Listen Up
Noname’s sublime debut album, a badass Kelela remix, otherworldly new music by Erika Spring and more
Noname: Room 25
After her wildly impressive 2016 mixtape Telefone, Chicago-based slam poet/rapper, Noname (aka Fatimah Warner) has released her highly anticipated debut LP, Room 25—and it’s everything we’ve been hoping for. The record (which Warner funded and released independently) feels effortlessly laid-back as it bounces from intimate and evocative, to minimal to infectious, groovy, seductive and soulful. Her flow is polished yet nuanced, and the entire album is quite mesmerizing—from the first few seconds onward.
Kelela feat. Princess Nokia, Junglepussy, Cupcakke and Ms. Boogie: LMK
Kelela‘s sublime 2017 album Take Me Apart is getting a full remix version—out 5 October on Warp Records—and from it comes quite the star-studded update on “LMK.” The new version, titled “LMK_WHAT’S REALLY GOOD REMIX,” features the likes of Princess Nokia, Junglepussy, Cupcakke and Ms. Boogie, and builds in its smooth fierceness with each moment. Concurrently divine and nasty, this remix is wildly infectious.
How To Dress Well: Nonkilling 6 | Hunger
A pulsing collaboration between How To Dress Well‘s Tom Krell, visual artist Justin Daashuur Hopkins and Hopkins’ art collective NOH/WAVE, the just-released video for “Nonkilling 6 | Hunger” offers an intimate, amorphous depiction of the singer/songwriter/producer. The track will appear on the next How To Dress Well album, The Anteroom, out 19 October. It’s Krell’s fifth studio album under the moniker and he describes it to Pitchfork as “a passage into a void of pain in which no human scream can be heard, that will decompose your body in an instant.” The video and track certainly attest to this.
The Ting Tings: Blacklight
It’s been more than a decade since The Ting Tings burst forth from Manchester with powerful, direct and simply lovable pop-rock. Ahead of their fourth studio album, The Black Light, the band has released new single “Blacklight” and it’s got all the makings of a dance-floor hit. It may come across as darker than their previous offerings, but it still gets the body moving.
LCD Soundsystem: I Want Your Love (Chic Cover)
For Spotify’s Singles, LCD Soundsystem has covered a disco classic: Chic’s “I Want Your Love,” and (unsurprisingly) the results are delightful. Blending the song with their own “Home” (from 2010’s This Is Happening), the rendition is faithful to the original yet unmistakable as the NYC outfit’s take on the tune. Disco meets a new wave, post-punk vibe in a seamless manner here.
Erika Spring: Scars
From a forthcoming five-track EP of the same name, “Scars” acts as a reminder that Erika Spring (of Au Revoir Simone) knows how to cast an emotional spell and transfix with otherworldly beauty. Co-written and produced by Dap-Kings’ Homer Steinweiss, the lead single addresses Spring’s grief over an early miscarriage. Sadness emanates from the piano-driven track, but there’s power here, too.
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel.
