Over het album

Juncture is a large-scale collaborative project made up of original stories, drawings, paintings, photos and music by over fifty of the finest artists of our generation. The book, with accompanying visuals, was recently published by Soft Skull press. The CD features new works by some of today’s most recognized names in music; DJ Spooky, High Priest (formerly of the Anti-Pop Consortium), Vernon Reid, Mike Ladd, and Vijay Iyer among others. The music in many cases is meant as an accompaniment to the stories and in some instances is purely inspired by the writing. This is the first time, in recent memory, where a group of artists this established has come together to work under a common banner; Juncture.

The CD is a cross between electronic music (DJ Spooky, Mike Ladd), jazz (Vijay Iyer, Jay Collins) hip-hop (High Priest, The Real Live Show), and experimental (Vernon Reid, Lorenzo Pace). The tracks are, in many cases, a departure from the established sound for many of the artists. High Priest’s track is an instrumental excursion across the subways of New York City. Fans hoping to hear Vernon Reid on guitar will be pleasantly surprised to find him working solely with electronics. Mike Ladd leaves his microphone alone creating an aural world of sound. Other tracks find the artists moving forward in a more recognizable way, such as DJ Spooky and Vijay Iyer’s respective tracks.

In world where the arts are becoming increasingly more generic, the combination of artists that form Juncture, bring a breath of fresh air. The CD and book paint a broad and dynamic view of the arts today. On its own, the CD delivers a fresh perspective of the music scene coming out of NYC. Years from now the Juncture project will stand as an early testament to the fertility of the arts in America at the turn of the century.