New Music: Land of Kush: "Against the Day" [MP3/Stream]

[Dave Monroe]

New Music: Land of Kush: "Against the Day" [MP3/Stream]

These days the land of Kush is anyplace with legalized
medicinal-marijuana use. But the original land of Kush was an ancient
civilization also known as Nubia, located in the present-day Republic
of Sudan. And the stuff the rappers smoke was named after a mountain
range in Afghanistan, so yeah. The Land of Kush relevant to this post
is a 30-plus-member Montreal ensemble "modeled on classical orchestras
from late Nasser-era Egypt." Yep, that sounds like a Land of Kush, all
right.

Led by veteran local musician/composer Sam Shalabi, Land of Kush
debuted Against the Day in a live performance last June during
Montreal's annual Suoni Per Il Popolo, then documented their
genre-crossing work in the studio for Constellation. Named after
Thomas Pynchon's Against the Day, the album is broken into five
sections corresponding with the chapters of the novel. The title track
shows how Shalabi harnesses the energy of having so many people in one
place to create a chop-heavy sound in the tradition of Amon Düül's
Psychedelic Underground epics, spanning psych, Middle Eastern, and
North African influences: warbling saxophones, galloping drums,
dazzling guitars, shrieking woodwinds, etc. In the context of previous
work that Shalabi has called "protest music about Arabophobia,"
though, it's not just a communal happening; "Against the Day" is also
a reminder that the Arab world is much more than "Terrorland." Heavy.

MP3:> Land of Kush: "Against the Day"
[from Against the Day; due 03/09/09 in Europe and 03/17/09 in the rest
of the world on Constellation]

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/148334-new-music-land-of-kush-against-the-day-mp3-stream