R&B / Soul
Thundercat is set to release his new album It Is What It Is on Brainfeeder Records on April 3, 2020, and shares the first music; 'Black Qualls (featuring Steve Lacy and Steve Arrington). The album, produced by Flying Lotus and Thundercat, features musical contributions from Ty Dolla $ign, Childish Gambino, Lil B, Kamasi Washington, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Louis Cole and Zack Fox. It Is What It Is follows his game-changing third album Drunk (2017). That record completed his transition from virtuoso bassist to bonafide star and cemented his reputation as a unique voice that transcends genre. 'This album is about love, loss, life and the ups and downs that come with that,' Bruner says. 'It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but at different points in life you come across places that you don't necessarily understand' some things just aren't meant to be understood.'
From the first second of Kandace Springs' new album — as those warm, hand-plucked bass notes fill the air — you know you've arrived at something different. And once she starts singing, well, it's pretty clear The Women Who Raised Me exists apart from the normal rules that govern space, time, and talent. While 2018's Indigo LP found the Nashville singer-pianist using modern production to bend sound into new genre forms in collaboration with Karriem Riggins, this set adheres sonically to jazz while Springs travels back and forth across a near-century of music. While the feel is as rich and complex as our host's voice, the concept is simple. Springs covers the women who inspired her while she was growing up, putting her own spin on songs associated with a dozen of the greatest female vocalists of all-time: Ella Fitzgerald, Roberta Flack, Astrud Gilberto, Lauryn Hill, Billie Holiday, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Carmen McRae, Bonnie Raitt, Sade, Nina Simone, and Dusty Springfield.
Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, Jessie Reyez will unveil her debut album Before Love Came To Kill Us on March 27th. The album includes the RIAA Gold-certified single "Imported" with 6LACK and capitalizes on the release of the acclaimed Kiddo and Being Human in Public EPs which have garnered more than 750 million combined global streams to date. The Toronto-born, Colombian-bred powerhouse has racked up award nominations and wins including Juno Awards (Breakthrough Artist winner), MTV Video Music Awards, BET Awards, iHeart Radio Music Awards and more. She's also flexed her songwriting prowess on records for other artists including Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa's "One Kiss", Calvin Harris & Sam Smith "Promises", Normani's "Slow Down" and more. Her list of collaborators include Eminem, Daniel Caesar, 6LACK, Kehlani, Karol G, Tainy, Pink $weats and more.
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Craft Recordings is thrilled to announce the release of a vinyl box set celebrating one of music’s greatest gospel and soul groups, The Staple Singers. Set for a December 6th release date, Come Go With Me: The Stax Collection presents all of the group’s studio albums released on the iconic Memphis label, spanning 1968–1974, and features the Staples’ biggest hits, including “I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself” and “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me).” The six studio albums were cut from the original analog masters by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. The final, seventh disc offers rarities, non-album singles and several live recordings from the legendary 1972 Wattstax music festival. The seven discs come in heavyweight 180-gram vinylpressed at Memphis Record Pressing. Housed in a slipcase, the collection also includes a deluxe booklet with archival photos and new liner notes from American music specialist and curator Levon Williams (formerly of the Stax Museum and the National Museum of African American Music), and folklorist, ethnomusicologist and writer Dr. Langston Wilkins. The complete collection will also be released digitally, and the six studio albums will be available in hi-res 24-bit/192 kHz and 24-bit/96 kHz formats for the first time.
Charged up by gospel grandiosity, sun-kissed island grooves, and R&B soul, Nicole Bus wields such a voice. An empathetic writer, powerhouse vocalist, talented multi-instrumentalist, and impassioned performer, the Dutch-born multicultural songstress delivers a striking signature style on her 2019 debut for Roc Nation. It paved the way for her debut album, KAIROS, which Nicole co-executive-produced and co-produced along with Needlz who produced the entire album.
Buoyed by the smashing success of his recent trio of EPs – The Monologue, The Paradox and The Boy Who Cried Freedom – Nigerian-born British singer-songwriter Jacob Banks released his eagerly awaited full album debut, Village, on Interscope Records. Jacob’s powerful vocals and genre-bending style quickly received widespread praise everywhere from Billboard, The FADER, Complex, Interview, PAPER and NYLON, and TIME Magazine. This fall Jacob will embark on the Village worldwide tour.
Joey Dosik honed his craft as part of a burgeoning Los Angeles scene that reinvents classic popular music to thrive in the present tense. With Inside Voice, Dosik delivers a level of depth rarely achieved in a debut, and the result is an instant classic by any standard. It’s brimming with emotions that linger and hum. It’s catchy as hell and can haunt you for days. You can take a casual listen or spend hours on repeat. Either way, Inside Voice will get you, because Joey Dosik writes human music for human beings. And boy does he write the hell out of it. Title track “Inside Voice” builds gradually into 1970s-style soul, as Dosik’s remarkable vocal range hovers over a sparse arrangement. It’s quiet but — in keeping with the song’s concept, which Dosik describes as “deep, sexual, but also kind of silly”— it’s also a thrilling, intimate moment. “Take Mine” plays with negative space and a repetitive, gut-punching melody; what feels like a love song is actually a plea for unity against the turbulent backdrop of present-day politics. Throughout, Dosik does a remarkable job of honoring and evolving classic sounds, letting his uncanny gift for songwriting guide the way.
In honor of the 25th anniversary of the iconic film The Bodyguard, Legacy Recordings, is celebrating its legacy with the release of a brand new collection of Whitney Houston live and studio recordings entitled “I Wish You Love: More From The Bodyguard”. “I Wish You Love: More From The Bodyguard” is an essential new Whitney Houston collection bringing together a variety of live and studio recordings from The Bodyguard (many previously unreleased or unavailable), including an alternate mix of “I Will Always Love You,” which features a spoken word intro of Whitney as Rachel Marron, an A Capella version of “Jesus Loves Me,” which has never been heard before and a live recording from The Bodyguard World Tour 1993-1995 of “Run To You,” which Whitney rarely performed. Also included are film and live versions of “I Will Always Love” You,” “I Have Nothing,” “Queen of The Night” and more.
CURTIS HARDING could best be described as a student of the gritty, sweat-dripping, hip-swinging blues that wafted through the air of the American sixties. The offspring of a mother who sang gospel, and a retired veteran, he traveled all over the country as a child, singing alongside his parents, learning that music was in fact the great communicator, and that the key was not just in how pretty the notes were, but how if you were honest in what you were singing, you could stir a person on the inside. This is what Otis Redding knew. What Sam Cooke, and Bo Diddley, and B. B. King knew. That somehow there was a way to take your experiences, your pain and joy, and give them melody, cause them to live and breathe and massage the hearts and minds of all those who hear.
