Davis, John And The Cicadas

The kaleidoscopic new album El Pulpo by John Davis (formerly ½ of Folk Implosion) and his new rotating cast of supporting musicians, the Cicadas, is a collection of tracks about the politics of agribusiness in the context of the US empire. The idea for this theme came from the book Stuffed & Starved by Raj Patel, as well as from the album In What Language? by Mike Ladd and Vijay Iyer. The resulting album, executed in close collaboration with co-producer Scott Solter, has both feet in the tradition of political satire. It’s uniquely funny, catchy, and informative at the same time. The album is full of multi-layered rhythm tracks that recall Folk Implosion’s Kids Soundtrack and One Part Lullaby album, albeit in a stranger, more Can-like vein. In keeping with the international scope of the lyrical focus, musical influences and instruments are present from the Middle East, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. There are scattered lyrics in Spanish and Portuguese, including the album’s title. Previous solo albums like Blue Mountains (1997) and Spare Parts (2013) were based on acoustic guitar and intimate vocals, but The New York Observer recently wrote that El Pulpo’s “infectious melodies are peppered with dense and jarring sci-fi electronics-tweaked textures and layers and manipulated vocals," a sound directly influenced by the 1972 Fassbinder film World on a Wire, which was similarly devoted to dramatizing corporate corruption, though in the then-burgeoning field of virtual reality and digital technology.