NEW SOUNDS

SADE 

Sade Adu, the reclusive pop artist who has largely been out of the spotlight since her last album, "Soldier of Love" with her band also called Sade and the world tour that followed to support the record about fourteen years ago. Without her long-time band, she has unexpectedly released a new song that is very important and meaningful to her. In 2016, Adu's only child, now named Izaak, came out as a transgendered man. Sade has contributed the song, "Young Lion" that will be a part of the compilation album, "Transa", which features forty-six songs from over one hundred musicians in celebration of the trans community. This moving song, written by Adu with Aaron Taylor Dean and Ben Travers, offers a mother's apology to her son for not giving enough support during his early days of transitioning. "Young Lion" is based on a letter Sade gave to her son on his 21st birthday. And after deciding the message was so important, especially during these fraught times with attacks on the trans community, the song was created to share with the world.



TYLA

Tyla burst on the scene with her breakthrough single, "Water" last year. This Afrobeat track helped build excitement for the debut album by the twenty-two year old South African performer. With her self-titled album released earlier this year, there is now a deluxe edition of the record, simply titled "Tyla +". There are three new track included; the African drum driven, "Shake Ah", the ballad, "Back to You" and the reggae-fused single, "Push 2 Start". The music video for this track delivers a visual vibe of r&b from the beginning of this century, bringing to mind the colorful styles of Rihanna and Beyoncé.



OMAR APOLLO

The pop singer, Omar Apollo makes his acting debut with a supporting role in director Luca Guadagnino's upcoming film, "Queer". Based on the novella by William S. Burroughs, Daniel Craig stars as William Lee, an American living in 1950's Mexico City and becoming infatuated with a younger American, played by Drew Starkey. Apollo appears as a hombre that Lee picks up in a bar and proceeds to have an intimate encounter. The singer has also provided a song for the soundtrack, "Te Maldigo" which is produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. This mournful ballad (which roughly translates to "I curse you") is about damning a former lover for no longer loving him. Guadagino  as directed the music video for this song which is set, much like the film, in a smoky Mexican bar.

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

With her ninth studio album, "Visions", Norah Jones dives deeper into the soulful side of her music. Teaming with Leon Michels, a musician and producer who played with several soul bands that includes being a founding member of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings as well as touring with the alt-rock band, the Black Keys, Jones, now a forty-four year old wife to musician, Pete Remm and mother to their two children, has gotten looser and funkier with her sound. Yet fear not, long time jazz era fans of Jones, there are still elements of her smooth musical style on this record that first brought her fame twenty-two years ago.





Some new music I'm feeling right now is the latest single from Tyla with the South African singer's self titled debut has also just been released; the Irish rocker, Hoizer has dropped an EP with a track enjoying Tik Tok popularity; another single from Colombian performer, Shakira has her teaming up with hip-hop artist, Cardi B.; the new single by the reunited '90's boy-band, New Kids on the Block who are now middle-aged men and Lorde's contribution for a tribute album to Talking Heads which celebrates the re-release of the band's amazing 1984 feature film, "Stop Making Sense" which will be released through the movie studio, A24's music label.

Kim Gordon first found success as one of the founding members of the influential alternative rock band, Sonic Youth. After spending thirty years with this experimental band, Gordon parted ways not only with this musical group but with her husband and fellow band member, Thurston Moore in 2011. She has since spent her time creating art, working on a fashion line, doing a little acting and producing for other musical artists.

Gordon had little interest in recording as a solo artist yet when she met producer, Justin Raisen in 2015, he convinced her to forge ahead. Their first project together was "No Home Record" four years later which was well received. This musical duo set about working together again and their latest collaboration has been released. "The Collective", with the title inspired by Jennifer Egan's novel, "The Candy House", is vigorous blending of thrashing guitars and hip-hop beats. The Tik Tok generation has embraced the seventy year old Gordon and a track from the album, "Bye Bye", which describes a list of items she will pack for a trip enhanced by pulsating, noisy beats.

MY FAVORITE SONGS OF 2023

This past year in music, it reminded me of a time when I was a strange, awkward teen listening to AM radio in the 1970's. Back then it was common for stations to play all genres of music, tossed together indiscriminately, where it would create the ultimate pop music playlist. Over time, music became much more segregated but largely thanks to TikTok, we had a jumble of various sounds finding their way into our ears; classic soul, hip-hop, country, dance-pop, world music, Latin-pop, a bit of jazz and older music which were tunes that didn't receive much attention when initially released or songs that were popular years ago but have been rediscovered by a new generation. I really love this trend of as I don't believe that most people only listen to one style of music. The possibilities of discovery are endless, making this new year exciting and full of promise.

Here are a few songs that I loved that I didn't get an opportunity to share throughout the year: