WIDE Recomienda: #0031
Prime cuts. With fat. And some blood to it, too, ‘cause if we’re to break our pure and immaculate vegan diet, let there be no stone left unturned. This Week WIDE Recommends brings you three jewels of the hyper-stylized Afro domain of R&B and Soul music, an indie jamming of anguishing purity, the shy and self-absorbed house music of twenty-some girls with their hearts ablaze and an ode to an apotheotic piece of ass.
1. Los Bárbara Blade – Jamcita
If there’s a band that’s set itself to go against everything it’s Los Bárbara Blade, creating an ethos of nonchalant enjoyment and a very sophisticate disdain for sophistication, choosing instead a search for spontaneity that we can only summarize as “first content, then substance and form”. And this is a fitting track to demonstrate: A jamming session lacking any shade of pretentiousness, with a beat that is kinda nice.
2. Mahalia & Kojey Radical – One Night Only
This distinguished pair of collaborators from the UK is back to go at it again, this time for a brief parody of the “jealousy and crumbling limerence” piece with an all-too-confident hunk who’s got to step up and face the music of an offended and exalted lady-friend. An ageless theme served by an exceptional pair of voices.
3. Ari Lennox – No One
It seems like Ari Lennox got better from the blues that almost made her throw the towel some months ago. Now’s the time to really think about who’s really earned to accompany her on her journey, courteously pointing her middle finger at those who stood her up when she needed someone to talk to. A track laden with attitude and grit, for those who’d rather plough a lone furrow than keep bad company.
Listen to all new tracks from this week’s music selection on our Spotify playlist 👽
4. Dawn Richard – new breed
After about three years on a musical hiatus, Dawn Richard returns with new breed, he fourth studio album as a solo artist, taking a more serious role in production and that will feature contributions with Mohawke, M.G.N. and Kaveh Rastegar. The album’s second single and eponymous track is some kind of manifesto, where the singer joins her voice to the chorus of female empowerment that is all the rage, with a precious synthetic instrumen section, words oscillating between rap and R&B, and a couple of very iconic samples from Grace Jones & Nicky Da B.
5. Yaeji – One More
More Yaeji, just as we’ve come to know and love her: Fresh and gentle synthesizers. A sweet little voice that seems to be bored, enamoured and nostalgic. Psychedelic neon visuals that colour apartement rooms and clubs with the singer’s mood. We get an itch to learn some Korean as to know what she’s really saying, even though she commented “it’s about coming to terms with pain until you’re ready to forgive and move on”. If it really is so, everything sounds bittersweeter in her language. Must be all that kimchi and bingsu.
6. Shabazz Palaces – Julian’s Dream (ode to a bad)
This late release sparks the question: Do the guys of Shabazz Palaces consider there’s enough music in Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines for an entire year? And… well, maybe! Julian’s Dream (ode to a bad) is the fruit of an intermittent collaboration between the Shabazz dudes and Julian Casablancas, with a minimalistic instrumentation and vocals that crawl out from an underground cave where Ishmael goes in lengths about the delirium that a woman’s divinity beset him with. The new video adorns this already excellent track with a new narrative, between the dreamlike and makeshift, where science labs get thieved-in and dudes be positively floored by gals. There’s still a lot of juice to this album.
