Weekly Music Roundup: Boubacar Traoré & Poppy Ackroyd
This week, new songs by Eminem and Kimbra; a song premiere from Mali via Louisiana, and a video premiere from a Brooklyn loft.
PREMIERE: A Star Guitarist From Mali Comes To Louisiana
In the early 60s, guitarist Boubacar Traoré became a national figure at a time when Mali had just became an independent country. But because he was associated with their first government, he basically disappeared from view once that government was overthrown. Rediscovered by Western producers and fans in the late 80s, he signed his first record contract in 1990. Now 75 and still going strong, Traoré has recorded a new album in Lafayette, LA, with a bunch of veteran blues players. It’ll be called Dounia Tabolo, and today we’re premiering the title track. Listen to Traoré’s trance-y guitar playing and his rough and tumble vocals, and the distance between the Mississippi River and the Niger River seems to disappear…
Dounia Tabolo comes out on Friday, Nov. 17.
Kimbra’s New Single Has a World Music Feel
The New Zealand singer Kimbra first gained international acclaim as the “other voice” on Gotye’s massive 2012 hit, “Somebody That I Used To Know.” Around here, she is known as the artist with the most Youtube views of any performance we’ve ever done on Soundcheck. (That would be “Settle Down,” a hit from her solo debut album Vows, currently at 1.4 million views.) She’s releasing her third LP, called Primal Heart, in January, and has just put out a single called “Top Of The World.” It is a bit of a surprise package – on an album largely made by Kimbra herself with indie rock producer extraordinaire John Congleton, this track features co-production by the EDM hit-maker Skrillex. World music rhythms drive both the percussion and the chanted vocals that begin the song and recur throughout. And the verses seem to take Beyonce’s “Run The World (Girls)” as a starting point, although she pokes through the defiance and bravado at several points to reveal the uncertainty beneath. “But tonight I'm feeling tired and alone,” she sings, “Dear lord, I hope we didn't go wrong.” The song ends with the line “They built me up to be beaten,” but this stirring song leaves the impression that no one is beating Kimbra anytime soon.
Eminem and Beyonce Team Up, And It’s No Fun At All
Believe it or not, there was a time when listening to Eminem was actually fun. (Remember “My Name Is” or “Without Me”?) These days the rapper has more serious things on his mind – I mean, he always did, but a dash of humor or a little hint of a zany streak never hurt. Recently he tore into Donald Trump with a freestyle rap at the BET Hip Hop Awards, and now he turns his anger and his frustration inward, on a new single called “Walk On Water.” It features Beyonce singing the chorus, with a simple piano accompaniment, and Eminem himself venting about how hard it is to reach the heights of his own earlier career. He questions his place in a changing music world, and seems to feel aggrieved that he is always expected to raise the bar, and then reach the bar. He even wonders aloud if this minimalist new song could be a misstep – which, despite the star power on display here, is a definite possibility. But give the guy credit for not letting that stop him…
It appears that the next Eminem record will be called Revival, and that this track will be on it. No release details yet, but Eminem is the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this weekend, so maybe we’ll learn more then.
A Likable, Indefinable Single from UK’s Poppy Ackroyd
Poppy Ackroyd is a classically-trained violinist and pianist. She is also, in a sense, a composer of electronic music – it’s just that her source materials tend to be various types of keyboards and strings. Perhaps she is best described as a producer: her 2015 album Feathers was full of music that had classical textures, pop harmonies, and a kind of post-rock sound world, all created by Ackroyd using some inventive production techniques. Now she’s signed to One Little Indian records (the label most famous for Björk’s albums), and will release a new album, called Resolve, in early February. The single, “The Calm Before,” is out now, and it’ll give you a good sense of what her music sounds like. The rhythm track is basically built of clarinet samples – and especially the usually-ignored key-clicks of the instrument. Over that she builds layers of piano and violin. It doesn’t sound electronic – if anything, it sounds like the musical stepchild of the American minimalist movement (especially Steve Reich and Terry Riley); but it is totally a studio creation.
PREMIERE: Gracie and Rachel’s New Video, Shot In Their Own Loft
This is not the first time the duo known as Gracie and Rachel have appeared in these virtual pages. With their gothic chamber-pop (like Poppy Ackroyd, built around piano and violin) and their insistent black and white color scheme (which extends to their clothing as well as their videos), Rachel Ruggles and Gracie Coates have created a look and a sound that is uniquely theirs. I suppose, then, that our videos of their in-studio performance, shot in full color, are slightly less-than-authentic; but that’s okay, because today we premiere their own b&w video, shot in their Brooklyn loft, as they perform their exquisite song “(Un)comfortable.” That’s Gracie singing at the piano, and Rachel playing the violin and percussion.
Gracie and Rachel will be playing at the Park Church Co-Op in Brooklyn on Thursday evening, November 16.
