You love to hear the story, again and again. The promising up-and-comer, young enough to be in touch with the spirit of the times, wise enough to carry on tradition, as he rises through the ranks and aces every test for us to see.
For those like myself, that’s exactly how we feel about Kevin Kaytranada Celestin. We were there when he made his auspicious debut at Artbeat Montreal and when he took it up a notch by conquering massive crowds at Osheaga and Igloofest. We followed along as he blitzkriegued the Internet with consecutive heatrocks, from uptempo R&B remixes to traphouse bangers, earning the public’s praises as well as celebrity endorsements from fellow Montrealers Lunice and A-Trak. We even indulged a name-change and pretended like we were right there with him. Truth is, no one but Kay himself knows how much goes into this but, one thing’s for certain, it only ever works if you give it your all.
Enter Kaytra Todo. Poised to be his strongest body of work since first going the DIY route, his release on beatnik label HW&W is an audio document of what going from nothing to everything sounds like. His signature is polished. Round bass kicks and ginsu-sharp snares combine with ambient backdrops that communicate his ambition to make you feel as he does: Strong, defiant… Alive. What will scare some and titillate the rest is that he’s only getting started. Here’s hoping he keeps the window wide open for us to marvel into so when he finally does arrive in a major way, we can proudly say that we saw it coming all along.
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