In a way, Rafiq Bhatia‘s improvisational second album for Anti- is an extension of his interpretive work. The musician paid tribute to Flying Lotus and Sam Cooke in 2012 with versions that bore strong rhythmic and melodic likenesses to the originals. Crepuscular and turbulent 2020 renderings of classics by Duke Ellington, Ornette Coleman, and Ewan MacColl, as heard on Standards, Vol. 1, were more unorthodox, far less likely to be heard on a “coffee house vibes” playlist than in a dim bohemian cafe or den where scuffed copies of David Lynch soundtracks, Ambient 4: Isolationism, and Ben Frost’s By the Throat are in rotation. With his guitar and laptop and other gear at his feet, Bhatia takes inspiration this time from the elements, but we’re not talking…
