Irreversible Entanglements was formed for an event commemorating the killing of Akil Gurley by the NYPD back in 2015, and that urgent spark has ignited into a blaze as state violence against black bodies has not just sustained brazenness but given way to near-giddy expressions of hate from America’s chief executive down to the clammy-handed white supremacist in a polo. The group’s improvisation and poetry harkens back to the genesis of free jazz as radical, revolutionary fire music. Their performance can drain all the blood from your skin.
Irreversible Entanglements is comprises series of radical musicians in their own right. The founding trio was Camae Ayewa, recording in the black power electronics solo project Moor Mother and in a fantastic collab with DJ Haram called 700 Bliss; Luke Stewart, who is one of the finest bass players in America currently; and fearsome sax player Keir Neuringer, who has been affiliated with the likes of Dutch group Ensemble Klang and Dromedaries. Irreversible Entanglements put out an album on International Anthem last year and it’s really great.
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This video was recorded by Don Mount at the Arts for Art festival in New York.
—Host