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Nine Beats Collective – Nine Beats to the Bar CD
Rock / Pop, Soul / Gospel, World / Reggae
Track Previews
Track Listing
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1. Awakening
2. Call ‘Em Out 3. Blessed are the Undead 4. Flame 5. #blessed
6. Wild World 7. Purgation
8. 9/8
9. Child 613
10. Kosi
11. Tread Softly
12. Lament
13. Song for the Earth
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14. Illumined
15. The Beatitudes
16. What Can Love Create?
17. Towards the Sun
18. Letting it Go
19. Serenity
20. Nine Beats to the Bar Theme
21. Union
22. The Way of Peace
23. In Recovery
24. Nine Beats to the Bar
25. Farther
26. Give In to the Love
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Album Description
Nine Beats Collective is a collaboration of world class musicians, artists and songwriters drawn together from across three continents (Europe, North America and Africa) on the trail of exploring the ancient Bible sayings known as ‘the Beatitudes’ – the result is the astonishing ‘Nine Beats to the Bar’ album.
The album is a journey of 26 tracks made up of an eclectic soundscape of R&B, soul, rock/pop, acoustic threads, classical, jazz/funk, African vibes and a hint of gospel that searches for the essence of the ‘nine beats’ of the Beatitudes.
In this wild world, Nine Beats Collective have begun to wonder if the Beatitudes might contain the keys of our liberation. These ancient sayings, spoken by Jesus, offer a nine-statement manifesto for a new world order – a counter cultural narrative for our times. A welcome not a weapon., tender not toxic, inviting not divisive. A call for people to live life ‘nine beats to the bar’. In them we hear whispers of another world, the invitation to a path of recovery – whatever your story, whatever your struggle, wherever you find yourself.
‘Nine Beats to the Bar’ is a haunting. A cry. A new Beat
Album Reviews
Produced by a huge collection of creatives, artists and activists from all around the world, ‘Nine Beats to the Bar’ is a new album from the expansive and talented Nine Beats Collective. An extensive collection of songs and poetry, the release takes a look at today’s political and cultural climate through the framing device of ancient biblical verses known as ‘the Beatitudes’.
Touted as a ‘counter-cultural’ release, this album is a unique window into the thoughts and ideas of all those involved. Spanning an impressive 26 tracks, it’s something of a must-listen. Having heard the full release, it is by turns compelling, frightening, enlightening and uplifting as each artist takes their turn to have their say.
Truth be told, this is unlikely to be troubling any top 40 charts anytime soon thanks to its unusual contact. But this might just be one of the most immediate and essential listens in some time – even if it’s just the once. Unfashionable Male (UK)
An eclectic release from an eclectic group of musicians and writers, ‘Nine Beats to the Bar’ is a classy new album from a huge group known as the Nine Beats Collective. Built from collaborations and submissions from all over the world, this 26 track collection is beautiful, hypnotic and – above all – compelling.
Attempting to deliver a positive message about the state of the world and how we can fix it, it won’t be to everyone’s taste. For some its themes will be hard to swallow, while others might lack the patience to take it all in. However, time invested in listening – really listening – to the themes and messages on show here will be rewarded.
This is an unusual project with a positive result. And one that may not be repeated anytime soon. So if you’re an independent music fan looking for something different to wrap your ears around, this is an album to keep an eye out for. indiemusicmag.com (UK)
With a wide cast of characters, this album should be lauded for shedding a light on such a wide array of independent talent.
In short, the Nine Beats Collective is an album which showcases the talents of writers, musicians, poets and troubadours. Each contributor has a unique style, and the songs are each designed to highlight cultural and political issues in the world today.
It makes for a sprawling LP release, totalling an incredible 26 tracks. Such is the passion of the people involved that it makes for a compelling listen through out. If you can’t find something you enjoy in here, you’re not listening. Real Music Network (UK)
With a wide cast of characters, this album should be lauded for shedding a light on such a wide array of independent talent.
In short, the Nine Beats Collective is an album which showcases the talents of writers, musicians, poets and troubadours. Each contributor has a unique style, and the songs are each designed to highlight cultural and political issues in the world today.
It makes for a sprawling LP release, totalling an incredible 26 tracks. Such is the passion of the people involved that it makes for a compelling listen through out. If you can’t find something you enjoy in here, you’re not listening. Real Music Network (UK)
NINE BEATS COLLECTIVE, a collaboration of world class musicians, artists and songwriters from across 3 continents (Europe, North America and Africa) explore the ‘Beatitudes’ on their new album ‘Nine Beats to the Bar‘.
The album opens with an intriguing montage of snippets from news broadcasts and jazz style music, followed by a spoken track backed by simple beats and music, before we finally jump in to the first song proper, Blessed Are The Undead. This slow moody track mixes styles ranging from Gospel to Smooth Jazz all while being expertly sung by a strong female vocal.
