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BELA – “VENUS IN CANCER”

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FAREES – GALACTIC AFRICA / BLINDSIGHT (OUT JUNE 3 ON REZ’ARTS PROD)

Neo-funk producer, multi-instrumentalist, and spoken word revolutionary Farees will be releasing two new albums on June 3 through French label Rez’Arts Prod, tempering political outrage on Blindsight with afrobeats in a love letter to the motherland on Galactic Africa. 

“Brother Farees carries ancient spirits direct from the Black pool of genius. His guitar playing is always masterful and his singing will transport you. Farees has taken the old wisdom and has come up with new music that puts you in a trance while it bids you to dance,” says American blues musician Corey Harris (Ali Farka Touré, Billy Bragg, Wilco). 

Over the years, Farees has made fans of greats like Taj Mahal and Ben Harper, and has collaborated with Calexico and most recently, Leo Nocentelli of legendary funk pioneers, The Meters (who’s featured on Blindsight). “Farees reminds me of the greats,” Nocentelli says. “He’s got that Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix vibe, yet he’s doing his very own thing. Ain’t nobody around playing and grooving like him. He’s a superstar! I’m really glad to be a part of this project.”

Farees has traveled the world, witnessing and experiencing the injustice of oppressed people: as a North African nomad, a member of Saharan psych-rock outfits Tinariwen and Terakaft, being racially profiled and detained while on tour both in America and Europe, receiving death threats while touring in Canada, and spending significant time in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and western Europe. His multiracial background of Saharan Tuareg tribe (Black and Berber) on his mother’s side, and Italian & German on his father’s side has allowed him to both pass as white, and bond with Black and Muslim communities. 

To be racially ambiguous feels really weird sometimes. The irony is that for me the rejection came more from white people. I have a strong African identity; I grew up there and my family is from there. For me, while the black community does have internal divisions and biases, it’s still an inclusive community. Other communities seem more exclusive. You’re never accepted as white if you’re not 100% white, or 100% Arab, or Chinese, and so on.”

Helmed by a veritable Tuareg songwriter and visionary, Galactic Africa is a transient record devoid of Western exoticism, and marked by Farees’ expert artistry and knowledge of African rhythm and spirit. The opening cadence underscores these rudiments with MC Rocky P (AKA The Big Twin) introducing Farees’ strategic production stamp: “Galactic Africa is a composition of blue notes that can’t be written, learned or taught/Only given out in quotes/And it’s all built upon a huge wall of groove/So that y’all can think while your asses move.” 

Meanwhile, on its companion, Blindsight is the soundtrack to our modern revolution while giving homage to the radical musical eras of the late ‘60s Black Panthers in the U.S. to mid-’80s Thomas Sankara in Africa. Kicking off with an innovative take on “Hey Joe” –  made famous by Farees’ musical hero Jimi Hendrix – it sets a tone for the record by bringing us back to the turbulent civil rights era of the late ‘60s when the song was originally released.

Revolutionary actions have been popping off around the world in reaction to the abuses of those in power, often blamed on a few bad apples instead of recognizing oppressive police states. “Bad Apples” attacks with aggressive synths and a Stevie Wonder charm, while demanding that we take action and hold people responsible. “What you call cancel culture, I call accountability,” Farees sings. This is yet another song about the slippery slope of joining the side of the oppressor in a broken system, a theme of this record. 

His first record, Mississippi to Sahara, (released under the name Faris) , adapted the traditional rural blues of Mississippi in a Tuareg desert style. The success of this album allowed him to play some of the biggest stages in the world. In 2020, he released Border Patrol and Both Sides of the Border, a vast collection of genre-hopping, guitar-heavy protest songs calling out injustices perpetrated by the status quo, including “Y’all Don’t Know What’s Going On” with Calexico.

“I’m a radical and revolutionary,” says Farees, “but a realistic one. I’m thinking about the world as it is. For me, we can use the internet to connect and reach more people to keep them informed through The Kinship app, responsible social media. It’s like an instrument. Like music between the music itself and the player. I’m trying to build new paths, and not just for me. But for others that will come after me. Music heals for free, makes you think, learn, see things from different perspectives. It moves people. And from moving comes movement. And from movement comes change.”

