Eccodek 'Singing In Tongues' Review

Artist: Eccodek

Title: Singing In Tongues

Label: Black Swan Sounds

Released: 6^th May 2014

Andrew McPherson's releases gel the sounds of Africa, the Middle-East and beyond with dub and electronica. Shying away from digital fusions his Eccodek project utilises hardware and organic instruments, along with a host of guest singers such as Jah Youssouf, Onkar Singh, Meral Mert and MC Yogi. 'Singing in Tongues' is his sixth album release and his tracks have featured on compilations from the likes of Buddha Bar, Six Degrees, Supperclub and Black Swan.

The album kicks off with 'The Village In Me' a funky number where African vocals sit on top of horns, conjuring up a sound reminiscent of the Afro-Beat numbers of the 1970's. We then take a turn towards the Middle-East where the oud slides you into deep bass notes and vocals drift in and out in a dreamy fashion. The title track 'Singing In Tongues' immediately brought Issa Bagayogo to mind with both the strings and the vocals, blended with subtle hypnotic synth sounds creating a chilled vibe to the piece. While Black Swan label mate MC Yogi lays down a laid back rhyme amongst African vocals, chilled synths and strings on 'My Primitive Heart'.

The album continues with the exception of 'The End Begins' a chilled out Balkan groove, in much the same fashion of laid back Afro-Beat'esque numbers. Although there is plenty of tribal drums there's nothing of impact on the album and takes a more chilled stance overall compared to previous releases. This new laid back style appears to have worked well for Andrew, bringing high praise from reviews in the World Music media.

Review by Woodzee

Links

http://eccodek.com/index.php

https://www.facebook.com/eccodek

Eccodek - Remixtasy Review

Artist: Eccodek

Release: Remixtasy

Label: Big Mind

Release Date: Sept 2011

Canadian artist Andrew McPherson’s Eccodek project has only recently come to my attention. Like many of the artists we feature this project combines the artists work with input from a variety of singers and musicians from around the globe.

Remixtasy as the title suggests is an album that features 11 re-mixed tracks from previous releases. Having not heard the original pieces I can only share my listening experience of this particular release and although, I’m familiar with many of the artists assigned with these re-mixes such as Transglobal Underground, Adham Shaikh, EarthRise SoundSystem & Dubmatix the tracks that stand out to me are actually re-mixed by the unfamiliar artists.

The album begins with Jeff Stott’s soothing re-mix of “Behind The Mask” where the music and vocals are not dissimilar to the sound of his Lumin project which fuses traditional Eastern folk and modern electronica along with the exquisite vocals of Irina Mikhailova. A firm favourite of mine is Four80Easts re-mix of “In This Drum A Secret”. It’s one of those down-tempo tracks that lift’s you off your backside and on to the dance floor. It seems to combine Ibizan chill & acidic psy-dub with African vocals and I was mildly surprised to discover they are a Canadian Nu-Jazz duo. While I’m also quite partial to Andrew’s own Stepper’s dub mix of Bizuru Dub which sits somewhere between dub-tech and dub reggae, again featuring African vocals.

To summarise this release combines traditional Asian and African music with modern dubby or funky electronica. Personally, I found the album a pleasure to listen to at home. While the Four80East re-mix is top notch, one I would like to hear out and will be playing for some time to come.

Reviewed by Woodzee