Carlos Niño & Friends – More Energy Fields, Current

The album is full of "ambient" passages that function like open portals between moments of consonance and clarity, and epic post-hip-hop opuses like the heavy/heady "Thanking the Earth." But even in the occasional absence of drums, there's a powerful pulse implicit in the program's frequency of consciousness. It's a testament to Nino's fundamentals as a DJ. His distinct ability to create a kinetic, cinematic sonic experience from dozens of independent, often rhythmically ambiguous improvisational stores is more fluidly displayed on More Energy Fields, Current than anything we've heard from him before. It resonates lucidly with how Nino's mentor Iasos - known to the world as the founder of New Age music - described his work, "Real Time Interactive Imagination, Flow Texturization."

On More Energy Fields, Current, Niño delves into the watery depths of his world, taking us like a submarine through exotic netherworlds of pristine sound. And when we arrive at the closing, bookending piece, Please, Wake Up. (an extended version of the opening theme featuring saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings), it's like coming back, safely ashore.

More Energy Fields, Current is a definitive new high point in the recording continuum of prolific producer and percussionist Carlos Niño. Featuring contributions from more than a dozen exciting voices in the Los Angeles creative music constellation (in which Niño has played a central role for more than two decades), including Sam Gendel, Nate Mercereau, Jamael Dean, and Jamire Williams, the album gathers ten pristine gems of collaborative communication, guided by the Southern California sage and elegantly presented in his unique "Spiritual, Improvisational, Space Collage" style

The album is full of "ambient" passages that function like open portals between moments of consonance and clarity, and epic post-hip-hop opuses like the heavy / heady "Thanking the Earth." But even in the occasional absence of drums, there's a powerful pulse implicit in the program's frequency of consciousness. It's a testament to Nino's fundamentals as a DJ. His distinct ability to create a kinetic, cinematic sonic experience from dozens of independent, often rhythmically ambiguous improvisational stores is more fluidly displayed on More Energy Fields, Current than anything we've heard from him before. It resonates lucidly with how Nino's mentor Iasos - known to the world as the founder of New Age music - described his work, "Real Time Interactive Imagination, Flow Texturization."

On More Energy Fields, Current, Niño delves into the watery depths of his world, taking us like a submarine through exotic netherworlds of pristine sound. And when we arrive at the closing, bookending piece, Please, Wake Up. (an extended version of the opening theme featuring saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings), it's like coming back, safely ashore.