Somewhere in between extraterrestrial innovators Sun Ra and Sa-Ra, in the outer regions of the musical galaxy, lies Ammoncontact. Hard to pigeonhole, Ammoncontact is as much hip-hop for free jazz heads as it is minimal techno for afro-funkateers. Dark, moody, spiritual, and deep, Carlos Nino and Fabian Ammon’s unique blend of acoustic and electronic beats has been evolving organically over the last five years, and is at its ripest yet on this new release.

With Voices—the third in their discography—refers to the album's many and varied featured vocalists and points to a change of course for the Los Angeles-based duo, whose previous work has been predominantly instrumental. One song, “Beautiful Flowers” features vocals from both Organized Konfusion emcee Prince Po and jazz great Yusef Lateef. Relative unknown, underground emcee Lil’ Sci delivers some of the more memorable moments, with his MF Doom-meets-Ghostface Killah flow. Ex-X-Clan frontman Brother J delivers a surprisingly fresh treat on “Drumriders,” as Cut Chemist juggles vinyl soundbites in the background over one of the cd’s bouncier tracks. As a whole, the release has an even broader sweep, from avant-tronic soundscape architecht Daedelus to neo-folk singer/songwriter Mia Doi Todd—disparate voices that meld with the album’s trance-inducing rhythms.

Pick it up from Amazon.

by DJ Scribe