When Outkast came to prominence in the mid to late '90s, the pioneering duo were much like aliens from another universe.
Injecting highly original, infectious, funky and otherworldly sounds into hip hop music, Andre 3000 and Big Boi hail from Atlanta, Georgia, and created an unparalleled sonic cooking recipe resulting in some of the most leftfield, experimental beats, samples and lyrics to ever be recorded.While their commercial success only grew exponentially, artistically they were constantly challenging their sonic vocabulary, never allowing themselves to become creatively redundant, right until the last album they released under the name Outkast in 2006.
In the last 18 years, Andre 3000 has kept a very low profile with many of his fans and the media wondering if he had quit music all together, only doing the odd guest collaboration and taking on acting roles for a few feature films (including playing Jimi Hendrix in the biopic titled 'Jimi: All Is By My Side' in 2013).
An Outkast reunion ten years ago did make headlines as the outfit headlined most of the major music festivals around the globe including our very own Splendour. Yet no new music ever eventuated from the reunion, and while Big Boi pursued his solo career, Andre 300 became somewhat of a mystery.
Until the end of last year, when he made a very unexpected announcement by dropping his debut solo album without any rapping and entirely crafted using flute and various other wind instruments.
Andre 3000 - image © Jordan Munns
This ambient, meditation flute album titled 'New Blue Sun', puzzled long-time Outkast fans who yearned for another hip hop release, but Andre 3000's brilliance has never come from sticking to any formula and this again was a unique sonic reinvention.
What it represented was an artist who has defined over the years what it means to be an artist and how to remain true to himself in an age where fame and notoriety is highly rewarded, but taking artistic risks is misunderstood and put in the contemporary culture bin.
Much like the great jazz artists who use their playing to explore a higher spiritual consciousness, Andre 3000 is now exploring this musical path and has assembled some gifted musicians to play on the album as well as live onstage; including percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Carlos Nino, Surya Botofasina on keyboards and Deantoni Parks on synthesiser and drums.
In 2024, Andre 3000 and his band announced they would go on tour to support 'New Blue Sun' and visit selected cities around the world including two nights at Sydney's Volume Festival – the only shows he and his band would play in Australia.
Andre 3000 - image © Jordan Munns
Now in its second year, the festival organised and run by of the Art Gallery of NSW, aims as part of their remit, to develop and expand arts and culture in Sydney as well as the rest of the state. In doing so, they have added music to their programming and this year's Volume Festival line-up features local and international music artists from different music genres.
Andre 3000's new musical endeavours proved to be ideal for a festival that is aiming to promote experimental and diverse sounding artists in a wonderful arts precinct. The venue, known as The Tank, lives underneath the new north building of the Gallery known as Naala Badu and its dark atmosphere is like entering a temple of sorts.
What happens inside could certainly be compared to a mystical ritual. Accordingly, excited fans who were lucky to get a ticket for this rare and unique show walked down the dark spiral steps into The Tank to witness a performance that seldom will be repeated.
As there were no support acts on the Saturday night (20 July), Andre 3000 and his band come onstage at 8pm sharp to a big applause. For those in attendance, the expectation was to witness a live rendition of 'New Blue Sun'.
However, what we got instead was a completely improvised set which was loosely inspired by the ambient soundscapes you hear evocatively on the album. Two things where required from those of us in the audience, firstly an open mind to really grasp the fact this was all being spontaneously made up on the spot; and second, a willingness to be taken on a musical journey which no one really knew how it would end.
Being an avant-garde performance in an art gallery, it was not surprising to see thin laser beam lights and psychedelic projections on the wall as well as colourful domes of light on the stage, crafting one of the most powerful art-music performances.
Even so, the subtle execution of every instrument felt so delicate and fragile that closing your eyes gave you even deeper insights into what the layers of this music project aims to uncover; in my estimation, it's the spiritual awakening that's inside all of us.
There's more than what meets the eye in this unique concert setting, yet for some people in the audience, at times it got a little too overwhelming and some even fainted and were immediately assisted by staff at the venue.
Andre 3000 - image © Jordan Munns
In the history of cosmic jazz, artists such as John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Sun Ra to name a few have all attempted to cast this kind of spell on audiences with their hypnotic fusion of music and ancient shamanic practises. Andre 3000 is now holding the mantle of this mystical and sorcery form of music and has presented it in the most blissful and emotionally compelling way.
There was an opportunity halfway between the performance for him to speak directly to us, thanking everyone for showing up and confessing to everyone that he and his band were using their metaphorical antennas to listen to the room and channel what everyone was feeling.
Then, in a made-up language that equally amused and puzzled us, he said everything he just said made absolutely no sense, but there was a serious intent behind it. This artistic approach is similar to what '70s French jazz rock outfit Magma attempted to do when inventing their own conjured up language.
The evening went from being initially very calm, soothing and peaceful as if we were being transported to the top of a mountain and Andre's flute playing was the wind whistling up, down and around the pinnacle, to a very intense improvisation that felt like a screaming harmonisation or restless chanting, very much in the free jazz style of John Coltrane's 'Kulu Se Mama'.
It was an extraordinary ending to a highly sophisticated hybrid art/ music concert; the full moon that night could very well have factored into all the magic that manifested.
