required listening
Three new releases worth putting on rotation this month
A favourite of Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar’s go-to saxophonist are behind this month’s hottest new music.
ASH BY IBEYI
Twin sisters Lisa-kaindé and Naomi Diaz of musical duo Ibeyi only dropped their self-titled debut two-and-a-half years ago, but in the time since have caught the attention of both Beyoncé and Karl Lagerfeld (which speaks to their universal appeal), first appearing alongside Zendaya and Amandla Stenberg in the Lemonade visual album, before performing at Chanel’s cruise 2017 show in their home city of Havana. Of Frenchcuban descent and now splitting their time between Paris, Havana and London, the pair’s follow-up album Ash is full of the kind of social awareness you’d expect from such global citizens, addressing issues such as race, feminism, identity and youth with beautifully haunting vocals. They sing in English and the West-african language of Yoruba on the record, weaving in traditional Peruvian and Cuban instruments. Then there are the powerful sound bites sampled throughout, such as Michelle Obama’s declaration that “the measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls” from her epic speech last year, and quotes from Claudia Rankine’s poetry book Citizen: An American
Lyric about engrained racism and discrimination – all of which create a profound and timely record, in any language. Out September 29
HARMONY OF DIFFERENCE BY KAMASI WASHINGTON
If you’ve ever witnessed tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington and his band (which can include up to 10 fellow jazz musicians) do their thing live, you’ll know that it’s not just Washington’s towering physical presence that gives him such clout – the energy his music gives off is almost overwhelming. The Los Angeles-born artist cut his teeth playing alongside a diverse roster that includes Chaka Khan, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill and Snoop Dogg, but is now better known for being Kendrick Lamar’s go-to saxophonist, with his sound featuring throughout the acclaimed
To Pimp A Butterfly. If his debut album (which, at almost three hours long, took its title The Epic quite literally) is anything to go by, this new six-part EP will be one of the releases of the year. Out September 29
MASSEDUCTION BY ST VINCENT
The fifth studio album from St Vincent (aka Annie Clark) is full of the thinking-woman’s electro-pop that the Grammy winner has become known and loved for, at times veering into melancholic soft rock as she riffs about love and heartbreak. Whether it’s her shrewd observations about modern woes (like a collective dependence on prescription medication in “Pills”) or affairs of the heart (such as her ode to “the only motherfucker in the city who can handle me” in “New York”), St Vincent doesn’t shy away from the full spectrum of female emotions, which results in some seriously relatable listening. Out October 13