Quinton Barnes Unleashes Orchestral Hip-Hop Epic ‘BLACK NOISE’ – Out June


Montreal’s Quinton Barnes delivers a genre-defying triumph with BLACK NOISE, a dark, orchestral hip-hop epic arriving June 6 via Watch That Ends The Night. Known for his fearless exploration of Afro-pessimism and his Black, queer identity, Barnes has earned his stripes alongside Billy Woods, Backxwash, and Armand Hammer—and critical nods from The Wire, The Quietus, and Bandcamp Daily.
Recorded at the iconic Hotel2Tango just days after Trump’s re-election, BLACK NOISE marks Barnes’ most collaborative and sonically audacious project to date. Reimagining classical piano compositions by Edward Enman, Barnes tears them apart and reconstructs them into something wild and untamed—a radical interrogation of Black sound, identity, and improvisation.
The result is a stunning collision of gospel, noise, breakbeat, and avant-jazz. Mbira, violin, flute, and the custom-built “Drone-jo” swirl through the mix, supporting Barnes’ raw poetic flow as he wrestles with grief, Black genius, and survival. This isn’t just music—it’s a sonic reckoning. Listen to “Sober For The Weekend” below: