Kiefer – Memory Bomb

 

1. Daydreaming feat. Cisco Swank, Luke Titus, Relyae, CARRTOONS 4:04
   (Kiefer Shackelford, Francisco Haye, Shearaton Carter II, Benjamin Carr)
   Cisco Swank (Vocals), Relyae (Vocals), CARRTOONS (Bass, Drum Programming), Luke Titus (Drums), Kiefer (Piano, Keys)

2. Nowhere Fast feat. Rae Khalil 3:34
   (Kiefer Shackelford, Kenya Rae Johnson)
   Rae Khalil (Vocals), Kiefer (Piano, Keys)

3. Overture feat. Nate Smith, Shibo 2:47
   (Kiefer Shackelford, Erik Shiboski, Nate Smith)
   Credits: Shibo (Bass, Modular Synths), Kiefer (Piano, Keys), Nate Smith (Drums)

 

4. NewLevels NewDevils feat. Tony Stone, Erick the Architect, CARRTOONS 3:20
   (Kiefer Shackelford, Benjamin Carr, Anthony Pierre, Erick Elliot)
   Kiefer (Piano, Keys), Tony Stone (Vocals), Erick the Architect (Vocals), CARRTOONS (Bass), Brandon Bae (Guitar)

 

5. Get to the Moon feat. Amber Navran, Relyae, CARRTOONS 4:14
   (Benjamin Carr, Kiefer Shackelford, Amber Navran, Shearaton Carter II)
   CARRTOONS (Bass), Kiefer (Piano, Keys), Amber Navran (Vocals), Relyae (Vocals)

6. Memory Bomb feat. Walter Smith III, Flanafi, Shibo 3:50
   (Kiefer Shackelford, Simon Martinez, Erik Shiboski, Walter Smith III)
   Walter Smith III (Tenor Saxophone), Flanafi (Guitar), Shibo (Bass, Modular Synths), Kiefer (Piano, Keys)

 

7. Entr’acte 1:30
   (Kiefer Shackelford)
   Estratos (Drums), Kiefer (Keys, Piano), CARRTOONS (Drum Programming)

8. Busyforya feat. Planet Giza, Shibo 3:34
   (Erik Shiboski, Kiefer Shackelford, Anthony Pierre, Marc-Yves Jean-Louis, Iheb Rami Brahimi, Gabriel Peck Fox)
   Kiefer (Keys), Shibo (Bass, Guitars, Synths), Planet Giza (Vocals, Drum Programming, Additional Production), Solomon Fox (Background Vocals)

 

9. Won’t Be Long feat. Amber Navran, Phil Beaudreau, Shibo 3:57
   (Amber Navran, Phil Beaudreau, Erik Shiboski, Kiefer Shackelford)
   Credits: Phil Beaudreau (Vocals, Trumpet, Violin, Guitars, Keys), Amber Navran (Vocals, Flute, Whistle), Shibo (Bass, Synths), Kiefer (Piano, Keys)

10. Don’t Fail Me Now 2:45
    (Kiefer Shackelford)
    Kiefer (Piano, Keys), CARRTOONS (Drum Programming)

 

11. Can’t Let a Good Thing Go feat. Gareth Donkin, CARRTOONS 4:16
    (Kiefer Shackelford, Benjamin Carr, Gareth Donkin)
    CARRTOONS (Bass, Drum Programming), Luke Titus (Drums), Gareth Donkin (Vocals), Kiefer (Piano, Keys)

 

12. As She Was feat. Omari Jazz, Shibo 3:33
    (Kiefer Shackelford, Erik Shiboski)
    Brandon Bae (Guitar), Omari Jazz (Drums, Percussion, Additional Programming), Shibo (Bass, Modular Synth), Kiefer (Piano, Keys)

13. I Let My Hair Grow 5:30
    (Kiefer Shackelford)
    Kiefer (Piano, Keys, Drum Programming)

Produced by: Kiefer, Shibo, CARRTOONS / Executive Producers: Kiefer, Shibo
Recorded by: Kiefer Shackelford & Shibo at Glasselland, Los Angeles, CA

Gerade erst hat Kiefer als einer der vier Musiker des neuen Blue-Note-Projekts FATHERS – gemeinsam mit Grammy-Gewinner Nate Smith, CARRTOONS und Kenny Beats – für Aufsehen gesorgt. Nun rückt der Pianist, Produzent und Grammy-Preisträger mit Memory Bomb, seinem ersten Soloalbum für Blue Note Records, selbst ins Zentrum.

