The unique tour schedule celebrating the release of trippy, offbeat and wildly psychedelic global fusion guitarist Gitkin’s fourth album Golden Age tells us all we need to know about his powerful roots and expansive, ultra-hip cosmopolitan appeal.
Also known (when he’s not engaging in his uniquely liberating instrumental passion project) as Grammy nominated producer, vocalist and bandleader Brian J, he and his trio will start with two dates in New Orleans (whose high energy percussive march traditions comprise part of the foundation of the often surreal Gitlin vibe) before hightailing it to Europe for a single date in Paris before a 10-city UK tour, including stops in London, Manchester and Liverpool.
To understand how creatively essential this freewheeling, steel and electric guitar driven side project is to Gitkin, it helps to know about a few of his successful “day jobs” – including being lead singer of and mastermind behind soul/funk/afrobeat ensemble Pimps of Joytime and producing the likes of Cedric Burnside, Bernard Purdie and Cyrille Neville.
While that resume is impressive, innovative and amazing, there’s a certain energetic defiance to his unpredictable, adventurous excursions as Gitkin that offer a window into his deeper spirit and artistry that is all at once personal and intimate, yet raucous, hard groovin’ and danceable. Oh, and did we mention that beyond the NOLA and psych-rock vibes, Gitkin’s travelogue incudes dashes of Peruvian chicha, Saharan tuarged, Cuban son montuno and Colombian cumbia – truly creating the ultimate otherworldly, fiery blend we may as well call Louisiana Latin.
Golden Age is kinda out there from the get-go (but of course that’s the point!), with the dark, hypnotic and bluesy seduction “High Noon” extending an invite to an intoxicating soundtrack to an as yet filmed Wild West Adventure. After the bouncy, psychedelic guitar swirled romp, the artist dives deep into the NOLA stuff, the cosmic, atmosphere-caressed shuffle crunch magic of the voodoo/bayou/disco “off kilterness” of “Delta Mystic.
Though bookended by the opening Western saga and the title track, immersive and foreboding dreamscape of the closing title track, featuring musical soulmate and longtime collaborator Assaf Spector, the true emotional core of Golden Age are the New Orleans jams, which include the funked out, tripped out stomp “Go Time” (featuring a punchy, bluesy solo by Palestinian keyboardist Simon Moushabeck) and “Ninth Ward Grind,” another steel guitar party that sounds like what might happen if a gaggle of John Waynes and Clint Eastwoods galloped into the poorest section of the city and sprinkled some happy fairy dust from their boots.
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