“Roots albums, no matter the landscape around them, always feel sturdy, firm—responsible, in the classic Gangstarr way.”
Viewing entries in
Albums
In “…And Then You Shoot Your Cousin,” The Roots prove their mastery of mixing high and low culture for diverse audiences. It’s a headier album, but one rife with significance.
“It’s a curious turn, but one that finds them as oddly whimsical and satisfying as ever.”
The musicians weren’t the same Roots band seen regularly on NBC’s “Tonight” show with Jimmy Fallon. They included the Metropolis Ensemble — the conductor Andrew Cyr, a string quartet and four singers — and the jazz pianist D. D. Jackson, who wrote dramatic, somberly dissonant arrangements for the ensemble.
All preconceived notions of ‘hip-hop’ are tossed out the window, as the transcendence of the sometimes one-dimensional genre is epitomized here.
Putting the record on the turntable is an immersive experience that I consider to be synonymous with hip hop as the music will not only radiate through your body but will also touch your soul.
In The Roots’ …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, pianos and strings clash in explosions of third-stream jazz, French electro-acoustic pioneer Michel Chion brings noise, deep-blue tones vibrate like Miles Davis' Porgy and Bess.
It’s hard to deny the overall effect of this strange, smartly conceived album.
The Roots have total command of their combination of jazz-influenced hip-hop and social awareness.
His second record, last year’s “Home Stretch,” boldly fills in the absent left hand of Mozart’s “Coronation” Concerto and also offers up a 14-minute “Paraphrase on Themes of Brian Eno.”
The 56th Annual Grammy Awards on January 26, 2014 proved to be a stellar night for the artists and collaborators of Metropolis Ensemble in multiple winning categories!
Home Stretch is a gentle gondola ride through five lovely Eno songs ... a clever, lovingly orchestrated homage in the time-honored spirit of Franz Liszt.
Dreamscapes is magnificent with virtuosic performances… a spectacular sounding disc… by one of today’s most eclectic composers.
In the reinvention of the Coronation Concerto on Home Stretch, Andres lets his imagination fill in the gaps, and creates a lovely amalgam of Mozartian classicism and modern pianistic sensibility.
The different music on composer-pianist Timo Andres’ Home Stretch — a rhythmically modern piece for piano and chamber orchestra, a reimagination of Mozart’s Coronation concerto, and a “paraphrase” of themes written by an experimental, ambient musician — is an adventure in time, in terms of tempo and stylistic history.
On his new album, Home Stretch, Andres plays off of works by Brian Eno and Mozart, matching his reinventions of those pieces with a composition of his own. The result is a buoyant and fascinating record.
The centrepiece of this latest collection on Home Stretch is a perfect example of Andres's playful intelligence and individuality.
“An ambitious and confident performance resulting in a compelling blend of ancient and modern.”
“Thought-provoking glimpses into how the past and the present merge in classical music today.”
Bob Keyes of the Portland Press Herald profiled artistic director Andrew Cyr and the banner year for the Metropolis Ensemble community, particularly regarding the album recordings: Avner Dorman’s Concertos (a 2010 Grammy nominee), Vivian Fung’s Dreamscapes (a recent Juno award winner), and the forthcoming album of Timothy Andres.
“Andrew Cyr admits, it feels really good to be right. The Fort Kent native and Bates College graduate began the Manhattan-based Metropolis Ensemble seven years ago for the single purpose of giving young classical music composers a chance to be heard. So far, it’s worked out well… People can connect the dots. It’s a small sample, but so far the Metropolis is two for two when it comes to launching the careers of composers whose music it records.”