Atlantis

Atlantis (1969) is a bold and highly atmospheric jazz album by Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra that moves away from traditional swing into a more experimental sound. The centerpiece is the 20-minute title track contained in side B, built around Sun Ra’s heavily amplified Hohner Clavinet. Around this, the Arkestra layers percussion, horns, and collective improvisation to create a dense, hypnotic texture. The music is intense but not chaotic; it unfolds gradually, focusing on mood, repetition, and sonic colours. The shorter pieces on the album are slightly more rooted in free jazz traditions, but still maintain the spacious, exploratory feel. Atlantis stands as a key example of Sun Ra’s Afrofuturist vision, presenting jazz as cosmic storytelling and pushing the genre toward electronic experimentation and abstract sound design long before these approaches became common. This vinyl reissue is the first since 1973 and it features the track “Yucatan II” as bonus track on side A.