Dass Kiefer ausgerechnet bei Blue Note unterschreibt, ist mehr als ein Karriereschritt. Es ist die Erfüllung eines lang gehegten Traums. Schon als Kind lernte er die Musik von John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon oder Sonny Clark über die Plattensammlung seines Vaters kennen – alles Aufnahmen aus dem Katalog des legendären Jazzlabels. Heute selbst Teil dieser Geschichte zu sein, beschreibt der Musiker als einen ebenso emotionalen wie lebensverändernden Moment.

Mit Memory Bomb präsentiert Kiefer ein Album, das seinen unverwechselbaren Stil auf den Punkt bringt. Seit Jahren bewegt sich der Kalifornier selbstverständlich zwischen Jazzharmonik, Hip-Hop-Produktion und Beat-Kultur, mit einer musikalischen Sprache, die sich gängigen Genrebezeichnungen entzieht. Statt sie mit dem trendigen Begriff Jazz Adjacent zu beschreiben, spricht Kiefer lieber von Over The Breaks: Musik, die Jazz, Hip-Hop, Soul und elektronische Klangwelten organisch miteinander verbindet.

Der Titel Memory Bomb versteht sich als poetische Umschreibung für einen Traum. Entsprechend entfaltet das Album eine schwebende, cineastische Atmosphäre, in der improvisatorische Offenheit auf präzise produzierte Beats trifft. Melodische Motive entwickeln sich stetig weiter, Grooves stehen gleichberechtigt neben harmonischer Raffinesse, und jeder Song eröffnet neue Perspektiven zwischen Intimität und rhythmischer Energie.

Für sein Blue-Note-Debüt holte Kiefer seine langjährigen Weggefährten CARRTOONS und Shibo als Co-Produzenten ins Studio. Ergänzt wird das Album durch ein hochkarätiges Ensemble mit Nate Smith, Walter Smith III, Erick the Architect, Planet Giza, Tony Stone, Luke Titus, Amber Navran (Moonchild), Cisco Swank, Rae Khalil, Phil Beaudreau, Gareth Donkin und weiteren Gästen. Die unterschiedlichen musikalischen Hintergründe verschmelzen dabei zu einem Klangbild, das ebenso geschlossen wie überraschend wirkt.

Blue-Note-Präsident Don Was sieht in Kiefer einen der wichtigsten Vertreter einer neuen Musikergeneration: „Kiefer repräsentiert eine Generation von Pianisten und Komponisten, die gleichermaßen in Jazzharmonik, Hip-Hop-Produktion und Beat-Kultur zu Hause ist. Hinter seiner modernen Produktionsästhetik steht ein außergewöhnlich emotionaler Musiker mit einer unverwechselbaren kompositorischen Handschrift.“

Der in San Diego geborene Kiefer Shackelford studierte Jazz an der UCLA bei Gitarrenlegende Kenny Burrell, bevor er mit gefeierten Veröffentlichungen auf Stones Throw Records internationale Aufmerksamkeit erlangte. Sein NPR Tiny Desk Concert aus dem Jahr 2024 zählt zu den meistbeachteten Performances der jüngeren Jazzszene. Darüber hinaus arbeitete er als Produzent, Komponist und Musiker mit Künstlern wie Anderson .Paak, Drake, Dr. Dre, De La Soul, Pete Rock, KAYTRANADA, Kenny Beats, Stanley Clarke und Walter Smith III zusammen und wurde für seine Arbeit mit Anderson .Paak mit einem Grammy ausgezeichnet.

Mit Memory Bomb legt Kiefer nun das bislang persönlichste Statement seiner Karriere vor. Es ist ein Album, das Jazz nicht neu definieren will, sondern ihn selbstverständlich mit den Klangsprachen der Gegenwart verbindet – elegant, Groove-orientiert und mit einer individuellen musikalischen Handschrift.

