Cola Boyy’s ‘Quit to Play Chess’: A Posthumous Album That Redefines Groove

“Losing a brother, a son… It’s a gaping void that will never be filled. Yet his music is one of a kind, coming from a child born in space.” This statement from the family of Matthew Urango, known as Cola Boyy, who passed away on March 17, 2024, at the age of just 34, resonates with the cosmic depth of Quit to Play Chess.

A posthumous album, indeed, but one that was meticulously considered, both by the artist himself and his circle after his passing, to ensure that his original vision remained untainted. The aim was to offer tracks that are irrepressibly funky, inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s passion for chess, which he developed during a 1918 visit to the United States, away from the uproar caused by his works Fontaine and Bicycle Wheel.

Cola Boyy Understood Funk and Disco as Inherently Activist

Born in California with a spinal deformity and having one leg amputated at the age of two, Matthew Urango came from diverse origins—Chumash Native American, African, Mexican, Scottish, and Portuguese. He was deeply involved in anti-capitalist and anti-racist movements from an early age in his progressive hometown of Oxnard. In 2021, he made a name for himself with his socio-groovy manifesto Prosthetic Boombox, a debut album featuring collaborations with Nicolas Godin, Myd, and Pierre Rousseau (formerly of Paradis). France, in particular, welcomed Cola Boyy with open arms.

With pitch-shifted vocals, eagerly sampled brass, a fertile R&B soil perfumed with drum’n’bass infusions (800MPH, featuring New Yorker Wiki’s flow), reggae (Heroes and Villains), and West Coast rap (Homegirl), Quit to Play Chess adheres to Urango’s usual sincerity. He knew that funk and disco were fundamentally activist genres, narrating how to survive in a merciless world obsessed with appearances, poorly informed, and lacking shared moments on the dance floor.

Thankfully, his twelve compelling tracks help alleviate our loneliness. The American musician was able to refine them to perfection, entrusting the mastering—approved on the very day of his death—to the highly reliable Lewis OfMan and Andrew VanWyngarden (half of MGMT). When the finale of the synthetic ballad Calling plays, where Urango sings that he will continue to express himself no matter what happens, one can’t help but be moved by thinking about all that he could have still achieved, especially considering he was, according to one of the album’s highlights, so Busy.

Quit to Play Chess (Record Makers/Bigwax). Release date: May 23.