Baba Ali have released new single ‘Black & Blue‘ via Yard Act‘s Zen F.C. label. This is from their double A-side ‘Living It Up’ / Black & Blue‘. It is a synth-laden track of heavy electronica, full of beats and with a slightly distorted vocal creating a dancefloor friendly clanking industrial soundscape.
Baba Ali are vocalist Baba Doherty and guitarist Nik Balchin, and Baba expands on the track:
“We ended up reacting to the beginning of lockdown by writing a tonne of new songs in my basement in New Jersey. Some of the tracks ended up forming a mixtape that we put out on Bandcamp. ‘Black & Blue’ was a song from that collection of songs, and one we were really happy with at the time, so this was an interesting opportunity to open the track up again and see how our experiences since that period had changed our approach to recording.
“It is a song I am always trying to convince Nik (guitarist/synths) to add to our live set, but I don’t even think he can even remember the tuning he used for it. Hopefully giving the song an official release will kind of force his hands on that one.”
Yard Act’s James Smith and Ryan Needham say of the release:
“We loved Baba Ali’s music from the moment we heard it. They’re joining us for our debut album tour in February. When Baba sent through some new tunes he and his bandmate Nik were working on we saw an opportunity to reboot Zen F.C., and to preserve on wax and share some great music with the world. It was a no-brainer for us. We are honoured, we are buzzed to have Baba Ali as the first ever non-YA release on Zen F.C. – follow the label, there will be much more to come in the future.”
Baba Ali released a series of early singles on Danger Mouse’s 30th Century Records before releasing their debut album Memory Device in August of last year via Memphis Industries. The album had airplay on BBC 6Music as an Album of the Day plus exposure on KEXP and features in the Observer and Sunday Times.
2022 is looking busy with a support slot with Yard Act on their forthcoming sold out tour of the UK, followed by a US tour including shows at SXSW and their own run of headline dates in the UK & EU.
For more information on Baba Ali please check out their facebook and bandcamp.
Baba Ali 2022 Live Dates
Thursday 17 February – Village Underground, London, UK (w/Yard Act)
Friday 18 February – Patterns, Brighton, UK (w/Yard Act)
Saturday 19 February – The Joiners, Southampton, UK (w/Yard Act)
Monday 21 February – Exchange, Bristol, UK (w/Yard Act)
Tuesday 22 February – Clwb Ifor Bach, UK Cardiff (w/Yard Act)
Wednesday 23 February – Bodega Social, Nottingham, UK (w/Yard Act)
Thursday 24 February – The White Hotel, Salford, UK (w/Yard Act)
25 February – The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge, UK (w/Yard Act)
Saturday 26 February – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK (w/Yard Act)
Tuesday 1 March – The Cluny, Newcastle, UK (w/Yard Act)
Wednesday 2 March – The Caves, Edinburgh, UK (w/Yard Act)
Thursday 3 March – Mono, Glasgow, UK (w/Yard Act)
Monday 14 – Sunday 20 March – SXSW, Austin, US
Monday 25 April – Le Pop-Up du Label, Paris, FR
Wednesday 27 April – Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield, UK
Thursday 28 April – Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, UK
Friday 29 April – Yes Basement, Manchester, UK
Wednesday 4 May – Rough Trade, Bristol, UK
Thursday 5 May – The Cavern, Exeter, UK
Saturday 7 May – The Dark Horse, Birmingham, UK
Sunday 8 May – Green Door Store, Brighton, UK
