Listen Live
Magic Baltimore Listen Live
Magic 95.9 Featured Video
CLOSE
The Outlaw Ocean Project.

Source: The Outlaw Ocean Project / The Outlaw Ocean Project

The Outlaw Ocean book from author Ian Urbina became a New York Times bestseller after its release last year, putting a focus on the lawlessness committed on the high seas with reporting taking place over a five-year period. Urbina’s journalistic bent as an investigative reporter pushed him to record sounds while at sea, thus spawning The Outlaw Ocean Music Project, which has released Friday (Oct. 9) a new collection of original works built upon Urbina’s recordings.

With the tagline “Making Music From Journalism,” the combination of the real-life and harrowing scenarios Urbina faced abroad and transforming them into audio compositions makes The Outlaw Ocean Music Project unique on its surface from the onset. Beyond sounds from the ocean, Urbina also recorded conversations and other audio happenings before placing them into a massive library and giving access to the various producers and composers who joined the project’s effort.

The idea of fusing music and journalism isn’t necessarily new, but The Outlaw Ocean Music Project’s massive scale and ambitious aims are unmatched in many regards. Across the various genres, there is a careful application of the sounds that tell the story of the things Urbina witnessed, such as captive deckhands chanting in unison in the South China Sea, and weapons being fired off the coast of war-torn Somalia. Some 300 artists across 60 countries from around the globe have created EPs from Urbina’s sound with measurable effect and impact.

With each release cleverly titled “Waves,” the fifth iteration of this series once again gives light to multiple genres in the instrumental Hip-Hop and Lo-Fi spaces. Other genres of focus include Experimental, Jazz, Ambient, and also Classical among others.

Among The Outlaw Ocean Music Project alumni, Hip-Hop production has several strong entrants with millions of listeners among them. Producer drkmnd has racked up a monthly listener tally of 2,005,075, making his debut with the Wave 2 project. Other Wave 2 acts include Tom Doolie, who boasts a monthly listenership of 1,808,866.

Rounding out the project’s Hip-Hop notables are Flitz&Suppe, C4C, Jobii AKA G Mills, Smoke Trees, BluntOne, twuan, Mujo, Miscél, and Vhsceral. It should be noted that Urbina and his team are still seeking producers, musicians, and composers across all genres to contribute works in support of the project.

It is an incredible, vast body of work that listeners can examine at the project’s main website complete with artist bios with links to your preferred DSPs.

Please click this link to learn more about The Outlaw Ocean Music Project.

Photo: The Outlaw Ocean Project

The Outlaw Ocean Music Project Continues To Innovate With Wave 5 Release  was originally published on hiphopwired.com