There is something completely out-of-time about Kendra Morris and her latest album ‘I Am What I’m Waiting For’ on Karma Chief Records. It combines powerhouse vocals w/arrangements that betray an extensive record collection & a whimsical instinct for a joyous kinda noise. It’s vibrant & varied and packed w/personality. She & Torbitt Schwartz, AKA Little Shalimar (Run The Jewels) wanted to make it feel like listeners cracked open the ooze in her head. Torbitt was the Co-Writer & Producer on the record. Kendra is also an accomplished visual artist & stop-motion animator, so it’s appropriate that the album takes a collagist approach, recombining all sorts of Rock-n-Roll ingredients, the sass & swagger of Ronnie Spector, The more acid-fried corners of The Nuggets Compilations, post-modern interpolations of mid-century Exotica music, the cracking snares & sugary Urbanity of ESG, all while offering moments of vulnerable insights from a life in pursuit of expression. She was a musically precocious child and, after playing in Florida bar bands, moved to New York to chase the dream. Thus began a 13-year stint bartending at the beloved lower East Side dive The Library, which thrust her directly into the heart of Manhattan’s fertile post-Strokes creative scene. Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe lived Upstairs, music journalist Marc Spitz was a regular, and touring acts would come through to hang after playing Bowery Ballroom. During those moments, Morris yearned to join those folks on the other side of the bar. All the while, she kept pursuing her music dreams. Her process was pure, 100% DIY. She never took no for an answer. After the dissolution of her first band, She Recorded 8-track demos and performed solo shows backed by cassette recordings of her own vocal harmonies. Through these shows she connected w/longtime producer Jeremy Page. It felt meant to be. She worked with Jeremy for the next 10+ years, they Worked together thru some of the most beautiful & hardest life things she’s ever gone thru. It was a fruitful partnership: she signed to Wax Poetics for the release of her 2012 debut ‘Banshee’ & 2013’S ‘Mockingbird’, self-released her 2016 EP ‘Babble’, & signed to Karma Chief for 2022’S ‘Nine Lives’. She’s hooked up with a great cast of collaborators, including DJ Premier, MF Doom, Ghostface Killah, & David Sitek. Despite her strong professional & personal relationship w/Page, Kendra knew that she needed to change up the energy for her next project. She connected w/Torbitt Schwartz and set about making ‘I Am What I’m Waiting For’. Kendra was eager to break out of old habits: she started playing guitar again live, pulled old songs out and reworked them, less-than-perfect takes were tolerated. To me, it feels like he risk has paid off.
I had the pleasure of catching up with Kendra as she sets out on a brief run with Marc Brousaard which brings her to Madison on March 16th to play the Majestic Theatre. We get into how that gig got put on her calendar and what that set of music will be like, ranging from her past albums into trying out some new music on us. You heard it riGht, NEW music. We also never had time to discuss her most recent release, “I Am What I’m Waiting For” so we go a little seed to flower on that and prompt a little double check on the video for Dominoes. I would have been remiss if this time around I neglected to get into a little conversation on the really cool track, ‘White Noise‘ she worked on with Peter Matson – this tune really collides well with how she makes a little magic every time we hear a new thing and should be heard by everyone at least once. Ready…GO!
