There aren’t many Emancipator songs I don’t like. But with that said, the artist otherwise known as Doug Appling and violinist Ilya Goldberg have a few tunes that are completely stuffed with emotional energy. Purple Hatters Ball added Emancipator a couple months back and it had me thinking about the correlation between Purple Hatters Ball and Emancipator’s music.
Purple Hatters Ball is somewhat of a phoenix. The festival, now in it’s 6th year, was started in memory of Rachel Morningstar Hoffman. Rachel was a young Florida State University graduate whose life was cut short after she was pressured in to wearing a wire in a drug bust. The bust went terribly wrong and her life was taken.
It’s a very sad story, but Purple Hatters Ball is no time for tears. Instead, it is a time to celebrate life while making a conscious effort to realize why we are there and the problems within our police force. Much like the music of Emancipator, which is also melancholy in nature, but leaves you with an uplifting, empowered emotion.
Here are 5 tracks I hope Emancipator plays at Purple Hatters Ball this weekend.
“When I Go” – It’s such a sad tune, but so are many of Emancipator’s works of art. It’s really soothing and one of my favorite tracks.
“Elephant Survival” – Something about the vocal hook in this tune makes me want to do the this robot / shoulder-shimmy dance that needs to be done at some point this weekend.
“Black Lake” (Emancipator Remix) – It’s always cool when artists remix themselves. I think it would be gnarly to hear this one on Saturday night.
“The Way” – This is Emancipator sounding as “Thievery Corporation” as they can, which I am totally down with. Dom killed the saxophone solo at the end and I can imagine how blissful it would be in the amphitheater stage.
“Minor Cause” – This tune is the “Bittersweet Symphony” of Emancipator’s catalog. It’s so sad, but then so uplifting and happy, all in the same 5-minute production. I think this tune would really get the party thumpin’.