SONG PREMIERE: Elektric Voodoo Delivers Vital Vinyl Rhythmic Punch On ‘Telescope’

It might be overstated that in these gig-free times, the place of vinyl and recorded music has taken a new priority in our listening habits. Most music-minded folks can name at least three or four new genres or bands they got into deep over the course of the last 15 months. San Diego area-based Elektric Voodoo rekindles the warm and languid sounds of Afrobeat, jazz, and classic rock stew into a fiery offering: think the worlds of Traffic, William Oneyeabor, and Can melted into a polyrhythmic edgy presentation. The band’s new album Telescope (out 8/20) is vital vinyl music to carry our ears back to the clubs and festivals.

Elektric Voodoo is comprised of songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader Scott Tournet, Matt Bozzone (drums/percussion, vocals), Ty Kiernan (congas, timbales, percussion), Travis Klein (tenor sax, keyboards, guitar, percussion, vocals), Brad Nash (baritone sax, keyboards, percussion, vocals), and Luke Henning (bass, vocals, percussion). Each player is immersed in a particular discipline; jazz, classical, Latin, indie, reggae, world, New Orleans music and other global influences. Building upon this, they have created a rhythmic foundation that requires human beings interacting, not technology and mechanics to fuse perfectly into what Tournet refers to as an “imperfectly perfect human band.”

Created and crafted with intent, Telescope is a concept album that presents a conscious shift from internal to external, and intended to have listened straight through. Telescope is 9-songs deep that tunes-in the listener to the main character who goes through a journey of self-reflection, evaluation of mortality, confrontation of death and eventually dawns a new perspective.

Written over the course of six months, Scott Tournet reflects, “The first 6 songs were initially inspired by my own issues with addiction, anxiety, and depression as well as a search for meaning. That being said, they were also inspired by other people who I know who were struggling with the same issues.” He continues, “One day I was hitting a wall and I took a break and started watching a show called “One Strange Rock.” The first episode told the stories of 5 or 6 different astronauts and the “overview effect syndrome”. Overview effect syndrome can happen when an astronaut looks back at Earth and is blown away by seeing our planet from up above. This had a profound effect on me and the concept of rising up above one’s self and seeing the world from a fresh perspective with more clarity and a wider view inspired me creatively and personally.”

Tournet continues, “The record is about being jolted into seeing the world from a fresh perspective. It’s also about how you can be doing endless self-analysis but that often the thing you’re looking for lies outside of yourself.”

Glide is thrilled to premiere the title track, “Telescope” that encompasses a sonic parade of drums, horns, and guitars with a shake-up the masses mission. The track hits at the heart of the story, and it jolts the main character into a fresh perspective as heard in the lyrics” I’ve been peering through a Telescope…looking at the world up close…but never opening up both eyes.” Scott says, “these lyrics from the title track summarize the plight of the main character through the first half of the record. On top of a heavy afrobeat groove, this song stacks analog keyboards and delayed guitars that drift along with a song that could work in a stripped-down singer-songwriter setting. An amalgamation of genres and elements that are disparate but blend in a natural way.”

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