Coming from the copious artistic mosaic of Washington D.C., Blacks’ Myths claims with total legitimacy and urgency the central role of black history and culture in the creation and vitality of the North American reality. This manifesto of intentions is clear from the very name and is geographically linked to that same history, given the factual and symbolic positioning of that city in the politics of the United States. Like an act of revenge from the epicentre of evil. Formed by Luke Stewart – from Irreversible Entanglements and Heroes Are Gang Leaders – on bass and electronics and by Warren Cudrup, III on drums, this liberating entity acts as a becoming from the black tradition and its afrofuturist extrapolations, in spiritual and claiming contact with guilds such as the already mentioned Irreversible Entanglements – where Moor Mother is, also an essential figure in this process of re-evaluation and repositioning -, Mourning [A] BLKstar or the in the meantime deactivated Black Spirituals. And all the past incarnations.
Based on that rhythmic section, here elevated to a timbric, harmonic, and rhythmic totality, the music of Blacks Myths resorts to jazz, a field of work amply explored by these two musicians, to make itself heard with the frenzy of D.C. punk. – From the Bad Brains to the post-hardcore legacy of Dischord. Their 2018 debut of the same name revealed a hypnotic blueprint for action, revolving repetitive bass lines, electronic textures, and fluctuating rhythms in an almost dub contemplation of paused evolution that rarely gave in to more explosive impulses, and brought up the idea of some Chicago post-rock onslaughts, had this appeared within AACM. II, released the following year, takes off from that greater restraint to assume distortion and noise as crucial elements in this awakening of consciousness, between brief explosions – Rapture -, long free digressions of magnetic outrage – Stand Your Ground – and moments of more patient contention – Redbone – where, at times, one can hear the loaded words of history and future of Dr. Thomas “Bushmeat” Stanley, poet, professor of “black studies” and scholar of P-Funk and the most cosmic jazz. A collusion full of meaning, of something that urgently needs to be listened to. Here, for example. BS
