Here at World Cafe, there isn't a day that goes by when our physical mailboxes and email inboxes are always overflowing with music. We believe that too much music is never a bad thing — the challenge is simply that there's barely enough time to listen to it all. Like all music fans, we're constantly discovering and getting turned on to new music. Albums, singles, EPs, remixes — it can get a little overwhelming. But out of all that, here are some tunes that have caught our interest lately: five songs to add to your weekend playlist.
Broken Social Scene, "Stay Happy"
Hug Of Thunder is the fifth studio album from the Canadian indie-rock supergroup Broken Social Scene. The band was started in 1999 by Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, and its new album — its first in seven years — features 18 players, including original members Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw of Metric, Amy Millan and Evan Cranley of Stars, Charles Spearin and Ohad Benchetrit of Do Make Say Think and Leslie Feist. The new album is everything we love about the band. It's epic, psychedelic, colorful and in-the-pocket with deep sophisticated grooves. This track features vocals from Ariel Engle and a kaleidoscope of beautiful, swirling sounds.
I'm With Her, "Little Lies"
I'm With Her is the folk group of Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins and Aoife O'Donovan. On this new song, from a forthcoming EP, you'll find quiet beauty, gorgeous playing and harmonies and touching, visceral intimacy.
Curtis Harding, "On And On"
Close your eyes and feel the groove of this soul slammer and you might think it's 1968 and you're sitting in some really cool northern-soul club. When this jam comes over the sound system, you'll be on your feet in seconds. Born in Michigan and currently living in Atlanta, Curtis Harding released an underappreciated gem of a soul record, Soul Power, in 2015. Archie Bell and the Drells once sang, "I just can't stop dancin'" — with "On And On," you won't be able to either.
Lukas Nelson and Promise Of The Real, "Find Yourself"
You might have seen the son of the legendary Willie Nelson hanging around with Neil Young; now, Lukas Nelson is releasing his debut album Aug. 25. "Find Yourself" is a smoking, sultry blues-rock duet with Lady Gaga, who tears into the song with smashingly powerful results.
Hannah Williams & The Affirmations, "Late Nights & Heartbreak"
Imagine this: You're an obscure musician working in your day job as a music teacher and choir director. On a bus ride with your students to a festival where they're going to perform, you get a call from your manager saying JAY-Z wants to talk to you. After a little phone tag, you finally get JAY-Z on the phone and he tells you he wants to use one of your songs for the title track to his new album, 4:44. That's the story behind the sudden burst of popularity for British soul and R&B singer Hannah Williams. The song that Hova used is the title track to Williams' 2016 release, an album steeped with deep-soul jams that fans of Sharon Jones will definitely approve of.
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