By this stage of the album it’s already apparent that this is not your average 12 song rock/pop/worship sandwich. Not least because there are 26 tracks, albeit that many are under a minute in length and provide an unusual but interesting interlude between the more traditional length songs.
#Blessed is a fantastic early highlight, and you only have to listen to the lyrics to appreciate its clever wittiness and modern appeal. “Excuse me did you see my tweet? Of all the amazing food I eat… I don’t like real life reality just give me the kind that’s on TV, Kardashian Kardashian Yes you can best believe I’m hash-tag Blessed.” Actually I could have quoted the entire set of lyrics on this one because they’re all brilliant. I very nearly missed the next song because I was so busy reading back the lyrics in the album insert! But following track Wild World is equally worthy of a few listens, with its excellent blend of brass, electric guitar and clashing percussion.
You can never cover every song on an album like this, but to give you a flavour of the album let me say that it is modern, relevant, and exceptionally strong both lyrically and musically. There’s rap, blues, jazz, rock and indie-pop. There’s pianos, synths, strings, guitars and drums. There’s instrumental tracks, spoken word, and there’s songs. But overall there’s a song on this album that you will love. How do I know? Because there’s so much variety, and so many high quality tracks, that there’s truly something for everybody.
Lament sounds exactly as you’d expect a song called that to sound, with yet another hugely talented vocalist delivering her lyrics to a simple piano in this Bjork / Enya style number. I’ve always had a bit of a thing for orchestral strings in contemporary music, so it’s great to hear them included several times here. In fact Song for the Earth is entirely made up of strings, as this instrumental track sounds like the moving backing track to an emotional farewell scene in a TV drama.
The Beatitudes is another example of the gorgeous music this album has to offer. The simple choir style vocals that drift over the top of the music are almost a chant as they contribute to the worshipful feel of the track. What Can Love Create is a female-led ballad accompanied by a simple acoustic guitar, very Alanis Morrissette (ask your parents). Likewise Letting It Go employs the acoustic feel, but with more of a happy go lucky bouncy feel to it.
Serenity is the longest track on the album by far, at just shy of 7minutes. But this is no Meat Loaf marathon rock epic (again, ask your parents kids), this is a gentle and beautiful song with smooth male vocals, almost George Michael Careless Whisper style (seriously, I have to stop showing my age).
Title track Nine Beats To The Bar has a funky beat throughout with more hushed vocals and quirky guitars, before Farther explodes to life with its screaming rock guitar and Christ-heavy-rap. This is Eminem does God.
Nine Beats Collective have put together an album unlike any I’ve heard before. On the one hand you might call this experimental, but actually that would be to do the album a disservice. This was no experiment, they knew exactly what they were doing as they crafted together this collection of tracks that on their own would seem disjointed but together they become something of a delight. Unlike a compilation, this collection of songs have a common purpose and whilst they feature a whole host of different musical styles they gel so well it’s a comfortable transition as the album journey progresses. Fancy something a bit different? Give this a try! 5/5 Louder Than The Music (UK)
As the accompanying press release from Plankton Records states, ‘Nine Beats To The Bar’ is an eclectic soundscape of R&B, soul, rock, pop, acoustic threads, jazz, funk, African vibes and a hint of gospel. Drawing on the talents of an eclectic pool of world class musicians, artists and songwriters including Rev Vince Anderson, Mikael R Andraesen, Caleb Quaye, Eric Leroy Wilson and the project’s producer Tony Bean, this exemplary release takes the beatitudes as spoken by Jesus as its muse and suggests that they might offer up the secret to healing this broken world.
With the aim of offering up what the sleevenotes class as a “counter-cultural narrative for our times,” the sheer variety of styles from all over the world ensures that proceedings never fail to enthral with the likes of the conscience-pricking blues of “#blessed” and the gentle African rhythms of “Kosi” sitting effortlessly next to theme-expanding rapped numbers like “Farther” and “9/8”. Elsewhere, the simply stunning “Serenity” – performed by Martin Trotman who sounds uncannily like the late George Michael – and the smouldering Heatherlyn-sung “Blessed Are The Undead” stand out in an album full of highlights.
With a track count totalling an impressive 26 songs, a number of short spoken word and string trio interludes are included which help flesh out the mood of the album whilst providing stylistic stepping stones between songs of differing genres to good effect. Straightforward numbers such as “The Beatitudes” and “The Way Of Peace” make sure that a literal representation of the Beatitudes are on offer amidst more abstract pieces – all of which help give us an immersive and exquisite listening experience. 10/10 CrossRhythms (UK)