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

2000

Show Me

Love You I Do

A mix of Hip Hop tracks infused with the ideology and teachings of the 5 Percent Nation in their lyrics. Featured artists include General Steele of Smif n Wessun, Buckshot BDI, Sean Price, Sir Ibu of Divine Force, Eric B. and Rakim, Ghostface, Lakim Shabazz, Lord Jamar, and Rza to name a few.

And as per usual, I also mixed in some of the original soulful songs that were sampled.

Peace

POWER REFINEMENT

Envious - SAULT Cover

Brooklyn's own, MA$TER GLO (a.k.a. Goldie Glo) debuts his first EP, Ghetto Elegance Volume 1

Peace Your Highness!

Honor Tha God Feat. General Steele (prod. By Ducki Beats)

Time & Time Again (prod. By Ducki Beats)

Intro (prod. By Escro Wavve)

Romantic

Track Art: Bernard DUPONT, Wikimedia CC with attribution, here...
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leaf_Litter_%2815010618104%29.jpg

Lyrics - 
[Intro]

[Chorus]
The shade is so deep, so deep, so deep,
Sunlight never hits the leaf litter

Nicolette's frizzy hair hid seedlings and secrets,
About some far NQ heavy hitter

Her Dad's service pistol, so cared for 'till 94,
had no reason nor owner to load it

So why was it there on the bed in mid-winter
When we all knew it gave you the jitters?

[Verse]
So much older than me, I never really got to know you as a friend
You drifted in and out of the bungalow, while geckoes ran across the ceiling

[Chorus]
The shade is so deep, so deep, so deep,
Sunlight never hits the leaf litter

Nicolette's frizzy hair hid seedlings and secrets,
About some far NQ heavy hitter

Her Dad's service pistol, so cared for 'till 94,
had no reason nor owner to load it

So why was it there on the bed in mid-winter
When we all knew it gave you the jitters?

[Verse]
Christmas has no meaning in the jungle, except holidays and anyways
You're flying to new guinea again on Monday

[Bridge]
The shade is so deep, so deep, so deep,
Sunlight never hits the leaf litter

[Verse]
So how did the Americans live so long hidden

In plain sight, until the ethernet caught them

[Chorus]
The shade is so deep, so deep, so deep,
Sunlight never hits the leaf litter

Nicolette's frizzy hair hid seedlings and secrets,
About some far NQ heavy hitter

Her Dad's service pistol, so cared for 'till 94,
had no reason nor owner to load it

So why was it there on the bed in mid-winter
When we all knew it gave you the jitters?

[Outro]

----------------------

Nicolettes Palmetum reprise

Keznamdi - Love Mi Nuff

Creative Director / Photographer / Chunes Aficionado

POWER REFINEMENT

Phillip Shung