wowhd.co.uk

GOLLIWOG is Billy Woods' first album in two years, preceded by 2023's

Maps, his second collaboration with producer Kenny Segal. That nimble

travelogue has little in common with woods' newest work, despite the fact

that Segal shows up a couple times in the credits. GOLLIWOG is a haunting

collection that weaves horror, humor, surrealism and Afropessimism into

a cinematic tapestry, aided and abetted by a murderer's row of producers.

African zombies, time traveling trap cars, malevolent ragdolls and a dying

Frantz Fanon are just a few of the revelers in woods' danse macabre.

GOLLIWOG features production from The Alchemist, Kenny Segal, ELP, Conductor Williams, Preservation, Messiah Musik, Sadhugold, Ant

(Atmosphere), Shabaka Hutchings, Steel Tipped Dove, DJ Haram, Willie

Green, Jeff Markey, Saint Abdullah, and LA-based experimental jazz trio

Human Error Club. Meanwhile, woods is joined on the mic by Backwoodz

labelmates ELUCID and Cavalier, along with rappers Bruiser Wolf,

Despot, Al. Divino, and singer-songwriter Yolanda Watson.

GOLLIWOG is another triumph in the woods oeuvre, as layered and

compelling as anything he has ever done. A black carnival pitched in a

muddy field overnight, empty rides whirring and clattering in the dark