Modern Love
I am currently listening to this excellent compilation in dedication to Bowie. This is what Wire said.
Modern Love Various BBE CD/DL/2xLP
This compilation of David Bowie covers, curated by DJ Drew McFadden and Peter Adarkwah from BBE Music, features a stellar cast of contemporary artists including MeShell Ndegeocello, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Helado Negro, We Are KING and many more. The project was pulled together with the aim of highlighting Bowie’s connections to soul, jazz, funk and gospel music, and refreshingly, is dominated by artists of colour and female voices. There’s not a single white guy warbling his way through a ropey Ziggy impression to be found here, thank God.
McFadden explains the Black music angle in the press release, pointing out “there’s been been plenty of Bowie covers over the years, but none that have really tapped into what seems to have been a big part of his core musical style and direction”. He’s right. Bowie spent much of his career championing Black music, musicians and culture, as well as appropriating and metabolising those influences into his own artistry. He copped a lot of flack for daring to make soul, funk and disco music in the 1970s, and for ‘selling out’ by making dance music later on with Nile Rogers. Here, the mood is celebratory and appreciative. The arrangements and performances are fresh and stylish, highlighting the quality and good bones of the songbook. There’s an excellent selection of tracks spanning from 1967’s “Silly Boy Blue”, dressed in summery jazz by Nia Andrews, to Bullion’s effervescent electro pop interpretation of 2013’s “Where Are We Now?”.
“Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family”, and a dreamy version of “Right” by Khruangbin that is destined to be the soundtrack of my summer. Deft reharmonisations of “Soul Love” (Jeff Parker) and “Golden Years” (Léa Sen) transform the old and familiar into something new and fleshy. Ndegeocello’s gently epic “Fantastic Voyage”, and We Are KING’s starry-eyed “Space Oddity” take the mood toward the cosmic. Matthew Tavares (BadBadNotGood) closes out set with a sprawling jazz arrangement of “Heroes”, tender and ecstatic.
This collection proves there is life and beauty and creativity still refracting from the Bowie legacy, that while his image has become iconic, his work has not completely been reduced to branded socks and glam cosplay. It’s exciting to hear this music being explored by different generations of voices, of different backgrounds and genders and styles. One gets the feeling that Bowie himself would have enjoyed this project.
Leah Kardos
Modern Love Various BBE CD/DL/2xLP
This compilation of David Bowie covers, curated by DJ Drew McFadden and Peter Adarkwah from BBE Music, features a stellar cast of contemporary artists including MeShell Ndegeocello, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Helado Negro, We Are KING and many more. The project was pulled together with the aim of highlighting Bowie’s connections to soul, jazz, funk and gospel music, and refreshingly, is dominated by artists of colour and female voices. There’s not a single white guy warbling his way through a ropey Ziggy impression to be found here, thank God.
McFadden explains the Black music angle in the press release, pointing out “there’s been been plenty of Bowie covers over the years, but none that have really tapped into what seems to have been a big part of his core musical style and direction”. He’s right. Bowie spent much of his career championing Black music, musicians and culture, as well as appropriating and metabolising those influences into his own artistry. He copped a lot of flack for daring to make soul, funk and disco music in the 1970s, and for ‘selling out’ by making dance music later on with Nile Rogers. Here, the mood is celebratory and appreciative. The arrangements and performances are fresh and stylish, highlighting the quality and good bones of the songbook. There’s an excellent selection of tracks spanning from 1967’s “Silly Boy Blue”, dressed in summery jazz by Nia Andrews, to Bullion’s effervescent electro pop interpretation of 2013’s “Where Are We Now?”.
“Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family”, and a dreamy version of “Right” by Khruangbin that is destined to be the soundtrack of my summer. Deft reharmonisations of “Soul Love” (Jeff Parker) and “Golden Years” (Léa Sen) transform the old and familiar into something new and fleshy. Ndegeocello’s gently epic “Fantastic Voyage”, and We Are KING’s starry-eyed “Space Oddity” take the mood toward the cosmic. Matthew Tavares (BadBadNotGood) closes out set with a sprawling jazz arrangement of “Heroes”, tender and ecstatic.
This collection proves there is life and beauty and creativity still refracting from the Bowie legacy, that while his image has become iconic, his work has not completely been reduced to branded socks and glam cosplay. It’s exciting to hear this music being explored by different generations of voices, of different backgrounds and genders and styles. One gets the feeling that Bowie himself would have enjoyed this project.
Leah Kardos