Without doubt one of the UK’s most distinctive voices is the celebrated poet, acclaimed live performer and Birkbeck College lecturer Anthony Joseph. Brought to the attention of many by his debut album ‘Leggo De Lion’ in 2007 thanks to the Kindred Spirits label; he now returns with the heavyweight Spasm Band to deliver his new long-player ‘Bird Head Son’. Flourishing in the creative safe-house that is Paris’ Heavenly Sweetness label, Anthony’s blend of Caribbean roots story telling hardwired with classic Afrocentrism, muddy blues, deep funk, island rhythms and free jazz stylings reverberates far beyond the common “Afro-beat” tagline.
Whilst it’s all too easy to gloss over the output of musicians like Anthony Joseph with references to the likes of Fela Kuti, Sun-Ra, Gil-Scott Heron or the Last Poets, it’s actually spot on in reference to Anthony’s qualities as a diasporic bard. Someone who has firmly grasped the vehicle of information transfer, fusing the word play of his Trinidadian island chatter with the phrasing architecture of a learned academic; allowing him to cast his net wide as a gifted orator of the spoken word. A global post-modern story teller, heard by prince and pauper alike.
This said, whilst Anthony’s blend of Caribbean Voodoo consciousness is intoxicating, by no means is it always easy news to receive. With his gifted collective of musicians the Spasm band, the music ranges from the joyously sweet to the painfully sour, melodic organ n bass groove perfection to shrill ear piercing saxophone cries and disorientating drums; easily drawing parallels with some of the more confrontative works of Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus or Miles Davis. But this ‘uneasy listening’ is surely meant to be, like the undesirable hands that life sometimes deals us; sufferance and it’s realization is as much part of the journey as the balmy comfort of blessings bestowed upon us.
It’s always easy to play safe. To only play music that’s instantly accessible, that doesn’t challenge you to look beyond glazed repetition or collections of harmonious parity. This is clearly not Anthony Joseph’s intention. ‘Bird Head Son’ is better described as an intensely challenging, yet gloriously rewarding volume of spiritual tales. A place where the parables, pitfalls, redemption and affirmation of life are rapped-chanted-sung-slam-stitched together with Voodoo funk, Rastafarian revelation, bayou blues, calypso rhythms and unbridled free jazz movement. In the words of Winston Churchill “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles with it”.
Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band – Bird Head Son CD/LP (Heavenly Sweetness) – Out February 09
Heavenly Sweetness Podcast – Anthony Joseph ‘Root Strata’ Mix
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