Produced By Chocolate Genius Inc. With Seth Atkins Horan
Engineered & Mixed By Seth Atkins Horan
Assisted By Bb Vaughn
Additional Engineering By Cg Inc* & François Lardeau**
Recorded At Phantom Vox Studios / Los Angeles
Whisper Factory / Hobart+ Hotel Ritz/Madrid++ Dakar Hilton+++
Mastered By Greg Calbi At Sterling Sound Nyc
All Songs Written By Chocolate Genius Inc
Except "How I Write My Songs" Written With Andrew Hale/ Sagat Guirey/ Donald Barthelme
Published By Nø Førmat! / Universal Music Publishing
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The Players
She Smiles
David Piltch - Bass And Loops
Chris Bruce - Acoustic/Electric Guitars
Zsela Thompson & Thomas Bartlett - Sweet Vocals
Your Humble Narrator - Guitar Sax Piano
**Enough For You
John Wicks - Drums
Hector Espinosa - Congas
David Piltch - Bass
Chris Bruce - Guitar
Jamie Muhoberac - Keyboards
Marc Ribot - Guitar
Yhn - Guitar Vocals
+*Like A Nurse
Yhn - Closet Piano Vocals
Kiss Me
John Wicks
David Piltch - Bass
Chris Bruce - Elec/Acoustic Guitars
Chris Pierce - Choir Harmonica
Doug Pettibone - Lap Steel
Jamie Muhoberac - Piano/Keyboards
Yhn - Acoustic Guitar Sax Vocals
++Lump
Yhn
Dedicated To Lmt
Polanski
John Wicks - Drums/Percussion
Chris Bruce - Elec Guitar
Doug Pettibone - Pedal Steel
Yhn - Piano Keys Vocal
How I Write My Songs
John Wicks - Drums
David Piltch - Bass
Chris Bruce - Guitar
Jamie Muhoberac - Keyboards
Yhn - Guitar Vocals
*+++Mr. Wonderful
Yhn - Field Recording Crap Shoot Keys
Sit & Spin
Yhn - Rodney Strong
When I Lay You Down
John Wicks - Drums Percussion
Seth Atkins Horan - Additional Beats
David Piltch - Bass
Chris Bruce - Guitar
Jamie Muhoberac - Keyboards
Chris Pierce - Vocals
Yhn - Guitar Vocals
Ready Now
John Wicks - Drums
David Piltch - Bass
Chris Bruce - Guitar
Jamie Muhoberac -Piano Dying Organ
Yhn - Vocal
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The Muses
Abe Bradshaw
Abe Laboriel Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell
Age
Ahmir Thompson
Alex Chilton
Allaire Studios
Alleged Gallery
Amoeba Records
Amy Linden
Anthony Burgess
Anthony Coleman
Art Baron
Liquors
Brad Jones
Brandi Shearer
Brandon Ross
Brandt Abner
Brett Simons
Brian Ojalvo
Brian Tate
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Bruce Springsteen
Buddy Miller
Bumcello
Calvin Weston
Canal Plus
Carl Hancock Rux
Carnegie Hall
Carol Christian Poell
Catherine Russell
Chambers Hotel
Champ Davenport
Chan Marshall
Chelsea Sykes
Chicken
Chris Bruce & Family
Chris Hartford
Chris Thomas
Ciannait the Bartender
Clark Gayton
Claude Coleman
Craig Street
Curt Bisquera
Curtis Folkes
Dan Bora
Darcy the Bartender
Dave Eggers
David & Judy Horan
David Calderley
David Schneerman
David Spelman
David Steele
Dean Chamberlain
Dean the Bartender
Deborah Holland
Dev Hynes
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Don Van Vliet
Doug Weisenthal
Doveman
Draco Rosa
Dubtee
DW Drums
Earl Harvin
Ed Viesturs
EJ Rodrigues
Fat Actresses
Felix Chamberlain & Family
Francois Lardeau
Frank Riley
Frank Zappa
Fred Cash
Fred Girello
Gaby Moreno
Gary Clare
Gary Topp
Gene Lake
George Javori
George Travis
Glenn Patscha
Gnarly Head
Greg Arreguin
Greg Cohen
Greg Tate
Gregg Lewis
Gross the Gross
Guiness Stout
Gunter Grass
Hal Wilner
Hannah the Bartender
Harlem Yacht Club
Hector Castillo
Heidi Herman
Herschel Dwellingham
High Road Touring
Hody Van Holme
Hog Island Oysters
Hotel Real Santander
Husky Hoskulds
Hyman / Salem
Ichiho
ICI
Jamaladeen Tacuma
Jane Scarpantoni
