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kyoung21b
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kyoung21b Beautiful music for our challenging times. Unique voices like Mitchell and Harris provide what little hope is possible. I love how, in their unique way, they incorporate, along with so much else, the spirit of Sun Ra, one of my primary musical heros. And it’s interesting that I used to argue that there were places that the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) could go that the western flute couldn’t. But after hearing Nicole Mitchell’s work on this recording I’m a little less confident abo
Cosmographer
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Cosmographer I echo the lovely Angel Bat Dawid's words below: this record is fucking amazing.

I love how it manages to be simultaneously quiet and energetic; lyrical and skronky. The music visits lots of places - spoken word plays a structuring role but often gives way to pre-verbal language. The interplay of ideas, personalities and instrumentation is nothing sort of exuberant. There is an OVERFLOW of special music happening in America right now, and this is another brilliant demonstration. Favorite track: Phallus and Chalice.
Angel Bat Dawid
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Angel Bat Dawid Nicole Mitchell and Lisa E Harris are a match made in sonic heaven. Yes and Know feat another amazing artist Julian Otis The dialouge between Nicole Mitchell's hypnotizing flute and cellist Tomeka Reed reflect and intertwine with each other so beautiful in the same way that Julian and Lisa repeat Yes and KNow vocally and then they all mesh togethr so brilliantly...I LOVE IT!!. Its fucking amazing!!! Favorite track: Yes and Know.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Comes in deluxe gatefold sleeve with Krista Franklin's visionary artwork and complete lyrics

    ***UK residents please add 20% VAT***

    Includes unlimited streaming of EarthSeed via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      $29 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    EarthSeed in a digipak with foldout lyric poster

    ***UK residents please add 20% VAT***

    Includes unlimited streaming of EarthSeed via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $9 USD  or more

     

1.
2.
The Fire Seduces our Truth So pure Only water can withstand its touch Boiling as two Gods meet And the veil of material being Everything eats Earth Biotic Ingestion The Gut gurgles New life, new life From the heat of atmosphere The drink The steam The mouth of life Is symbiotic being And the Ancestors meet In our breath
3.
Biotic Seeds 03:54
In all living things is seed is Mother to provide. in all living things is a yearning, reaching, listening to her song: the wind, the birds the mother’s song. Walking with her, we lay on her. She fills us with herself. She will quench our wonderings. The stars will open and we will be full in the love-force that binds the universe. Our vision designs our experience. Our words co-mingle into elements of our future We walk in dreams We shape our shared reality Crisis is our teacher. What is its message? Embrace Crisis. Lean into Chaos for the fruit of acceptance. Truth be told Truth, tell us Truth tellers Truth saves us We embrace Truth, its daggers cleanse us towards humility; Humility is nakedness; Nakedness is clarity; Clarity is weightlessness; Weightlessness is flight; Flight is freedom. Your enemies and your saviors are within. Your enemies and your saviors are within. If we listen, listen, listen we can hear the lessons of silence.
4.
Yes and Know 06:40
YES AND NO IS THE SAME TO A SEED. THE SEED WILL COME OUT The seed will yearn, The seed will reach THE SEED WILL DIE. YES AND NO HAVE NO CHOICE IN THE WILL OF LIFE. YES AND NO ARE JUST WORDS TOYS TO MAKE OUR TRANSFORMATION Transportation MORE FUN. THE SEED WILL COME OUT THE SEED WILL DIE. AND YES AND NO WILL STILL HAVE NO CHOICE. TAKE YOUR YES’S AND YOUR NO’S THE SAME. COUNT IT ALL A JOY.
5.
Ownness 06:36
LOVE OWNS each of us And each of us loves our OWN LOVE. TO LOVE each OTHER We simply LOVE our OWN love. While sitting NEXT to each OTHER. our OWN love OWNS us with our OWN LOVE. So we don’t need to OWN each OTHER. LOVE your OWN love And sit NEXT to each OTHER. THIS IS HOW WE LOVE TOGETHER. LOVE OWNS each of us And each of us loves our OWN LOVE. TO LOVE each OTHER We simply LOVE our OWN love. While sitting CLOSELY to each OTHER. our OWN love OWNS us with our OWN LOVE. So we don’t need to OWN each OTHER. JUST SIT CLOSELY TO EACH OTHER. THIS IS HOW WE LOVE TOGETHER.
6.
LOOK AGAIN LOOK AGAIN LEAN FORWARD AND LOOK AGAIN. LEAN IN. IS IT YOU THAT YOU SEE LEANING INTO THE SKIN? LOOK AGAIN. Is that who before you Is that you is what you fear in yourself Can you love your reflection Can your reflection love you? Will that dissolve your obstacles And dissolve duality? If you become Other THEN who becomes the mirror?
7.
8.
9.
From TIME THEN WA(L)KING IN THE NEW DAY BUT REMAINING ONE FOOT IN THE DREAM, THE VEIL THAT SPLITS DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THEN AND NOW, HERE AND THERE, Back and forth TEARS, AND LIGHT FILTERS IN. IT IS MAGIC HAPPENING WHEN YOU SET WATER TO BOIL WET LIQUID FLUID LIFE PRESSURED BY HEAT, PRESSED UP AGAINST BY FIRE WATER SO PURE TO THE TOUCH SO CLEAN AT A GLANCE Crystal. MORPHED, INFORMED REFINED BY THE POTENTIAL OF BOUNDLESSNESS
10.
darkness is our mother the space within You are full of the Gods of Fire and Water the space within the space within the space within They have entered Your Earth the space within Creativity is our home the space within Because you can hold them. the space within the space within the space within It is okay to cry. the space within When the tears fill up. Acceptance is our key the space within Tears are your steam, your inner atmosphere. the space within the space within the space within In Time then, Honesty Your heart will open the door. the space within the space within Releasing your ancestors the space within To flee And come home again. Creativity is our home the space within Therefore always taste Joy. the space within
11.
The fire can touch the water And the water can touch the fire But the Earth between keeps them from consuming each other. And the Air keeps everything cool.. The Earth in between, the clay, the chalice Is the bed of re-creation.

