Jean Grae - "What You Came For"

If you are not reading the current run of Black Panther penned by Ta-Nehisi Coates and drawn by Brian Stelfreeze then you need to head down to your local comic shop and pick up some back issues. Wakanda's in chaos and members of the Dora Milaje have gone renegade against King T'Challa. As you might expect with Coates writing it, there are examinations of tradition, institutional structures, sexism and more; all presented in an exiting (and beautiful looking) comic. No stranger to the comic-book universe, rapper Jean Grae just dropped this track that is "Inspired by now and in collaboration with Marvel's Black Panther: A NATION UNDER OUR FEET - Part Three."

Interview with Thao Nguyen

One of the luxuries of my day job as Program Director at UMFM is I get the opportunity to interview some of my favourite artists. I've featured Thao & The Get Down Stay Down before and they're set to play at Interstellar Rodeo here in Winnipeg in a few short weeks. In advance of that, I talked to Thao Nguyen about the group's latest album, A Man Alive. It originally aired on Monday, but is now up on the station's Soundcloud page.

BASECAMP - "1 Thing (ft. Hoodlem)"

Nashville's BASECAMP just dropped this collaborative cover of Amerie's "1 Thing" on Wednesday. I'm playing it on my show tonight, but figured I'd post it here to leave you with for the weekend.

Drugdealer - "Suddenly ft. Weyes Blood"

Yacht Rock is a thing again. I'm fully on board. And if this first track from the forthcoming Drugdealer LP hadn't come out yesterday, I'm fairly certain Wax Poetics would have included it on this Spotify playlist they put together last week. Mark your calendar for September 9th when this album drops on Weird World Record Co.

Xiomara - "YDKJ Pt. II"

It pays to sign up to mailing lists and follow interesting producers. I've been up on Amerigo Gazaway for a bit now and am a fan of his blending of artists on projects like Yasiin Gaye. The tune below showed up in my inbox this morning and until I clicked 'open' I'd never heard of Xiomara before. Woman's got a VOICE. You can hear it on this track (produced by Gazaway), but to really bask in its range and strength, you need to go listen to her LP, Seven Nineteen.

Glenn Davis - "Off The Line"

The lead-off track to Glenn Davis' (of Way Yes) solo LP Waves & Webs is a subtle stunner. The methodical bass guitar line ascending and descending throughout underpins and supports Davis' Muppet-y warble and the layers of keys add a fuzzy warmth. This is that sweater where the threads in the cuff are coming apart, but you'll wear it around the campfire until the end of time.

Julia Jacklin - "Leadlight"

Much as I'm excited that there's a new Avalanches record, after listening to the first song off of Don't Let The Kids Win (out October 7th on Polyvinyl), the championship belt for 2016 Australian album I'm most eager to hear goes to Julia Jacklin.

Lady Wray - "Do It Again"

How did I miss this when it was first posted FOUR months ago? I mean, I follow Lady Wray's label Big Crown Records on Soundcloud so this should have been in my feed. Did I just flake on checking it out?

Regardless, I'm glad I finally heard it because this is a burner and sits comfortably alongside Tanika Charles' "Endless Chain" as one of my soul summer stunners.

Sara Watkins - "Without A Word"

I wish no one ill will (okay, maybe not no one...) when it comes to matters of the heart, but had it not been for a break-up, Sara Watkins would likely never have written the material on Young In All The Wrong Ways [released July 1st on New West].

That said, my favourite track - "Without A Word" - isn't as directly tied to heartbreak as other songs on the record so maybe the alternate universe where Watkins' heart is unbroken still contains this song. It'd take a better understanding of quantum mechanics than I have to say for sure.