Details of a forthcoming album from late Afrobeat icon Tony Allen — featuring work with Danny Brown, Skepta, Jeremiah Jae and more — have surfaced online.
Multiple pre-order pages from French music retailers point to a new album titled There Is No End arriving posthumously on April 30 through Blue Note Records, which would mark a year to the day the famed drummer and songwriter passed away in Paris at age 79.
A tracklisting from an RDM Vidéo listing points to involvement of the aforementioned collaborators, in addition to ZelooperZ, Ben Okri, Sampa the Great, Lava La Rue, Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, Tsunami, Nah Eeto, Koreatown Oddity Nate Bone and Marlowe (L'Orange and Solemn Brigham).
An included abstract for There Is No End notes (en français) that Allen sought to work with younger artists, particularly the "new generation of rappers," to "give them a voice in a period of global turbulence where music has never been more important" — not only as a "weapon" like Fela Kuti once politically pointed to, but as "medicine to fight a fractured modern world."
UPDATE (3/12, 9 a.m. ET): There Is No End has now been officially confirmed by Blue Note, and you can hear the first single "Cosmosis" featuring Skepta and Ben Okiri below.
Brown acknowledged his involvement on Twitter today upon being presented with his name on the tracklist, asking followers to keep things quiet about "Deer In Headlights."
Multiple pre-order pages from French music retailers point to a new album titled There Is No End arriving posthumously on April 30 through Blue Note Records, which would mark a year to the day the famed drummer and songwriter passed away in Paris at age 79.
A tracklisting from an RDM Vidéo listing points to involvement of the aforementioned collaborators, in addition to ZelooperZ, Ben Okri, Sampa the Great, Lava La Rue, Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, Tsunami, Nah Eeto, Koreatown Oddity Nate Bone and Marlowe (L'Orange and Solemn Brigham).
An included abstract for There Is No End notes (en français) that Allen sought to work with younger artists, particularly the "new generation of rappers," to "give them a voice in a period of global turbulence where music has never been more important" — not only as a "weapon" like Fela Kuti once politically pointed to, but as "medicine to fight a fractured modern world."
UPDATE (3/12, 9 a.m. ET): There Is No End has now been officially confirmed by Blue Note, and you can hear the first single "Cosmosis" featuring Skepta and Ben Okiri below.
Brown acknowledged his involvement on Twitter today upon being presented with his name on the tracklist, asking followers to keep things quiet about "Deer In Headlights."
Days after the artist's April 2020 passing, Gorillaz shared song "How Far?," which featured both Allen and Skepta. Damon Albarn noted that "There is no end" both in paying tribute to Allen on social media and in an accompanying statement about the Gorillaz collaboration, which was recorded prior to the pandemic.
Last March saw Allen release the collaborative Rejoice with trumpeter Hugh Masekela, which collected the pair's recordings from sessions held in 2010. Before that, he delivered solo LP The Source in 2017.
There Is No End:
1. Tony's Praeludium
2. Stumbling Down (ft. Sampa the Great)
3. Crushed Grapes (ft. Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon)
4. Très Magnifique (ft. Tsunami)
5. Mau Mau (ft. Mah Eeto)
6. Coonta Kinte (ft. ZeeloperZ)
7. Rich Black (ft. The Koreatown Oddity)
8. One Inna Million (ft. Lava La Rue)
9. Gang on Holiday (Em I Go We?) (ft. Jeremiah Jae)
10. Deer in Headlights (ft. Danny Brown)
11. Hurt Your Soul (ft. Nate Bone)
12. My Own (ft. Marlowe)
13. Cosmosis (ft. Ben Okri and Skepta)
14. There's No End
Last March saw Allen release the collaborative Rejoice with trumpeter Hugh Masekela, which collected the pair's recordings from sessions held in 2010. Before that, he delivered solo LP The Source in 2017.
There Is No End:
1. Tony's Praeludium
2. Stumbling Down (ft. Sampa the Great)
3. Crushed Grapes (ft. Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon)
4. Très Magnifique (ft. Tsunami)
5. Mau Mau (ft. Mah Eeto)
6. Coonta Kinte (ft. ZeeloperZ)
7. Rich Black (ft. The Koreatown Oddity)
8. One Inna Million (ft. Lava La Rue)
9. Gang on Holiday (Em I Go We?) (ft. Jeremiah Jae)
10. Deer in Headlights (ft. Danny Brown)
11. Hurt Your Soul (ft. Nate Bone)
12. My Own (ft. Marlowe)
13. Cosmosis (ft. Ben Okri and Skepta)
14. There's No End