Experimentalist Matana Roberts has built quite the reputation for her free-thinking alto saxophone playing, and though her name might not sound familiar, her work has appeared alongside the group Sticks and Stones, as well as on Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Yanqui U.X.O. album. Now, she's branching out with a new project called COIN COIN.
A press release explains the project best with the following statement:
Matana's COIN COIN project is the centrpiece of this engagement and re-definition: a multi-chapter work that combines conceptual scoring (graphic notation, 'chance' strategies), storytelling and historical narrative, performative theatre (personae, costume, multi-media), and a deeply considered channeling of personal ancestry and the 'universal' experience of Africans in America.
The first album in the series, COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres, will be released on May 10 via Constellation. The record will be available on a CD or double-ten-inch record, which also includes the CD and a limited poster.
Excerpts of the album can be streamed below and more info on the album can be found here.
COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres:
1. "rise"
2. "pov piti"
3. "song for eulalie"
4. "kersaia"
5. "libation for Mr. Brown: Bid em in..."
6. "lulla/bye"
7. "i am"
8. "how much would you cost?"
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter One MIX by Constellation Records
A press release explains the project best with the following statement:
Matana's COIN COIN project is the centrpiece of this engagement and re-definition: a multi-chapter work that combines conceptual scoring (graphic notation, 'chance' strategies), storytelling and historical narrative, performative theatre (personae, costume, multi-media), and a deeply considered channeling of personal ancestry and the 'universal' experience of Africans in America.
The first album in the series, COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres, will be released on May 10 via Constellation. The record will be available on a CD or double-ten-inch record, which also includes the CD and a limited poster.
Excerpts of the album can be streamed below and more info on the album can be found here.
COIN COIN Chapter One: Gens de couleur libres:
1. "rise"
2. "pov piti"
3. "song for eulalie"
4. "kersaia"
5. "libation for Mr. Brown: Bid em in..."
6. "lulla/bye"
7. "i am"
8. "how much would you cost?"
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter One MIX by Constellation Records