Chet Faker & Marcus Marr

“Trouble With Us” is little bit of a new direction for Chet Faker, taking a cue from much of today’s pop tunes and going for an old school pop/funk sound.  You can hear the MJ being channeled through, similar to Bruno Mars and Marcus Miller’s killer new track.  Its short and sweet, with a great melody and great beat.

Alina Baraz & Galimatias – Fantasy

She is my fantasy for sure. This track is a little far out but the seductive voice of Alina Baraz brings it all together beautifully.  The spacious and dreamy intro doesn’t let on that later the beat will take this song in such a different direction.  Her lyrics take me in and make me want her to be my fantasy and to dream all her lover’s dreams.  It’s a very peaceful song – definitely makes me want to ‘relax under the palm trees’ and ‘listen to the waves / let them wash away [my] pain.’  The picture she paints with these words is wonderful. When the beat kicks in it perfectly compliments the relaxing feel of the words but still moves the listener.  Such a fun little song, looking forward to more like this.

 

Taylor McFerrin – The Antidote

This beautiful track comes with the soul and with guest vocals by Nai Palm, he couldn’t have gone too wrong. The song fits her style gracefully and the whole piece just flows together smoothly.  McFerrin puts her voice to a bit of a different use than how it’s used in her main project, Hiatus Kaiyote. The melodic choices are different but still have that jazz/soul feel of her background. When the phase shifted electric bass riff drops I can’t help but move. Still makes me think ‘Dont Worry, Be Happy’ even though the music stylistically is completely different from his father’s music. Any sort of good music makes me happy.

 

The rest of the album is just as fantastic. Stylistically it ranges from a down tempo electronic feel to fast paced, complex jazz/funk.  A well crafted piece of art.