Weekly Music Roundup: Sonny Singh, Nailah Hunter, Cory Wong
Week of April 18: This week, Sonny Singh’s tribute to the Sikh community, Nailah Hunter’s eerie nocturne, and Cory Wong’s effortless funk. Plus, Pimps of Joytime, a cover of Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman,” and more.
Sonny Singh’s Tribute To NY’s Punjabi Sikh Community
We first met Sonny Singh as the trumpeter and vocalist of Brooklyn’s Punjabi dance band Red Baraat; now he’s preparing to release a solo album called Chardi Kala, which combines his own pulsating brass- and percussion-driven music with Sikh texts that go back centuries. “Aisee Preet” is a 16th century devotional poem given a treatment that is totally contemporary, even as it dances along on traditional Punjabi rhythms and drums. The video was shot in Richmond Hill, Queens, mostly at the temple that is now the center of New York’s Punjabi Sikh community – although when I was growing up, just one avenue away, there wasn’t anything nearly as cool in the neighborhood.
The full album, Chardi Kala, comes out on May 13.
Nailah Hunter’s Eerie New Nocturne
Harpist and singer Nailah Hunter has just released a new single called “Forest Dark,” which presents an unlikely but convincing blend of trip hop and Afro-futurism. With a downtempo beat and repeated filigree patterns of sampled harp, the song creates a nocturnal mood. A wistful sax weaves its way around Hunter’s vocals as she sings of “lost love and quiet longing.” She goes on to describe the song as “calling forth the feeling of a full moon shining through the tallest trees in an ancient wood." A full LP is due later this year.
Cory Wong’s Solution to “Crisis” Is Funk
Guitarist Cory Wong has played lots of different styles of music – rock, jazz, funk, R&B, New Age. He also hosts a variety show on his YouTube channel called Cory and the Wongnotes. Clearly, he takes that word “variety” very seriously. Wong’s latest effort is a single called “Crisis,” done with the singer and electronic music producer Big Wild. It’s a blast of soul-funk, redolent of Michael Jackson and Chic, and played by a sizable band and premiered on the aforementioned variety show. Looking at the live performance video, I think I recognize a couple of members of Jon Batiste’s band Stay Human, which isn’t that much of a surprise since Batiste is one of a long list of collaborators and guests that Wong has worked with. The big band makes a big sound, but it is all driven by the effortless funk of Cory Wong’s guitar.
The Pimps Of Joytime Wanna Make You Dance
The sounds of New Orleans funk, Brooklyn soul, and an occasional bit of disco or classic salsa all come together in the music of the band known as The Pimps of Joytime. Whatever styles they’re borrowing from or blending together, the result tends to be a kind of sultry dance music. The Pimps have just released their latest album, called Reachin’ Up, and are planning to tour this summer as the opening act for the venerable Parliament-Funkadelic, which will give you some idea of their sound world. But so will this Latin-tinged number, called “Are You Gonna?”
Electronic Duo O’o Recasts Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman”
Laurie Anderson’s breakout single, “O Superman,” was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment that mixed modern anxiety, melancholy, and a wry sense of humor in a way that only Laurie Anderson could do. It became a surprise hit on the British pop charts in 1981 (surprising no one more than Anderson herself), but it seemed like one of those songs that would be difficult to cover. Bowie did it in concert 16 years later, but now comes the electronic duo O’o. French-born, Barcelona-based, and named after an extinct Hawaiian bird, O’o casts the first half of the song adrift from the looped “ha ha ha ha” track that was one of the signature sounds of the original, and remake “O Superman” as a kind of dystopian ballad.
O’o is releasing its debut album Touche in June.
Luke Sital-Singh Has Changed. Or Not…
When we last heard the British singer/songwriter Luke Sital-Singh, he was living in LA and wrestling with some big questions – “Me & God,” the first single from his upcoming summer album Dressing Like A Stranger, saw the avowed atheist beginning to question his belief. Or lack thereof. Now, he’s released the title track, “Dressing Like A Stranger,” another pensive meditation on feeling adrift, with a slight alt-country sound. At least, until the chorus, which blooms into something that might still be forlorn (“anything can change ya/dressing like a stranger/running from my failure”) yet seems to offer the musical equivalent of the sun peeking out from the clouds.
