Object Of Sound

 “What about the Black woman who does not care to save you?” asks Adia Victoria. “How about the Black woman who is trying to look after her own skin, because you're not looking out for her?” Adia’s forthcoming album, A Southern Gothic, is rich with these questions and the characters who ask them, moving between romanticizing the South and interrogating it, all while embracing the complexity of Adia’s Southern identity. On this week’s episode, Adia and Hanif dig into the widespread influence of Black Southern culture, and the legacy of the blues as an artistic gesture towards freedom—one that is still alive to this day, and remains as vital to American music as ever before. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode head over to https://bit.ly/southern-identity.

Music In This Week’s Episode: 
Adia Victoria, Magnolia Blues
Big Mama Thornton, Your Love Is Where It Ought To Be
Memphis Minnie, New Dirty Dozen
Shirley Brown, Woman to Woman
Shemekia Copeland, Salt In My Wounds
Ida Cox, Wild Women Don’t Have The Blues
Alberta Hunter, My Handy Man Ain’t Handy No More
Bessie Smith, Devil’s Gonna Git You

Show Notes: 

Adia Victoria’s third studio album, A Southern Gothic, is out September 17. Spotify & Apple Music users can pre-save/pre-add the album via Adia’s website. The first single, Magnolia Blues, is out now. You can listen to her Sonos Radio Hour on mixcloud and read her open letter to Spotify on her instagram, here.

Adia hosts Call & Response, a podcast that draws upon the blues tradition of communal music making and listening. Call & Response has just entered its second season. The first episode, featuring Lucy Dacus, is available now. 

To pass the time during quarantine, Adia read: Subduing Satan by Ted Ownby, There Goes the Neighborhood by William Julius Wilson and Richard P. Taub, One Writer’s Beginning and The Eye of the Story by Eudora Welty.

Check out this video of Chaka Khan leading an ensemble performance of “I’m Every Woman” at Newport Folk. The performance was curated by Allison Russell, whose debut record, Outside Child, is out now.

Credits:
This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Mayari Sherina Ong, Kathleen Ottinger and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

DJ Screw changed hip hop forever. You’ve heard his signature sound, even if you don’t know his name. On this episode, co-hosted by Mogul’s Brandon ‘Jinx’ Jenkins, we sit down with Lil Keke to talk about the warbly, slowed-down style of mixing called Chopped and Screwed born out of Houston in the ‘90s, and how this sound spilled out from car stereos and into the culture at large.  For the playlist of songs curated for this episode head over to https://bit.ly/screwed-up-sound.

Music In This Week’s Episode: 
DJ Screw, Lil Keke - Pimp Tha Pen
DJ Screw, UGK - Tell Me Something Good
DJ Screw, Screwed Up Click - Shine and Recline
DJ Screw, Botany Boyz - Smokin And Leanin
Trae Tha Truth, DJ Screw - Screw Tha World (feat. DJ Screw)
DJ Screw - Elbows Swangin
DJ Screw, Al-D - Why You Hatin Me

Show Notes: 
Season Three of Mogul, hosted by Brandon Jinx Jenkins and featuring DJ Screw and the Screwed Up Click, is out now on Spotify.

Lil Keke’s forthcoming album, LGND, is out later this month. His previous album, Slfmade 3, is available now.

Chopped and Screwed music is featured in the soundtracks of many cinematic works by Barry Jenkins, such as: Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk, and the Underground Railroad.

Credits:
This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Mayari Sherina Ong, Kathleen Ottinger and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

“The way I look at music is it's all mine” says Bartees Strange. “I can do whatever I want with whatever I hear, period.” When Bartees approaches a song—whether he’s reimagining or remixing another artist, or writing for himself—he doesn’t hold back. In this episode, Hanif and Bartees talk about making their art into their career, and the journey they each took to get there. Plus, Hanif and Bartees explain how living well and fully engaged with the world and people around them is an essential part of their creative processes. Plus Hanif curates a playlist of his favorite remixes. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode head over to https://bit.ly/oos-bartees-strange.

Music in this week's episode: 
Phoebe Bridgers and Bartees Strange, Kyoto (Bartees Strange Remix)
Le Tigre, Deceptacon (DFA Remix)
Florence and the Machine, You’ve Got The Love (Jamie xx rework)
Robyn, Baby Forgive Me (Floorplan Remix)?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Aaliyah, Hot Like Fire (Timbaland’ Groove Mix feat. Missy Elliott & Timbaland)
SWV, Anything

Show Notes: 
Bartees Stranges’ Live Forever is out now. Catch his latest remixes of Phoebe Bridgers’ Kyoto and Illuminati Hotties’ Pool Hopping.

Bartees’ tour kicks off on September 3 at the Pageant in St. Louis, MO and winds all across the country from there. For tickets and more tour dates, see Bartees’ website.

The beloved limited edition Kelly Rowland sweater can be viewed here.

