A rescoring of skateboard company Toy Machine’s seminal 1996 video “Welcome To Hell,” Shabason’s improvisational jazz album defies easy description. It’s the auditory analogue to skateboarding itself: a kaleidoscope of saxophone, organ, concrete, and adrenaline. It’s a concept album, but its concepts are copious and contradicting. The multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer has crafted a world as bewildering and awe-inspiring as the idea of hell itself.
By Michelle Swami
With its “Wild Things” theme and femme-forward ethos, the electronic music gathering delivered a weekend of radical joy and thoughtful celebration.