{"id":943,"date":"2020-06-14T21:53:36","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T02:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=943"},"modified":"2022-01-29T09:51:10","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T15:51:10","slug":"beating-with-heart-alexander-floods-percussive-exploration-of-cultures-and-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/beating-with-heart-alexander-floods-percussive-exploration-of-cultures-and-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Beating with Heart: Alexander Flood’s Percussive Exploration of Cultures and Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 2015, Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah created the Stretch Music imprint with Ropeadope Records to support jazz rooted genre blind music that encompasses a wide range of other musical forms and cultures. While its releases have aptly fulfilled this goal, thus far they have been confined solely to the trumpeter’s own boundary-defying works. Before even listening to Alexander Flood’s debut HEARTBEAT<\/em>, the album is notable as the label’s first recording led by an artist other than Scott.

Although a new leader is at the helm, the result proves true to Stretch Music’s ideals. Principally a jazz percussionist, in many ways Flood can also be seen as an ethnomusicologist as his work uniquely studies and incorporates the musical ideas of various cultures. Sometimes a particular approach predominates. For instance, \u201cCircadian Taal\u201d puts Indian rhythms and vocals to the fore. More often, the compositions blur the lines between cultural ideas, including some from electronic music. The results are often delightfully impossible to categorize. On “808 Defibliration” African drums quickly morph into the legendary drum machine before turning back again. While the entirety of “Afzeila” is guided by Afrobeat, it changes and evolves as it becomes more experimental and outwardly reaching.

We had an opportunity to sit down with Flood to discuss the release, his future plans, and his thoughts on music more generally.
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PostGenre: HEARTBEAT<\/em> is your debut solo album and the first time many listeners will encounter your music. Is there anything you would like to say to this audience by way of an introduction?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexander Flood: <\/strong>Sure. I am from the city of Adelaide which is in South Australia, right down the bottom, on the coast. In some ways, we are pretty isolated here, not just from the rest of the world but also bigger cities on Australia\u2019s East Coast – Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. When artists come through Australia, they generally visit those three cities and we often get left out down here at the bottom. So, while I was very passionate about music when I was growing up, there were not as many opportunities here. To a certain extent, I feel like that is still the case. There are a lot of talented local musicians with the same passion and drive as elsewhere, but there is just not as much of a scene to support us. I think HEARTBEAT<\/em> is important because it lets people in the rest of the world hear what is happening down here.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

PG: Although a more distant music scene, it does seem like you have formed a very tight group there with your band <\/strong>Er@ser Description <\/em>which is present on the track ‘Impatience’. How did the band come to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>AF: Thank you very much. We met through the university where we all studied music. Initially, we were playing straight-ahead jazz but we wanted to explore beyond that. The other two guys in the group are keyboard players who were interested in synthesizers and wanted to explore playing more contemporary music. We just got together a few times at first, then suddenly we had gigs booked. After some time we decided to record an album. We’ve certainly found some success here in Adelaide but the next step is to try to reach overseas and hit a larger audience. We recently finished our second studio album that will hopefully be out sometime towards the end of 2020.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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