This week we’re exploring R&B, neo-soul and funk from the eighties through the early 2000s (and one modern album). As always, the albums and tracks on the playlist play loosely with the prompt, ranging from Indian disco to UK girly pop to classic R&B, like Faith Evans. This week is a fun one.
We begin with Candy Dulfer, a Dutch saxophonist with an incredible CV. She’s opened for Madonna—twice—and has played with Prince, Pink Floyd, Tower of Power, the list goes. Sax-A-Go-Go is a smooth jazz album with nineties flavor, a little bit of break beat, soulful vocals, lots of sampling. Watch her perform the title track at the Blue Note in Japan and you get the sense that she really loves what she’s doing. And, she’s still doing it, thirty years later. We move into Amaria’s debut album Bittersweet. The Tampa-native follows in the footsteps of Sade and Erykah Badu with her smooth, neo-soul vocals set over smooth instrumentation and quick, punctuated hip-hop riffs. Before turning to music, she spent time studying cinematography and film and it shows in her sound. There’s a cinematic texture to each song, a sweeping crescendo and introspection. For such a young artist, this album is assured and mature. If you’re looking for something to soothe your soul, start here. It’s not often that I run into an album that I can find very little information on, but Akimbo’s On Top is one of them. The band is made up of members from The Brand New Heavies, Soul II Soul and Jamiroquai and the album was released by Acid Jazz Records, a favorite label of mine. A commenter on the Amazon Japan page for this CD described it best: “Old skool acid jazzy shizzle.” Don’t miss this one. Next, we have an album from a group that isn’t nearly as revered as they should be. The first track on Jade to the Max is an absolute classic, moving between R&B to pop in that ideal nineties way, with sweet vocals and rythmic beats. The entire album follows suit, with tracks that would be equally at home in a scene from 10 Things I Hate About You and on the dance floor. My theory is that Jade was a decade too early, with a sound too pop-infused for the early nineties but that would’ve hit any early 2000s ear like a siren song. We end with an album that is always on time, Ashanti’s debut album Foolish. It’s just as good, twenty-two years later. Maybe better.
Enjoy.
Or listen on Apple Music.
Paid subscribers have access to the full Dinner Music archive (via Spotify, Apple Music coming soon!), an after hours playlist, a “New York Grooves” playlist and more — hundreds of hours of groove, soul, samba, disco, electro, post-punk, funk and more, thoughtfully curated.
Monday
Sax-A-Go-Go - Candy Dulfer (1993)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Tuesday
Bittersweet - Amaria (2021)
Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube
Wednesday
On Top - Akimbo (1998)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube
Thursday
Jade to the Max - Jade (1992)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Ashanti - Ashanti (2003)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with
Sheet pan meatballs with peaches and squash. Easy and fast and delicious! Pair with the focaccia below for an added bit of carb.
Fennel and fig focaccia. A really nice summer version of focaccia, which I will eat in any season, but won’t ever pass up an excuse for figs.
Angelo Negro 'Vino Bianco'. This was a surprisingly great Italian wine that wasn’t very expensive. I always look for it now.
This interview with sound/noise artist Alan Licht. He would absolutely hate this playlist and most of these albums, but I liked his interview and his approach to art-making.
Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. I’m not really one for epics or historic fiction, but this novel was exquisite. Beautifully rendered, worth the long read. “He feels the lines of latitude sliding underneath like the rungs of a ladder, watches the whitecaps through the drift meter, measuring the difference between where they are going and where they mean to go. That’s where life is, that wedge of discrepancy.”
Thank you, thank you. Have a great week.