Songs of Resistance from Samora Pinderhughes and The Healing Project
Singer/producer/multimedia artist Samora Pinderhughes has a well-earned reputation for projects that tackle some of America’s thorniest problems – racial, economic, political – while cultivating a sense of community and determination. His new mixtape, released on Monday, is called Black Spring, done with The Healing Project, a musical community of friends and collaborators. Some of these songs we’ve heard before, but there are also new ones. Many of Pinderhughes’ most pointed and most effective songs are also his quietest; but leadoff track “Hold Fast,” is a moment of collective action. Layers of vocals over a repeating keyboard figure and a slow march beat give this song a sense of relentless forward motion in the face of all obstacles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kXhbCqEspU&list=RD6kXhbCqEspU&start_radio=1
Bright Eyes Celebrate Ska, And New York
Bright Eyes, the band led by singer/songwriter Conor Oberst, has released a new single called “1st World Blues,” a cheeky confection that uses the sounds of ska to support shout outs to various New York places. Yes, Manhattan gets some love, but so too do Gowanus and Staten Island. (The song was recorded in Omaha, the band’s home town, and the last verse calls out two neighborhoods there too.) Like ska, some of the lyrics seem to come from another time – lines about mobsters swimming with the fishes and Reaganomics all sound well past their sell-by date, but the band clearly doesn’t care. The fun video was inspired, the band says, “by NYC ’90s hip hop, which like ska, has a long tradition of unifying people and using celebratory music to convey subversive political themes. To be played loud. Windows down. Summertime.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1cRt0QjHzk&list=RDp1cRt0QjHzk&start_radio=1
Indigo De Souza Contemplates Being A Grown Up, Someday
Indigo De Souza has just released her fourth album, Precipice. The lead single “Heartthrob” has a relentless, krautrock rhythm that offers an interesting contrast to De Souza’s own quavery, almost hesitant singing. One of many songs she’s written about figuring out relationships, this one seems to be about putting aside childish fantasies (“when I’m a grown up” is how she actually puts it) of finding a heartthrob and following through on what’s actually in front of her. “I started to warm up to the feeling,” she sings, her voice practically cracking as it warms up to the song’s near-anthemic chorus. The video, meanwhile, finds De Souza watching the “grownups” from a bouncy castle – until by the end they’re all bouncing around in there with her. So maybe being a grown up isn’t all that, after all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QseKM81OqQ&list=RD3QseKM81OqQ&start_radio=1
The Latest Salvo From Irish Pop Star CMAT
The Irish pop singer/songwriter CMAT (pronounced see-matt; her name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) has just released the title track of her forthcoming album. “Euro-Country” is a big, technicolor pop song, the kind of thing that shoots for a 60s Burt Bacharach sound with perhaps an echo of country twang. In other words, a typical CMAT song. With a brassy voice and personality to spare, she writes arena-sized songs with often satirical, gimlet-eyed lyrics, many paired with droll music videos, as is the case here. CMAT was apparently a big hit at the recent Glastonbury Festival in England, and this song suggests that her next record will propel her even further into Europe’s (and America’s?) pop firmament.
The album, Euro-Country, is due on August 29.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SVNTv44C4g&list=RD_SVNTv44C4g&start_radio=1
West African Spirituality Meets Psych-Rock In Orchestra Gold
Orchestra Gold is an Oakland band built around the vocals of Malian singer Mariam Diakite. The group has just dropped a single called “Baye Ass N’Diaye,” which is also the name of Diakite’s spiritual teacher. Like many West African musicians (Youssou N’Dour, Cheikh Ibra Fam, Cheikh Lo, etc.), Diakite is a follower of the Baye Fall tradition, a mystical, community-oriented branch of Islam, and you can hear some of the traditional chanting in Diakite’s vocals. Meanwhile, the electric guitar swirls in a way suggestive of the West African njarka, or fiddle, and horns add interjections of funk over the steady, almost trance-like drumming.
The band’s next album, Dakan, will come out in the Fall.