Credits:
This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Mayari Sherina Ong, Kathleen Ottinger and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

“All I need to be inspired is to be alive,” says Joan Armatrading. Throughout a career spanning over 50 years, Joan credits her singular songwriting to a relentless fascination with other people: how they love and live. This week on Object of Sound, listen in as Joan and Hanif talk about the process of bringing to life everyday observations, and transforming them into evocative, vivid stories through song. Plus, Joan reveals what it takes to be constantly evolving as an artist, while staying true to your own rhythm. This week’s show comes with a playlist curated by Hanif of songs from Joan Armatrading's expansive career. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode, visit https://bit.ly/ode-to-joan

/ Music In This Week’s Episode: /
Joan Armatrading, Glorious Madness
Joan Armatrading, The Weakness In Me
Joan Armatrading, Peace In Mind
Joan Armatrading, Cover My Eyes
Joan Armatrading, Sometimes I Don’t Wanna Go Home
Joan Armatrading, You Rope You Tie Me
Joan Armatrading, The Shouting Stage
Joan Armatrading, Love and Affection

/ Show Notes:  /
Joan Armatrading’s 22nd studio album, Consequences, is out now. 

You can view Joan’s performance of Love and Affection on The Old Grey Whistle test here.

/ Credits: /
This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Mayari Sherina Ong, Kathleen Ottinger and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

We’re breaking format to create something completely new: a collaborative performance of music, poetry and ideas between Hanif, artist Thao Nguyen (Thao & The Get Down Stay Down) and scholar Josh Kun. Named after the tool that mixes tracks on a DJ controller, Josh has been organizing an event series called ‘Crossfade Lab’ where he brings artists together to ‘mix without erasing, combine without destroying’ and find new places of connection between their work. In this episode, Hanif and Thao share poems and songs as they commune over how they use their respective practices as a way to expel and transform grief. Let’s crossfade!

Show Notes
Josh Kun’s ongoing project is Art of The Crossfade. 

If you’re in Phoenix, join Josh and artists Teresita Fernández and San Cha for a live Crossfade Lab. Information here. 

Hanif read his poem It Is Maybe Time To Admit that Jordan Definitely Pushed Off, published in A Fortune For Your Disaster; and an excerpt from ‘On Going Home As Performance,’ featured in his most recent book is A Little Devil In America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance.

Thao performed the songs “Marrow” and “Temple” off her most recent album, Temple, and “Age of Ice,” off her album We the Common.

Credits
This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Mayari Sherina Ong, Kathleen Ottinger and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

Hanif and Grammy award winning artist H.E.R. sit down to talk all about the guitar: H.E.R.’s relationship to the instrument, her many inspirations and the long lineage of Black women who’ve defined popular music and culture before her. They discuss how H.E.R. intuitively found her voice on her latest album Back Of Mind, and they explore what it means to redefine R&B music in the present moment. This week’s show comes with a playlist curated by Hanif of songs by Black women guitar players, and an ode to Sister Rosetta Tharpe. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode, visit https://bit.ly/oos-guitarsheroes.

/Music In This Week's Episode/

H.E.R., Hard To Love
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Strange Things Happening Every Day
Etta Baker, I Get The Blues When It Rains
Brittany Howard, 13th Century Metal
Carline Ray, Lazarus
Elizabeth Cotten, I’m Going Away
Barbara Lynn, Maybe We Can Slip Away
Klymaxx, Fab Attack 

/Show Notes/

H.E.R.’s latest album is Back of My Mind.

Check out Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s page in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, here. 

Her Instagram show featuring female guitar players, Girls With Guitars, is available to rewatch on Youtube.

She is the first black woman to have a signature guitar, a Fender Stratocaster. 

Lyrics from I Can’t Breathe were taken directly from a conversation between H.E.R. and her friend, GRAMMY-award winning singer-songwriter Tiara Thomas. 

/Credits/ 
This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Babette Thomas, Mayari Sherina Ong and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

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“His fingerprints are all over the culture.” On this week’s episode, we pay tribute to the great Biz Markie, the legendary rapper, deejay, sampler, and emcee who passed away earlier this month. Hanif invites hip hop experts, Dart Adams and DJ Lynnée Denise onto the show, to celebrate the fullness of Markie’s legacy-- someone who masterfully used humor to create a persona that could always get a crowd roaring. We explore how Biz Markie was so much more than the clown prince or his hit song “Just A Friend,” but rather, a musician whose legacy continues to touch all of hip hop. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode, head over to https://bit.ly/oos-biz-markie.

/ Music In This Week's Episode /

Biz Markie, Make The Music With Your Mouth Biz

Biz Markie, Pickin' Boogers

Biz Markie, Biz In Harmony

Biz Markie, Spring Again

Biz Markie, Groovin

Biz Markie, Bad By Myself

Biz Markie, Nobody Beats The Biz

/ Show Notes /

Dart Adams is the voice behind the blog Poisonous Paragraphs. Lynnée Denise runs the School of Thought blog. 

You can read Dart Adams’ work in his 2019 essay collection, “Best Damn Hip Hop Writing: The Book of Dart.”

