Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen

Like the land that houses most Canadian cities, Ottawa is First Nations territory. Although a stroll through the capital gives little insight into this, the city's underground arts scene is fraught with memoirs of this ever-evolving struggle. One Nation (the first collaboration between Ottawa-based electronic producer Rise Ashen and Long Point First Nation vocalist Flying Down Thunder) is a look into the issues of the still thriving Algonquin Nation. Deftly combining thick, urbanized beats with traditional Pow-Wow sounds, chants and spoken word, Flying Down Thunder & Rise Ashen craft an original singular version of dance music. What makes One Nation so absorbing is the fact that is comes off as so much more than the sum of its parts, as songs like "Miskojonia ― Red Gold" (featuring spoken word from the late Algonquin Hereditary Chief) and "Pejig Dodem ― One Nation" (with Ashen rapping a 1987 speech delivered to the UN) come off as slick, modern and inventive as they are poignant.