DAMON ALBARN Mali Music LP HONEST JON'S 2002 UK orig+foc+poster BLUR-AFEL BOCOUM

	€		35
	$		41

THIS IS THE 2002 UK ORIGINAL PRESSING on HONEST JON'S label. GATEFOLD COVER + POSTER. The cover is in VG+ condition, normal wear and without any major deterioration but mild creases on edges, surface ringwear, light discolouration on corners/bottom spine,left spine is fully readable; INSIDE PANELS & POSTER in EX condition; for details see photos. The vinyl is in EX condition [barely played].

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DAMON ALBARN

Damon Albarn is the grand conceptualist of the Britpop era, the musician who spearheaded its blend of knowingly retro aesthetics and modernist verve through his work with Blur in the mid-'90s. Blur brought Albarn stardom when Parklife became a pop phenomenon in 1994, but after its 1995 sequel, The Great Escape, the band steered in a noisier, artier course. Such shifts in direction became a signature of Albarn's career. Once Blur began to fray at the dawn of the 2000s, he founded Gorillaz, a virtual pop group whose international fame soon eclipsed that of Blur. Gorillaz gave Albarn the opportunity to pivot to other projects, ranging from the atmospheric art pop of the Good, the Bad & the Queen and the Flea collaboration Rocket Juice & the Moon to the nonprofit organization Africa Express or a series of stage musicals. All this activity kept Albarn from launching an official solo career until 2014, when he released Everyday Robots. There, Albarn made moodier, more introspective music than he did with either Blur or Gorillaz, and the same sentiment held true for his second solo album, The Nearer the Fountain......which arrived in 2021.

"MALI MUSIC"

tracklisting: please, for tracklist see back cover photo

2002       HONEST JON'S RECORDS      HJRLP1

MADE IN ENGLAND      ORIGINAL PRESSING

GATEFOLD COVER + POSTER

NOTES: In August 2000, Damon Albarn travelled to Mali for Oxfam’s On The Line project (about people living along the Greenwich Meridian), intent on getting together with his favourite musicians there. In the capital Bamako and its surrounding villages, he sat in on club and private jam sessions, playing concerts and streetcorners, bars and boats. Back home in London, more than forty hours of tapes were opened to other influences - reggae, dance, rock - and then the work in progress was returned to Mali, for further contributions from the musicians there: immersive and open, back and forth.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode: none

LABEL: HONEST JON'S - WHITE LABEL - RED TEXT

Catalog on cover: (spine) HJRLP1

Catalog on labels: none

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): MALI-A-04

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): MALI-B-04

Matrix / Runout (Side C, Etched): MALI-C-04

Matrix / Runout (Side D, Etched): MALI-D-04

On labels: (sides B & D only) ℗ 2002 The copyright.......© EMI Records.....reserved.

On poster: Photos + Credits

On back cover: Tracklist

grading

RECORDS EX but (please, read above description)

SLEEVE VG+ but (please, see pictures and read above description)

Following in the footsteps of his pop elders Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, and David Byrne, Blur and Gorillaz leader Damon Albarn acts as a world music ringleader with Mali Music. Serving as a benefit to the Oxfam charity, this first release from Albarn's own Honest Jon's label sees Albarn jamming on a haunted melodica alongside Malian musicians. Albarn traveled throughout Mali and recorded the source material at various venues, from small bars to village streets. Primary players include guitarists Afel Bocoum and Lobi Traore, kora player Toumani Diabate, and ngoni player Ko Kan Ko Sata Doumbia. Albarn brought the recordings into a professional studio, adding guitars, keyboards, percussion, and effects to a majority of the tracks, and the result is a thoroughly chilled album. Layered and rich musical tones emerge from pianos, samplers, xylophones, and chanting choirs. Beats and keyboards mingle effortlessly with the exotic instruments. It's often quite difficult to decipher what sonic flourishes were recorded live and which ones were crafted afterwards via computer. It's obvious that Albarn has conceived the album with an enormous respect for the musicians and culture at the heart of the project. Whether pulsing with the frenetic energy of "Makelekele," laid-back and shuffling as on "The Djembe," or presenting a pristine, serene mood on "Tennessee Hotel," the album intrigues and impresses at every turn. Though he might have a diva reputation, from Gorillaz to his soundtrack work with Michael Nyman and on to Blur for that matter, Damon Albarn proves once again that he's a master collaborator. Mali Music is a brilliant, eclectic treat comprised of truly mesmerizing sounds...(AllMusic)