Of Kemet: Last News

Shabaka Hutchings – of bands including The Comet Is Coming and Sons Of Kemet – has issued a statement elaborating on his decision to stop playing saxophone from the end of this year.Hutchings first announced his plans to take a “hiatus” from the instrument on New Year’s Day, telling fans that – once this year is up – “I don’t know when or if I’ll return to the big metal horn”.Now, six months on from that announcement, he has provided a lengthier explanation of his decision, writing on social media: “What I do on stage when I play the sax is intense both physically and emotionally”.“I’m able to undertake the kind of intense touring which finds me on the road consistently”, he goes on, “treating the performance of a spiritual practice as a commodity to be sold repeatedly because of my enthusiasm towards what I’m doing. The moment this enthusiasm wanes in the slightest is the moment it’s time to reassess artistic orientation.

The Smile and Sons of Kemet – has announced a limited edition live album, recorded at one of his shows in London last year.It comes after the musician released the solo album ‘Voices of Bishara’ in 2022, which also featured performances from Robert Stillman and Chelsea Carmichael on woodwinds, Kareem Dayes on cello and Tom Herbert on bass.He then went on to perform numerous tracks from the LP at an intimate live venue in London called ‘Mu’ in January 2023 – which is located on Kingsland Road in North London and founded by the curators behind the neighbouring Brilliant Corners.Now, Skinner has announced that he will be sharing a live album following that show, which is set to arrive on May 10 via International Anthem, and features the renditions of the album’s tracks and more.The album Skinner shared in 2022 also saw the musician take inspiration from Abdul Wadud’s 1977 self-released solo cello album, ‘By Myself’, and on the night Skinner used the ‘Mu’ performance to put his own spin on Wadud’s ‘70s composition ‘Oasis’. You can check it out here, and look below for the album artwork as well as the full tracklist.‘Biashara’‘Red 2’‘The Journey’‘The Day After Tomorrow’‘Oasis’‘Camille’‘Happiness’‘Voices of Bishara Live at ‘Mu’’ is available in a deluxe package designed by Paul Camo of Studio Camo.

The Smile have debuted a new song called ‘Don’t Get Me Started’ at their recent live shows. Check out footage of the track below.The band – comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood alongside Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – broke out the unreleased song while on tour across the UK this month.The dates come in support of their latest album ‘Wall Of Eyes’, and have seen them break out some new tracks for the audience.It was at their show in Glasgow last week that Yorke and Co.

The Smile headlined the third night of the BBC 6 Music Festival last night (March 9), alongside the London Contemporary Orchestra – check out the video below. The COVID-formed, loose experimental band, comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, alongside Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, played a lengthy set at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse, the main body of which saw them joined by the classical orchestra.

The Smile have announced an extra London date on their March 2024 UK tour after phenomenal demand.The Radiohead side project – comprising Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – announced their UK and European tour back in November, alongside their new album ‘Wall Of Eyes‘.The band are due to kick off the tour at Dublin’s 3Arena on March 7 and play dates in Brighton, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham before finishing up with a show at London’s Alexandra Palace on March 23.They’ve now added a second London show at the Eventim Apollo on Sunday, March 10 due to “exceptional demand”.Tickets for the extra show go on sale this Friday (January 26) at 9am GMT from here. Fans can also sign up to the pre-sale here.A post shared by The Smile (@thesmiletheband)MARCH7 – Dublin, 3Arena 10 – London, Eventim Apollo 13 – Copenhagen, K.B. Hallen 15 – Brussels, Forest National 16 – Amsterdam, AFAS Live 18 – Brighton, Brighton Centre 19 – Manchester, O2 Apollo 20 – Glasgow, SEC Armadillo 22 – Birmingham, O2 Academy 23 – London, Alexandra PalaceThe Smile’s second album ‘Wall Of Eyes’ is out Friday, which NME described in four-star review as a “masterclass in pushing rock forward”, adding that it features “some of their best work since ‘In Rainbows'”.It added: “Where previously the comparisons to their Radiohead catalogue could warp expectations, the breadth of the material on offer here suggest that it could, eventually, flip that dynamic right on its head.”Reviewing The Smile live in New York City in 2022, NME described the show as an “expansive and dazzling spectacle”.

