Carlos Niño & Friends Share Concert Film From ‘Placenta’ Release Show in LA
PRAISE FOR International Anthem
“Carlos Niño is the spiritual force behind L.A.’s eclectic music scene. The percussionist, producer, D.J. and more has been helping artists like André 3000 express themselves for decades.”
“Niño has become a central figure in a scene whose reverberations are starting to be felt well beyond the community itself, and are drawing more artists in.”
“A graceful, glowing combination of glimmering ambient, dreamy hip-hop beats and experimental jazz.”
“On Placenta, the 10th Carlos Niño and Friends record in as many years (and 12th overall), the Los Angeles-based spiritual jazz percussionist and prolific collaborator recruits some of the finest musicians from his close-knit L.A. community and beyond.”
“A moving tribute to the spirit of family and the process of childbirth, Placenta is one of the great conceptual jazz albums of recent times, and a standout release in Carlos Niño & Friends’ discography.”
“While many of his contemporaries dive into free jazz, funk, and ambient experimentation, Niño carves out a niche that is distinctly his own, melding these genres into something profoundly transcendent.”
TRACKLIST
Love to all Doulas!
Some rest for the Midwives…
Real Vital Organs
Surges Expansions
In Appreciation of Chico Hamilton’s Vast Influence on the West Coast Sound
Birthworkers Magic and how we get hear…
This “I” was not
Placenta Nourishment New Home The Galaxy
Carla’s Beads
Moonlight Watsu in Dub
Generous Pelvis
Bi-Location
Play Kerri Chandler’s RAIN
Produced, Mixed, Edited, and Arranged by Carlos Niño.
Bells, Chimes, Collage, Cymbals, Drums, Field Recordings, Gongs, Kalimbas, Keyboards, Leaves, Plants, Rattles, Shakers, Sound Design, Synths, Voice, and Whistles throughout by Carlos Niño.
Cover Art by Bernard XOLOTL.
Design & Layout by Craig Hansen.
Mastered by David Allen.
Placenta is out now, buy/stream it here.
As a new entry into the online edition of International Anthem’s zine Tracing the Lines, today they share a concert film by Azul Niño that documents Carlos Niño & Friends‘ live performance at 2220 Arts in Los Angeles on Friday May 24, 2024. This performance was the release show for Carlos’s sprawling and immersive ode to the birth workers of the world, Placenta.
The full web piece also includes Haize Hawke and Annelise Niño’s words and reflections on the live performance and the all-encompassing experience of love, pregnancy, and birth, alongside photos from the 2220 Arts show by Lani Trock, all of which was originally published in the print version of Issue No. 3 of Tracing The Lines. Order a copy of the zine here.
Watch the full concert film here.
Niño is also on tour throughout March, including a residency at Planetarium in Queens, NY, and culminating in Knoxville, Tennessee at the legendary BIG EARS festival, where he will do a run of performances and events as part of a special residency with the festival. See below for all dates and find tickets here.
Carlos Niño March 2025 Tour
March 20
Carlos Niño & Friends at Planetarium, Queens NY
(SOLD OUT)
March 21
Carlos Niño & Friends at Planetarium, Queens NY
(SOLD OUT)
March 22
Carlos Niño & Friends at Planetarium, Queens NY
(SOLD OUT)
March 23
Carlos Niño & Friends at Ars Nova Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
(Tickets)
March 25
Nate Mercereau ft. Carlos Niño + Jayve Montgomery at The Blue Room, Nashville, TN
(Tickets)
Carlos Niño IN RESIDENCE at Big Ears Festival
March 27
Carlos Niño & Friends
w/ Idris Ackamoor, Nate Mercereau, Surya Botofasina, Adam Rudolph, & Josh Johnson
March 28
Carlos Niño & Friends Salon Night 1
Subtle Movements Trio w/ Carlos Niño, Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau & Special Guest
March 29
Carlos Niño & Friends Salon Night 2
First and Last Time Trio w/ Carlos Niño, Laraaji & Idris Ackamoor
March 30
CN&F x IARC
special event w/ details TBA
ABOUT PLACENTA:
Placenta is the fourth collection of broadly imaginative and highly collaborative Carlos Niño & Friends music released on International Anthem in the last four years. It is also the first new music to be released by Carlos Niño & Friends following the November 2023 release of André 3000’s New Blue Sun – an album which Carlos produced alongside André, while co-writing, co-creating/playing, and co-mixing every song.
Placenta was announced on April 11th, 2024, the 1st solar return of Carlos and his partner Annelise’s new Earth child Moss Niño. Their experience of pregnancy, labor and delivery were all profoundly impactful for Carlos. Becoming a father again (a whole 24 years after the birth of Azul Niño, who has become a regular Visual Arts collaborator with Carlos) he felt total inspiration for this set of recordings, and hence it is perhaps the most conceptually-grounded & Friends album we’ve yet to present – fully connected to the spirit of family, birth, and “how we get here.”
Placenta features many musicians living and working in Los Angeles – the community which Niño is deeply rooted in, himself. Some live in other parts of the world; almost all are longtime friends and collaborators of Niño’s. In order of their appearance on the album, featured artists on Placenta include: Nate Mercereau, Jamire Williams, Sam Gendel, Jamael Dean, Dexter Story, Brandon Eugene Owens, Maia, André 3000, Jesse Peterson, Ariel Kalma, Surya Botofasina, Annelise, Haize Hawke, Aaron Shaw, Devin Daniels, Tiffany de Leon, Michael Bolger, Michael Alvidrez, Moss, Iasos, Photay, Deantoni Parks, Adam Rudolph, Andres Renteria, and Cavana Lee.
Read more about Carlos Niño and Placenta in a NY Times profile here.
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