When There Is No Sun Vol. 1

Description

From Detroit’s resilient techno to Berlin’s elastic minimalism, from Lusaka’s ancestral futurism to Chicago’s house communion, When There Is No Sun is a recording project that brings together visionary electronic music producers to reimagine the universe of Sun Ra. A figure among the most radical musical pioneers of the 20th century, Sun Ra used jazz, electronics, poetry, and performance to explore the possibilities of sound, identity, and imagination. Commissioned by Omni Sound and conceived by Ricardo Villalobos, this series brings together Underground Resistance, Chez Damier & Ben Vedren, Calibre, A Guy Called Gerald, She Spells Doom, Baris K, and Ricardo Villalobos himself. Drawing from Omni Sound’s recordings of “Living Sky” by the Sun Ra Arkestra and “My Words Are Music,” a collection of Sun Ra’s poems, the producers incorporate fragments of sound and text into their own creative universes, crossing the portal opened by Sun Ra to a world where the impossible becomes possible. Saul Williams, Tunde Adebimpe, Mahogany L. Browne, Abiodun Oyewole, Anthony Joseph, and Tara Middleton are the voices that transform rhyme into rhythm and revelation into resistance. Deeply rooted in respect for Sun Ra’s legacy, while projecting itself as a living, creative force, “When There Is No Sun” is not a tribute, but a continuity, a balance between the pulse of electronic music and the spirit of experimentation, embodying Sun Ra’s promise: “There are other worlds” if one is ready to see them.