KOKOKO!
Announce US Tour for Spring 2025
New Album BUTU Out Now
via Transgressive Records
Pioneers of Kinshasa’s sonic revolution, KOKOKO! have announced details of a U.S. tour in Spring 2025 in support of their critically acclaimed second album BUTU, which is out now via Transgressive Records.
March 5 – 3 Dots Downtown, College State, PA
March 6 – Xanadu, Brooklyn, NY
March 7 – Race Brook Lodge, Sheffield, MA
March 8 – Mr. Smalls, Millvale, PA
March 9 – Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
March 12 – High Dive, Seattle, WA
March 13 – Holocene, Portland, OR
March 16 – Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco, CA
March 18 – Lodge Room, Los Angeles, CA
March 20 – The Ballroom, Austin, TX
March 21 – Airlift – New Orleans, LA
Earning high praise from Pitchfork (7.3), The FADER, Resident Advisor, Grammy.com. Brooklyn Vegan, The Arts Desk and performing stunning live sessions for NPR’s Tiny Desk and KEXP, BUTU, the follow up to 2019’s Fongola, finds the group channeling a more electronic, upbeat sound. BUTU is a replication of the frenetic feel of the dynamic nightlife of the Congo – equipment being pushed to its limit, via saturated and distorted speakers, or the sonic push and pull of sounds after dark.
The band has a fiercely activist and political slant. The Democratic Republic of Congo continues to experience serious human rights violations, including mass killings in the context of armed conflict and inter-communal violence, a crackdown on dissent and ill-treatment of detainees. People from regions affected by armed conflict are particularly affected amid mass displacement and a deepening humanitarian crisis. The DRC’s wealth of natural resources are routinely taken advantage of by large tech companies, helping fuel conflict in the region.
Political protest using words carries a risk of imprisonment in the country, so street performers often work with their bodies and sounds to signal their critiques. With BUTU, KOKOKO! provide a resistant, punk-like energy, bottling the attitude of a generation and bringing their DRC block party alchemy to new global heights.
An electric, powerful live show unlike others, KOKOKO! are not to be missed.
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