Artist Spotlight: Hiatus Kaiyote

Discovering new music is the most gratifying feeling ever. Even if the music I find is a year or two old, it is still refreshingly new to my ears and I’ll annoy my friends to no end playing their songs.

Recently I’ve been listening to a lot more experimental and indie bands in my free time. With this new found interest, I was introduced to the band Hiatus Kaiyote. This Australian band features the soothing voice of Naomi “Nai Palm” Saalfield accompanied by the creators behind the even smoother music, Paul Bender, Simon Mavin and Perrin Moss.

From Hiatus Kaiyote’s Twitter

Described as “Multi-Dimensional, Polyrhythmic Gangster S**t” on their website, Hiatus Kaiyote creates what could be described as a “genre bender,” blurring the line between different music genres and, if anything, fusing several different sounds to create their own. Their debut album, Tawk Tomahawk, was well received by many other famous musicians (Animal Collective and Erykah Badu, just to name a few) and the band really caught more attention once their single “Nakamarra” was up for a Grammy nomination in 2013. I could go on and on raving about my favorite moments and songs off Tawk Tomahawk, but I’ll let you decide. Listen to Hiatus Kaiyote’s first album below.

Hiatus Kaiyote’s second album, Choose Your Weapon, is their most recent to date and, in my opinion, their most experimental as well. Nai Palm has been quoted saying the band did not want to stick to one certain genre and wanted to make Choose Your Weapon an extension of their first project. They certainly achieve this in songs like “Shaolin Monk Motherfunk,” “Laputa,” “Breathing Underwater,” and my personal favorite, “Molasses.” Hiatus Kaiyote created a second album that is cohesive, yet distinctive in how it approaches interludes and intros to the songs. Listen to their second album below.

Whether or not you’ve already heard Hiatus Kaiyote’s music, I hope you enjoyed this spotlight and listening to one of my new favorite artists! Watch one of my favorite videos from them below as well.

Hiatus Kaiyote: Facebook/Twitter/Website