Cities Aviv at The ICA: Show Review

In 2014, avant-garde jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp discussed the growing disconnect between jazz and the African American youth, with fears of tradition being lost amongst the emergence of Hip-Hop. “Shockingly, African-American youths are somehow allowing tradition to slip away from them. When I was a kid everybody in the neighbourhood was somehow into this music. They all knew who Miles was, thеy all knew something about Charlie Parkеr or J.J. Johnson. Well today, we're into another era, young people are rapping… Hip-Hop.”

This monologue opens Cities Aviv’s cult classic 2022 album “Man Plays The Horn”, the 26 tracks following act as a response to Shepp’s opening thesis; signalling that despite this cultural and instrumental shift, the potency of writing and overtly political nature of Avant-Gardism endure. 

“Man Plays The Horn”, like much of this artist’s expansive catalog, feels like a reawakening of the Free Jazz movement. This Memphis producer and rapper actively disregards fixed chord progressions and traditional song structures, whilst utilising modern means of music production. 

Tonight, at The Institute of Contemporary Arts, Cities Aviv presents a tastefully curated selection of deep cuts and fan favourites spanning his 14-year reign. Easing into the performance with dreamlike, amorphous compositions reminiscent of his work under the African-American Sound Recordings alias, Cities Aviv stands alone on stage in a haze of smoke, seemingly unaware of the excitable London crowd in front of him. The erratic nature of the arrangements finds a physical counterpart in Cities Aviv himself, who, less than ten minutes in, hurls himself into the crowd. 

The mysterious allure of this hooded man is quickly disembellished as he carelessly crashes into the audience members. From this moment onwards, Cities Aviv shows no intention of slowing down, performing some of his most energetic pieces whilst skittishly traversing the stage. 

An obnoxious wash of vocal echo and reverb pushes the dense lyricism on tracks like “Ways of The World” and “Go-Go Girl” into a hazy blur, where intricate rhyme schemes and ad-libs melt into the charmingly overwhelming soundscape. As Cities Aviv pedals backwards through his discography stopping at “Working Title For The Album Secret Waters”, “Man Plays The Horn” and “BLACK PLEASURE 2012”, his versatility is mirrored in the crowd’s shifting movements. 

Our journey concludes at the 2014 album “Come To Life”, where this artist dips his toe into the world of dance music, verging on 140 BPM with atypically high-pitched samplework. “Head” and “Url Irl” gave the lighting team their first challenge of the night, as this intimate crowd moshes for the final time.

This display of intense emotion, backlit by unapologetic atonality, should put Archie Shepp’s mind at ease. Avant Gardeism is not only alive, but thriving in the hands of Cities Aviv.

Photography by @seenbylucas