INFO

One of LA’s best kept musical secrets, Kiefer has been described as a musician who doesn’t play keys with his fingers, but with his soul, which just about sums up in as simple terms as possible the artistry of this truly gifted individual who has re-defined that happy place between jazz improvisation and hip-hop beat-making. His distinctive musical style, which he calls ‘Over The Breaks,’ reaches new heights of creativity on Memory Bomb, his solo debut for Blue Note Records.

Raised in San Diego, Kiefer Shackelford’s upbringing consisted of parents who were both aerospace engineers and keen pianists who both influenced him in their own way. His mother taught him at a very young age how to read music and play piano including simple Bach minuets. His father was a big lover of jazz, and Blue Note in particular, whose records included the hard bop of Sonny Clark and the soul jazz of Gene Harris. Kiefer would endlessly listen to Kind Of Blue, and after reading Miles Davis’s biography at 13, he knew he wanted to become a jazz musician. All during high school he studied jazz piano with a local teacher and went on to attend UCLA where Blue Note legend guitarist Kenny Burrell, who was head of the jazz program, became one of his tutors all through his college career.

After college Kiefer got signed to Stones Throw Records where he began to establish his musical identity and gain notice with a series of releases including Happysad, Between Days, and It’s Ok, B U. His musical resume now includes collabs with Dr. Dre, De La Soul, Pete Rock, Anderson .Paak, Kaytranada, Terrace Martin, and many others.

Back in 2021 he’d heard that the legendary Don Was, President of Blue Note Records, was taking an interest his work and when time came to look for new partnerships to help him communicate his art to an appreciative audience and he realized that Blue Note would be a great place to do just that. He regards being signed to Blue Note as an “awesome gift” and a huge honor as well as a sentimental full circle moment after having grown up listening to Blue Note. The new collective project FATHERS—with Kiefer, bassist CARRTOONS, drummer Nate Smith, and producer Kenneth Blume—was the first full-length album on the label to feature the keyboardist.

Kiefer is a great believer in embracing new influences and new styles by way of collaboration with others and that’s where the journey to his first Blue Note leader album starts. His first priority was to get his two best friends—CARRTOONS and Shibo—to co-produce the album with him as they completely understood his sound, his harmony and were both extremely adept at drum programming. This mindset of innovation through collaboration extended to the inclusion of a whole host of vocalists, rappers and stellar musicians to produce interesting combinations leading to something new and exciting that still sounded like a Kiefer thing.

The album title ‘Memory Bomb’ is the poetic way of saying ‘A Dream.’ For Kiefer, there are three types, the sort you experience when you sleep, the wishful longing type, and the ambitious type – and those themes populate the direction of some, if not all, of the songs on this album. There’s a real lyrical feel to Memory Bomb as it tells a story, and thanks to its improvisational moments, one that changes every time you listen to it. It’s wistful, poetic, and groove driven all connected by that central feeling of being in a dreamscape of Kiefer’s making.

He describes the creative process for this LP as being driven by the need to find a creative space between jazz and hip-hop and the starting point involved the inclusion of acclaimed drummer Nate Smith, who lays it down on the smacking “Overture.” Kiefer says Smith “can play hip-hop, sound like he’s playing for Steely Dan, or for Betty Carter, or odd meters for Dave Holland, funk for Vulfpeck – he can do all these things and sound signature in all of them.”

He expresses the same level of admiration for the other contributors across the album: rappers Tony Stone and Erick the Architect who trade verses on “NewLevels NewDevils”; hip-hop trio Planet Giza who light up the groove-laden “BusyForYa”; saxophonist Walter Smith III and guitarist Flanafi who create the evocative textures of the wistful title track “Memory Bomb.” The album also features contributions from the likes of Cisco Swank, Luke Titus, Relyae, Rae Khalil, Moonchild’s Amber Navran, Phil Beaudreau, Gareth Donkin, and Omari Jazz.

 

Kiefer describes most of the people on the LP as his LA ‘hangouts,’ some old, some new, but he makes special mention of Shibo, a beat maker he met at UCLA who introduced Kiefer to the world of Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Low End Theory, and others which had a profound influence on his creative path. Over the past several years the constellation of talents heard across Memory Bomb have thrived in that space that Kiefer describes as ‘Over The Breaks,’ a term derived from a J Dilla track which for Kiefer means any artist who continues to push those boundaries.

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