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Will Bates Delivers Masterful Album ‘The Pirate Album’

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With the release of his album, The Pirate Album, Will Bates—who is well-known for his vast body of work in cinema and television composition—has entered uncharted musical ground. Sketches from a forgotten project and a fifteen-foot balafon were the strange starting points for this project. First envisioned as a budding film score, the partnership with friend and drummer Mathias Kunzli took an unexpected turn when the renowned composer turned it into a significant release.

After the movie idea was abandoned, Bates repurposed balafon drawings to create The Pirate Album. He assembled a talented group of musicians, including drummer Spencer Cohen and jazz musician Quentin Collins, who helped transform the original doodles into complete tunes. Their input helped Bates create a unique and original musical experience.

Sonically, the Pirate Album is influenced by a wide range of genres and is thought to fall between Talking Heads and Eden Ahbez. But the album’s route wasn’t a straight line. Bates balanced his composing commissions over a period of eighteen months with sporadic record revivals. A breakthrough occurred when Bates’s own production firm, Fall On Your Sword, music supervisor Lucy Alper, was able to obtain a sync for one of the tunes. This encouraged Bates to finish the record.

In conclusion, the album is a creative collaboration by Bates, that showcases his creative spirit and rejection-response relationship. The album features nine diverse and sonically striking tracks, showcasing Bates’ status as an important artist in the music scene. The unique sound design and atmosphere make it a sensational listen, regardless of the setting.

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Kingdom Kome x RUEN see the “Cracks In The Foundation”

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Hip-Hop Heavyweight Kingdom Kome has just dropped a new single (with accompanying video).  “Cracks In the Foundation” (Produced by long-time collaborator RUEN) is a socially conscious dose of jazzy boom-bap.  As the emcee states “I was driving through my old neighborhood in Miami and it really had me thinking of the current state of the world today.  It got me in an introspective state and I made this message to the youth.”

Listen to “Cracks In The Foundation”: https://youtu.be/Nwp_07pDO6o?si=fb5RTd0wNDK7ZxxQ

Available via streaming platforms now, “Cracks In the Foundation” is the first leak from the Barrel Reserve LP fully produced by RUEN.  

Less than a year after the last collaborative LP the duo dropped, Malbec 2 Kingdom Kome reveals “we never stop working on music together.  A number of these tracks were recorded while we were preparing Malbec 2 but were better suited for a separate project.”

Following the high-end connoisseur angle, Barrel Reserve is expertly crafted boom-bap for the real hip-hop aficionado.  This extends to the album’s guest list, which includes Supreme Cerebral, Recognize Ali, Che Uno, DJ Exes, AjaxLo, Camarah Walleed and Soarse Spoken.

Kingdom Kome is still promoting his other recent LP for 2025 Alchemy II Ein Sof, which was entirely produced by another long-time production collaborator Onaje Jordan (Hometeam).

Stream / Purchase Alchemy IIhttps://kingdomkome.bandcamp.com/album/alchemy-2-ein-sof

More Info:

https://www.instagram.com/kingdomkome

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