Photo: Todd Weaver

Wonderful news from two radiant forces, Saul Williams and Carlos Niño, who have come together for a special release arriving later this summer. Entitled Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends at TreePeople, this marks the first collaborative album between poet, musician, and visionary Saul Williams and prolific percussionist, producer, and cosmic connector Carlos Niño, whose friendship traces back to the late ’90s. The album was recorded live in December 2024, beneath black oak and walnut trees in Coldwater Canyon Park, on the grounds of TreePeople, a longstanding conservationist hub in Los Angeles. Niño assembled a stellar ensemble of close collaborators for the performance, including Kamasi Washington, Nate Mercereau, Maia, Aaron Shaw, Francesca Heart, Andres Renteria, and even a special appearance by poet aja monet. Together, they built a richly textured electro-acoustic world around Saul’s grounding and galvanizing poetics. An album of invocation, memory, resistance, and release, it bridges generations, disciplines, and intentions.

Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends at TreePeople is out on August 28th through International Anthem and they have now unveiled the album’s lead single, ‘Sound then Words’, an affective, immersive and meditative track clocking in at sixteen minutes. Here it is.