BRANDON COLEMAN Shares Video for New Track “All Around The World”
New Album Resistance out Sept. 14th via Brainfeeder Album Release Show w/ 10-Piece BandSept. 13th @ Lodge Room in Los Angeles [tix here]
(photo credit: Visual Thought)
Brandon Coleman has unveiled a video for new track “All Around The World” lifted from his forthcoming funk odyssey Resistance, released September 14th via Brainfeeder. With his inimitable vocoded vocal front and centre, reclining on a sleek, instantly danceable uptempo jam, it is abundantly clear why his friend and bandmate Kamasi Washington refers to him as “Professor Boogie”.
The virtuoso pianist, who has worked with countless icons, from Ciara to Mulatu Astatke and Childish Gambino to Babyface, stitches together threads from jazz, disco, boogie, R&B, electro, soul and Funk on his new album Resistance. “I’ve been in the studio a lot in recent years, writing with this or that artist and I always felt constrained… like I had to compromise and submit to a ‘pop’ sensibility,” he explains. “This time I just wanted to create something that was really free… something original… to incorporate all the styles that I represent, because often when I’ve tried to do that in the past it’s been met with resistance.”
The Resistance album launch party is at the Lodge Room in Highland Park, Los Angeles on September 13. Brandon Coleman will be performing with a 10-piece band. Tickets available HERE.
Tour dates:
9/13 - Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room (Resistance Album Launch Party)
WATCH “ALL AROUND THE WORLD” VIDEO HERE
Resistance is a powerful statement from an artist who is passionate about hybridity and innovation - stitching together threads from jazz, disco, boogie, R&B, electro, soul and Funk. “I’ve been in the studio a lot in recent years, writing with this or that artist and I always felt constrained… like I had to compromise and submit to a ‘pop’ sensibility,” Coleman explains. “This time I just wanted to create something that was really free… something original… to incorporate all the styles that I represent, because often when I’ve tried to do that in the past it’s been met with resistance.”
The list of artists with whom Brandon Coleman has collaborated is simultaneously inspiring and exhausting. From Ciara to Mulatu Astatke and Childish Gambino to Shuggie Otis... but one of his most consistent studio partners during the last decade has been R&B icon Babyface. “I’ve learned a lot from him... working on countless projects... he would just call me at any time and say: ‘Hey man, I’m in the studio with Aretha Franklin at the piano and I want you to come in and help us arrange some songs.’ And I would be like: ‘Erm ok, I’m on my way’,” he shakes his head and laughs. “Those experiences shaped the way I hear and appreciate music”.
Coleman’s epiphany came aged 16 when he’d only really just taken up piano. “My brother gave me a Herbie Hancock record - ‘Sunlight’,” he says. “I put it on and just kept listening to it on repeat ‘cos I couldn’t fathom how he was singing like that... it sounded electric. That was it for me.” Utterly bewitched by the marriage of human touch and robotic texture in those vocals, he moved on to Peter Frampton and Roger Troutman (celebrated for their mastery of the talk box) and decided to create his own signature synth patch for his vocals. “I wanted to take it further… if Siri could sing, this is how Siri would sing,” he laughs.
It is fitting that Resistance should arrive on the imprint founded by Flying Lotus - a perpetual free-thinker and champion of genre-exploding. “I can remember the first time I met him,” says Coleman. “It was at a ‘Suite For Ma Dukes’ rehearsal with Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and I walked in and noticed this mad set-up with crazy pedals and stuff and I’m usually the guy who has that. Who the hell does this guy think he is, doing what I do but different gear?… and then I was like ‘Holy shit - this is Flying Lotus!’” The pair have subsequently worked together on music for Bladerunner, FlyLo’s directorial debut Kuso and Brandon plays on Until The Quiet Comes and You’re Dead! too. It was an easy decision to sign the album to Brainfeeder: “It just feels like family, y’know?”, he explains. “Stephen [Thundercat] is there… plus I’ve toured a lot with Kamasi and the type of shows we were playing - the venues and the crowds - it wasn’t a jazz audience and I dug that. I feel like that was something that Brainfeeder brought to the table”.
PRE-ORDER BRANDON COLEMAN - RESISTANCE HERE:
Brandon Coleman - Resistance (September 14 via Brainfeeder) Tracklist: 1. Live For Today 2. All Around The World 3. A Letter To My Buggers 4. Addiction (feat. Sheera) 5. Sexy 6. There’s No Turning Back
7. Resistance
8. Sunday (feat. N’Dambi)
9. Just Reach FOr The Stars
10. Love
11. Giant Feelings (feat. Patrice Quinn & Techdizzle)
12. Walk Free
Follow Brandon Coleman: Twitter / Instagram / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Brainfeeder
