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‘D ear heavenly Father,” someone is saying to the silent room, “please give us the ability to touch this crowd.” All thirty-six members of D’Angelo ‘s touring band and crew are stuffed into his dressing room, hands linked, heads bowed in a large prayer circle. “And when our ability fails, Lord. Please. Take over.” The room answers with a loud “ mm-hmm. “ Prayer ends, and the entire group collapses into a giant moving hug, all yelling at once in a joyous din – “ Soultronic force! My re-deeeeem-er !” It seems they’re gearing up for some high-energy smash-mouth football. Or a musical mission. As the scrum disperses, D’Angelo turns to you and slaps you five. And nearly breaks your hand. D, as they call him, gives pounds with injurious intent – stiff-handed smacks that make a firecracker pop and then meld into a tight clamp, a finger snap, two fist bumps and another clamp, or some such combination. The more he likes you, the more he uses the strength in his bulky shoulders and … [Read more...] about D’Angelo Is Holding Your Hand

There are few contemporary working artists who maintain a more idiosyncratic release schedule than D’Angelo . He’s famous for tinkering and revising his music, eating up years and hundreds of reels of analog tape on his way to an eventual album. It took him 14 years to follow up 2000’s smash hit Voodoo with his most recent album, Black Messiah . In that time, three U.S. presidents occupied the White House, Facebook was invented, and D’Angelo released precisely zero songs. So it was a surprise when a new D’Angelo track titled “ May I? Stand Unshaken” quietly appeared on YouTube recently. Even more startling: In many of the bootleg clips D’Angelo’s new song soundtracks footage from the wildly popular video game Red Dead Redemption 2 . That’s because the only way listeners can legitimately get their hands on “May I? Stand Unshaken,” which has not been officially released yet, is by buying a copy of the game. “Even RCA [D’Angelo’s label] had no idea we were … [Read more...] about D’Angelo F-cking Loves Playing ‘Red Dead Redemption 2’

Like so many people of mixed heritages, Tierra Umi Wilson exists between worlds. The 23-year-old artist — who performs under her middle name, UMI, which means “ocean” in Japanese — was born in Seattle to a Black father and a Japanese mother, and has spent her life negotiating the cultural exchange she embodies. Her 2020 EP Introspection put that interrogation into music as she worked her way through questions of heritage and sexual identity. But while that record was explicitly inward-looking, UMI’s debut album — Forest in the City , out May 27 on RCA — seeks to turn her search outward. The themes are more universal and the sounds more expansive, bouncing from sun-soaked electro R&B on “whatever u like” to moody slow jams like “moonlit room.” It’s as if being at a fulcrum between communities has given UMI the confidence to be something completely different: herself. “Growing up, I didn’t feel Japanese enough, I didn’t feel Black enough, and I didn’t feel me enough, … [Read more...] about UMI’s Peaceful Soul: ‘I Can Be Whatever I Want to Be’

D ‘Angelo is a morning person, of sorts. When he’s working in the studio, as was often the case in the 14-year interregnum between 2000’s Voodoo and 2014’s Black Messiah, he quits his all-night recording sessions just in time to greet each day’s sunrise. “I’m definitely on the night shift,” he says, drawing deep on one of a series of Newport cigarettes, not long after midnight in the midtown Manhattan studio where he recorded much of Black Messiah. He’s wearing a denim shirt unbuttoned over a white undershirt, dark jeans and leather boots. Dog tags bearing the names of his three children hang from a chain around his neck. He looks weary, though he woke up not long ago. It’s his first interview since he released one of the most universally acclaimed albums in years, an album that seemed as if it might never come out at all. D’Angelo could well be the most singular, visionary star to emerge from R&B since Prince. His music, stuffed with live instrumentation and harmonic … [Read more...] about The Second Coming of D’Angelo

W hen Steven Soderbergh began work on The Knick – his gritty, historical medical series for Cinemax, set in New York City in 1900 – he enjoyed replicating the era’s look, fashion and stomach-churning surgical practices. But one of the few things that was far too ghastly to replicate was the music. “Oh, it was horrible,” he says with a laugh. “Aesthetically, it’s a really cool period, but the music was absolutely boring and not interesting. Ragtime had just started – and there’s a tiny bit of that in the background of some scenes – but other than that, there was nothing good.” So the director turned to the only person he thought could give The Knick a unique sound: his frequent collaborator, Cliff Martinez. As the director filmed the show, he had been using shimmery EDM flourishes that Martinez had written for the 2012 teensploitation flick Spring Breakers and some of the composer’s wiry synth lines from his own 2011 pandemic disaster film, Contagion , as temporary … [Read more...] about Blood Brothers: Inside the Music of ‘The Knick’

