BBE Music is thrilled to announce the release of Modern Love, a diverse compendium of specially commissioned cover versions of rarities and classics in tribute to David Bowie.

Featuring an array of artists such as Jeff Parker, We Are KING, Meshell Ndegeocello, Helado Negro, Khruangbin, Matthew Tavares, Nia and more, Modern Love seeks to champion Bowie’s lesser-known connection to soul, R&B, jazz, funk, and gospel. The prominent jazz influences throughout Bowie’s final album, Blackstar, were a key inspiration for curating this collection of reimagined Bowie songs with these artists. The resulting album is an eclectic tribute featuring a group of artists who not only fit together creatively, but who, like Bowie, straddle different worlds musically, with soul and jazz at their core.

Modern Love offers a fresh look at Bowie’s trailblazing career, aiming to highlight the often overlooked relationship between his back catalogue and musical genres traditionally pioneered by artists of color. The project was curated by music executive and DJ Drew McFadden, alongside BBE Music founder Peter Adarkwah. “I felt that the connection between Bowie and R&B, jazz, funk, gospel and all things soulful, had never really been explored before — at least not so much in covers, which tend to lean more towards rock and pop,” says McFadden. “Certainly, there’s been plenty of Bowie covers over the years, but none that have really tapped into what seems to have been a big part of his core musical
style and direction.”

Modern Love is an interactive sonic map. Here, seventeen artists make their way into the varied regions of his sundry catalog and circle back with seventeen unique re-imaginings of both his cornerstone and lesser-known tracks. Some, in atmosphere, feel like a sly alternate take from original sessions (Khruangbin’s ethereal, funk infused version of “Right” from Young Americans); others nod at the source, then wink before diving into the deep waters of another musical stratosphere (Sessa’s sexy Tropicalia-drenched “Panic in Detroit” from Aladdin Sane). Still others take tunes down to the studs and then re-arrange the moody interiors: Meshell Ndegeocello’s pensive “Fantastic Voyage” from Lodger and Tavares’ clever take on “Heroes” which is restructured into a kinetic hardbop-esque backdrop, fronted by ice-cool, held-back vocals. The bullseye these artists aim for is Bowie’s fearlessness. “Fame was an incredible bluff that worked,” he once reflected. “Very flattering. I’ll do anything until I fail. And when I succeed I quit too.”

Modern Love packs us off on a journey that balances on risk’s sharp blade. Track-to-track, it explores what happens when a musician throws out notions of should and safe and stretches beyond the known. These artists use Bowie both as a guide and a prism: A way of being and seeing. Their offerings, widely divergent, explore the inheritance from an artist who freed himself from labels, genres and, consequently, pigeonholes. While he was at it, he decimated fixed notions about territory (or terra) itself; boundaries hemmed-in his creative process, but his essence remained free to roam. He may have vanished in earthly form, yet, as he also promised in the lyrics of “Modern Love,” But I never wave bye-bye . . .” This compilation assures us that his spirit swirls around us. His force is alive to all of us and, here, it is summoned with an incantation that celebrates possibility.

Khruangbin - Right

Andrew Ashong - Special

A smoothed out, catchy little downtempo bobber from a cool late-winter night in The Vault.  Makaya bounces on a flammed rimshot, Abrams jumps in quickly with some nice bass chords, Justefan colors the progression with his singing vibraphone harmonies, and Marquis tops it all off with a gorgeous trumpet melody and solo verse.

Recorded on March 5th, 2014 by Dave Vettraino.  Personnel: Makaya McCraven - drums, Joshua Abrams - bass, Justin Thomas - vibraphone, Marquis Hill - trumpet.

Steppe Smoothe

A La Sala is the fourth studio album by Khruangbin. It is described as an exercise in returning in order to go further, and do so on your own terms. Khruangbin is a three-piece band from Texas, formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Johnson on drums. Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock.

Khruangbin - A La Sala (Full Album Continuous Mix)

'Groove Curse' EP out now on 12" vinyl & digital -
Stream / Download: soulhasnotempo.lnk.to/SHNT001

Released 15th August 2014 via Soul Has No Tempo.

Soul Has No Tempo present Groove Curse, Jordan Rakei's long-awaited follow up to highly-acclaimed debut EP Franklin’s Room, his modern take on reggae-infused soul music. Groove Curse takes an evolved turn, with a sound Rakei describes as “raw, vocal-driven, groove”. With the first single off the EP, Street Light featuring Berklee College of Music Alumni, Gwen Bunn (vocalist and producer of Schoolboy Q’s Collard Greens feat. Kendrick Lamar), the release celebrates the skills of upcoming young musicians who are writing, self-producing and taking full advantage of their vocal and multi-instrumentalist talents.

Jordan Rakei - A Tribe Called Government [SHNT001]

Taken from 'The Epic', released 4th May 2015 on Brainfeeder.

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'Re Run Home'
Composed, Arranged and Produced by Kamasi Washington. Copyright Control. Recorded at King Size Sound Labs. Engineered by Tony Austin. Mixed by Benjamin Tierney. Mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering.

Kamasi Washington - Tenor Saxophone
Ryan Porter - Trombone
Igmar Thomas - Trumpet
Cameron Graves - Piano
Brandon Coleman - Keyboards
Miles Mosley - Acoustic Bass
Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner - Electric Bass
Tony Austin - Drums (Right Side)
Ronald Bruner Jr. - Drums (Left Side)
Leon Mobley - Percussion


Pre-Order

Kamasi Washington - 'Re Run Home'

Enjoy Your Stay

Heaven Knows

An EP that was simply made for fun. I started taking my music too seriously (despite facing little to no pressure) and got to a point of not enjoying it. I gave myself no time limit and made whatever sounded "cool" and enjoyable to me. I spliced both old demos and scrapped sounds with new ones, and I this is the most genuine fun I've had making a project thus far.

Untitled

Appears on "One Hundred"
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/one-hundred/id588340204

MarksOnTheKeys (w Mark Speer)

Rhodes - Robert Finucane
Vox - Saara Maria
Trumpet - Nick Bianchini
Drums - Amir Oosman
Bass - Kevin Cameron

Produced by Kevin Cameron & Jonah Christian
Composed by Robert Finucane
Mastered by Cristiano Verardo @ Waterland Studios in Venice, Italy
Artwork by Raphael Cornford

Khruangbin - A La Sala (Full Album Continuous Mix)

DJ Dom Fletch

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