Hi Robert. Which album should we not miss this week?
‘Louie (★★★★☆, 17 tracks) the debut album by the great American producer Kenny Beats. He makes beats in a very traditional way for, among others, Vince Staples and Denzel Curry, and he does it very well. Still, Kenny Beats never wanted to make a solo album until he said he had something to say. Louie is mainly about his father, a radio DJ who was diagnosed with cancer last year.’
‘Despite that sadness, the record sounds more like a nostalgic memory of his father, the place where he grew up and his youth. You hear jazz, soul, and samples of deep cuts; unknown songs by often unknown artists. Two songs on Louie are real goosebumps. The first isThe Perch, on which you hear his father announcing a song on the radio, with little Kenny on his lap who is also allowed to talk into the microphone. Then you’ve got me.’
‘It gets even more beautiful with Eternal, where he uses a sample of Shira Small: an unknown singer who made one record in the 1970s and wanted to sound just like Joni Mitchell. But hey, everyone sounded like Joni Mitchell back then, so she just went looking for a job after that record. Kenny Beats has turned her phrases about eternal life into a beautiful tribute. Louie is a collage of beats and samples, but also emotions. They are almost all short pieces of two or three minutes, but one song flows smoothly into the next.’
Which album do you recommend?
‘Sampa the Great has her new album As Above, So Below (★★★★☆, 11 songs) released. She is from Zambia, grew up in Botswana, studied in America and now lives in Australia. You can hear that in her music, which is a nice mix of all kinds of styles, as reviewer Menno Pot also wrote. On the new record it is mainly dark hip-hop mixed with music from southern Africa, with very beautiful vocals in Bemba, one of the most widely spoken languages in Zambia.’
‘Apparently these are two things that don’t have much in common, deep hip-hop and traditional vocal music from southern Africa, but she combines them very strongly. Especially the number never forget is handsome. Sampa the Great has an almost cartoonish voice at times, and in that track she sings about some of the things African culture has guided the world in. In everything she lists, she sings’never forget‘; don’t forget, we were the first. Very well done. As Above, So Below is more intense and penetrating than her previous records, but ends with songs that go more in the poppy, neo-soul direction.’
This is also worth listening to this week:
on the album Everything I Know About Love (★★★★☆, 13 songs) you can hear the musical sensitivity of the Chinese-Icelandic singer Laufey. Her voice is natural, writes reviewer Pablo Cabenda, her presentation soft and strong, combined with careless precision.
Seven long pieces that breathe spiritual jazz on the album I Survived, It’s Over (★★★★☆, 7 songs) by Rich Ruth. According to Gijsbert Kamer, an intense aural spectacle, which brings you into a state of trance.
