Mandrill Is [LP]

Mandrill – Mandrill Is [LP]

Released by Polydor Records on April 1, 1972, Mandrill Is is the second album by Mandrill, the Brooklyn seven-piece led by brothers Carlos, Lou, and Ric Wilson. Recorded at Electric Lady Studios during the winter of 1971–72, it finds the band refining the adventurous blend of funk, soul, jazz, rock, and Latin rhythms established on their acclaimed debut. With its powerful horn section, deep grooves, percussion-rich arrangements, and flashes of psychedelia and jazz-rock, Mandrill Is sounds both tighter and more ambitious than its predecessor. "Ape Is High" and the horn-driven "Git It All" deliver the album's most immediate funk, while "Cohelo" and "Kofijahm" explore Latin and Afro-diasporic rhythmic traditions. "Children of the Sun" and "Lord of the Golden Baboon" stretch further into expansive, progressive territory, revealing a band as interested in atmosphere, arrangement, and instrumental interplay as in the groove itself. The album's strength lies precisely in that refusal to settle into one category. Mandrill use funk as a foundation for moving freely between soul, jazz, rock, Latin music, and psychedelic textures, creating a sound that is unmistakably their own. Mandrill Is captures the group at an important early peak: more focused and confident than their debut, yet still willing to follow the music wherever it leads. Pressed on 180g vinyl.

Track listing

A1. Ape Is High
A2. Cohelo
A3. Git It All
A4. Children Of The Sun
A5. I Refuse To Smile
B1. Universal Rhythms
B2. Lord Of The Golden Baboon
B3. Central Park
B4. Kofijahm
B5. Here Today Gone Tomorrow
B6. The Sun Must Go Down