Hey there! Hope you had a great week and looking forward to the weekend. I know I am. Speaking of the weekend, in case you haven’t made plans make sure to come out to our Masquerade Ball tomorrow night. Plenty of KCRW DJs will be spinning alongside Santigold, Dam-Funk, and others. There will also be live performances from White Denim, Wajatta (Reggie Watts & John Tejada), and Shannon Shaw. Check out more details and buy tix here. Either way, here are few releases that I’m excited about that you should check out.
Sampha – “Treasure”
I’ve been a long time fan of Sampha’s ever since 2010’s Sbtrkt & Sampha release. His talent and range has always been impressive but my favorite version of him is when he’s stripped down. That’s what he’s given us with “Treasure”, which comes from the soundtrack to the film Beautiful Boy. The song is dominated by piano keys and Sampha’s voice and garnished with lush strings and dreamy melodies. This song exemplifies a pleasurable listening experience, it’s simply beautiful.
Robert Robert – “Nobody Breaches Our Stasis”
I’m incredibly intrigued by this recent discovery. Robert Robert is a young producer, songwriter, and singer from Montreal; who writes about real life issues in a substantive, yet playful way.
He describes his new EP, How to Save Water, as: “an instruction manual to facilitate water recovery in a life that tends to leak. The songs talk about what humans say and do, conversations and moments that defined my coming of age, half conscious thoughts about what my entourage is going through and the universe tells me.”
The first single from the EP encapsulates this theme. “Nobody Breaches Our Stasis” details Robert Robert’s personal maturation and struggle with the balance between club life and what he describes as following streetlights like a moth. Even without all that depth, it’s just a cool song.
Neneh Cherry – “Kong”
When Neneh Cherry dropped “Kong” a few months back, her first new song since 2014, many of us were in high anticipation of a full project to follow. Well, here it is. Broken Politics is Cherry’s fifth album over a nearly 30 year span and she has once again teamed up with Four Tet, who produced 2014’s Blank Project. Though she gained fame for 1989’s Buffalo Stance, some may not know that her roots began with a heavy influence from London’s punk scene (and of course her stepfather, Don Cherry). Broken Politics finds Cherry staying true to her punk roots as the album reveals itself as a deflating realization that our politics have always been this way. Check out the visuals for the first single “Kong.”
Sampha photo c/o Sakena (Creative Commons)