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“I like sad songs,” says Canadian songwriter B. Knox, whose second studio album — the tellingly titled Far From Folk — blends cosmic Americana, left-field honky tonk, rugged country-rock, and woozy roots music into its own melancholic mix. Written during the Covid-19 pandemic, Far From Folk roots itself in the modern struggles we all face, filled with vignettes about romance, estrangement, and the long journey toward hope. There are sad songs here, to be sure, but there’s also an overarching sense of optimism, with B. Knox moving past the breakup songs that filled his debut — the acclaimed Heartbreak & Landscape — and focusing on something brighter. 

A former schoolteacher, who has since turned to music to deliver life lessons, B.Knox hasn’t forgotten his roots. Even his stage name pays tribute to the family members who shaped him  – particularly his grandmother, whose maiden name was “Knox”, and his grandfather, Billy, who loans his first initial to the moniker – and his early years on the eastern shores of  Newfoundland clearly permeates his work. “I grew up in an area that was entirely Irish Catholic,” he laughingly explains, “before the age of ten, I didn’t know that anything other than Irish traditional music existed. That Celtic spirit is fairly rebellious, and they have these long ballads with sad narratives and undertones.” 

Even so, Far From Folk expands beyond the singer/songwriter’s folk foundation. Released on the heels of B. Knox’s 2020 debut, Heartbreak & Landscape, and his four-song live EP, Hindsight is 20/20, the album makes room for electric guitar, organ, and swooning strings, with collaborator Aaron Goldstein pulling double duty as the record’s producer and pedal steel player. From the sampled loops that run throughout the opening track, “Messy,” to the blues-rock riffs of “Bullets Blades and Rope,” Far From Folk embraces both electricity and experimentation, with B. Knox still anchoring each track in nuanced song craft. “Little Wars” mixes Telecaster twang, fiddle, and bar-band bombast with sharp insights about the human condition — “We all wanna live forever, we all wanna write our name in the stars, we all wanna play the hero in our little wars,” he sings during the anthemic chorus — while “If I Break” finds him weighing the desire to succeed against the potential cost of failure. 

These are rallying cries for those who, like B. Knox, are in the trenches, battling their way toward a brighter horizon. “If you made it through the first album alive,” he writes in the album’s liner notes, “my wish is that this one finds you less bitter and leaves you with a little hope.” Playing an integral role in the album’s hopeful tone is Aaron Goldstein, whose production adds ambiance and atmosphere to the songs B. Knox originally wrote alone in a cottage on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. Raised roughly 2,000 miles east of Georgian Bay on the Atlantic coast, Knox developed an appreciation for the sea at an early age. He salutes that longtime interest in “Coastal Poetry,” whose pounding chorus not only channels the feeling of waves against the shore, but doubles as a more carnal metaphor. 

Double meanings run throughout Far From Folk, whose very title nods not only to the album’s genre-crossing sound, but also its creation during the social distance regulations of the Covid-19 era.”Let’s try and be civil, let’s try and be friends / If that doesn’t work, let’s burn it all down and start over again,” Knox sings during “Only Words,” a love song whose lyrics apply not to a relationship, but also to a society in need of a serious reboot.

Although largely recorded by Knox and Goldstein, Far From Folk makes room for horn players and background singers, with an outside rhythm section appearing on two tracks, as well. The result is an album that channels the lush, layered sound of a full band, while still emphasizing B. Knox’s singer/songwriter sentiments and literate lyrics. Appropriately, everything comes to a close with an acoustic reprise of “Only Words” that channels the sparse sound of 2020’s Heartbreak and Landscape. The song serves as both a nod to B. Knox’s past and a reminder of just how far he’s grown beyond his folk roots, highlighting an artist in eclectic evolution. 

“A big-hearted rocker.” – Glide Magazine

“Far from Folk sees the singer-songwriter taking his folk foundation and reaching outwards, incorporating organ, swooning strings and electric guitar.” – Exclaim!

“Taps you on the musical shoulder and says, ‘yes, I’m all about death and legacy and maybe just a bit about the living that happens before that.’” – Americana UK

“Slow walk paced, vocally keening Americana.” –Folk Radio UK

“A blend of roots rock, blues and country … dealing with regret, loss, heartbreak and choices.” – Barrie Today