The Smile made a surprise appearance at a special screening event at London’s Prince Charles Cinema last night (Thursday January 18) – where the trio spoke about their creative process on new album ‘Wall Of Eyes’, working with director Paul Thomas Anderson, whether they felt any influence of The Beatles working at Abbey Road, and shared advice for struggling creatives.The event in the capital was to spotlight the band’s creative relationship with Anderson, and saw the premiere of a new silent film of never-before-seen footage of the waking of the band’s second album and new video ‘Friend Of A Friend’, as well as a full surround sound playback of the record. Anderson’s music video for ‘Wall Of Eyes’ was also screened, along with his short film ‘ANIMA’ made for Thom Yorke and a selection of videos made with Radiohead.After the full billed programme was complete, Yorke along with fellow Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner (formerly of Sons Of Kemet) then took to the stage for a Q&A session helmed by DJ and presenter Edith Bowman.

The Smile have announced new album ‘Wall Of Eyes’ and shared the title track – check it out below.The new album from the Radiohead side project – comprising Jonny Greenwood, bandmate Thom Yorke and former Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – is due out on January 26 via XL Recordings, which you can pre-order/pre-save here.The band have also announced news of a UK and European tour for 2024, where they’ll open at Dublin’s 3Arena on March 7 and finish up with a show at London’s Alexandra Palace on March 23. General sale tickets go live at 9am BST on Friday, November 17. You can buy your tickets here and find the full touring schedule below.Title track ‘Wall Of Eyes’ is out now and comes with a video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood have announced a new London art exhibition.The show, which is titled ‘The Crow Flies Part One’, is due to run at the Tin Man Art gallery at Cromwell Place in South Kensington between September 6-10.It’ll feature a series of new paintings that long-term friends and collaborators Yorke and Donwood created together over the past two years.Per a description, the works began as cover artwork for ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’, the 2022 debut album from Yorke’s side-project The Smile, whose line-up is completed by Radiohead‘s Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner.“The wider series will be presented alongside a Flemish woven tapestry commissioned by the artists in London to celebrate the album’s one-year anniversary,” the official listing reads.“This exhibition marks a significant moment in a 30-year artistic partnership for Yorke and Donwood, who worked on it together in Oxford and Brighton between 2021 and 2023. It takes its name from Ted Hughes’ poem Crow (1966-69), from which the band name The Smile is also derived, and draws inspiration from the Bodleian Libraries’ collection of Islamic pirate maps and 1960s US military topographic charts.“The works comprise a mixture of gouache, tempera and powdered mushroom on canvas and feature an extensive language of signs and symbols developed by the artists and codified via supporting imagery.”Tickets for the exhibition are available free of charge – you can book yours here.Donwood has created the art for all of Radiohead’s albums and promotional materials since 1994, as well as all of Yorke’s solo records.

The Smile have “a big backlog of ideas” for new music, according to their guitarist Jonny Greenwood.The band – Greenwood, his Radiohead bandmate Thom Yorke, and former Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – released their debut album ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’ in 2022. Earlier this year they confirmed that work had begun on a follow-up.Now, Greenwood has told Consequence that the band are “still firing off each other” and “wanna keep moving forward” with new music.“The frustration of having not had access to playing in a band for a couple of years [has] just built up a big backlog of ideas,” he said.

