This week, returns for Erykah Badu, Interpol, and Thao; plus new songs from Dawn Richard and The Animeros.
This week, returns for Erykah Badu, Interpol, and Thao; plus new songs from Dawn Richard and The Animeros.
Erykah Badu Teams Up With The Alchemist For Long-Awaited Return
It’s been more than a decade since the restless neo-soul star Erykah Badu last released an album. Today we get Before The World Blows, a series of downtempo, moody songs with production by The Alchemist, and with features from Earl Sweatshirt, sax player Kamasi Washington, bassist Thundercat, and others. The album almost sounds like you’re listening in on a private musical conversation between the two collaborators; Badu’s vocals are intimate and resolutely restrained, and many of the songs flit from one sound to another. A good example is “Crossfade,” which does sort of crossfade between a first half that has soulful singing over a skittering, off-kilter beat, and a second half that features layered wisps of voices over a spare guitar accompaniment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf0ljs4I3I8&list=RDUf0ljs4I3I8&start_radio=1
Interpol Are Back With Some New Sounds
“I know we're changin' sounds,” sings Paul Banks, the lead vocalist of Interpol, on the closing track, “Sudden,” of their new album. This Mirror Weighs A Ton has a couple of songs, including “Sudden,” that swap out the driving, insistent guitars that have been an Interpol trademark for a piano and a hazy, almost ambient production. There are also electronics and what sound like ethereal vocal samples. But make no mistake, this is still an Interpol album, and the band’s legion of fans will find plenty of proof of that in songs like “Ever The Actor.” Banks’ dark, cavernous vocals are buttressed by the ominous rumbling – and clear hooks – of Daniel Kessler’s guitars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVGu9_QfKiw&list=RDhVGu9_QfKiw&start_radio=1
Psychedelic Cumbia From The Animeros
“Keep Austin weird,” the saying goes. No worries about that – Austin-based trio The Animeros show that the Texas capital’s freak flag is still flying. Their debut album, ¡Qué Bárbaro!, has just come out, produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, whose record label, Easy Eye Sound, is a home for all things vintage and analog. In this case, The Animeros look back to the mix of South American rhythms and psychedelic rock that spawned the chicha movement in the early 70s. But they also add in the sounds of that music’s northern cousins: surf guitar, and the twang of Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti western film scores. It’s fun stuff, mostly instrumental, and this track, “Cumbia de Magdalena,” uses the now-global cumbia rhythm to take us on a journey down Colombia’s Magdalena River. Halfway through, some Morricone-style wordless vocals appear – with Auerbach joining in.
https://theanimeros.bandcamp.com/album/qu-b-rbaro
Thao Enlists Neko Case For Her New Single
Singer/songwriter Thao Nguyen has performed under the name Thao And The Get Down Stay Down since her debut LP in 2005. Mixing alternative folk and pop with a playful, experimental streak, Thao has occasionally stepped back from the usual routine of releasing albums and touring behind them. But her latest hiatus has stretched to six years, so it’s welcome news that she’ll be returning with an album called Show Me at the end of October. And she’s ditched the longer name is now performing simply as Thao. This week she released the single “Catch As Catch Can,” a breezy, sensual tune that sports backing vocals from the one and only Neko Case. It’s pretty clearly a song about sex, although there is nothing overtly sexual in it. The hook in the song’s chorus is pretty irresistible, and Thao suggests that she is too: “I’m gonna rush those veins,” she sings, “gonna force that hand.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0Tk7u5oTKs&list=RDi0Tk7u5oTKs&start_radio=1
Dawn Richard Goes To chuuuuurch
New Orleans-bred singer and songwriter Dawn Richard is preparing to release her next album, Creole Culture, in October, and this week released her new single, “chuuuuurch.” Since her tumultuous start with the girl-group Danity Kane, and association with disgraced rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, Richard has very much blazed her own trail through the music business, swinging between sultry R&B and ambient electronic projects with Spencer Zahn. In her refusal to stick to a genre, she has created a kind of creole musical career. The single, with its five u’s, mixes rap, neo-soul, and possibly some Nigerian-style Afrobeats production – all of which underscores a song that blurs the distinction between the sacred and the street.
Creole Culture comes out on October 9 and Dawn Richard plays at Le Poisson Rouge on November 4.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wneb_e7H_XU&list=RDWneb_e7H_XU&start_radio=1