Jovia Armstrong - The Antidote Suite (CD)

Release Date: 07/15/22

The Antidote Suite offers healing in an Afrofuturist tapestry of space and rhythm. The first release of Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Music label.

With The Antidote Suite, JoVia Armstrong offers healing through sound, pathways to unconventional societies, and the forbearance to deal with Black trauma. A percussionist and Afrofuturist composer from Detroit and Chicago, Armstrong draws on the influences of Lee Scratch Perry, Pauline Oliveros, Sun Ra and Herbie Hancock to weave dub, reggae, rap, reverb, and drones in a compelling tapestry of space and rhythm. The Antidote Suite is a soundscape not limited to the banality of our present, but a centripetal force to the future. There are echoes of egalitarian acceptance which mightily translates with her social forum the Eunoia Society. 'I'm discovering through technology my own digital blackness' Armstrong opined regarding completing this project. The album is a clear progression of Armstrong's self-released debut album Fuzzy Blue Robe Chronicles (2009), which explored black nerd consciousness, and black autonomy.

The Antidote Suite is the first release of the new boutique label, Black Earth Music, led by award-winning flutist and label owner, Nicole Mitchell. Mitchell said of Armstrong 'JoVia, an exciting embodiment of the AACM, is a visionary artist whose music centers healing through a glimmering, futuristic embodiment of collaboration which traverses across many genres and celebrates contemporary Blackness at its core.' Mitchell sees Armstrong and Eunoia Society, as part of an evolving trend, 'they are about bringing positive transformation through JoVia's organic music. It was compelling for me to have her as the initial artist on my voyage with the Black Earth Music label, because she sets the standard of a complete and independent artist.' The Eunoia Society was founded by JoVia Armstrong & violinist Leslie DeShazor as a platform to celebrate Black nerds in technology and music. The album also features musicians Isaiah Sharkey (guitar), Jeff Parker (guitar), Yaw Agyeman (vocals), Teh'Ray Hale (rap), Nicole Mitchell (flute) and Amr Fahmy (piano, Rhodes).

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