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Listen To “Solos,” An Urgent, Spiritual Reggaeton Edit By Kelman Duran

The Dominican producer’s debut album 1804 KIDS is due out August 4.

August 02, 2017

Kelman Duran feeds reggaeton rhythms through a compressor on his debut album, 1804 KIDS, which is a reference to the Haitian Revolution; in 1804, after a 12-year uprising, the island won independence from its colonial oppressors.

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On the L.A.-based Dominican artist's single "Solos," which features New York producer Mess Kid, he turns a song about unrequited love (Dominican-Puerto Rican singer Ozuna's "No Quiere Enamorarse" — s/o to my colleague Nazuk for the ID) into something more urgent. The vocals are sped up to the point of a squeal. Spread atop a swelling, choral synth line, "Solos" — Spanish for "alone" — has a spiritual undertone.

"Most of these rhythms come out of RAIL UP, a monthly [L.A. night] dedicated to Afro-Caribbean sounds," Kelman Duran told The FADER. "The title of the record is 1804 KIDS; a gesture alluding to the Haitian Revolution. The Haitian Revolution is something I think got passed down to us — to everyone in the Caribbean, that is. I think this is what interested Simone Trabucchi from Hundebiss in putting out the record; the constant reference to something that is at the point of being lost given the conditions of what it means to be Black in the Dominican Republic."

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Hundebiss Records will release Kelman Duran's debut album 1804 KIDS on August 4.