Jacques Greene sparked our interest back in 2010 when he proposed marriage to Cassie via his ‘Must Be Love’ remix – after a string of reworks, guest mixes and odd ends, he returned earlier this year with two new singles and promise of a new EP. First dropped ‘Flatline’ a track featuring Koreless which combined Greene’s love for 2-step and Electronic music with classic R&B. Followed shortly after by ‘Arrow’ featuring Ango, a 9-minute production of lush House vibes.
Now ahead of it’s January 30th release comes a preview of Concealer, Jacques forthcoming 4-track extended player. Thankfully, it would appear there’s no let up, both previously unheard songs (‘There’ & ‘Clark’) prove themselves worthy – deep, thundering basslines and ghostly vocal samples scattered around Greene’s varied musical influences. Sexy stuff.
Last year one of our favourite, warped leftfield Hip-Hop outfits Shabazz Palaces proved a huge hit with indie audiences and their Sub Pop affiliation (a label associated with cult Rock) didn’t hurt. Our Toasty ran a heads up on another Seattle duo comprised of Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White, after they later became label’s second only Hip-Hop signing ever – though that’s not hard to see why. In recent years, there’s been a notable reemergence in ‘Afro-Futurism’ (an art aesthetic combining afrocentric themes and science fiction/space) from Flying Lotus to Janelle Monae. And these ladies appear like they’ve fallen out of a Jamel Shabazz scrapbook and crash landed into their own musical wormhole of unstable, acid sonics and bucolic nuances. A bit like two B-Girls joyriding a UFO on methadone.
Check out these recent live performances over at PMOI and their most recent 5 track EP whilst we wait for their debut LP ‘awE NaturalE’ in March…
I could lie and say we’re going to stop, but I can’t. As more and more videos from D’Angelo’s comeback show surface, so do our posts. Listen here as D performs a brand new song called ‘Another Life’.
Our D’Angelo coverage continues. And as the first batch of reviews begin to trickle in, we get to enjoy last nights rendition of ‘Brown Sugar’. Watch and listen as the messiah sings a Prince-sounding rendition of his 1995 classic.
We introduced you to Natalie Duncan back in early December, she impressed us away with her live rendition of her song ‘Devil in Me’. Currently recording her debut album The Sky is Falling, she’s just released a 3 track EP of live recordings. The first song is the title track off her forthcoming LP , the other two are reworks of Grizzy Bear’s ‘While You Wait for the Others’ and the Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimme Shelter’. These three songs reaffirm what we already suspected – Duncan carries a lot of promise.
A young lady with a bold voice beyond her years, playing the piano like her life depends on it (see: ‘The Sky is Falling’) – her talent is abundant and clear. There’s a lot of Soul in that voice, she sings with a love for Blues-Rock too – just listen to that Stones’ cover for example (hearing some early Aretha influence in there too). Hoping the studio versions of her material carry the same dexterity – really excited to see and hear more from her in the coming months.
Admittedly it’s 5am, we’re backing down Red Bulls to keep up with other ravenous fans awake across the net baiting for more footage – earnest stan movements – but we have another new one. With further hints of Prince, nodding more towards the rockier ‘Raspberry Beret’ period than the prior Madhouse’esque Jazz-Funk fusion of ‘Sugar Daddy’, I guess we’ll have to keep in mind any one of these live versions could differ from studio masters. Still, it’s a fantastic direction for one of the great inheritors of The Purple One’s off-shooting musical legacy, and honours a known key influence in his life as they both share a love for Sly Stone and Miles Davis. We’re all for it. Plus also anxious to hear that “black Beach Boys” business Questlove was waxing lyrical on in an interview last year on top of reported Mark Ronson productions.
The D-Tour as it’s been dubbed, will continue around Europe in Copenhagen (Jan 27th), Paris (Jan 29th), Amsterdam (Jan 20th & 31st) London (Feb 3rd & 4th), Oslo (Feb 6th), Zurich (Feb 7th), Amsterdam (Feb 9th), Stockholm (Feb 10th). Check his tour manager Tina Farris’ blog on OkayPlayer to stay up to date with the happenings.
Poor quality clip, but atleast we’re getting audio through.
The night rolls on. The vocals still pertinent, steez still intact. Taking they ass to chuuuuuurch… with this latest live rendition of the burning infidelity/revenge number from his ’95 seminal debut Brown Sugar.
Life affirming update for the legion of worshipers of this musical demigod out there. He’s alive. He’s well. And he’s on f***ing fire.
As D’Angelo plays his first show in a decade tonight in the lucky city of Stockholm at a venue with a name we cannot pronounce, this fresh footage has just leaked. Performing Voodoo classic ‘Chicken Grease’, comfortable in black, appearing healthy and engaging with his audience with such redemptive glee on his face – I can only speak for the whole PinBoard team by insisting we’re thoroughly excrementing our collective pants waiting for the Amsterdam and Brixton show.
All hail. The ruler’s back.
Updated update: According to SoulBounce he performed a few new numbers from his (mythologized) next album…
First ‘Fish’ then ‘Seven’, now young Toronto swag Jazz fusionists BADBADNOTGOOD absolutely, unequivocally annihilate the groove on this killer live re-work of Gucci Mane’s ‘Lemonade’. That original bassline did always have mad potential…
With Tyler bugging out on the mic and gradually going on to do his best studio thug clowning, the chemistry between the trio and Wolf stays tight.
