Kamasi Washington debuts a new song, ‘The Garden Path‘, and performed it for the first time ever, making his late night television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “The world feels turned upside down,” says Washington of the song. “There’s so much push and pull in every direction, from everyone you meet—no one knows what to think, who to believe, or how to approach life right now. No matter how smart you are, it’s hard not to...
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Kamasi Washington has released his original score for Becoming, director Nadia Hallgren and Higher Ground Productions’ documentary profiling First Lady Michelle Obama, which is streaming on Netflix now. The score features new original music Washington—whom Hallgren asked to join the project very early in its development—composed for the film as well as selections from his catalogue. Watch a trailer for the film
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Kamasi Washington shares he has scored Becoming, director Nadia Hallgren and Higher Ground Productions’ documentary profiling First Lady Michelle Obama, which has debuted on Netflix. The score features new original music Washington—whom Hallgren asked to join the project very early in its development—composed for the film as well as selections from his catalogue. Watch a trailer for the film here. In addition, the score will be released next Friday 15 May....
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Kamasi Washington debuts the Jenn Nkiru-directed video for ‘Hub-Tones’ today, the track is taken from Washington’s massively acclaimed new album Heaven and Earth, released in June. Watch the video below! “Hub-Tones is me trying to connect my ancestors via music,” says Washington. “As an African-American, a lot of us don’t know the country of our origin, that’s why most of us take on the ideology of Pan-Africanism. I was trying...
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Kamasi Washington releases new album Heaven and Earth, the long-awaited follow up to his debut The Epic. To celebrate, Washington shared new video, directed by A.G. Rojas for ‘Street Fighter Mas’, watch below! The video includes cameos by famed Street Fighter legends Gootecks and Combofiend and one of Washington’s Los Angles heroes — Kevin Gilliam a.k.a. BattleCat, a longtime collaborator of Dr. Dre, Snoop and Tupac Shakur. The video was inspired by Washington’s...
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Everything Is Recorded releases a brand new video for ‘She Said (featuring Obongjayar and Kamasi Washington)’, from the debut album Everything Is Recorded by Richard Russell, released earlier this year. Watch below! Directed by Dear Mr Quistgaard, the video sees appearances from the enigmatic Nigerian-born, London-based artist Obongjayar and Richard Russell himself, alongside the British Olympic judo team. Speaking about the video, Richard Russell says: “I first heard Steven (Obongjayar) via...
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Kamasi Washington debuts new song ‘Street Fighter Mas’, from his forthcoming album Heaven and Earth, out June 22. Listen below and watch the trailer for the track’s forthcoming video, directed by A.G. Rojas, here. Of the song, Kamasi says: “When I was younger, I was in between the end of the arcade generation and the beginning of the console generation. We used to go to this place called Rexall to play Street...
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Kamasi Washington’s second album Heaven & Earth is set for release on Friday 22nd June. Two songs from the double album debut today, listen to Earth’s ‘Fists of Fury’ and Heaven’s ‘The Space Travellers Lullaby’ below. Heaven & Earth is comprised of two halves, which find Washington confronting quotidian realities with cosmic themes. A further investigation of Washington’s world building ideas, the new album explores his reckoning with current global chaos...
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Kamasi Washington’s new EP Harmony of Difference is out today, the new music is an original six-movement suite, featuring artwork by Kamasi’s sister Amani Washington. Watch the short film to the single ‘Truth’ below. The EP explores the philosophical possibilities of the musical technique known as “counterpoint,” which Kamasi defines as “the art of balancing similarity and difference to create harmony between separate melodies.” Beyond the artistic impulse to expand the possibilities within counterpoint, Washington wanted to create...
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Everything Is Recorded have released a new single, ‘Mountains Of Gold’. It sees the record producer and XL Recordings head collaborating with Sampha, Ibeyi, Wiki and Kamasi Washington and is accompanied by a Nick Walker-directed video. Watch it below! “‘Mountains of Gold’ is sound system inspired, you can hear a lot of strong and different personalities and voices in the one song, but the feeling is consistent. Everyone has plenty of...
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French-Cuban twins Ibeyi announce their second album Ash, a record that tackles subjects as diverse as womanhood, spirituality, activism and racism. Set for release on September 29, Ibeyi share a video for album track ‘Deathless’ directed by Ed Morris. Watch below! While firmly rooted in Afro-Cuban culture and history, Ash finds itself entirely concerned with Ibeyi’s present: Who Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi are, what’s important to them, and how they live today,...
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Kamasi Washington’s new EP Harmony of Difference will be released on September 29th. Watch the short film to the single ‘Truth’ from director A.G. Rojas below. The EP is an original six-movement suite, featuring artwork by Kamasi’s sister Amani Washington. It explores the philosophical possibilities of the musical technique known as “counterpoint,” which Kamasi defines as “the art of balancing similarity and difference to create harmony between separate melodies.” Beyond the artistic impulse to...
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Kamasi Washington today debuts ‘Truth’, the sixth movement from Harmony of Difference, a new EP set for release this winter via Young, who Kamasi has signed to. ‘Truth’ is accompanied by a new short film from director A.G. Rojas, watch it below. The EP is an original six-movement suite, featuring artwork by Kamasi’s sister Amani Washington. Amani created five paintings focused on raw shapes and colours, each inspired by one of the first five movements of...
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