Benefit Album Featuring Formerly Incarcerated Vocalists with Larry Heard, Robert Owens, Empress Of, & More Out Now

Creative Time is proud to announce its first musical release: the house album Bring Down The Walls, a benefit compilation featuring covers of the most enduring house hits. Each track is a collaboration between formerly incarcerated vocalists and cutting-edge electronic musicians. The album is available as a pay-what-you-wish download on Bandcamp, with proceeds going to Critical Resistance, a grassroots organization building an international movement to end the prison industrial complex. May will also mark the start of pre-orders for the limited edition vinyl double LP, coming out this fall.

LISTEN HERE

The album is one aspect of Creative Time's latest public project, Bring Down The Walls, presented in partnership with The Fortune Society, artist Phil Collins and over 100 collaborators, which turns an unconventional lens on the prison industrial complex through house music and nightlife. In addition to the album, Bring Down The Walls is also a communal space that functions as a school by day and dance club by night--at the historic Firehouse, Engine Company 31 at 87 Lafayette, open every Saturday in May.

LISTEN, SUPPORT, DOWNLOAD, AND PRE-ORDER YOUR VINYL
The album is available as a pay-what-you-wish download on Bandcamp, and as a limited edition vinyl double LP on pre-order.

Bring Down The Walls supports those working to dismantle the prison industrial complex. Proceeds from this compilation will go to the New York Chapter of Critical Resistance, a grassroots organization challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe. Rather than "broken", Critical Resistance views the current prison system as working effectively at its true purpose: to contain, control and kill people representing the greatest threats to state power, including people of color, immigrants, the poor, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. In turn, the organization's aim is not to improve the system further, but to shrink it into non-existence. Through a member-run national network, Critical Resistance works to build healthy, self-determined communities and promote alternatives to the current system.

TRACKLIST

Bring Down The Walls (2.0 Rework) - Larry Heard, Robert Owens & Cameron Holmes

You're Gonna Miss Me - Empress Of & Michael Austin

Move Your Body - Figure Skater & King Tolen

Break 4 Love - Nguzunguzu & Cinthia Candelaria

Promised Land - Kyp Malone & Robert Pollock

Love Can't Turn Around - MikeQ, Ian Isiah & Amanda Cruz

That's The Way Love Is - Honey Dijon, Seven Davis Jr. & Q Williams

Your Love - Morgan Wiley, L'Rain & Patrick Gordon

ABOUT THE ALBUM
Featuring classic house tracks from the late-80s, such as "Break 4 Love", "Promised Land," "Your Love," and the project's namesake "Bring Down The Walls," the album reimagines songs that are at once political anthems and odes to desire, connection, yearning, and physical action.

The album's vocalists are talented, non-professional singers who bridge different generations and backgrounds. The contributing musicians represent a range of styles, including names such as Honey Dijon, Empress Of, MikeQ, Ian Isiah, L'Rain, Kyp Malone, and Nguzunguzu. For a special contribution bringing together old and new eras, Larry Heard and Robert Owens, the original creators of the title track, have reunited to produce a new version of "Bring Down The Walls" especially for this project.

"Being formerly incarcerated myself, I am keenly aware of the therapeutic power of music and knew this project would be an opportunity for me to utilize my talent in a constructive way. I believe the people closest to a problem are best positioned to solve it," said Bring Down The Walls vocalist Cameron Holmes.

"When I first heard about the project, I was excited because I am a big fan of house. But while I love music, I never imagined I'd hear my voice on an album," said Bring Down The Walls vocalist Amanda Cruz. "This opportunity has helped me overcome my fear of being judged on who I am or how I sound. I plan to take this new confidence everywhere I go."

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