Microkingdom is a Baltimore-based trio consisting of experimental composer Will Redman on drums, Ex-OXES Marc Miller on guitar, and reeds MVP John Dierker on saxophone. Together, they have decided to spend the next few weeks overwhelming all of us with three huge, colossal, epic releases — Return to the Valley of the Jeep Beats, Exotic Package, and Vultures Crystals (all to be available / released by Friends Records) — and one nice, cool, totally reasonably-sized tour.
The first release, Return to the Valley of the Jeep Beats (which dropped October 13), is a slow-burn, a steady cruise through the eternal night of the cosmic unknown, on the way to nowhere and everywhere, falling into folding space and time and obeying the traffic signs. It has a hypnotic and calming effect, a superior kind of novocaine calm one attains when surfing the storm surge of information overload while juggling simultaneous existence in parallel universes. This smooth ride wasn’t born yesterday: it was born on the side of the interstate in an 8-bit racing game, spent its teenage years pacing around well-lit sets on Hype Williams video shoots, doing the Ringu shuffle and learning to fuse bizarre food combinations that even the Travel Channel declined to air.
Well, if Jeep Beats is a slow-burn, and burner phones are the graffiti art of cellular technology, then Exotic Package is the graffiti wall visualizer in Microkingdom’s burner phone, which isn’t running out of minutes anytime soon. The second release (coming November 1) is a collection of unreleased tracks from 2007-2017. The epic decade span and scope of the compilation does nothing to resist cohesion. Not to say that the compilation isn’t all over the place. Not to say that Microkingdom aren’t all over the place, by design. Using their “default working method for all of our albums,” the tracks on Exotic Package are “improvisations sampled and developed into new compositions with a computer,” Will Redman explains. It’s conscientious chaos; we come to expect anything and therefore accept everything this pumpjack brings to the surface.
Then there’s Vultures Crystals, the first in a series of unprocessed improv albums and a clean break from their default album-building process. The release focuses on the raw screwball style of live Microkingdom in their skeletal duo form. Perhaps this release will be most reflective of their live tour dates — which, by the way, kick off THIS FRIDAY (October 20) and will consist of Will Redman and Marc Miller, without John Dierker. As I say: “perhaps.” But what beast will we be dealing with next?
Stay Tuned for more updates on the latter two releases, and stream and purchase Return to the Valley of the Jeep Beats here.
Return to the Valley of the Jeep Beats tracklisting:
01. Hot Echoes
02. Moon Driver
03. Public Bass House
04. Space Jog
05. Disgusting Sunset
Microkingdom’s micro tour of the kingdom:
10.20.17 - Charlottesville, NC - Telemetry Series at The Bridge
10.21.17 - Greensboro, NC - Scuppernong Books #
10.22.17 - Raleigh, NC - Neptune’s %
10.27.17 - Baltimore, MD - Normal’s Red Room ^*
10.28.17 - Washington, DC - Rhizome ^*
11.03.17 - Philadelphia, PA - TBA
11.04.17 - Brooklyn, NY - Record Shop ^
# Polyochard
% Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan
^ Talibam
* Audrey Chen
More about: John Dierker, Marc Miller, Microkingdom, OXES, Will Redman
