Loraine James pays homage to late US composer Julius Eastman on third album, Building Something Beautiful For Me

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  • The LP is out via Phantom Limb in October.
  • Loraine James pays homage to late US composer Julius Eastman on third album, Building Something Beautiful For Me image
  • Loraine James's third album is a response to the music of late US composer Julius Eastman. Spanning eight tracks, Building Something Beautiful For Me reinterprets key works by the gay, Black pianist and vocalist, who died in 1990. Last summer, James was given access to Eastman's originals and transcribed MIDI stems, as well as his 2015 biography, Gay Guerilla, by Renee Levine-Packer and Mary Jane Leach. The LP is out in October via Phantom Limb, the UK label that first connected James with Eastman's surviving brother, Gerry. Both of James's previous albums came out on Hyperdub. On Sunday, October 2nd, James will team up with the London Contemporary Orchestra to perform selected tracks from Building Something Beautiful For Me at Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall. Find out more here. The first single, "Maybe If I (Stay On It)," is a reinterpretation of Eastman's 1973 track "Stay On It."
    Tracklist 01. Maybe If I (Stay On It) 02. The Perception of Me (Crazy Nigger) 03. Choose To Be Gay (Femenine) 04. Building Something Beautiful For Me 05. Enfield, Always 06. My Take 07. Black Excellence (Stay On It) 08. What Now (Prelude To The Holy Presence Of Joan D'Arc) Phantom Limb will release Building Something Beautiful For Me on October 7th, 2022.
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