Just last week Steven Mallorca, the brainchild behind Sulu and Excelsior, released the sophomore release, The AntiMatter Suite (Slow Jam King). The band draws from an array of influences and sources that span decades and genres. While the album is riddled with anthemic dance grooves and party vibes, the album does deal with the political, but with “a little optimism to it.”
But everything leads directly to “AntiMatter,” the album’s title track by default, and inclusion in name obviously. The band shares its new video for the track and you get an idea Sulu and Excelsior is clear about utilizing its groove to get points across. Shot in an apartment, the vibe captures a time when it was commonplace for families and friends to gather for good times filled with music, food, dancing, and generally, a good time. Mallorca raps and sings here, and if you’re not paying close attention you just might miss the point he’s getting across because he’s voicing his own thought here on political climates.
Of the video itself Mallorca shares:
This video was inspired by Marjorie Eliot, a longtime Harlem resident and jazz musician who started to do jazz shows right in her own apartment. It reminded me of stories I’d read when jazz musicians in the 50s would play downtown then head back uptown and keep the jam going In someone’s apartment, while folks were cooking and eating and drinking. I wanted to recreate that sort of environment, but combine it with a good old Filipino family-style party, where generations collide, and oldtimers and kids alike are going a little wild and having fun. Everything is on the verge of being out of control, but never really frays. Along those lines, we wanted the visuals to throw a more sweaty soul music and Hip-Hop house party element into the mix, rather than a cool jazz cat vibe, to better capture the raw energy of the song.
Underneath its funky and bouncy exterior, “Antimatter”, like the majority of the album, is also filled with social metaphor and commentary, so it was important for me to show a mix of different people and different generations maintaining on their own terms, and keeping the food flowing and the party going in defiance to whatever is waiting outside the doors.
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