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Placenta
Placenta in Bloomington, MN
Current price: $16.99
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Size: CD
Percussionist, conceptualist, and producer
Carlos Niño
has an extensive discography of more than 350 recordings he's either released or contributed to. In 2023 and 2024 alone, he released or co-released seven albums, and he co-produced and played on
Andre 3000
's
New Blue Sun
and
Shabaka Hutchings
'
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
.
Placenta
, the 13th long-player by
Carlos Niño & Friends
, was announced on April 24, the first birthday of his second child,
Moss Niño
. It is a loose, warm concept album whose undulant themes relate to the physical and spiritual aspects of birth and parenthood. The album is dedicated to "Mothers, Children, Babies, Aunties, Doulas, Midwives, Birthworkers¿."
Niño
serves as impresario, guide, percussionist, and ringmaster here.
Opener "Love to all Doulas!" is a gently swaying ballad that features
Nate Mercereau
on French horn and sound collages, and
, who paints the backdrops with electronic drones, bells, and chimes. "Some rest for the Midwives¿" (featuring
Jamire Williams
Sam Gendel
) is from a 2018 trio concert with
Gendel
on alto sax and pedals, and drummer/percussionist
Williams
's layered flutes, bells, and percussion implements frame
' brushed snares and tom-toms in a cut that sounds like a danceable
Jon Hassell
track. "Real Vital Organs" references both human anatomy and the instrument; it is almost entirely created from overlapping organ patterns by
Jamael Dean
.
The entire album flows without urgency, fragmentation, or undue sonic decoration. The short, wonderful synth and snare cut "In Appreciation of Chico Hamilton's Vast Influence on the West Coast Sound" showcases the great jazz drummer's self-created patterns, beats, and accents under a spectral body of
Mercereau
's guitar synth and pedals. "This 'I' was not" includes vocals by new age pioneer
Ariel Kalma
with
Surya Botofasina
playing organ atop organic percussion. "Birthworkers Magic, and how we get hear¿" features session multi-instrumentalist
Jesse Peterson
playing guimbri and pedals under the flute of
Maia the Artiste
's flutes, with
slotting in drum and percussion loops. "Placenta, Nourishment, New Home, The Galaxy" offers the voices -- spoken and sung -- of doula
Haize Hawke
,
Maia
, and others, with pulsing accordion, sampled baby cooing, upright bass, saxes, and an electronically accelerated aerophone, creating a sense of dreamy drifting for over nine minutes. Another nine-plus-minute undulant soundscape, "Bi-Location," was recorded live in 2023 with
leading a quartet with
on guitar synth and pedals,
Andres Renteria
on drums and percussion, and
Aaron Shaw
on tenor saxophone. Closer "Play Kerri Chandler's RAIN" is a studio update of a live recording made at a 2022 concert in Cologne, Germany, featuring
Botofosina
, and German vocalist and dancer
Cavana Lee
. It follows the path of improvised abstraction, but
's organic-sounding samples, synths, loops, and percussive elements transform the sonic formlessness into an articulate, soulful sonic meditation.
's sound, while immediately recognizable as a work of
's, goes very deep and very wide due to his familiarity, respect for, and reliance on the gifts of his studio cast. ~ Thom Jurek
Carlos Niño
has an extensive discography of more than 350 recordings he's either released or contributed to. In 2023 and 2024 alone, he released or co-released seven albums, and he co-produced and played on
Andre 3000
's
New Blue Sun
and
Shabaka Hutchings
'
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace
.
Placenta
, the 13th long-player by
Carlos Niño & Friends
, was announced on April 24, the first birthday of his second child,
Moss Niño
. It is a loose, warm concept album whose undulant themes relate to the physical and spiritual aspects of birth and parenthood. The album is dedicated to "Mothers, Children, Babies, Aunties, Doulas, Midwives, Birthworkers¿."
Niño
serves as impresario, guide, percussionist, and ringmaster here.
Opener "Love to all Doulas!" is a gently swaying ballad that features
Nate Mercereau
on French horn and sound collages, and
, who paints the backdrops with electronic drones, bells, and chimes. "Some rest for the Midwives¿" (featuring
Jamire Williams
Sam Gendel
) is from a 2018 trio concert with
Gendel
on alto sax and pedals, and drummer/percussionist
Williams
's layered flutes, bells, and percussion implements frame
' brushed snares and tom-toms in a cut that sounds like a danceable
Jon Hassell
track. "Real Vital Organs" references both human anatomy and the instrument; it is almost entirely created from overlapping organ patterns by
Jamael Dean
.
The entire album flows without urgency, fragmentation, or undue sonic decoration. The short, wonderful synth and snare cut "In Appreciation of Chico Hamilton's Vast Influence on the West Coast Sound" showcases the great jazz drummer's self-created patterns, beats, and accents under a spectral body of
Mercereau
's guitar synth and pedals. "This 'I' was not" includes vocals by new age pioneer
Ariel Kalma
with
Surya Botofasina
playing organ atop organic percussion. "Birthworkers Magic, and how we get hear¿" features session multi-instrumentalist
Jesse Peterson
playing guimbri and pedals under the flute of
Maia the Artiste
's flutes, with
slotting in drum and percussion loops. "Placenta, Nourishment, New Home, The Galaxy" offers the voices -- spoken and sung -- of doula
Haize Hawke
,
Maia
, and others, with pulsing accordion, sampled baby cooing, upright bass, saxes, and an electronically accelerated aerophone, creating a sense of dreamy drifting for over nine minutes. Another nine-plus-minute undulant soundscape, "Bi-Location," was recorded live in 2023 with
leading a quartet with
on guitar synth and pedals,
Andres Renteria
on drums and percussion, and
Aaron Shaw
on tenor saxophone. Closer "Play Kerri Chandler's RAIN" is a studio update of a live recording made at a 2022 concert in Cologne, Germany, featuring
Botofosina
, and German vocalist and dancer
Cavana Lee
. It follows the path of improvised abstraction, but
's organic-sounding samples, synths, loops, and percussive elements transform the sonic formlessness into an articulate, soulful sonic meditation.
's sound, while immediately recognizable as a work of
's, goes very deep and very wide due to his familiarity, respect for, and reliance on the gifts of his studio cast. ~ Thom Jurek
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