The cultural and commercial history of sampling is explored in greater detail in the 2009 documentary film, Copyright Criminals, referenced here by DJ Lynnée Denise.

Hanif mentions the photo of Chuck D holding up the names of rappers who have passed in recent months.

/Credits/ 

This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Babette Thomas, Mayari Sherina Ong and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

Love it or hate it, every summer has a song you just can’t escape from. It’s playing out of every car window, at every bodega, in every club and in your head on repeat. “We are all unknowingly entering into a contract to declare one song as a song of the summer” says Hanif. But in a time when there’s less communal listening than ever before, will there be just one song that defines these months of 2021? This week on the show, we’re analyzing the song of the summer from all angles with writer Wesley Morris and the Switched on Pop co-hosts Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding. For the playlist of songs curated for this episode, visit https://bit.ly/oos-contract

/Music In This Week's Episode/

Right Back, Khalid
Warm Blood, Carly Rae Jepsen
Brat Pack, The Rocket Summer
Heart Skipped a Beat, The xx
How Will I know, Whitney Houston
Get In The Sun, Joan Armatrading
1 Thing, Amerie

/Show Notes/ 
Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding are the hosts of the Switched on Pop podcast. 
Listen to Hanif’s extended playlist of 68 ‘songs for summer nights’ here. 
Wesley Morris is the host of the podcast Still Processing. Nate and Charlie are the hosts of the podcast Switched on Pop.
Hanif says the emblematic songs of summer of 2016 are One Dance by Drake feat. Wiz Kid and Kyla, Work From Home by Fifth Harmony, and This is What You Came For by Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris 
Wesley says Blue by Joni Mitchell and Spinnin’ by Jerry Jam and Terry Lewis feat. Mary J. Blige, are the nostalgic songs people are listening to today. 
Standout songs of summer according to Wesley and Hanif include Bootylicious by Destiny's Child, Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen, Trap Queen by Fetty Wap, Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber, De Museo by Bad Bunny, Need To Know by Doja Cat and Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran. 
Charlie and Nate argue that Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones was a precedent for Lorde’s Solar Power.

/Credits/ 

This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Babette Thomas, Mayari Sherina Ong and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

 “I care about words more than music,” says musician Lucy Dacus. Lucy recently released her third album, Home Video is a compilation of stories and vignettes pulled directly from her journals, dating back to her childhood. For Lucy, deep honesty in the form of song lyrics is almost compulsive. On this week’s show, Lucy and Hanif each unpack what it means to be a confessional writer, and together explore what honesty can offer an artist, or how it can hurt them. Plus, a reading list from Lucy on the books that offer her inspiration.  

/Music In This Week's Episode/

Thumbs, Lucy Dacus
I Love You, Mary J. Blige
All That You Have Is Your Soul, Tracy Chapman
Bad Religion, Frank Ocean
You Must Love Me, JAY-Z
It Hurts Me Too, Karen Dalton
Give My Love To Rose, Johnny Cash
It Hurts Me So Much, Etta James

/Show Notes/

Lucy Dacus’ newest album is Home Video.

Lucy’s song Please Stay is inspired by Hanif’s essay “Brief Notes on Staying.” 

Lucy’s often pulls inspiration for literature. The books she’s been reading are: 
The Committed  by Viet Thanh Nguyen 
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen 
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer
A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib 
Girlhood by Melissa Febos

/Credits/ 
This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Babette Thomas, Mayari Sherina Ong and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair. 

For 50 years, footage of the Harlem Cultural Festival – a summer-long fête featuring the likes of Nina Simone, Sly and The Family Stone, and Stevie Wonder – was buried in the archives. And the story of the Harlem Cultural Festival was buried along with it. Finally, the footage is being brought to light by Questlove in the new film ‘Summer of Soul’ a powerful testament to the artists of that era, and an energetic ride into the styles, sounds and politics of 1969. In this episode, our exclusive interview with Questlove on what it takes to correct the historical record, and why we need this film now in 2021. For this episode's custom playlist curated by Hanif, visit https://bit.ly/oos-questlove

/Music In This Week's Episode/
You Caught Me (Smilin’), Sly and the Family Stone
Black Woman, Sonny Sharrock
The Weight, The Staple Singers
My Bed of Thorns, Gladys Knight and The Pips
To Love Somebody, Nina Simone
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, Mahalia Jackson
Almost Seedless, Hugh Masakela
Love’s In Need Of Love Today, Stevie Wonder

/Show Notes/
Questlove’s directorial debut is Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). You can find a list of the festival’s full lineup here. 

Hanif and Questlove reference the documentary Amazing Grace, on Aretha Franklin. 

The art festival in Columbus was called Holler and organized by the poet and cultural worker Scott Woods.

/Credits/ 
This show is produced by work by work: Scott Newman, Jemma Rose Brown, Babette Thomas, Mayari Sherina Ong and by Hanif Abdurraqib. The show is mixed by Sam Bair.