New York, NY (Top40 Charts) This Friday January 29th Karsh Kale will release his forthcoming album UP on Six Degrees Records. The album can now be heard via an exclusive stream on Glide Magazine. Glide observes "Kale is an expert at crafting jet-setting dance music that brings cultures from seemingly every corner of the planet together. The beauty of UP is that Kale never loses sight of his own connections to the music and culture of India, using Carnatic melodies, tablas, and Bansuri flutes to complement rich, expansive beats."
Listen: Karsh Kale - Up
The word prolific barely begins to describe Kale�s storied career. The British-born, New York City-raised producer and multi-instrumentalist of Indian heritage has spent the last two decades zigzagging the world, headlining major festivals and spinning records at the White House for Barack Obama. His track �Following Sunlight� recently debuted on Nerdist, as well as via KCRW�s �Today�s Top Tune.� He was also recently featured in The Big Takeover and Rolling Stone India. UP will mark Kale's fifth studio album for Six Degrees Records, and entered at #6 on the CMJ New World Chart as well as #10 on CMJ RPM.
While UP predominantly features Indian musicians, its reach is universal in scope. Kale cut his teeth as a drummer and tabla player, but quickly emerged as a producer and songwriter in his own right. In 2011 he opened at the Hollywood Bowl for Bollywood�s biggest composer, AR Rahman. That same year he joined Alicia Keys, the
Black Keys, Norah Jones, and Gary Clark, Jr. at a tribute concert for
George Harrison in New York City. Kale�s remix of
John Lennon & Yoko Ono�s �Give Peace a Chance� climbed into Billboard�s Top 10 Dance charts. Collaborations with
Imogen Heap and Anoushka Shankar have made him a go-to producer and player.
While the title of his new album implies ascension, the heart of this tale is transformation. Since the release of 2011�s Cinema, Kale has traveled between Brooklyn and
India some fifty times. �When you�re always traveling you�re never really ready to go,� he says, back in his Sunset Park home. �I�d be a father in Brooklyn one moment then fly to
India and go straight to a TV show or a festival.�
The emotional struggle between being a father and an artistic juggernaut can be heard on two songs, �Up� and �Shiva.� Kale mentions that the lyrics for the title track were written during a pendulum swing where he was feeling out of control, but that he was ultimately able to find comfort within the creative process- mixing the retro feel of the rock guitars with his signature tablas. Guitarist Warren Mendonsa, nephew of famed Bollywood composer Loy Mendonsa, creates an exceptional ambience on many of UP�s songs including "Shiva" where his epic guitar lies behind vocalist Benny Dayal�s version of a traditional Carnatik melody honoring India�s lord of destruction.
UP is currently available for digital pre-order via iTunes and Amazon.
