Ninja Tune Records

Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy [DELUXE EDITION, WHITE VINYL, Silkscreened Sleeve, Poster, Stencil] – New LP

$ 34.00

Limited edition 140g white vinyl housed in a handmade canvas board 12” sleeve with silkscreen special ink exclusive artwork cover, 12 panel fold-out poster and exclusive stencil. Housed in a white sleeve.

Young Fathers were christened in 2008, named after the fact that all three members were named for their fathers.. They are: ‘G’ Hastings, from Drylaw, Edinburgh, Alloysious Massaquoi, originally from Liberia via Ghana and Kayus Bankole, born in Edinburgh to Nigerian parents but partially raised in Maryland in the USA, all 27 years old. This 10-track project signals a renewed back-to-basics approach, just the three of them in their basement studio, some equipment and microphones: everything always plugged in, everything always in reach.

Young Fathers - Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and G. Hastings - announce details of their brand new album Heavy Heavy. Set for release on February 3rd 2023 via Ninja Tune, it’s the group’s fourth album and their first since 2018’s album Cocoa Sugar. The 10-track project signals a renewed back-to-basics approach, just the three of them in their basement studio, some equipment and microphones: everything always plugged in, everything always in reach.

Young Fathers - Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and G. Hastings - announce details of their brand new album Heavy Heavy. oung Fathers - Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and G. Hastings - announce details of their brand new album Heavy Heavy. Set for release on February 3rd 2023 via Ninja Tune, it’s the group’s fourth album and their first since 2018’s album Cocoa Sugar. The 10-track project signals a renewed back-to-basics approach, just the three of them in their basement studio, some equipment and microphones: everything always plugged in, everything always in reach.
Young Fathers - Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and G. Hastings - announce details of their brand new album Heavy Heavy. Set for release on February 3rd 2023 via Ninja Tune, it’s the group’s fourth album and their first since 2018’s album Cocoa Sugar. The 10-track project signals a renewed back-to-basics approach, just the three of them in their basement studio, some equipment and microphones: everything always plugged in, everything always in reach.
the band write that Heavy Heavy could be a mood, or it could describe the smoothed granite of bass that supports the sound… or it could be a nod to the natural progression of boys to grown men and the inevitable toll of living, a joyous burden, relationships, family, the natural momentum of a group that has been around long enough to witness massive changes. “You let the demons out and deal with it,” reckons Kayus of the album. “Make sense of it after.”

For Young Fathers, there’s no dress code required. Dancing, not moshing. Hips jerking, feet slipping, brain firing in Catherine Wheel sparks of joy and empathy. Underground but never dark. Still young, after some years, even as the heavy, heavy weight of the world seems to grow day by day.

released February 3, 2023

Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) spoke the truth (and the truth under his tongue was sometimes a hammer, sometimes an anvil, sometimes a sickle, sometimes just a breath or a blast). Baraka had no tongue in cheek. Sometimes he drew his language (his thought) and in the barrel of his language (his thought), there was the cartridge of criticism, the cartridge of ranting, the cartridge of analysis, the cartridge of sedition, the cartridge of poetry, the cartridge of music. Heroes Are Gang Leaders have the same outspokenness that goes in all directions, that makes absolutely everything a target and that liberates what it touches, it is a gathering of the tribes, an assembly and an assemblage of poets and musicians who use the same miraculous weapons, as Aimé Césaire, a close relative of Baraka / Jones, said.

In Paris, HAGL did this. They found the asylum, the outpost. They fired all their tongues. Like Charlie Parker's Back Home Blues or Jayne Cortez's Taking the Blues Back Home. And your eyelids are heavy. A great heat invades you, a torpor takes possession of your body. All voices, all languages are viruses, the stories they tell are virulent. A musical instrument, like a poetic instrument, is used to pick up and scramble signals. Don't wake up. Not yet. All that's left is to try and swarm. It is done now. Now you will open your eyes. You breathe deeply. Count silently to three, and at three open your eyes. Come back to yourself. Do not resist. Resist. Everything remains to be done. You know what to do. One, two, three...Open your ears. -- Alexandre Pierrepont

released 2022

Thomas Sayers Ellis, bandleader poet
James Brandon Lewis, tenor sax
Luke Stewart, bass
Melanie Dyer, viola, vocals
Nettie Chickering, voice
Jenna Camille, piano, vocals
Randall Horton, poet
Devin Brahja Waldman, alto sax, synthesizer
Bonita Lee Penn, poet
Heru Shabaka-ra, trumpet
Brandon Moses, guitar
Warren "Trae" Crudup, III, drums

Graphic design by Sergio Vezzali

All music by James Brandon Lewis Music (ASCAP) and Thomas Sayers Ellis (ASCAP)
Produced by Thomas Sayers Ellis and James Brandon Lewis

577 Records is an independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York operating since 2001

More from this collection

Various Artists - Six Feet Under [1958-1966] – New LP

Regular price $ 15.00

Bratmobile - Pottymouth (pink vinyl)- New LP

Regular price $ 25.00

Cold Feet – Punk Entity [COKE BOTTLE CLEAR VINYL; Baltimore HC] - New LP

Regular price $ 17.00

Sick Thoughts - Heaven is No Fun - New LP

Regular price $ 20.00