Creative

Footer Legal

Main

NavBar

Sections

Topics

Become a subscriber today to get unlimited access

Thanks for reading!

Register to continue

Talkhouse

Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer. He previously released four critically acclaimed projects: I THINK I’M GOOD, Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz, Shades of Flu, and Shades of Flu 2.
On ANIMALS, his Warp Records debut, Kassa pushes his kaleidoscopic, subversive vision further. He layers Roland 808s against avant-garde drumming in the vein of his mentors Elvin Jones and Billy Hart, the latter of whom he studied with at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Virtuoso musos appear alongside rap poets, including Danny Brown, Wiki, Lil B, and Shabazz Palaces. Top-flight jazz improvisation weaves in and out of orchestral string arrangements by Jherek Bischoff. The album’s diverse, all-star roster of collaborators includes several of his close friends, like vocalists Nick Hakim, Laura Mvula, Francis and the Lights, and jazz stars like Theo Croker and Vijay Iyer.
ANIMALS is out now.

Kassa Overall

Music

Introducing: Kassa Overall’s “Going Up” (Feat. Lil B, Shabazz Palaces, Francis and the Lights)

Talkhouse Weekend Playlist: Organic Sounds from High Pulp

Nicholas Galanin is one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. Born in Sheet’ka (Sitka, Alaska), Galanin is Tlingit and Unangax̂; he creates from his perspective as an Indigenous man. His work calls for an accounting of the damages done to land and life by unfettered capitalism while envisioning and advocating alternate possibilities. 
His debut as Ya Tseen (“be alive,” and a reference to his Tlingit name Yeil Ya Tseen) is Indian Yard, his first album for Sub Pop. Rich with emotional range and sharp awareness, Indian Yard explores love, desire, frustration, pain, revolution, and connection through the magnetic expressions of an Indigenous mind. 
This is not, by any means, Galanin’s first album. He has released a steady stream of records under a panoply of aliases, including Silver Jackson and Indian Agent. He has worked with the likes of Meshell Ndegeocello, Tanya Tagaq, and Samantha Crain. And for the better part of a decade, he’s also been part of the revolutionarily borderless art collective Black Constellation alongside Shabazz Palaces and THEESatisfaction.
(Photo Credit: Merritt Johnson)

Ya Tseen

Ya Tseen Is In Charge of the Narrative

Composer, guitarist and producer <a href="http://www.rafiqbhatia.com/" target="_blank">Rafiq Bhatia</a> is a member of <a href="http://music.sonluxmusic.com" target="_blank">Son Lux</a>. Rafiq released his own debut EP and LP in 2012, and contributed to Son Lux’s Lanterns (2013) and Alternate Worlds (2014) prior to joining the band this year. As of this writing, he’s touring with Son Lux and working on new Son Lux and Rafiq Bhatia albums. You can follow Rafiq on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/rafiqbhatia" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/rafiqbhatia" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, and Son Lux on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sonlux" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sonlux" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.  (Photo credit: Timothy Saccenti)

Rafiq Bhatia

Rafiq Bhatia (Son Lux) Talks Shabazz Palaces’ Lèse Majésty

Shabazz Palaces