Tony is joined by RNZ Music's Yadana Saw and Fat Freddy's Drop MC Slave (AKA Mark Williams) to bring you six brand new tunes.
Sault – Free
Tony: “This is their second album in twelve weeks, and their fourth in eighteen months, and in my humble opinion all four records have been pretty brilliant. The third seemed to have been written and recorded as a direct response to the murder of George Floyd, and this latest one is aimed squarely at the dancefloor, but still has those very serious themes.”
Tricky - I'm In The Doorway
Yadana: “There’s something really comforting about going back to Tricky. There are motifs on the album that are really familiar. But you know, this is someone who’s fifty two years old, with a lot of skin in the game, who is trying to work through one of the most tragic positions you can be in. And yet, Tricky himself describes this as the closest he’s come to making a pop song.”
slowthai - feel away ft. James Blake, Mount Kimbie
Mark: “I respect James Blake as an artist, and I’m intrigued why the hip hop community has embraced him so much. We [Fat Freddy’s Drop] met him once at a festival in Holland, he came and said hello to Mu, he wanted to talk to him about music. And since then I’ve seem pop up on all these records with people like Kendrick Lamar. So I’ve always been like ‘wow what is it about the hip hop scene that they just love this guy who, to me, is crying all the goddamn time!’”
No Romance - Television
Tony: “They’re a trio of kiwi musicians based in Berlin. That opening riff is so great, it’s been in my mind all week. Lucy Holiday the singer’s delivery is really cool and detached… very ‘Berlin’ to be honest.”
Anderson .Paak - Lockdown
Mark: “It talks about lockdown and COVID and Black Lives Matter, all these things, in a way that’s totally digestible. It’s not like being hit over the head with something you feel like you already know, it puts a perspective on these things that everyone’s experiencing, but in a way that’s totally groovy.”
Diggy Dupé - Hype
Tony: “He’s like ‘you know what my vice is? It’s spending money on things like shoes when I can’t afford it.”
Yadana: “Part of hip hop is looking outward and calling out things or making commentary on things that are happening external to you. It’s very seldom that you look inside and catch yourself. It’s a brave thing to do, turn the lens on yourself and your own bad habits.”
