Sarah White plays serrated new song at the Palace Theatre

White & band debut new track "“Alone Together (Darksiders).” 

 

The Palace Theatre continues to move through its renovation process, preparing to fill a gap in St. Paul venues when it opens next year. Until then, the Palace Sessions continue (having been pioneered by Jeremy Messersmith and deM atlaS), and this time, Sarah White performs in the under-construction space.

Joined by Tasha Baron (keys), Ry Dill (bass), and Blayr Alexander (drums), White uses this new song to press harder than she ever has, digging out of darkness via funky bass and a tenacious hook.

According to conventional wisdom, synths are most at home in pop, the upbeat songs that plainly feel good (“U-turn,” by Tegan and Sara, or Chela’s “Romanticise”). But here, White plays their euphoria against deep, dark bass; they cast serrated shadows.

Catharsis comes with the chorus. “And I always dance alone/ Even through this crowded space,” White sings, and the song loosens up to groove around her voice. She writes via e-mail, “I am a full-time artist and mother, so I am always with people. In rooms with people. Moving through time with people. Very often in crowded spaces is where you are likely to see me singing, DJing, shooting pictures…but so often I’m completely in my head.” She knows how odd it sounds, but she says she’s “literally dancing alone with my thoughts, my body, my heart.”

Thus the song’s title, “Alone Together (Darksiders).” It’s destined to be the first single from White’s new project, a follow-up to this year’s Laughing at Ghosts EP. For now, it’d sound right at home on a playlist between 2008 Estelle and Kimbra’s “Sweet Relief.”

#ZULUZULUU ARE THE AFROCENTRIC HEIRS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS SOUND

words by Eamon Whalen

Four of the six members of ZULUZULUU –– MMYYKK, DJ Just Nine, Greg Grease and Proper-T –– sip hot lavender tea in the July heat in the living room of the south Minneapolis duplex where Just Nine and MMYYKK reside. They’ve been a loose band for almost three years (they still are fairly loose, their guitarist BIG BOUNCE and producer Trelly-Mo live in Oakland and Charlotte, respectively), but have never talked about their origins, until now, in the midst of the summer of the release of their debut project, What’s The Price.

"I've pinpointed the moment when shit formulated. I've pinpointed the Voltron moment," says Grease, who raps, produces and plays the 404 drum machine while singing backup during their live show. Grease motions over the collection of monitors, synths, and keyboards that’s between him and MMYYKK, who plays the synths and talkbox, sings and occasionally pulls out an alto saxophone during ZULUZULUU live shows. 

"It was when your shit went on fire and you moved here,” says Grease to MMYYKK. “That’s when we really locked in. That’s when ZULUZULUU happened." In April 2015, Fisher’s apartment burned down in a fire that nearly cleared an entire city block on Broadway avenue on the city’s north side. The fire also burned down the offices of the Black empowerment non-profit Neighborhoods Organizing For Change and rumors of foul play were abound after the fire was ruled an arson. In the aftermath Fisher moved into Just Nine’s duplex, where Grease was also living at the time.    

"Damn," says Just Nine. "That means ZULUZULUU was born out of a fire."

It should come as no surprise then, that a group that almost literally rose from the ashes can balance life’s joyful highs and painful lows with ease. Take "Let It Go," the group’s first song recorded in early 2014 with no notions of becoming a band. The song explored the travails of being a part of the Black community, but as the song title states, resistance goes hand-in-hand with catharsis through song and dance. For ZULUZULUU, exorcising demons and catching a groove on the dance floor aren’t mutually exclusive. 

Throughout “What’s The Price,” they put forth deep reflections on blackness, from the everyday existential and material fear for the safety of one’s mind and body, to the celebration of the fellowship of Pan-African consciousness. On the project’s title track, after MMYYKK laments the terrorism of the police state, the thoughtful, coarsely voiced Grease and his cousin, lead vocalist Proper-T offer the following mantra: “We say melinate to elevate/celebrate, we hella straight.”

They aren’t attempting to fill in the blanks of everything, either. The project kicks off with the winking ambiguity of a cover of Syreeta Wright "Black Maybe," that scoffs at the idea of black people, or anyone for that matter, allowing themselves to be pinned down to superficial signifiers. The group is, in their own words, chalk full of “enigma niggas,” bringing with them an eclectic mix of different genres, influences and backgrounds.

full interview

http://www.greenroommagazine.com/blog/2016/8/12/zuluzuluu-are-the-afrocentric-heirs-of-the-minneapolis-sound

Sound Verite Records
Cart (0)