Music-News.com is proud to host the exclusive world premiere of 'Make Out' by QBKAL.
Self-taught Spanish composer and producer QBKAL – until now best known for his instrumental tracks that have featured in films, TV shows and documentaries – will release this spring his debut pop EP, ‘Songs’. Its first single, ‘Make Out’, has ‘summer hit’ written all over it: with its late 70s/early 80s disco spirit brought refreshingly up to date thanks to an electronic sound reminiscent of Daft Punk, The Weeknd and Maroon 5, it’s a perfect distillation of that Saturday-night feeling.
The video for ‘Make Out’ (directed by Jonay P Matos and Go Golden Junk) was filmed in Mexico City’s Kashbah Le Club, a gay bar and club with legendary drag performances. It shows performer Renato Andani transforming himself into his diva persona before going on stage. The drag-queen visuals disrupt the ‘boy-meets-girl’ lyrics, highlighting the universal nature of desire and putting Mexico’s persecuted but defiant LGBTIQ community in the spotlight.
QBKAL’s second single, 'Don't Belong Here', which will be released this summer, tackles the feelings of an outsider who, in a society obsessed with appearances and money, would rather cling to his identity than change himself to fit in – the song’s dual redemptions are the wisdom of age and the importance of family. The influence of the songwriter’s idol, Michael Jackson, on this track is indisputable, but this is cut through with nods to the retro-funk style of Lenny Kravitz and Bruno Mars. Ironically for a song about not belonging, this number’s pop vibe, catchy melody and echoes of soul and gospel fit right into the current revival for all things 90s.
‘Make Out’ will be available to download via the artist’s webpage (https://qbkalcollective.wixsite.com/qbkal) on 29 -03- 2020; the video will be released on Youtube and the artist’s webpage on the same date. ‘Don’t Belong Here’ will be released on 17-04-2020. The complete EP ‘Songs’ will be released on 7-7-2020
For the past decade, Spanish composer and producer QBKAL (Marcos H. Bolaños 1981, Canary Islands) has been producing professional music from his home studio. His music has been featured in films, TV shows and documentaries for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, TEN (Australia), A&E (USA), MTV (UK) and Channel 4 (UK); tracks from his two creative commons instrumental-music compilation albums, ‘Unchained Melodies’, have been downloaded more than 50,000 times and streamed more than 180,000 times.
A lifelong music obsessive, QBKAL started playing 80s hits on his Casiotone PT-1 keyboard aged eight; once he had mastered the guitar, saved up for a Yamaha PSS-380 synthesiser, and written enough of his own songs, he forced his younger brother to learn the bass, and persuaded the richest boy in his neighbourhood to buy a drum kit, just so that the three of them could form their first band.
Two decades and many garage bands later, QBKAL decided to turn his passion into his profession. At 30, he quit his job as a journalist, moved from Spain to Germany, and dedicated his time to making and promoting his own music. His gamble paid off: within two years, he was making money from his music; his latest single, ‘Beach House, has been recently used, among many others, in Best at Travel UK’s last TV commercial.
‘Songs’ is QBKAL’s first pop release. Both tracks on the EP were produced and mixed in his bedroom and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Joe Carra (Crystal Mastering Studios, Melbourne, Australia).
