John Carroll Kirby releases the song “Mates”, the track is off his album Blowout, out June 30th via Stones Throw Records. The LP was inspired by a period in Costa Rica spent playing with local musicians and imagining “failed utopias”. Blowout teeters between two definitions of its title – a moment of destruction and one big party. In Costa Rica, Kirby contemplated episodes of collective madness or delusion, such as Fyre Festival and the Heaven’s Gate cult, imagining “a festival where everyone gets beamed up to utopia or heaven instead of starving or dying unfulfilled.” “Mates” is the ecstatic soundtrack to Kirby and friends rolling deep to the festival, and follows singles “Oropendola”and “Sun Go Down”.

Like charisma, a signature sound can’t be faked. Over six solo albums and dozens of collaborations, Kirby has finessed one recognisably his own, no matter what genre he’s working in. Once a dutiful student of ‘50s and ‘60s piano jazz, Kirby found a sound that felt true to him when he allowed spontaneity, improvisation and error into his playing: “I love a good ‘miss’ in music. Reverence is good for building a foundation, but you have to miss a bit for it to be truly your own.” With a stripped-down band accompanying him on Blowout.

John Carroll Kirby
Kirby Blowout
Tracklisting
Stones Throw Records

1. Oropendola
2. Mates
3. The Takedown
4. Hotel Jonny Chingas
5. Vertigo
6. So So So
7. Sun Go Down
8. Gecko Sound
9. Flying Cat
10. Mates (Dub)
11. So So So (Dub)
12. Hotel Jonny Chingas (Dub)

John Carroll Kirby 2023 Tour Dates

June 28 San Francisco, CA The Chapel †
July 30 Niigata, JP Fuji Rock †
Aug 5 Shanghai YongFoo Elite †
Aug 18 Los Angeles, CA Lodge Room
Aug 24 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Aug 26 Port Townsend, WA Thing Festival
Sep 13 Chicago, IL Sleeping Village
Sep 15 St Paul, MN Turf Club

† with Eddie Chacon

ptr-order Blowout by John Carol Kirby HERE