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STEREO AT ITS BEST... WHEN YOU HEAR IT ON COLD BUSTED: Jenova 7 & Eddie Shinn's Cross-continental "A Cosmic Safari" (Boston to Russia)



"ATTENTION EARTH PEOPLE! FROM THE STRANGE AND INFINITE WORLDS OF OUTER SPACE COMES A DUO OF INTERGALACTIC TRAVELERS! EXPERIENCE SOUNDS NEVER BEFORE DREAMED! ASTONISHING JOURNEYS AWAIT ON A COSMIC SAFARI WITH JENOVA 7 & EDDIE SHINN! INCOMING TRANSMISSION," reads a rather impassioned, albeit gloriously spaced out, precursor to the description attached to Cold Busted's A Cosmic Safari Bandcamp page. Self-described "producer, crate-digger, beat poet, time-traveler, [and] instrumental storyteller" Michael J. Sirois (Jenova 7) by way of Boston, Massachusetts and Ulyanovsk, Russia-based producer and Cold Busted author Eddie Shinn are separated by a half-world's distance; however, still managed to jointly co-produce " A Cosmic Safari [which] takes this international concept and launches it skyward... the album’s songs take place in an intergalactic sound-space." A Cosmic Safari is scheduled to "land" this upcoming Friday, September 9th in 11-track vinyl, 16-track emcee-assisted digital, and all-inclusive 21-track CD formats on Los Angeles-based Cold Busted Records. Now, I've been listening to A Cosmic Safari on constant loop, since receiving it from 8DPromo mid-Friday afternoon prior to this past Labor Day Weekend, and I've likened it to Beastie Boys-helmed Check Your Head and Ill Communication, Gorillaz & De La Soul's "Feel Good Inc." Donuts-indebted instrumental Hip-Hop, 1980's Acid Jazz, Lounge music, and by my girlfriend's own submission, " Skymall mid-flight shopping music."


"Time to showcase our international bona fides with a collaborative album involving two producers separated by a half-world’s distance. From one side of the globe comes Jenova 7, known to friends as Michael J. Sirois, a multi-media artist from Boston and a member of Trip-Hop trio Wax Triptych (with Mononome and Mr. Moods). Then, all the way over in Ulyanovsk, Russia is the young producer Eddie Shinn, author of the acclaimed Cold Busted debut The Plastic Jam as well as The Third Is Not Superfluous, his album in [collaboration] with Step... There's "Flying Cabs," which envisions a future that's funky and bright, with Hip-Hop beats, chiming Rhodes piano, squelchy synth lines, and trippy guitar riffs. A "Cosmic Girl" is encountered, loose and free, with an 80's-style rhythm embellished by cowbell percussion and floating melodies. "Intergalactic Noir" could signal a new eponymous genre, displaying a distinctive drum beat underneath funky flutes, cool keys, and the sound of space pals getting down. These are just three of A Cosmic Safari's 16 tracks, and Jenova 7 & Eddie Shinn have delivered a full set that is out of this world!"

- Cold Busted (Bandcamp)