‘End of Empire’ Boxset is out now on Brainfeeder
Legit pioneer, standard bearer for experimental electronics, and newly minted faculty at Berklee College of Music, Daedelus (aka Alfred Darlington) returns on Brainfeeder with a new album titled “The Bittereinders” sounding of ancient requiem with evocations of Township Jazz, but still modern electronic music by way of drone, pipe organ wheezing and incessant beats.
“The Bittereinders” brings Daedelus’ “End of Empire” trilogy on Brainfeeder to a close, following 2010’s “Righteous Fists of Harmony” inspired by The Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901) and 2014’s “The Light Brigade” that recalled the Crimean War of 1853-56. The culmination of the series, “The Bittereinders” dives into the final 3 year conflict from the Victorian era that was perhaps its most brutal. The Second Boer War is recounted as fought between the British and formerly Dutch Z.A.R. and Free Orange People and ended by treaty in 1902. What is not made clear in the ‘counting is the thousands of Black and Brown people were caught in the colonial crossfire of Empire’s endless appetite. This is the conflict that coined modern use of the term “concentration camp” and brought new bloody levels of guerrilla warfare. Just as in “Righteous Fists of Harmony” and “The Light Brigade”, Daedelus has taken liberty in using modern sound sources against a backdrop of mystic overtones.
“From the belief that contemporary events are too difficult to address,” Alfred explains. “I’ve reached back into history to relate some of what is largely forgotten to directly look into the ravages which continue to echo. All records fuse unrelenting repetition of lyric and forms, evocative noise and reaching melodies.”
Recorded at Brainfeeder label mate Jameszoo’s Willem Twee Studios in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands – an exceptional analogue electronic sound and music workspace – and Red Bull Studios in Cape Town, South Africa. “The Bittereinders” features Lee Thomson (trumpet on ‘The Irreconcilables’, in a nod to the Township Jazz tradition); Mikhaela Faye Kruger (vocals on ‘Sold As’ and ‘Veldt’); Shane Cooper (bass on ‘Du Sud’ with American Amir Yaghmai providing ghost vocals as a connection to the previous LPs).
A limited edition 3LP box set housing the “End of Empire” trilogy will be released on 15 November 2019 and is available to preorder now.
Tracklisting:
Disc I
Righteous Fists of Harmony
A1. An Armada Approaches
A2. Tidal Waves Uprising
A3. The Open Hand Avows
A4. Order Of The Golden Dawn
B1. The Finishing of a Thing
B2. Succumbing To
B3. Stampede Me
B4. Fin De Siècle
——-
Disc II
The Light Brigade
A1. Until Artillery
A2. Baba Yaga
A3. Onward
A4. The Victory of the Echo Over the Voice
A5. Sevastopol
B1. Tsars and Hussars
B2. Battery Smoke
B3. Belonging
B4. Pre-munitions
B5. Shot and Shell
B6. Country Of Conquest
——-
Disc III
The Bittereinders
A1. Deep in Concentration
A2. Trifling
A3. The Irreconcilables
A4. Sangoma
A5. Sold As
B1. Anima
B2. Staatsartillerie
B3. Veldt
B4. Du Sud
B5. Puts You Under
