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

Written, performed and produced by Andrew Ashong
Which Way Records. R/D 27th January 2014

'Never Dreamed' - Gilles Peterson Worldwide BBC Radio 6 - 12/10/13

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

Single: Treasure 
Project: Hypnotic Joints II
Apple Music: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id/1672931201
Official Video: https://youtu.be/9nYK16lm8f4
Bandcamp: https://hypnoticbrass.bandcamp.com/track/treasure

Treasure

'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]

Listen to "жребий" (zherebiy) by круча (krucha) taken from "боровок" (borovok) out on October 17th via Fuselab

Pre-order: fuselab.bandcamp.com/album/--14

A project by a young sound artist named Anya. Krucha is a cliff that symbolizes the inner state of the hero. Anya makes electronic music using experimental elements, broken rhythms, unexpected percussion, and transitions that jump around like moods. Stumbling through metaphors in her lyrics as if on crutches, she tries to find common ground with her listeners, exploring her identity and musical isolation. The music, which resembles a new cyberpunk genre in which you seem to be flying over the city in a flying machine, is calming and relaxing despite the chaos of the arrangement, helping the listener find an island of salvation even in the most troubled times.

About the album “borovok” in artist's words:

"My friend's name was Vova. He was my rock, my role model, he supported me and didn't let me give up on music. He believed in this album more than I did, he was there when I was writing it. I can't imagine my project without Vova and his presence in each of the tracks. Now my friend is gone, and I have finally decided to release my first album, which I dedicate to him. Thank you, Vladimir Borovok, you will always be a part of me and my music."

Links:
круча
www.instagram.com/kruuuchaaa
Fuselab
@fuselab
fuselab.bandcamp.com
www.instagram.com/fuselabrecords
DJ MA GILLA @rap1666
https://www.instagram.com/damagilladj
https://linktr.ee/djmagilla

pre-order

Premiere : круча - жребий (feat. DJ MA GILLA) [Fuselab]

«Музыка слов» — авторский музыкальный проект личного продюсирования, в котором классическая русская поэзия встречает современное звучание.
Это не просто песни, а переосмысленные эмоциональные пространства, где стихи Бродского, Цветаевой, Пастернака, Маяковского и других художников слова оживают в новой музыкальной реальности.

Каждая композиция — диалог между эпохами: между аккордами синтезаторов и дыханием фортепиано, между электронными битами и живыми струнными, между внутренней тишиной и импульсом ритма.
Звучание — чувственное, атмосферное, экспериментальное: смесь арт-попа, трип-хопа, неоклассики, эмбиента и инди-электроники.

В альбоме сочетаются личная исповедь и культурная память — это музыка для тех, кто ищет не просто мелодию, а отражение своего внутреннего мира.
Современная форма. Вечные слова. Честное чувство.

[EN] - - - - - >>
“The Music of Words” is a self-produced musical project where classical Russian poetry meets contemporary sound.
These are not merely songs, but reimagined emotional landscapes where the verses of Brodsky, Tsvetaeva, Pasternak, Mayakovsky, and other masters of the word come alive in a new musical reality.

Each composition is a dialogue between eras — between the chords of synthesizers and the breath of piano, between electronic beats and live strings, between inner silence and the pulse of rhythm.
The sound is sensual, atmospheric, and experimental — a fusion of art pop, trip-hop, neoclassical, ambient, and indie electronica.

The album intertwines personal confession and cultural memory — music for those who seek not just melody, but reflection of their inner world.
A modern form. Eternal words. Honest feeling.

Имя твоё (Марина Цветаева)

De La Soul - Drawn Ft. Little Dragon

"Lost in the Sauce" is the second single from King Garbage's debut LP, Make It Sweat, out 9/22 on Styles Upon Styles. Kicking off the album with a bittersweet vibe, laid-back yet celebratory with a hangdog's sense of perseverance, the track is a lover's inebriated lament for one last jam before heading home and starting it all over again.

King Garbage’s Make It Sweat LP will be available on September 22, 2017 from Styles Upon Styles.

Learn More: bit.ly/SUS025-KG

QADIR (Extended)

NickHakim