Opera, Jazz and Adrian Younge

Hello and welcome to 2ser’s new music review! This is where we connect you with some of the amazing new music from all around the world. Read on, click through to our Spotify playlist, and enjoy it all on 2SER!

SERvin’ Up! – w/c April 9, 2018

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Sex & Food (Feature Album)
Ernie Hawks and The Soul Investigators – Scorpio Man
Wye Oak – The Louder I Run, The Faster I Call
Air Waves – Warrior
GUM – The Underdog
Adrian Younge – Adrian Younge Presents: Voices of Gemma
A Beacon School – Cola
Makeness – Loud Patterns
Roma Di Luna – We Were Made To Forgive

Having been raised on hip-hop, DJ, producer and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Adrian Younge has gone on to work with Kendrick Lamar, Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest — even scoring Marvel Netflix’s Luke Cage with the latter’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad. On his new album Adrian Younge Presents: Voices of Gemma, we see Younge collaborating with opera singer Brooke deRosa and jazz vocalist Rebecca Englehart. It’s a wonderful blend of funk, R&B, jazz, and folk, all through an intergalactic lens — think Thundercat or Shabazz Palaces. If you didn’t know that Younge was also a student of 60s and 70s soul from his work with Philadelphia soul legends The Delfonics, you can hear that influence come through too, as well as his passion for analog production.

Air Waves is the moniker of New York based queer artist Nicole Schneit. On her third album Warrior, there’s a lot of tenacity across the aptly titled record, which was inspired in part by her mum who was diagnosed with fallopian cancer last year and navigating life as a queer person in a Trump administration. Bittersweet at times but extremely empowering indie pop with Schneit’s warm, floating vocals, slow-burning guitar lines and uplifting keyboard hooks.

Last but not least, there’s Ernie Hawk and The Soul Investigators out of Finland. Based in Helsinki, this instrumental collective is led by the elusive flautist and trombonist Ernie Hawks. Their debut album Scorpio Man sounds and looks like a lost find from the 70s and could easily score a Morricone or Tarantino film, but was just released a few weeks ago by the collective run label Timmion Records. A fluttering and expansive soundscape that’s filled with jazz grooves and psych-funk surprises.

Also in the mix are new singles from Eleanor Friedberger, Jane Weaver, Ryan Downey, Kadhja Bonet, Juliana Daugherty, N Kramer and Parquet Courts.

Until next week,
Steph

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