Ocote Soul: Antibalas + Fantasma

Musician-producers Martin Perna (aka Ocote Soul Sounds) and Adrian Quesada step out the shadow of their big bands Antibalas and Grupo Fantasma to lead us on another journey deeper into their trademark tropical psychedelic sound in The Alchemist Manifesto.

Set for release on June 10, 2008 through ESL Music, The Alchemist Manifesto defiantly leaps borders and contradictions. The sound is at once organic and electric, dark and hopeful, fierce and gentle. Among the eleven songs are the epic Afro-jazz intro "The Grand Elixir" featuring friend and collaborator Todd Simon (Breakestra, Dakah, Connie Price & The Keystones) on brass; the anthemic "La Reja," denouncing the 21st century apartheid walls on both the Rio Grande and in biblical lands, and the hazy electro version of the Afro-Colombian classic "Pescador." This is sound of the global South colliding with the 21st century.

Quesada and Perna first met in Brooklyn in 2003 for a quick collaboration in the famed basement studio of Ticklah, and the relationship blossomed from there. The duo traded music and ideas over the wires until winter of 2004, when a Brooklyn-to-Mexico vegetable oil road trip resulted in Martin being stranded at Adrian's home in Austin, TX for two weeks. Creative sparks flew, and before they knew it, they had their first album El Niño y El Sol. The album was first released underground and eventually discovered by Thievery Corporation and re-released by ESL Music in 2005.

Similar to El Niño y El Sol, The Alchemist Manifesto was created under extraordinary circumstances, with whatever musical and recording instruments were available at the time including four-track cassette decks, laptops, bamboo flutes, gourds, and synthesizers. It was finished over a period from 2005 to 2007, following El Niño y El Sol during times which saw Quesada and Perna immersed in the cycles of birth, death, and upheaval. The process of making music together during that time turned the stress of these profound experiences into something redemptive and ultimately transformative.

Their musical talents are known far and wide. Martin Perna is the founder of Antibalas and an original member of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Scarlett Johansson and TV on the Radio have been among the many artists who have sought his distinctive flute and saxophone sound. Adrian Quesada is a founding member of Latin music powerhouse Grupo Fantasma and deep funk phenomenon Brownout, spending much of 2007 backing Prince, recently recording with Fania All-Star pianist and composer Larry Harlow. He also served as composer and music supervisor for the soundtrack of award-winning Texas B-boy documentary "Inside the Circle."

The live ensemble - an electrifying septet of multi-instrumentalists-has made recent appearances at 2007's Fun Fun Fun Fest and Austin City Limits Festival and plans to take The Alchemist Manifesto to the coasts of North America and beyond in the summer and fall of 2008.