Meernaa - "Good Luck"

Oakland band Meernaa released this single last December but it didn't cross my desk until earlier this month when one of the promotion companies I hear from at the station sent it my way. I was certainly curious about the RIYL that listed both Cat Power and Erykah Badu, but the more accurate comp is the one the group make on their Bandcamp bio: "it feels like a fantasy designed by Solange and Grizzly Bear on mushrooms."

The ringing guitars definitely bring to mind some of Grizzly Bear's gentler numbers and Carly Bond's soulful, swooping vocals have some of the same sultry notes as Solange.

Bummed I didn't discover this earlier, but excited to hear more from Meernaa.

LEILA ABDUL-RAUF - "Dimunition"

Somehow I missed the boat on Bay-area multi-instrumentalist LEILA ABDUL-RAUF. Dimunition is her third solo record and the follow-up to the acclaimed Insomnia. This is some atmospheric work that immerses the listener in a soundscape that vacillates between haunting and relaxing. It's quite the feat and I can't wait to hear the rest of the LP when it comes out on Cloister Recordings and Malignant Records.

Yazmin Lacey - "90 Degrees"

I posted about UK soul-singer Lacey last summer around the time of her Black Moon EP and I've written about many a release from First Word Records over the past five years. So I was beyond stoked to get a message from both Lacey and the label in my inbox today announcing the forthcoming - THIS FRIDAY - release of a new single and the fact that Lacey is now on the roster.

"90 Degrees" begins with a snapping snare drum and a walking bass line after which Lacey glides in and just OWNS the microphone. I WISH she blew up big when the Black Moon EP dropped, but maybe on the heels of playing Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards and with this single more people are going to feel her heat.

Black Pumas - "Black Moon Rising"

 As if keeping tabs on the quality output Colemine Records releases wasn't enough, the Ohio soul label have created a new offshoot - Karma Chief Records - and come out the gate swinging with Austin, TX group Black Pumas. The first digital single, "Black Moon Rising" drops today.

Tracey Thorn - "Face"

Released March 2nd, the first new album in 7 years from Tracey Thorn (formerly of Everything But The Girl) is a highly danceable collection of tunes that is part defiant, part heartbreaking, staggeringly personal and a gem. Thorn herself described the album Record as "nine feminist bangers," and I'll leave it with the economy of the girl.