Leading into the release of his upcoming album List of Demands, Damon Locks has shared a video for his latest single, “Holding the Dawn in Place (Beyond Pt. 2)”.

The former frontman of Chicago punk band Trenchmouth and leader of music collective Black Monument Ensemble, Locks’ newest work is his first foray into creating an album based off of his poetry and texts. The video itself serves as a visual peek at the zine created for his upcoming LP - check it out right here: 

The video is animated by longtime Locks collaborator Rob Shaw, and contains DIY-style imagery that brings the upcoming LPs packaging to life. Archival footage and photos play out under Locks' recitation, described in a recent press release as "Nikki Giovanni-meets-MF-DOOM". The album references and connects decades of Locks' cultural observations, listing sample based hip hop, experimental improvisation, and his own type-written poetry among its many influences.

List of Demands is also shaped by Locks' time working with the Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project at Stateville Correctional Center near Chicago. While teaching classes there in 2023, he helped develop the "Artist Constitution", a document that spells out the beliefs, aspirations, and demands of incarcerated artists. Locks describes his upcoming album as work meant to honor Black speakers who raised their own voices for change:

“List of Demands is not just my list. The list is in conveyance, in response, and in honor of all of those great Black speakers that turned a phrase to generate movement and change. It owes as much to Rammellzee, Fred Moten and Sun Ra’s oratory excellence as it does to Kwame Ture/Stokely Carmichael and Angela Davis, to Michael Smith and Linton Kwesi Johnson (across the pond), to Ruby Dee’s spoken recordings, and to others too numerous to mention.” 

List of Demands Tracklist:

1. Reversed
2. Distance
3. Holding the Dawn in Place (Beyond pt. 2)
4. Everything’s Under Control
5. Isn’t It Beautiful
6. High Priestess
7. Meteors of Fear
8. List of Demands
9. The Signal is Hot
10. Control Power
11. Click
12. Reversed pt. 2 (Something to Love)

Damon Locks’ List of Demands is out on January 21, 2025 , available for pre-order now via the artist’s bandcamp, and can also be pre-saved through your preferred streaming service.