Getty UPDATE 10:58 AM PT -- FIVE women have now filed lawsuits against Watson on Monday ... TMZ Sports has confirmed. UPDATE In the latest lawsuit, a female masseuse using the pseudonym Jane Doe says Watson reached out via Instagram in July 2020, set up a massage and then "assaulted and harassed" her during the appointment. UPDATE As with the other 11 Watson accusers, Doe is suing for unspecified damages. UPDATE 8:32 AM PT -- One more female masseuse has filed a lawsuit against Watson ... bringing Monday's total to four and the overall total to 11 against the Houston Texans superstar. UPDATE In the third suit filed Monday, obtained by TMZ Sports , the woman is suing for unspecified damages after she claims Watson was sexually inappropriate with her during a massage in the Houston, Texas area in Jan. 2021. Two more female massage therapists have filed lawsuits against Deshaun Watson ... with one accuser claiming the NFL star … [Read more...] about Deshaun Watson Hit w/ 5 More Lawsuits, Accuser Says She Was ‘Scared For Her Life’

When D’Angelo last visited Oakland in the spring of 2000, he was steaming from the deafening acclaim given to Voodoo , and the impact of his glistening naked torso in the “Untitled (How Does It Feel).” Backed by a troupe that featured drummer Questlove and producer James Poyser, he thrilled a sold-out crowd at the Paramount Theater, but his burgeoning sex symbol status nearly overshadowed a masterful performance. A little over 15 years later, D’Angelo returned to downtown Oakland’s Fox Theater for the first night of his U.S. tour in support of his lionized comeback album, Black Messiah . (Much of the audience arrived late after watching their hometown favorite Golden State Warriors lose a heartbreaker in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and so they missed an opening set by promising Australian singer-songwriter Meg Mac.) This time, he didn’t strip off his shirt, instead opting for a series of modestly effective costume changes to complement his black T-shirt, pants and boots, like … [Read more...] about D’Angelo Electrifies at Triumphant Second Coming Tour Opener

Mark Jenkin ’s 2019 film Bait had the rare distinction of being a genuine out-of-the-blue discovery, featuring heavily on UK critics’ year-best lists after a modest arthouse release by the BFI. The black-and-white film’s experimental style was emphasized in all its press coverage, nodding to avant-garde auteurs like Stan Brakhage, Derek Jarman and Guy Maddin — all directors who are interested in the literal grain of film and video (indeed, Jenkin reportedly developed the negative with coffee and washing soda then distressed the image by hand). Throw in post-synch sound, and you have a film more likely to screen to two people and a dog at a smoky underground 1960s cine-club than win a BAFTA. For all its formal intricacies, though, Bait had a very traditional narrative, being the story of a Cornish fisherman who sees his village becoming gentrified after selling his house to a couple of rich out-of-towners. Enys Men , Jenkin’s Directors’ Fortnight entry here in … [Read more...] about Cannes Review: Mark Jenkin’s ‘Enys Men’

" Dancing with the Stars " doesn't want Chelsie Hightower this season, but Reebok (and Reebok's money) sure does ... the shoe company's sticking by the dancing pro, despite the fact she was axed from season 16. Chelsie inked a major endorsement deal with Reebok earlier this year to be the face of its new dancewear line (which launched in Feb). A great choice for Reebok, considering CH's been a staple on "DWTS" since 2009. TMZ broke the story ... Chelsie was NOT asked to return to ABC's hit show this year -- begging the question, WHAT WILL REEBOK DO NOW???? A rep from Reebok tells TMZ ... "While we believe Chelsie was the perfect choice for the upcoming season [of 'DWTS'], our relationship with her will not change moving forward and we look forward to continuing to work with her.” Chelsie tells TMZ, "I am just thrilled to be the face of Reebok's new dancewear line ... the line is FABULOUS!" Who needs sequins and spray tans when you got sneakers -- and $$$? … [Read more...] about ‘Dancing with the Stars’ Chelsie Hightower — At Least REEBOK Still Loves Me!

Dr. Dre will finally end fans’ 16-year wait for a new album when the rapper releases his Straight Outta Compton soundtrack, which will consist of new music entirely produced by The Chronic mastermind, a source tells Rolling Stone . Dre is expected to confirm the album, the companion piece to the N.W.A biopic, on his Beats 1 radio show The Pharmacy this Saturday. Ice Cube appeared on Philadelphia’s Power 99 Wednesday morning and let slip the news about Dre’s Straight Outta Compton soundtrack. Despite Cube giving an August 1st release date for the album, multiple sources have told Rolling Stone that the album will be released at a later date than Saturday. “It’s mega. It’s Dr. Dre , it’s what everybody’s been waiting for,” Ice Cube told the Rise & Grind Morning Show . “It’s definitely a dope record, and he’s dropping it all on the same day.” It’s unclear whether any of the music destined for Dre’s Straight Outta Compton soundtrack was originally … [Read more...] about Dr. Dre to Release New Album as ‘Straight Outta Compton’ Soundtrack