some of their songs. Vibey, got a lot to say with the music, really respects the listener's intelligence. Really appreciate music like this.
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This is incredible. I saw Moor Mother last year with DJ Haram for a 700 Bliss set they did and it was incredible. Moor Mother’s output, passion, and creativity is truly unlike anything else in the game.
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love their message! We can all be free!
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I've been sleeping on this band way too long.
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One day yall will get it!!!
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spiritual and trippy......raw and deep.....wow!
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literally just saw them play w lonnie holley at the sydney opera house … transportive experience ‼️
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A love that lives. Love it.
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Pffff absolutely crazy! I recommend listening with headphones 🤯
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Today on the way to work I listened it gave me strength it freed my mind Thank youuu