Black Midi have announced a special festival appearance where they’ll cover a range of tracks by The Beatles.The London trio are due to perform the special “one-off” gig at the festival Le Guess Who?, which takes place in Utrecht in the Netherlands this November.Writing on social media, Black Midi explained that former Standing On The Corner member Slauson Malone 1 – who has curated his own programme – had asked “to play a set of Beatles tunes” at the event.The band will play the Fab Four-themed show on Friday, November 10 – you can find ticket information here.A listing on the official Le Guess Who? website reads: “When listening to Britain’s cacophonous Black Midi, not many would be reminded of the world’s most agreeable band of all time. In fact, apart from sharing a homeland, the two groups seem to have little in common.“Thankfully, Le Guess Who? curator Slauson Malone 1 has enough imagination to disagree.

Radiohead‘s Jonny Greenwood has announced a new album with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa.‘Jarak Qaribak’ will come out on June 9 and is being previewed by a first single titled ‘Ashufak Shay’.Discussing the style of the music on the album in a press release, Tassa – who has previously toured with Radiohead – said: “When people listen to this music, I really love to imagine them thinking…what is this? It sounds 1970s, but there are drum machines, there are guitars but they’re singing in Arabic…what’s going on?”Greenwood discussed how the project compared to another past collaboration with an Israeli singer, Shye Ben Tzur, saying: “‘Jarak Qaribak’ presented a similar set of problems, in that you have all these scales which don’t conform to western major/minor scales, and have notes which involve quarter-tones, and it’s very hard to impose a chord sequence on these melodies. It usually makes them collapse. It’s like reducing the resolution on a colour photo until it’s just squares.”Listen to ‘Ashufak Shay’ below alongside watching an album teaser.1. ‘Djit Nishrab’ (feat. Ahmed Doma)2. ‘Ashufak Shay’ (feat. Rashid Al Najjar)3. ‘Taq ou-Dub’ (feat. Nour Freteikh)4. ‘Leylet Hub’ (feat. Mohssine Salaheddine)5. ‘Ya Mughir al-Ghazala’ (feat. Karrar Alsaadi)6. ‘Ahibak’ (feat. Safae Essafi)7. ‘Ya ‘Anid Ya Yaba’ (feat. Lynn A.)8. ‘Lhla Yzid Ikthar’More music looks set to be on the horizon for Greenwood, with both of his main projects hinting at future new material in recent weeks.This month, Radiohead drummer Philip Selway has said that the band will release new material “of some sort” in the “next couple of years”, while The Smile – the band of Greenwood, Thom Yorke and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – have been working on new

The Smile have confirmed that they have been working on their second album.The supergroup – made up of Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – told fans the news at the end of an email newsletter that was announcing additional North American tour dates. “We’re deep in recording, week 7,” The Smile wrote.

The Smile and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner has announced a new solo album, titled ‘Voices of Bishara’, that will arrive on November 4 on Brownswood, Nonesuch and International Anthem. See the album’s artwork and tracklist below.While Skinner has released solo albums previously under the name Hello Skinny, ‘Voices of Bishara’ marks the drummer’s first record under his own name.

The Smile have shared a new video for recent single ‘Pana-vision’ which featured in the final episode of Peaky Blinders.The Radiohead side project – comprised of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner – dropped the track back in April following the long-running BBC show’s season six finale.The band, shared a short a clip featuring Cillian Murphy flipping a coin in the air, yesterday.Now, they have dropped the full video for the track, which you can view below.Earlier this year, Peaky Blinders director Anthony Byrne revealed that Yorke and Greenwood had contributed some new and original music to the final season.“Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood contributed some original stuff,” he told NME. “I’m over the moon about all of that.

The Smile have teased a new video for recent single ‘Pana-vision’ which featured in the final episode of Peaky Blinders.The Radiohead side project – comprised of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet‘s Tom Skinner – shared the track back in April following the long-running BBC show’s season six finale.Now the band, have shared a short a clip of the eerie song which you can view below, featuring Cillian Murphy flipping a coin in the air.The band have announced that the full video will drop tomorrow (July 20) at 2pm BST.Coming tomorrow, 2pm BST.https://t.co/EenDATd51l pic.twitter.com/Ay9ocdlUTi— The Smile (@thesmiletheband) July 19, 2022Earlier this year, Peaky Blinders director Anthony Byrne revealed that Yorke and Greenwood had contributed some new and original music to the final season.“Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood contributed some original stuff,” he told NME. “I’m over the moon about all of that.

