Last year, people celebrated 50u hip-hop's anniversary with months of star-studded concerts, tributes, museum exhibitions and more – but that wasn't the only genre celebrating its golden anniversary in 2023. Soca – which Kes frontman Kees Dieffenthaller, award-winning the Road March, describes as “Joyful music, a young version of calypso… a mix of afro, Indian and 'world' rhythms in one place” — also celebrated the half-century milestone.
To kick off the next 50 years of soca evolution, Kes returned with her first studio album in ten years, Man without a door. Inspired by a man who lived in a house without a door – whom Kes met while wandering around Trinidad and rediscovering his favorite places on the island – the new LP is a manifestation of this man's energy. “He's just living free,” he says. “I felt that way creatively at the time. I I am the man without a door. I want to create that world based on that experience.”
The new album marks something of a renaissance for Kes. The band was officially formed in 2005 and has for nearly two decades delivered some of the most dominant carnival anthems of the young century. From instant soca classics like “Comfortable” (2011) to more tunes like “Hello” (2017), Kes' unique sound and live show have taken the band to international stages such as Essence festival and The Late Show with Stephen Colbertand collaborations with it like his Wizkid and Snoop Dogg.
Soca, of course, is infused with live instruments at its core. Although the genre has recently begun to veer in the direction of the producer, Kes remains steadfast in his commitment to maintaining the legacy of playing live, especially on studio recordings. “It goes back to the tradition of it all,” he muses. “In a band, you understand how different people play the same instruments differently. There is something very powerful about actually attending to what is, rather than [getting it] off the computer. Live instruments also give a unique blend and mix. You can't play the same thing twice, it's a fingerprint unique to that time and air. We can from this living world and that is a big part of our whole act. I feel like there's a hidden language that translates to people through live music.”
Although Man without a door marks Kes' first self-released studio LP in a decade We Home – a joyous live album that redefines the band's catalog – during the pandemic (28 Aug 2020). At the same time, the band was also working on several singles that would eventually become part of it Man without a door. “Act We Home it was therapy,” reveals Kes. “It felt like closing a chapter in my creative life where I pay tribute to the last decade of music I've been making. [Doing] We Home while creating new music felt like death and beginning at the same time. Both are glorious in their own ways.”
The new LP enlists an impressive list of guest stars to perform Kes' take on soca in different styles and sonic traditions, including Shaggy, Queen Omega, Busy Signal, Dwala, Tano, J Perry and Michaël Brun. While Kes is most excited about “Rise Up,” a collaboration with fellow Trinbagonian Queen Omega, whose music he calls “powerful,” he also highlights his work with J. Perry and Michael Brun, noting, “We lived freedom due [Haiti]. I just really wanted it to be part of my Caribbean experience musically. The language barrier and history have kept a lot of us apart, it was important for them to be on this record.”
For Kes, Man without a door is part of a concerted effort to usher in the next era of soca. Despite the genre's storied history, its global crossover appeal has been somewhat limited, due to its reliance on single releases dated to the Carnival season calendar. “We as a species need to diversify across all dimensions,” Kes proclaims. “Get some more energy out of the Carnival calendar situation and come inside Advertising sign and enter different spaces and create partnerships that bridge the gaps. It's time to really position ourselves in a global way and I think creating bodies of work is very important [for that].”
“Everybody listens to soca. There's that soca song that caught someone's ear that influenced the next studio session. We all know that,” says Kes. “[Soca] he has given the world a special energy that only he can give. And there are still so many words to discover.”
Keep reading to find out the stories behind five of Kes' favorite tracks on the band's brand new Man without a door album, he said in his own words.
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“Jolene” (with Dwala)
“Jolene” was the first track. It came about when we were locked up and I was happy to be on the island. At least I have some beachy and homemade food, you know? [Laughs.] I was swinging my hammer, listening to a piece of music and it came to me. The sound of “Jolene” touches a lot of different genres – Afrobeat, some traditional calypso, some R&B, you know? I felt like this was a cool sound we fell into, how about making the whole project based on free painting? Hence the name, Man Without a Door – a creatively free space. So “Jolene” really kicked it off – and it's more of a traditional calypso/language vibe. Double strong atmosphere.