about

The work of award-winning African American science fiction author Octavia E. Butler becomes increasingly prophetic as we move through the challenges of the new century. Her novels Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1996) use fiction to illuminate a horrific unraveling of 21st-century America into a despotic chaos where its once-middle-class citizens struggle to survive in an incredibly violent and fragmented reality, void of normalcy, family, and resources. In the 1990s, Butler's Parables warned readers about a possible disintegration of American culture and infrastructure, among the many risks of tyrannical rule. Within Butler's storyline, the character Lauren Oya Olamina, a preacher's daughter of African heritage, helps to rebuild her community through offering Earthseed, an egalitarian philosophy and spiritual practice which honors inquiry, independent thinking, and realistic acceptance of constant change.

Inspired by and in tribute to Octavia E. Butler, composers Nicole M. Mitchell and Lisa E. Harris have created their own sonic EarthSeed, also in response to the real chaos and horrific nature of our times. EarthSeed is the third of Mitchell's projects inspired by the literature of Butler and marks a first compositional collaboration between Harris and Mitchell. Mitchell's two previous recorded Butler-inspired works are Xenogenesis Suite (Firehouse 12) and Intergalactic Beings (FPE). EarthSeed was commissioned by the Art Institute of Chicago and premiered on June 22, 2017. EarthSeed was presented in association with the exhibition of Cauleen Smith: Human_3.0 Reading List.

Notes from the composers:

I had been crafting my opera project Lilith for four years before a friend introduced me to the writings of Octavia E. Butler. I was moved on a very deep level as I resonated with Butler, whose stories I ingested and trusted. Another four years later I met Nicole Mitchell at a residency for composers. We decided to share our music with each other, and when I heard her Xenogenesis recordings, it immediately put me in the same space as my Lilith recordings. Sonically in tune before even knowing each other, we discovered a mutual spiritual and psychic connection to the works of Octavia Butler. I am honored to compose with a master like Nicole Mitchell and to explore our process of journeying, questioning, ase, and community healing centered around a legacy as rich as Butler's Earthseed spiritual doctrine.

--Lisa E. Harris

Lisa E. Harris and I met at the New Quorum Composers Residency in New Orleans, and immediately discovered an amazing synergy, with overlaps in aesthetics and artistic purpose. She is an incredible filmmaker, performance artist, vocalist, and composer with a special combination of fearlessness and exceptional creativity. When she shared her Lilith project with me, it was a revelatory moment - a deep and instant knowing and connection. We immediately decided that for our next Butler-inspired project, we would work together as a team. We are both honored to have had the opportunity, through the support of the Art Institute of Chicago, to premiere EarthSeed for the Chicago community, which is also the home of Black Earth Ensemble. We want to thank Gianna Cachere, the director of New Quorum, for her vision of bringing us together for the residency in New Orleans, along with our other fellow resident composers of that illuminating experience: Wadada Leo Smith and Damon Locks.

--Nicole M. Mitchell

credits

released June 22, 2020

Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble

Lisa E. Harris, vocals / theremin / electronics / composition
Nicole M. Mitchell, flute / electronics / composition
Julian Otis, vocals
Zara Zaharieva, violin
Ben LaMar Gay, trumpet / electronics
Tomeka Reid, cello
Avreeayl Ra, percussion

All music, lyrics and text composed and arranged by Nicole Mitchell & Lisa E. Harris. All selections published by Wheatgoddess Creations (ASCAP) / Studio Enertia Media (BMI).

Recorded live in concert at Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago, June 22, 2017
Recording engineer: Caleb Willitz
Mastering: Bob Weston, Chicago Mastering Service

Cover art: "Patternmaster", from SEED (The Book of Eve), Krista Franklin, Mixed media on paper, 2006
Design: Al Brandtner

We would like to thank the Creator, our ancestors and families, wonderful musicians and communities that have contributed to this project, Octavia Butler, Gianna Chachere and the New Quorum, Wadada Leo Smith and Damon Locks, Krista Franklin, Cauleen Smith, and Matt Pakulski of FPE Records. Thank you to the Art Institute of Chicago for commissioning and presenting this original composition. We would also like to thank the cities of Chicago, Houston, New Orleans, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. Thank you all for listening.

Produced by Nicole M. Mitchell and Lisa E. Harris
Executive producer: Matt Pakulski for FPE Records

This is FPE Records #27, 2020

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Nicole M Mitchell North Carolina

Nicole Mitchell is a creative flutist, composer and educator. Having emerged from the Chicago avant-garde scene in the early 90’s, Mitchell formerly served as the first woman president of Chicago’s AACM. Her mission is to “celebrate the power of endless possibility by creating visionary worlds through music.” ... more

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