BUBBA
The album cuts and discrete singles that formed KAYTRANADA’s 2016 debut LP, *99.9%*, established the Montreal producer/DJ as a true champion of the underground. It wasn’t just evident in his features—which included UK garage/R&B singer Craig David, drummer/producer Karriem Riggins, and jazz experimenters BADBADNOTGOOD, to illustrate his stylistic range—but in the way he could synthesize those artists’ sounds into an amalgam of hip-hop, house, and soul that was both danceable and off-balance. When *99.9%* won that year’s Polaris Music Prize, it was clear that the Haiti-born KAYTRANADA, aka Louis Kevin Celestin, wouldn’t stay underground for much longer. His follow-up, *BUBBA*, might level up the guest list, but KAYTRANADA\'s guiding principles remain uncompromised. “I’m not trying to rebrand a sound, hoping to get a session \[with a high-profile artist\],” he tells Apple Music. Where KAYTRANADA goes, the vocalists follow, whether that’s Estelle punctuating the low-slung, lo-fi beat of “Oh No,” Pharrell getting gleefully lost in the slow-winding funk of “Midsection,” or Tinashe gliding over a loping house track. His instrumentals—all swervy synths, rubbery bass, drums that rush and drag, and filter sweeps in the French-touch tradition—find him homing in on his singular club sound even more. KAYTRANADA is so deeply committed to keeping a groove going that even a tune about securing one’s finances (“10%,” on which Kali Uchis manages to find a rhyme for “residuals”) can’t kill the vibe.
With an exceptional collaborative spirit and a highly refined sound, Kaytranada blesses this woeful decade with one last great dance record.
Following from 2016's blockbuster '99.9%', Kaytranada's stripped-back follow-up makes a late surge for the year's most addictive club record
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Two words were enough to send the internet into a frenzy late last month: "album. finito." A tweet, issued by Montreal-based Kaytranada, sig...
Kaytranada (née Louis Kevin Celestin) would make a fascinating case study for a music business course. A Montreal-raised bedroom producer’s
'BUBBA' by Kaytranada, album review by Adam Fink. The Canadian Producer/songwriter's new full-length, is now out via Sony Music