Tyondai Braxton's Central Market album (out next week) has attracted some well deserved praise from Björk, Fourtet and Dave Longstreth from the Dirty Projectors - read on for the quotes.

The release was scored entirely by Battles' multi-instrumentalist Braxton, and recorded in pristine audio quality with the Wordless Music Orchestra in New York.

"i share with tyondai a sort of instrumental view on the voice. we're sort of singers that don't sing. it has been fun sharing music tastes with him , finding out that 90% of the music we both listen to is instrumental. so it was with great excitement i waited for : central market

not only doesnt he sing much on it, but when he sings he treats his voice like an instrument not too held back by traditional singer songwriter narratives, word driven storytelling . rather, he throws himself deep into full blown orchestral storytelling that a few people have commented :  sounds like film music without the film. and therefore : they dont know exactly what to do with it :

is it film music ? is he a singer ? is it indie ? contemporary classical ? serious slapstick ? post indie orchestral prog after hours tea music ?

and so on

i have to admit one of the greatest pleasures i got out of listening to this music was how uncategorical it was . and also how different the songs are from each other . but i can reassure you it is amazing bicycle music, has all the different epic sections that are ideal for bicycling through different streets and landscapes ... where the modern autumn of 2009 provides the visuals .

tyondai has with great ambition and detail loving hard work created music that is a mashup of 20 century music and has bravely taken an extra step :

into the unknown."

- Björk, September 2009

"A total mind bender.  Epic cinematic music that is packed with
amazing sounds and ideas.  I haven't enjoyed the sound of kazoo this
much in ages."

- Fourtet, September 2009

"In an era when a lot of artists' idea of style seems to amount to a preference for one expired decade or another, Braxton points to something that's both tougher and more pleasurable: he makes his style out of nothing more or less than the kinds of shapes and colors he likes.  I'd compare his temperament to Gershwin's -- aiming to correct art and pop music by uniting them -- except he's doing so from a place where there is no clear sense of what's pop or what's art, why the two
are different, or why they ever got separated in the first place.  The result is a singular mix of Stravinsky and Black Dice, Messiaen and Eno, Reich, Hindemith, and Reznor.  But really Tyondai Braxton sounds most like himself."

- Dave Longstreth / Dirty Projectors, September 2009

Central Market CD or Audiophile Vinyl at Bleep
Central Market at iTunes
Central Market Audiophile Vinyl in North America
Central Market CD in North America