Kelman Duran

Duran grew up in the Dominican Republic before moving to the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City in 1989,^[5] residing there from the ages of 5 to 19.^[6]

After attending CalArts, Duran moved to Los Angeles, where he became a fixture in RAIL UP,^[5] a series of recurring dance parties in the underground Afro-Caribbean night scene.^[7] In 2017, Duran released debut project 1804 Kids, which is a reference to the Haitian Revolution and "dedicated to Afro-Caribbean sounds."^[8] Duran was recognized as "an artist you need to know" by music publication Rolling Stone in January 2019, before releasing his second full-length project 13th Month, inspired by the Sioux calendar as well as time Duran spent on the Pine Ridge Reservation amid the Lakota Tribe making a long-form video piece To The North P.I & P.II about the lives of the Native Americans on the reservations.^[9][10] Pitchfork described the album as a juxtaposition between "the social plagues still haunting us" and a dance-floor "release".^[10] Duran released his third full-length project Night In Tijuana in 2021, inspired by his migration to the United States in the 1980s, and is described as traversing "spiritual jazz, electronic, and ambient [sounds]".^[3] Duran scored French film Rodeo, curating the soundtrack during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns in Berlin. He searched for music that elevated director Lola Quivoron's "portrait of suburban angst".^[4] The Los Angeles Times described his work in the film as an "adrenalized soundscape".^[11]

• 1804 Kids (2017)
• 13th Month (2019)
• Night In Tijuana (2021)
• Scorpio falling (tba)

Credits are courtesy of Spotify and Tidal.