1. Binary 02:31

2. Water, Bird Headed Mistress 02:26

3. Treshold 05:32

4. Rumbakuá 02:39

5. El Titán de Bronce 06:45

6. Text 01:50

Antenna

The music of Cuban-born, Brooklyn-based pianist David Virelles conjures a hallucinatory world in which ancient Afro-Cuban rhythms and ritual reverberate in the here and now. His latest ECM offering is Antenna, music attuned to a timeless rhythmic-cultural current even as it pulses with a vibrantly urban, modernist energy. Antenna – a six-track, 22-minute EP to be released exclusively on vinyl and digitally – sees Virelles channel Afro-Cuban percussion into an electro-acoustic, almost psychedelic swirl, one that melds jazz improvisation and organic grooves with digital refraction, shadowy synthesizers, otherworldly field recordings and Cuban street poetry. Antenna is an undulating, throbbing, dizzying dream of sound. Mbòkó, the pianist’s ECM leader debut from 2014, featured in Best Of The Year lists in The New York Times, NPR, iTunes and The Village Voice, among others. The Guardian described Mbòkó as “a jazz-infused world-music project beyond categories,” adding: “Virelles looks set to make big differences in contemporary music for years to come.”

This album was made possible with the generous support from The Shifting Foundation.

released February 12, 2016

David Virelles: producer, acoustic piano, Hammond B3 organ, Roland JUNO6 electric piano, Vermona electric piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, prepared piano, programming, samples

Alexander Overington: co - producer, electronics, samples, cello

Henry Threadgill: alto saxophone

Román Díaz: vocals

Marcus Gilmore: drums, MPC

Rafiq Bhatia: guitar

Etián Brebaje Man: vocals

Mauricio Herrera: percussion

Los Seres: percussion (a fictional percussion ensemble designed and programmed by David Virelles)

Recorded 2012-2013