Name: Your Queen is a Reptile
Brand: Sons of Kemet

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

6736435

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2018-03-30

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Universal

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

00602567364351

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Sons of Kemet

Genre GB

Jazz

Label GB

Impulse!

US label.
Label Code: LC 0236 / LC LC 00236.
For unofficial releases/counterfeit/bootlegs, please [l132473].
[b]1960[/b] The Impulse! label was started as a jazz subsidiary of [l=Am-Par Record Corp.] under the direction of [a=Creed Taylor] and soon after the label's creation, [a=Bob Thiele].
In the 60s the Canadian versions of the label were manufactured by [l=Sparton Of Canada Ltd.] and wear the [l=Sparton Impulse! Records] label.
[b]1962[/b] The company names changed to [l=ABC-Paramount Records, Inc.] - The [l=Sparton Impulse! Records] remains to mention [l=Am-Par Record Corp.] after the company name changed.
[b]1967[/b] A new change to [l=ABC Records, Inc.] In this period sometimes a second [l=ABC Records] brand appears on the label.
[b]1974[/b] Versions on the concentric label design from the 70s commonly display the [l=ABC Impulse!] label brand.
It operated until 1979, though new recordings had stopped by 1977; it survived on with reissues.
[b]1979[/b] ABC was bought by [l=MCA Records] and Impulse! shut down along with all of the other ABC-affiliated labels.

Impulse is known as [i]The House That Trane Built[/i] because of [a=John Coltrane]'s 1961-67 association with the label.

MCA revived the label mainly as a reissue imprint with a few new releases in the 1980s. It was reactivated as part of MCA-owned [l1071] with new artist signings including [a=Diana Krall] in the 1990s. Following a series of major label buy-outs and mergers, Impulse! is now part of the [l=The Verve Music Group] unit of the larger multi-national [l=Universal Music Group].

Sons of Kemet is a British jazz band known for their unique and captivating sound. Led by the talented clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer Shabaka Hutchings, the group also features Oren Marshall on tuba, as well as Tom Skinner and Seb Rochford on drums.

With their impressive lineup of musicians, Sons of Kemet has gained recognition as a super-group in the jazz scene. Their music showcases a fusion of different styles and influences, creating an innovative and refreshing sound that captivates audiences worldwide.

Through their powerful performances and thought-provoking compositions, Sons of Kemet continues to push boundaries in the world of jazz music. With each album release, they prove themselves to be true pioneers in the genre, earning them a dedicated fan base and critical acclaim.

Back In Stock

Sons Of Kemet are born of many vital elements – including a name that nods to ancient Egyptian culture, and a line-up that comprises some of the most progressive 21st-century talents in British jazz and beyond. Band-leader, composer and sax and clarinet don Shabaka Hutchings (himself named after a Nubian pharaoh-philosopher) brings together his fiery vision alongside London based bandmates Tom Skinner and Seb Rochford (forming a dynamo duo on drums here) and latest addition Theon Cross (taking over from Oren Marshall on tuba). Taking inspiration from such diverse sources as the Afro-Caribbean carnival tradition and contemporary UK club culture of grime and dubstep, Your Queen Is A Reptile is party music with a purpose – like Fela Kuti and James Brown. The title itself is an attack on the concept of lineal superiority, the absurdity of the notion that one can possibly be more deserving by birthright. In his song titles, Hutchings offers alternate queens, powerful and influential Afro women from the famous to the familial (Ada Eastman of album opener My Queen Is Ada Eastman is Hutchings' great-grandmother).

With the group's drum interplay and tuba driven basslines, one can't help but be reminded of New Orleans' brass band and second-line traditions, yet the reference points here lie further to the Southeast, deep in Hutchings' Afro-Caribbean heritage. Poet Joshua Idehen's vocals on the opener are reminiscent of another brilliant British artist from the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, Linton Kwesi Johnson. Delivered with dramatic pacing and power, Idehen confronts themes of racism in contemporary London. My Queen Is Nanny Of The Maroons begins with a Nyabinghi-esque drum pattern – a nod to the spiritual music of the Rastas which was itself derived from the musical traditions of African slaves brought to Jamaica in the 17th and 18th century – while My Queen Is Angela Davis, perhaps the most "spiritual jazz" leaning track here, is informed by the Afro-centric sounds of late '60s America. It is these subtle allusions within Your Queen Is A Reptile that show Hutchings is not simply listing off names he read in a book, but rather he is paying homage to women that deeply inform his political views, compositional personality, his very self-identity.

Your Queen is a Reptile

Music GB

Buy Sons Of Kemet - Your Queen is a Reptile (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.