Nairobi-raised, Berlin-based multihyphenate artist Kabeaushé announces brand new album ‘HOLD ON TO DEER LIFE, THERE’S A BLCAK BOY BEHIND YOU!’ and shares the first single ‘THESE DISHES AIN’T GONNA DO THEMSELVES’, announcing their signing to Monkeytown Records. The track is accompanied by the official video and out now on all streaming platforms.
Recent signing to Berlin-based imprint, Monkeytown Records, Kenyan Kabeaushé introduced themself last year with their breakthrough album ‘The Coming of Gaze’ on Nyege Nyege Tapes, a fiercely giddy pop rush of old school party hip hop upfulness, clean sounds, gentleness, bounciness, positivity and joy. Heralding a new sound with their latest 10-track album ‘HODLTABBBY’ they’re bringing a little more rawness, weirdness and rave energy, evident at Kabeaushé’s own wild performance energy shining through via their alter ego “the Shé”. On the latest track ‘THESE DISHES AIN’T GONNA DO THEMSELVES’ there’s more acknowledgement of the darkness, more depth and derangement in the distorted kickdrums, ricocheting breaks and rave energy.
But, crucially, not one bit of the pop brightness or joy has been lost, as evident throughout the whole project. Kabeaushé adds: “This was one of the first songs I wrote for the project, and one of my most articulate ones, and it captures perfectly the madness of the rest of the project. Brace for impact.” There is still all of the ambitious brightness that was there all along, but also the sweat, the fierceness, the communion that global club and festival audiences have come to love in Kabeaushé shows. This is a talent of global proportions coming to maturity, and you’d better be ready for it to explode out into the world.
The idea behind that video was to translate as much of the feral energy of the music to the visual as possible, without being too distracting and i think we did that. it completely rips! And I’m pretty excited about executing more ideas for the rest of the album.
Their sets are far more than just performance, they’re a celebration, a communion, a party in which the audience gets what they give, and the Shé emerges. The show was developed for months together with his sidekick Vick the brickster (Victor Nyamwalo) is a hybrid of music and theatre. Kabeaushé likes to explore themes of softness and cuteness, making music that is both gentle and highly invigorating with a show aimed to draw the audience into a hypnotic dance frenzy. Accolades for this relatively new artist include being elected as an MTV Rising Star and working with the actress Lupita Ny’ongo, being selected to participate in The Royal Academy of Arts summer exhibition of 2022 sound program, and releasing their first album on the biggest electronic label in East/Central Africa, Nyege Nyege. After pursuing acting, radio presenting, and a stint with an MTV drama series called SHUGA, the artist decided to follow the music and eventually connected with the Hakuna Kulala (a subsidiary label under East Africa’s biggest electronic festival Nyege Nyege) proving a huge turning point in their career. Kabeaushé / the Shé’s presence is angelic but also elemental, channeling modern pop energy but also something deep, ancient and profound. Watch out for this enigmatic force, Kabeaushé is like nothing you have seen before.
Live shows
23.09 – BESANCON, FR – DÉTONATION FESTIVAL @ LA RODIA
13.10 – LA REUNION, FR – LES ELECTROPICALES FESTIVAL
17.11 – PANTIN, FR – AFRICOLOR FESTIVAL
Follow
@kabeaushe
@monkeytown_records
Feature photo by Edwin Maina
Pre-save ‘HOLD ON TO DEER LIFE, THERE’S A BLCAK BOY BEHIND YOU!’ here: https://kabeaushe.lnk.to/HODLTABBBY
