Youceff Kabal (musician)

Early life and background

Youceff Kabal was born in Brussels, Belgium, and moved to Phoenix, Arizona with his family in September 2004. Kabal's father, Si Driss, is from Morocco and his mother, Anne, is from California. He also has an older brother, Mhamed, and a younger sister, Achaetey.

After moving to the US in late 2004, Youceff began to make mix CDs with his brother to listen to on the way to school. The CDs were heavily hip hop oriented, and his selections most notably featured Kanye West who remains a great influence. After seeing an Adidas commercial during the 2006 World Cup featuring the music of rjd2, and simultaneously being introduced to Fruity Loops by his neighbor, Youceff started making his own beats.

While a student at Metro Arts, Youceff dabbled in various disciplines including film, theatre, and mixed media visual art. After graduating, Youceff took a year off school and went on in 2009 to study music theory and piano performance at Phoenix College, eventually joining the school's concert choir.

YUS

Youceff assumed the name YUS in 2010, while recording his debut album "Palms" in his bedroom during the heyday of the chillwave movement. The album was digitally released on Bandcamp on November 21. Music videos for "Ndefitd" and "Girls" were released the following year.

Youceff followed up his debut album with several well-received remixes of artists including James Blake in December 2011, and Chromatics in the summer of 2012. He opened for many national touring acts including Youth Lagoon, Phantogram, Zola Jesus, and I Break Horses.

In August 2012, Youceff founded Manneken Records and released the label's first single, ""Nowadays"", in October of that same year. It gained notoriety on the internet after world renowned DJ and music journalist Mary Anne Hobbs played it on her XFM show Music:Response.

Almost two years later, Kabal released the single ""20 Million"". An animated music video he created accompanied the track. On June 23, his anticipated album, "Talisman" was released on vinyl and CD via Bandcamp. He opened for EMA to promote the release. Later that year, he opened for touring acts Zammuto and clipping.

Awards as YUS: 2014 Phoenix New Times Best Up-And-Comer

Youceff Kabal

Kabal changed his stage name to his legal name in January 2015 and announced his participation in the 2015 NPR Tiny Desk Contest with the song "Ride For Tide". He later opened for indie band SALES at the Rhythm Room under the new name. On 5 May 2015, he released "Ride For Tide" to Soundcloud. A week later, on May 12, Kabal released his third album "El Yunque" on Bandcamp and uploaded a music video for Ride For Tide to YouTube.

As YUS

As Youceff Kabal