We wanted to have a visual that captured that as well, so as much as I love making new music, I also love making visuals to paint the picture. So we did it in our fishing village and [it’s] very rustic, a common island life shared by all islands around the world. It was a fun project and I'm so glad it was the first one [song] to start everything.
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“Tack Back” (with Tano)
“Tack Back”, to the American public, means “spin the block”. [Laughs.] What happens in Carnival, what happens on the island, what happens in life! It's really a song geared towards the Halloween vibe, which is all about the party and this world.
We had a lot of fun not only with the sound—I think this song taps into a semi-afrobeat vibe—but the vocal take is a little bit different. The baseline is a heavy 90's feel, there are a lot of nice elements to it that I like. When we were writing the track, we wanted to capture the sweet soca of the 90s, with Crossfire and all these bands that were creating a soca sound that I thought was very important. We wanted to capture that sound back in that music with a little extra material. The writing session was a really good time. We were having fun and I felt like that vibe carried over to the track. Even the old school brass lines, that's all that classic soca feel that we wanted to capture now. I think it's still fresh and it gives you a feeling when you hear those instruments.
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“Banga”
“Banga” was actually out of a writing camp. Every once in a while, I'll settle in a place and bring food, bring vibes and bring people, and we write. We had the Jamaican Carnival and I stayed for a few extras [days[ to do this writing camp in JA. JA is just such a beautiful island and it’s away from home, so there’s a sense of urgency to get something done. Again, it was out of fun. “Banga” is not a real world, we just made it up where you could put any meaning towards what it is. It sings how it feels. For us, it was just that blend. It sounds like it could swing in an Afrobeats way; it sounds like it could swing in a reggaetón way. With “Banga,” a lot of other genres are plugged into the sound of it, yet it was still us as Trinbagonians. You have to interpret it the way that you would like to interpret it. It’s not set in stone what it is. I love that creation.
And the visual again was fun to do! The visual was me trying to be in different looks and different scenes. The song feels like a crush from long ago, from when you were a kid. All the awkwardness that came with, you know? So we [decided to] to have something based in 80s Trinidad — like how we used to party at home, what we wore and how we thought we looked so cool. We probably prepared for the whole month to throw this party! We really wanted to capture what it was, so both processes were a great moment. It's playful, and that's a part of who I am.
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“Miracle” (with Tano)
“Miracle” was an experiment done right! There are two vibes of soca: there's a groove side and there's power soca. I appreciate power soca, but it's much harder for me to write and create on it this cycle. Every once in a while, I find a project or two that makes sense or fits my mood. I felt like “Miracle” was such a miracle – no pun intended – it really had my R&B side, my intimate side, but in a song that can be enjoyed on the streets of Carnival.
It was a love song between two people, but also a love song for the festival itself. The way we come together every year, it's a miracle the way we meet and do this thing. It does something different. I always say, when three or more get together something changes. I feel like that happens every Carnival, when you're around that one person who really lights you up. I felt that “Miracle” was very familiar, but also “stadium”, so it deserved to be on this album.
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“Rise Up” (featuring Queen Omega)
We had this track for a while and it always hit me. I really wanted to write a song that spoke to my fighting side. There's a certain kind of reggae that I grew up with, we're talking about Sizzla, we're talking about Capleton, “Gideon Boot!” These artists were fighting the good fight and fighting for humanity. I felt that the sound of the music activated that part of me.
I have a deep love for humanity and sometimes a deep concern about where things are going. I really wanted to write a song to capture that part of me. It is a humanity thing where we make the changes as a people instead of waiting for a few to decide for us all. We need to come together and make the changes we want to see happen in the world. The song is really a call to that.
I wanted a proper collaboration with this track because I felt the music was so amazing [that] it couldn't just be me. [Laughs.] I had to ask someone else about it. I've been following this reggae artist from Trinidad called Queen Omega, and I think she's just one of the greatest — her talent, live her talent, her recordings, everything. He did a dubplate for Lion Sound and it was just flawless. I felt it. She grew up where I grew up, she's there! Match.
One day, I just pulled up. We talked on Instagram and I pulled up to her house and played her the track, and she said, “I love it.” And then he did. This piece to me is history. It's one of those tracks that most people would call “left field,” but I like it because it's different. I'm really happy about it and I'm really looking forward to people accepting it.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/kes-man-with-no-door-favorite-songs-soca/