Radiohead‘s ‘Bloom’ performed by Thom Yorke has been shared for a Greenpeace advert during Shark Week.Yorke has contributed to the campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the plight of the global shark population, in a partnership with the environmental charity Greenpeace.The description for the advert reads: “In the last 50 years the global shark population has plummeted by 70 percent,” the video description notes. “Sharks are being wiped out by overfishing for profit.

Julian Casablancas has called The Smile’s set at this year’s Primavera Sound the “best show I’ve seen in years”.Radiohead and The Strokes were both performing last night (June 10) as part of the Barcelona festival’s second weekend.Casablancas shared a short video of The Smile – comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner – playing on his Instagram page. “Had my fucking mind blown yesterday, best show i’ve seen in YEARS ……The Smile (Thom Yorke / Johnny Greenwood) – shiiiiiiit that was good,” he captioned the post.“Like modern phillip glass with best of Radiohead or something… idk,” he continued.

Sons Of Kemet have announced that they’re set to break up after finishing up their 2022 touring schedule.The jazz quartet, led by saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and featuring Tom Skinner of Radiohead side-project The Smile on drums, were nominated for the 2018 Mercury Prize for ‘Your Queen Is A Reptile’.The band are set to play a host of gigs across 2022, including a show in Barcelona for Primavera Sound next week (June 6), and have told fans in a statement that the shows will be their last “for the foreseeable future.”The statement read: “This year will be the last chance to see us in the form to which you’ve grown accustomed.“After 10 years we have decided that from the end of our scheduled 2022 shows we will be closing this chapter of the band’s life for the foreseeable future. We’re excited to play our remaining gigs for you and to make this summer a fitting send off.”See the post below.A post shared by Sons Of Kemet (@sonsofkemet)Sons Of Kemet released their third album, ‘Black To The Future’, back in May of 2021.

Radiohead side-project The Smile debuted a new song called ‘Bodies Laughing’ during a recent show in Berlin – check out the footage below.The trio – comprising Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – are currently out on a European headline tour in support of their debut album ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’, which came out earlier this month.Last Friday (May 20) saw The Smile perform an unreleased number as part of a 16-track set at the German capital’s Tempodrom venue (via Setlist.FM).Footage of the first ‘Bodies Laughing’ airing has since emerged online. “So, yesterday we wrote another new song,” Yorke told the crowd.

IDLES are set to feature on the first episode of the relaunched live music show From The Basement.The show, which was created by producer and Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich, originally aired as a web TV series between 2006 and 2009.From The Basement will now return as a YouTube series, with Godrich producing the new episodes with James Chads and John Woollcombe.IDLES will kick off the relaunch of the series on June 1, with exclusive live sessions featuring the likes of Sons Of Kemet, Warpaint, Caribou, Squid and Nilüfer Yanya set to be posted up until October.Each episode will be accompanied by an additional song performance per artist that will be released exclusively to WeTransfer Premium and Pro subscribers, while audio recordings will be premiered on a new From The Basement station on Sonos Radio.IDLES frontman Joe Talbot said of the return of the series: “There’s an atmosphere on From The Basement that I haven’t seen equalled – it’s unlike anything else. There’s a sense of mythology behind it and it’s a dream for us to be involved.

Best known for his work with Sons Of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming, Shabaka Hutchings – now professionally known as just Shabaka – has announced a new solo mini-album, titled ‘Afrikan Culture’.“’Afrikan Culture’ was made around the idea of meditation and what it means for me to still my own mind and accept the music which comes to the surface”, he says.“It features various types of Shakuhachi [Japanese] flutes”, he adds, “and a new technique of creating that I’ve been experimenting with in layering many flutes together to create a forest of sound where melodies and rhythms float in space and emerge in glimpses”.The record is set for release on 20 May.