Black to the Future

Black to the Future is a staggering achievement. Musically and culturally, Sons of Kemet not only holistically conceive of a future, they begin to create one right now. — AllMusic, May 2021, 4 and a half out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 14th May 2021
Catalogue No: 3562166
Label: Impulse! Records

Jazzwise

Editor's Choice

June 2021
Presto Recording of the Week

14th May 2021
AllMusic

Editor's Choice

May 2021
Downbeat

Editor's Pick

June 2021
Presto Recordings of the Year

Winner 2021
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Recording of the Week, Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future

14th May 2021

The London quartet's follow-up to 2018's stellar Your Queen Is a Reptile is a fearless evolution for the band both musically and thematically; exploring contemporary social struggles with a variety of guest vocal features and expanding their sound with dense arrangements.

The follow up to 2018's Mercury Prize nominated breakout release 'Your Queen Is a Reptile', 'Black to the Future' is the avant-garde band's fourth record. Compared with their previous release, this album has featured vocalists and more of an emphasis on fuller compositions and arrangements. Guest artists include Kojey Radical, Moor Mother, Angel Bat Dawid, Joshua Idehen and D Double E.

Reviews

May 2021

Black to the Future is a staggering achievement. Musically and culturally, Sons of Kemet not only holistically conceive of a future, they begin to create one right now.

June 2021

Bold and nuanced, invested with a dynamic circularity that nods to African cosmologies and with Hutchings’ focus on woodwinds (and on composition), it’s a work that grabs you by the scruff. AfroCaribbean rhythms intersect with London grime. Jazz is spiritual, cultural, current.

June 2021

There is an intensity to this music that has been missing, in this way, for far too long. Black To The Future speaks a truth that should be heard. But this recording and these artists never forget to move us musically as well as mentally. [Shabaka] Hutchings understands that the best way to educate as a musician is to put your message to music.

14th May 2021

Hutchings, Cross, Skinner and Wakili-Hick’s latest recording is absolutely fearless, building on the themes laid out by their past work while continuing to push their sound forward, neither falling back on old ideas nor compromising on the identity they’ve spent the last decade building.

21st May 2021

In the late ’60s, groups like the Art Ensemble of Chicago processed moments of strife through challenging experiments; Sons of Kemet prefer to make danceable, approachable expressions of joy.

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Black to the Future

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Recording of the Week, Sons of Kemet - Black to the Future

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Black to the Future

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