Janine Small
Jared Diamond
Jason DeMatteo
Jay Bellerose
Jennifer Charles
Jesse the Chef
Jez Graham
Jill Marshall
Jim Keltner
Jim McKay & Family
JJ
Joe Henry
Joe's Pub
Joel Landson
John Constantine
John Powers
Johnny Hartman
Jon Caramonica
Justin Townsend
Justine the Bartender
Kake
Kara Bilof
Kary Antholis
Keefus Cianca & Family
Kevin Breit
Kiki Smith
King Pleasure
Kristine the Bartender
Largo
Lisa Brenneis
Looking Glass Studio
Lou Vito
Lucy the Bartender
Ludlow
Luminato
Lydia Cavanaugh
Maria Goyanes
Maria McGrath
Marie the Bartender
Mark Brown
Mark Kurlansky
Mark Linkous
Mark Ruffalo
Martha Wainwright
Martin Pradler
Marty Bernstein
Mathew Sterlin & Family
Max Fish
Max Green
Mayla
Melissa & John
Melvin Gibbs
Meshell & Alison
Micheal Stewart
Miho Hatori
Milk & Honey
MMW
Morgan the Bartender
Mos Def
Myke Weiskopf
Nancy Jeffries
Neil Simpkins
Neither Do I
Nelson George
New Jersey Griot
Nico Muhly
Nina Ritter
Noel Arnold
Olli & Rachel Chanoff
One Step Bailbonds
Oren Bloedow
Oscar on Saville Row
Pamela Laws
Patrick Warren
Patti Scialfa
Patti Smith
Patty Wynne
Paul Hepker
Paul Zukowsky
Phantom Vox Studios
Philip Roth
Phillip Glass
Q Tip
Radcliffe Bailey
Ray Davies
Rebecca Meek
Rebecca Sherman
Redbone
Reut Regev
Rhino Records
Rich Nichols
Richard Bransen
Rick Field
Rip Torn
Robbie Purcell
Robert Burke
Rocio
Roger Cramer
Roger Guenveur Smith
Roy Nathanson
Ryan Spahn
Sam Amidon
Sam Bardfield
Sanctuary
Sandy Sawotka
Sarah Dixon
Sarah the Bartender
Saul Williams
Seb Martel
Sessions Band
Shane Gregory
Sharief
Shirley Chisolm
Simeon Cain
Sphere One
Spiros Stathoulopoulos
St. Mark's Church
Stephanie McKay
Sterling Studios
Steve Bernstein
Steve Weisberg
Steven Trivelpiece & Family
Strand Books
Stuart Matthewman & Family
Sunset Sound Factory
Suzee Tyrell
Sweetback
Sylvester Stewart
Thackery Wines
The Alibi
The Blockers
The Brazilian Girls
The City of Ghent
The Firefly
The Glory Hole
The Hobart Living Trust
The National
The Public Theater
The Relievers
The Sidewalk Café
Thomas Erber
Thomas Golubic
Thomas Truax
Thrill Hill
Tina the Bartender
Tipatina's
TMF Recording
Tommy Jordan
Tony the Bartender
Tony Williams
Toshi Reagon
Tracy McKnight
Trixie Whitley
Troy the Bartender
US Embassy Madrid
US Embassy Rome
Vernon Reid
Vic Chestnutt
Vic the Bartender
Vinia Mojica
Wade the Bartender
Walter Yetnikov
Wayne LeBeaux
Ween
Wide & Yellow
Young Douglas Bowne
Yuka Honda
Zeidler & Zeidler
Zoe the Bartender
Here's a musician whose career, spanning over twenty years, is a series of dazzling strokes of brilliance alternating with periods of silence. His talent as an un-containable musician, too in love with his freedom to join the ranks of rock, soul, folk or jazz have inspired his peers' admiration. From Marc Ribot and David Byrne to Philip Glass and Oren Bloedow (Elysian Fields), in other words the crème de la crème of the New York music scene, all have an unconditional respect for him, whilst in Europe, artists such as Vincent Segal or Seb Martel are equally as full of praise. And yet, when it comes to the influent medias or the crowds, it seems that Marc Anthony Thompson, a.k.a. Chocolate Genius Inc. remains misunderstood. Five long years of silence have come and gone, resulting in Swansongs, his fourth album, and the stakes have been raised. Culminating all the talents of its author in a singularly harmonious form, it seems to prophesise the American’s inevitable projection into the limelight, finally granting him the recognition he merits.
