Kitz Willman

About

The sound and performance style of Winnipeg’s Kitz Willman has been described as “doomsday art-house activist babushka rap" and “if Frank Zappa made noise rap.” This sonic output mixes potent poetics with detailed storytelling and a variety of song structures. Sample-based prairie rap in the tradition of the Kobzar. Willman’s performances feature coordinated projections that draw forth the central themes in their music, such as war, hockey, settler colonialism, road trips, academia and Ukrainian-Canadianness.

Kitz Willman is the most recent solo expression of a 15+ music career for Saskatoon-born multi-instrumentalist and producer Kirk Kitzul. Things started in 2006 with a band called Bears Attack!, the first of many hardcore-adjacent projects. Those foundational experiences in heavy music come alive during Kitz Willman performances. Kitzul started their first rap project in the late 2000s and went on to play drums in a handful of bands with the most recent being Ottawa's Maritime Bleach.

The Kitz Willman discography features more than 8 unique projects and a handful of loose tracks. Their most recent album, Grim Errands, is set for a CD release in spring 2023. Willman independently released 2021's Royal Visit to Uranium City on CD. Prior to that, Willman had built the beats for Kay the Aquanaut's 2020 album Ancient Fish From the Northwest, released on cassette by France-based label Hello L.A. In May 2021, Berlin's Pen Thief Records released Stoppler on limited edition cassette. In July 2022, Willman made their vinyl debut as part of the Saskatoon Folk Rap Records posse album, appearing alongside The Gumshoe Strut, Rob Crooks, Hermitofthewoods, Nolto, Epic, and more. Since 2017, Kitz Willman has been booked in Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston, Belleville, Mulmur, Brandon, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, and Winnipeg.

For fans of: billy woods, Aesop Rock, and Rico Nasty