Tag: Gitkin Safe Passage

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: GITKIN Shares Trance-Inducing “The One”

Brian J. Gitkin is a New Orleans-based multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-nominated producer, best known for his work as the bandleader and frontman of the road warrior, party rock outfit Pimps of Joytime. He also collaborated with  Cedric Burnside on a Grammy-nominated country blues effort.

Gitkin’s solo recording project, the aptly named GITKIN was initially conceived as a way for the Pimps of Joytime frontman and producer to “explore tonalities I’d never mess with,” as he puts it. Gradually, the instrumental project became a release from “having to write lyrics or involve my voice,” Gitkin explains.

With the release of 2018’s debut album, 5 Star Motel, the New Orleans-based Pimps of Joytime frontman, multi-instrumentalist and producer quickly established a sound that he dubbed “Outernational Psychedelic Twang,” which drew from a wide range of sounds and styles, including Peruvian Chicha, 60s Pakistani surf rock while featuring a back band with an impressive collection of players.

His sophomore GITKIN album, 2020’s Safe Passage saw the New Orleans-based multi-instrumentalist and producer expanding upon an already rich and eclectic sonic palette with melodies informed by Greek and Middle Eastern modalities, Saharan Tuareg guitar, creating a sound that was a mix of stomping blues and gritty funk.

Gitkin’s latest album, the recently released, 10-song Golden Age showcases yet another evolution of the New Orleans’ based artist’s lyrical guitar-driven sound. Exploring the endless expanses of cumbia, North African and Middle Eastern music, the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and producer has increasingly brought his own personality to those traditions, while creating a lively interplay between distant modes and rhythms and his own New Orleans-steeped sound.

The album’s latest single “The One” seems to be a mesh of Tuareg Desert Blues, Black Sabbath-era metal and krautrock that to my ears reminds me of Here Lies Man — but with deep, lysergic-fueled grooves. Gitkin describes teh song as “Sudanese synth-trance mixed with Tuareg, Black Sabbath, and 2000s-era hipster disco.”

“My goal when creating is to think as little as possible and do what feels good,” the New Orleans-based artist and producer says. “I don’t overthink creating. If I wake up with a groove in my head or melody idea I just go into my studio and record it.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Brian J is a New Orleans-based multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-nominated producer, best known for his work as the bandleader and frontman of the party rock road warrior act Pimps of Joytime. He also has a Grammy-nominated country blues collaboration with Cedric Burnside. Interestingly, Brian J’s latest recording project Gitkin was conceived as a way for the Pimps of Joytime frontman and producer to “explore tonalities I’d never mess with,” as he puts it. Eventually,. the instrumental project became a release from “having to write lyrics or involve my voice,” Brian J explains.

With the release of Brian J’s 2018 Gitkin debut, 5 Star Motel, the Pimps of Joytime frontman, multi-instrumentalist and producer quickly established a style that he has dubbed “Outernational Psychedelic Twang.” Drawing from a wide range of sounds and styles including Peruvian Chicha, 60s Pakistani surf rock, 5 Star Motel‘s material was centered around expansive arrangements, featuring dynamic guitar playing and hand-clapping grooves. And with a backing band featuring an impressive collection of players, Gitkin has built up buzz playing exclusive and spirited shows in San Francisco and NYC.

Recorded at this New Orleans-based home studio, Brian J’s sophomore Gitkin album Safe Passage reportedly finds the multi-instrumentalist and producer expanding upon an already rich sonic palette with melodies informed by Greek and Middle Eastern modalities, Peruvian Chica and Tuareg Saharan guitar styles — with the end result being a mix of stomping blues and gritty funk. “Nosotros Tambien,” Safe Passages‘ latest single is a gritty and funky track featuring a looping and bluesy guitar lines, twinkling Rhodes, dense Afrobeat and Afro pop-inspired polyrhythm within an expansive, mind-bending arrangement. Centered around a dusty, unfussy yet deceptively anachronistic production, the cinematic composition sounds like a warm synthesis of Expensive Shit/He Miss Road-era Fela Kuti and Tinairwen.

Wonderwheel Recordings will be releasing Safe Passage on September 18, 2020.


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