Filled with the musings of a man reaching the middle of his years, Swansongs probes the troubled waters of remembrance, introspection and mourning. Chocolate Genius delivers a sonic and poetic piece of work whose clear beauty is as pure as an outline. It's a sublimate summary of all the writing, playing and singing abilities unveiled since his first album.
Chocolate Genius came to light as a completely free and unfettered singer-songwriter with Black Music in 1998. Born in Panama and raised in California, it was New York, a metropolis swarming with open-minded and unbiased musicians such as mavericks Marc Ribot, Meshell Ndegeocello, Cibo Matto, John Medeski or Chris Wood, which enabled him to become a supreme creator. Like Terry Callier or Arthur Lee (Love) back in the day or his contemporaries Joe Henry or Mark Eitzel, he's worked out the secret formula for a subtly universal songwriting, neither white, nor black, born far from the folklore mire and the illusions of every current trend; the kind of songwriting which could collect the multiple constituents of the American identity in its very fibre. Chocolate Genius then attempted to develop this approach in his next records, Godmusic (2001) and Black Yankee Rock (2005), taking the liberty of appropriating Van Dyke Parks' clever mind or Sly Stone feverish prophecies, the dry rage of ancestral blues or the rebellious exultation of New York jazz, the raw energy of indie rock and soul's sensuous growls.
After the exuberant Black Yankee Rock, Chocolate Genius brings back today his wide-spanning art to the proportions of an intimate whisper. Essentially made of ballads, Swansongs is for him the logic follow-up and conclusion of a highly personal triptych started with Black Music and Godmusic. The overall theme of the album – a vibrant farewell to dearly departed beings, places and things that marked the first half of his life – has naturally led him to wring out the essence of his writing. Nine days in a Los Angeles studio were enough for him to record these eleven songs tinged with a serene and pained wisdom, based on the acknowledgement that every life is built on loss, absence and the company of ghosts. Far from Manhattan and his usual sparring partners (Marc Ribot only shows up on Enough For/Of You), Thompson, supported by temporary partners fully in tune with him, reaches a form of weightless gravity, which ideally benefits his intentions. Rid of the scoria that sometimes altered a little the elegance of his previous records, his writing and singing glide from one marvel to another.
From the reverberating blues of Enough For/Of You to the piano-and-voice embrace of Like a Nurse and Sit & Spin; from the twisting ramblings of Lump to the salutary surges of When I Lay You Down and Ready Now; from the carnal confessions of Kiss Me to the ghostly lyrics of Mr. Wonderful (where the voice of a dead father disappears in an electronic halo), everything here hangs onto the thread of an inspiration freed from all style and genre limitations. For the last few years, Chocolate Genius has made a name for himself in sound design and original soundtracks for movies or plays; he's also lived an intense experience when he joined Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Tour in 2006. It's surely there, between these apparently opposite poles, between sonic adventure and traditional writing, pure plastic research and exploration of the depths of the human soul that the singular beauty of Swansongs can be found. And we have the feeling that, for Marc Anthony Thompson, this balance doesn't only show a beautiful completion, but also a rebirth, full of promises.
