Detroit Illharmonic Symphony / Street Testimony
Album: Street Testimony   Collection:General
Artist:Detroit Illharmonic Symphony   Added:Sep 2003
Label:Independent  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2004-02-16 Pull Date: 2004-04-19
Week Ending: Apr 11 Apr 4 Mar 28 Mar 21 Mar 14 Mar 7 Feb 29 Feb 22
Airplays: 1 2 2 1 1 2 4 3

Recent Airplay
1. Aug 30, 2006: Not Storytime
Shalaam, Return to the South Bronx
4. Oct 19, 2004: Storytime!
Rainy Park Avenue Evening
2. Jul 07, 2005: SubbingForBaptism
I Don't Have to Believe It I
5. Oct 12, 2004: Storytime!
Galerie Des Fantomes
3. Dec 14, 2004: Storytime!
Return to the South Bronx
6. Oct 11, 2004: Not the City Council!
The Revolution Will Be Bumpi

Album Review
Mandy Khoshnevisan
Reviewed 2004-02-09
The Detroit Illharmonic Symphony: Street Testimony
10-piece orchestra with a DJ. Dark, city-hip-hop influenced pieces with about equal balance between acoustic instruments, electric instruments, and samples/scratches/beats/etc. Also some world music influences mixed in, and some political stuff. A lot of the titles are directly evocative of the city and its moods. The titles are very descriptive of the tracks. Play any and all of them.

*1. (2:42) wandering, dark strings and grooving bass, w/harsh, echoing vocal samples and a beat.
*2. (3:25) piano, scratches, acoustic guitar, busy percussion (ratchet, etc); layers add.
3. (0:30) Carnivalistic, expectant; with sampled voice from an animal documentary
4. (2:22) Noisy, busy, scratchy, voices repeating It’s all over with El Presidente (and some Bush samples)
5. (3:10) Loungy funky soul, with spacey echoes and falsetto vocals; piano
6. (1:00) Slow eerie waltz, with harsh synth strings (fittingly called UFOs in the Park)
7. (1:29) FCC!—”motherfucker.” Slinky strings, with sudden harsh percussion and Black Panther speech samples
*8. (2:43) Asian influenced, with heavy scratches (instrumental)
*9. (2:28) Middle-Eastern—Jewish meets Arabic. Midtempo but wild; short rapped refrain calling for peace in the middle east!
*10. (1:32) Loungy funky, with cool laidback xylophone melody. Ends suddenly
11. (0:42) A light 6/8 busy piano tune—indeed snowy sounding and wistful
*12. (1:28) quacks prominently featured. awright. A satire of hip hop? Funny but groovin’ too.
*13. (1:58) Three movements in under 2 minutes! Eerie, metallic, pretty, string-heavy, nostalgic, pieces about ghosts
14. (1:21) An orchestra satire? Ponderous piano with birdcalls and funny percussion
*15. (3:00) Ominously bumpin. Scratches, heavy low piano, chimes, rappin’ about the revolution and dissin’ Bush. “you make me wanna throw a brick at you.”
*16. (2:39) loud percussion and vocal samples with obliviously warm string quartet
*17. (2:14) Slinky dark strings, jungle percussion and handclaps

—reviewed by mandy (la chanteuse)

Track Listing
1. Street Testimony   9. Shalaam
2. Return to the South Bronx   10. Rainy Park Avenue Evening
3. Another Moment Has Come   11. Snowy Downtown Afternoon
4. It's All Over for El Preside   12. Santa's Got a Brand New Cadi
5. Hey You   13. Galerie Des Fantomes
6. Ufos in the Park   14. Melody for Piano and Creatur
7. Panther   15. The Revolution Will Be Bumpi
8. Laughing Tiger   16. I Don't Have to Believe It I
  17. Black Mamba