Lovin this!,meshell glad to rediscover you :)

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

Fatima - Technology Prod. Oh No

Conviction

As RBMA grads @mara-tk and Taay Ninh are gearing up for the release of their second full-length as @electricwirehustle (their first in the current tandem constellation), we are happy to present a brand new cut from it.

Clocking in just under 4 minutes, "Look In The Sky" is essentially a two-faced affair. The slow-burning, wail-streaked first part claims "happiness is coming our way," before the song switches to themes of struggle just before the halfway point. Comparisons to Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye are impossible to circumnavigate - a high compliment if there ever was one.

The <i>Love Can Prevail</i> LP is out September 8th on @okayplayer and @somethinksounds.

http://electricwirehustle.com
http://okayplayer.com
http://somethinksounds.com
http://redbullmusicacademy.com

Electric Wire Hustle - Look In The Sky

Vocalist Akua Allrich presents her cover of "Can't Stand the Rain," by Ann Peebles, featuring the amazing Nicholas Payton on trumpet and keyboards. They're joined by Kris Funn on bass and Corey Fonville on drums. This is the first single to be released from Allrich's forthcoming album, to be released later in 2015.

Akua Allrich, feat. Nicholas Payton - "Can't Stand the Rain"

Wax & Wane
BRANDEE YOUNGER
Featuring Anne Drummond

Brandee Younger, harp
Anne Drummond, flute
Dezron Douglas, electric bass
Mark Whitfield, guitar
Dana Hawkins, drums
Chelsea Baratz, tenor sax
Chargaux, violin & viola

Recorded at the Breeding Ground Recording Studio by Tariq Khan

Produced by Casey Benjamin
Co-Produced by Tariq Khan

Presented by Revive Music and B. Alexis Music

MusicFunky


Brandee Younger "Soul Vibrations"

04 Yaw - Where Would You Be

Check out the new single "Destination Hope" ft: Chris Turner & J. Ivy. "Destination Hope" is the first single off Maurice's new album "The Mood". 
Available March 24, 2017. 

“Destination Hope represents a place of encouragement & inclusion in place of resentment & division, a place where there is no racism or discrimination. A place where people have respect for one another, their communities and the environment. It’s very easy to get caught up in the negativity & that leads to hopelessness. In these trying times, I sought to create a mood that would uplift people and give them a sense of hope. The destination is in the journey to get there; to actively & compassionately stand up for something better for ourselves & future generations is to cultivate hope.”― Maurice Brown
#TheMood #DestinationHope #SpreadLove

The Mood

Destination Hope ft. Chris Turner & J. Ivy

The first taste of the musical delights that comprise the bonus replay disc that will accompany the vinyl reissue of our Static Methods EP later this year. Our friends 30/70 laid down a live reinterpretation of our joint 'Divide,' Skomes on the boards, Cazeaux O.S.L.O on the vocal chords. Dig it. 
Love

Static Methods Reissue

Divide (30/70 Replay)

Official Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScpnUpCsM4

'Pineapple' (Feat. @moses-boyd & @nerijamusic) taken from Blue Lab Beats' debut album 'Xover'.

Pre-order the album/stream the single here: https://BlueLabBeats.lnk.to/Xover

'Pineapple' is an interpolation of the song Yembele by Samba Mapangala.

Follow Blue Lab Beats:
www.bluelabbeats.com
www.facebook.com/BlueLabBeats
www.twitter.com/bluelabbeats
www.instagram.com/bluelab_beats

Pineapple (Feat. Moses Boyd & NÉRIJA)

Next LONDON show: 
31st January 2018 -  Corsica Studios *SOLD-OUT*

New LONDON show announced:

18th April - Ghostnotes

Tickets:
https://www.seetickets.com/event/oscar-jerome/ghost-notes-london/1194464


Subdued
Oscar Jerome - Guitar & Vocals
Jack Polley - Bass
Onome Edgeworth - Congas
Eddie Hick - Drums
Theo Erskine - Saxophone
Joe Armon-Jones - Keyboards, Synth & Backing vocals
Poppy Ajudha - Backing vocals
Wu-Lu - Backing vocals

Written and arranged by Oscar Jerome
Produced by Wu-Lu
Mixed by Tom Carmichael
Mastered by Dick Beetham

Subdued

Meshell has changed. So has her music. It’s more peaceful, freer. Her new album, Weather, cloaks itself in the colours of autumn, full of in-between shades and hues and with a certain mildness to it. The singer has let her feelings carry her along. Meshell has never been scared of sharing her most intimate thoughts in explicit or colourful terms that always come from the heart. As ever, she is true to herself. But Weather’s folk sensibility and pregnant acoustic melodies make this a supremely accessible album.

“For a long time I was at war with everyone else. I dug my heels in, I fought hard. That’s all over now. I have my opinions, but they’re no longer a source of conflict with the rest of the world.” On Weather Meshell’s usually deep vocals slip into a register more like a whisper, sharing secrets about subjects that are straightforward, almost light-hearted. She has pared down her style to something like pop. “I started to write this album on the guitar and you can hear it. The final atmosphere’s gentler.”

And then the singer agreed without fuss to put her fate in the hands of a producer. Joe Henry (Ani DiFranco, Bettye Lavette, Allen Toussaint, etc.) helped her reveal a different side to herself. And Meshell went along with this. “I’ve known him since the Bitter album; Craig Street introduced us. I hadn’t called on someone from outside for several albums. But contrary to what everyone thinks, I love getting other opinions, hearing a different point of view and allowing myself to be led by someone with strong ideas. It’s a dialogue. This kind of experience really motivates me.” One might well have imagined her bent protectively over her compositions, her own personal, contradictory and profound world. But she says that she wants to continue this experience in future projects with other musicians. She mentions Brian Eno and Lee Scratch Perry.

She worked the way she likes to with Joe Henry - just two or three takes to capture the spontaneity and freshness of the moment. She is accompanied by Chris Bruce (guitar), Deantoni Parks (drums), Keefus Ciancia (keyboards), Gabe Noel (cello) and guests Jay Bellerose (drums) and Benji Hughes (backing vocals). Meshell recently did some producing herself – for jazz singer Laïka Fatien and rising star Selah Sue. Despite the pop-folk sound of Weather, jazz remains a major source of inspiration. “I love jazz musicians. They’re free; they have no fear. I’ve done pop and there are lots of barriers, lots of holding back. You have to stick to the conventions. Jazz musicians embrace uncertainty and adventure, even in their private lives. They’re more open and often more skilled, both in the studio and on stage.”

On Weather, Meshell sings of the ups and downs of love, one of her favourite subjects. Her heroines are marked by the void left by the loved one (“Object”) or else, like a game of mirrors, pour out their heart about the hurt they have caused others. She does a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Chelsea Hotel”, dedicated to Janis Joplin, an extremely sad and somewhat sexist song, as well as “Don’t Take My Kindness for Weakness” by Soul Children, a sixties soul band, whose message she has made her own. Her own lyrics are always concise, precise or allusive, full of images and poetry (“I want to be your answer”). “They’re like mantras, some phrases cast to the wind, images that pop into my mind. Then I add the music.” She also talks about the wider world on a few tracks. ‘Oysters’ is about “the change that everyone talks about but never comes”. Meshell explains that “Consumerism is gaining ground all the time. We all live to get a new car or a new computer, but what’s the point?” So, join the great world party? “Not for me,” she replies in Dirty World. “I live two hours from New York. I ran away from all the dirt. There’s a farm where I live, and healthy food. I love cooking – it’s not all that different from making music. You need ingredients, and the greatest pleasure is when you share it share it with others.”

Conviction

officialmeshell

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