kareem ali: quantum blackness
Francisco Espregueira
Kareem Ali keeps delivering a prolific musical output impossible to confine in one genre. His latest album, Quantum Blackness, which is an opus of 24 tracks, dropped as a surprise last week. After countless albums and EP's released in the last two years, the Arizona-based wonder kid is shaking the world of electronic music with an unique sonic approach. One that is both dreamy and intense.
Quantum Blackness, like all of its predecessors, takes us into Ali's world, serving as a snapshot of his life in this precise moment. It's an emotional piece of work, exploring the crossroads between house, techno, bedroom pop and futuresynth. All of those influences (and more) make his trademark sound something very unique - and that is also present in the unattainable spirit that you can get from him. It’s all about the process, never about the end result. Never about PR, never about conceding beliefs, settling them for something more appealing, something less controversial. Kareem Ali is about the creation, the exploration, the ‘doing’, the spirit of ‘doing’, carrying his own experiences as a human being.
We listen closely: this is a young and creative guy in his mid twenties, cycling around his neighbourhood with headphones blasting this world, this galaxy and this universe into his ears. And he is really one of those guys that regardless of having public or not would be doing exactly the same thing. Now, following the cinematic and unconventional Boiler Room show in the middle of the Arizona desert, he's set to shake things up even further, maintaining the ethics behind his sound untouched. Quantum Blackness is beyond amazing. It’s arguably one of the records of our time. Available via Bandcamp, we just hope that it comes out on vinyl. So… Kareem Ali, if you’re reading us, please, make it happen.