Kwes ( ; sometimes stylised as Kwes. or [o=o]. ) is a record producer, songwriter, composer and musician from Lewisham, London, UK and is best known for his production and collaborative work with Micachu, Nao, Damon Albarn, Bobby Womack, Eliza Doolittle, Loyle Carner, Speech Debelle, Solange Knowles and DELS. Kwes is signed to Warp Records as a solo artist and released his debut album, ilp in October 2013.
Although Kwes works primarily as a record producer, Kwes is also a solo artist. He is currently signed to Warp Records.
Kwes has also reworked several artists including Hot Chip, Metronomy, Lianne La Havas, Zero 7 amongst many others.
Kanye West and his once band member/co-producer Mano sampled Kwes' song 'LGOYH' for Pusha T's track "Who I Am", which features on Pusha T's debut album "My Name Is My Name".
Collaborating with producers and musicians Damon Albarn, Dan the Automator, XL Recordings' managers Richard Russell & Rodaidh McDonald, Jneiro Jarel, Actress, Marc Antoine, Alwest, Gorillaz's Remi Kabaka Jr. and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Kwes went to Kinshasa, DR Congo in Central Africa for one week to record an album named Kinshasa One Two. The Congolese band Tout Puissant Mukalo joined them as well. All proceeds benefit Oxfam's work in the DRC. The album was released by Warp Records. Kwes' produced four out of fourteen tracks within the record.
In summer 2012 and early winter 2013, Kwes partnered with Go Opera and Peroni Brewery to create a series of opera concerts, entitled as Opera di Peroni. The Opera di Peroni project was staged live in various cities throughout the UK and had featured Kwes’ and Go Opera's take on selected arias from Verdi's La Traviata and Puccini's La Boheme and La Rondine.
Elan Tamara – "Gold Fishes" (7 September 2009), "Shadows" (28 October 2010) and Organ EP (6 June 2011)
Dog Bite – "Machino Machino/Take Your Time" (22 November 2010)
Cornelia – "By The Fire" (5 December 2010)
Valentina – "Weights" (EP) (18 April 2011) * co-production with Blue May
DELS – "GOB" (9 May 2011)
DRC Music – "Kinshasa One Two" (4 October 2011) * co-production with Damon Albarn
Sunless '97 – "Making Waves" (28 November 2011)
Speech Debelle – "Freedom of Speech" (13 February 2012)
Bobby Womack – "Whatever Happened To The Times" (12 June 2012) * additional production with Damon Albarn & Richard Russell
Eliza Doolittle – "Don't Call It Love" (7 September 2012)
Valentina – "Wolves" (EP) (6 May 2013)
Rosie Lowe – "Right Thing" (EP) (2 Dec 2013)
Shivum Sharma – "Flicker/Only You (3 March 2014)
Moko - "Missing Love" (7 September 2014)
DELS – "Petals Have Fallen" (3 November 2014)
George Maple - "Gripp ft. Kilo Kish" (15 February 2015)
Nao – "It's You" (1 May 2015)
Hudson Mohawke – "Indian Steps ft. Antony Hegarty" *additional production with Hudson Mohawke (16 June 2015)
Loyle Carner - "Florence ft. Kwes" (14 August 2015)
Kano - "My Sound" *additional production with Blue May (4 March 2016)
Solange - "Don't You Wait", "Where Do We Go", "Don't Wish Me Well" and "Scales" from "A Seat At The Table" (30 September 2016)
Pauli Lovejoy - "The Idea Of Tomorrow" (9 December 2016)
Loyle Carner - "Florence", "Mrs C" and "Sun of Jean" from " Yesterday's Gone" (20 January 2017)
All We Are - "Sunny Hills" (9 June 2017)
"Passion by The Invisible" (October 2007)
"Monkey Bee by Monkey: A Journey To The West Opera – Damon Albarn" (September 2008)
"Cittàgazze by Portico Quartet" (2008)
"The Clock by Elviin" (2008)
"White Hair by Cibelle" (2008)
"One Pure Thought by Hot Chip" (April 2009)
"Butterflies by Finn Peters" (2009)
"The Infinites by Bomb The Bass ft. Paul Conboy (w/ Micachu)" (2010)
"Stop for a Minute by Keane & K'Naan" (2010)
"Destiny" by Zero 7 (2010)
"Pigeons" by The Hundred in the Hands (2010)
"Hide And Seek by Mirrors" (2010)
"Wooden Toy" by Amon Tobin (2012)
"Forget by Lianne La Havas" (2012)
"Pictures In The Dark by Josh Record" (2014)
"Dancing Around Control by Hejira" (2014)
"Broke by Tom Vek" (2014)
"Pools by Glass Animals" (2014)
"Hearts in Home" (16 February 2009)
"Get Up" (13 November 2011)
"Bashful" (7 March 2012)
"Rollerblades" (26 November 2012)
Ebony Bones – Guitarist (2006–2007, 2008)
Bono Must Die now O. Children – Keyboardist (2007)
Jack Peñate – Laptop and keyboards (2009)
Kwesachu (with Micachu) – co-production and co-selector (2009–)
Elan Tamara – Bassist (2009–2011)
Leftfield – Keyboards and Computers (2010)
Bobby Womack – Keyboards (2012–2013)
