Chicano R&B singer Omar Apollo hosts a luxe yacht party in his brand new video for “Kickback.” It’s the fourth single off his 2019 EP, Friends, which he self-released in April. In the Matthew Dillon Cohen-directed video, Apollo takes the kickback, or SoCal slang for “house party,” to the Mediterranean …
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Hope Tala’s “Lovestained” is a hybrid as intrepid as it is airy: The guitar suggests Brazil in 1965, the steel drums add a springy touch of the Caribbean, and the bass seems plucked from an irresistible hit on American rap radio in 1998. “That’s what the vision is: Bringing together …
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Leela James is one of the few southern soul singers who can still achieve a hit today. Her most recent example, “Don’t Want You Back,” is an exercise in classic form — a handsome, raspy “good riddance” with a guitar that studiously recreates the sound of Hi Records. But the …
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