Kassa Overall Debuts New Song 'Going Up' (feat. Lil B, Shabazz Palaces, & Francis and the Lights)'
Kassa's new album ANIMALS is due out this Friday, May 26.
By: Michael Major May. 22, 2023
On the brink of releasing his debut album for Warp Records, visionary drummer, producer and rapper Kassa Overall unveils his latest single “Going Up,” originally premiered on New Music Daily with Zane Lowe on Apple Music.
The final track on Kassa’s forthcoming record ANIMALS, “Going Up” brings the album to a surreal, bittersweet end, featuring verses by indie rap icons influential to Kassa: Lil B and Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces/Digable Planets.
In his signature collage-like production style, Kassa juxtaposes drums that nod to Outkast’s “Elevators” with a sample of a live performance he did alongside virtuoso pianist Craig Taborn. Additional vocals by Francis and the Lights, string arrangements by Jherek Bischoff, and sax by Tomoki Sanders, whose sound evokes their father, Pharoah Sanders.
The presence of Butler is particularly poignant, as he and Kassa are both graduates of Seattle’s Garfield High School, the famed alma mater of Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones. Kassa recently wrapped a U.S. tour with Butler’s first band, Digable Planets, a band Kassa grew up listening to religiously.
ANIMALS is due out this Friday, May 26. Since sharing news of the album in March, Kassa has released singles “Ready To Ball,” “Make My Way Back Home” and “The Lava Is Calm,” with the songs garnering support from The New York Times, Stereogum, Pitchfork, Paste, Brooklyn Vegan, American Songwriter and more. He also delivered an NPR Tiny Desk performance described by the institution as a “virtuosic display of musicianship, lyricism and artistic innovation."
Exclusive listening events for the record are scheduled this week, including Dublab in Los Angeles (5/23), Bang & Olufsen in NYC (5/25), the Shinjuku Theatre in Tokyo (5/25) and Easy Street Records in Seattle (5/26).
Kassa’s U.S. headline tour kicks off June 06 in Chicago, and will also include plays in Brooklyn, Detroit, Toronto, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, DC, and Montreal, as well as international headline and festival dates in London, Berlin and Oslo. See below for the full routing.
ANIMALS follows Kassa’s two self-released, critically acclaimed albums, and features an all-star array of guests from Kassa’s community including Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces, Francis and the Lights, Lil B, Wiki, Danny Brown, Laura Mvula, Vijay Iyer, and Tomoki Sanders.
The album was largely incubated in his hometown Seattle, where Kassa took respite to build out his solo work after many years of living and working within New York City’s jazz and music circuit as an in-demand drummer and producer.
ANIMALS pushes Kassa’s subversive message further too, the title a loaded metaphor for the paradoxes of his life as an entertainer and as a black man in America. Kassa explains:
“We call ourselves humans, right? But we kind of do animalistic s towards each other. We justify immorality by almost stripping people of their humanity. He's an animal, so we can treat him as such. All these different kinds of little questions in these songs point to questions about humanity: am I free? Or am I a circus animal? These questions intersect with the way I think about race.”
Prior to signing with Warp, Kassa released two studio albums, Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz (2019) and I Think I’m Good (2020). The two projects fused his various influences and musical lives into one groundbreaking sound that layered the virtuosic drumming, polyrhythmic rapping, and meticulous production techniques that he had been honing separately.
His own voice began to crystallize too, as he learned to channel his revolutionary, poetic wisdom into critiques of the carceral system and anti-black racism, while speaking on his own struggles with mental illness.
His projects are also a masterclass in curation and arrangement, drawing on his close community of friends and fellow musicians for contributions, including many of today’s leading minds in the jazz and hip-hop space.
Previous projects have included contributions from Angela Davis, Vijay Iyer, Arto Lindsay, Cecile McLorin Salvant and many more. A protege of jazz greats like drummer Billy Hart and pianist Geri Allen, Kassa has worked with a diverse array of vanguard artists, including Yoko Ono, Jon Batiste, Francis and the Lights, and many others.
Kassa Overall — Ready To Ball Tour
June 06 - Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
June 07 - Marble Bar - Detroit, MI
June 08 - TD Music Hall at Allied Music Centre - Toronto, ON
June 10 - Love, Velma at The Mod House - Ellenville, NY
June 12 - The Falcon - Marlboro, NY
June 13 - The Lounge at World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA
June 14 - Creative Alliance - Baltimore, MD
June 15 - Baby's All Right - Brooklyn, NY
June 16 - Home Rule Music Fest at Songbyrd - Washington D.C.
June 17 - Madison Jazz Festival - Madison, WI
June 23 - Zebulon - Los Angeles, CA
July 06 - Montreal Jazz Festival - Montreal, QC
July 08 - Arts Center at Duck Creek - East Hampton, NY
July 28 - Calgary Folk Festival - Calgary, AB
August 09 - Ronnie Scott’s - London, UK
August 11 - We Out Here Festival - Dorset, UK
August 12 - A l’Arme Festival - Berlin, DE
August 17 - Cologne Jazzweek - Cologne, DE
August 24 - Casbah - San Diego, CA
August 25 - The New Parish - Oakland, CA
August 26 - Mississippi Studios - Portland OR
August 27 - THING Festival - Port Townsend, WA
Sept 14-15 - by:Larm - Oslo, Norway
Sept 16 - Jassmine - Warsaw, PL
Nov 01 - Alte Feuerwache - Mannheim, DE
Nov 02 - E-werk - Erlangen, DE
Nov 09 - UT Connewitz - Leipzig, DE
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