Dinner Music 110: The weekly lineup

afro groove and kwaito, silken soul, oklahoma bossa nova

Nov 18, 2024

This week we’re listening to funky, (mostly) upbeat sounds with a focus on afro funk and groove, plus a slight tilt toward western (of the “country and” variety) influence.

We begin with a classic Nigerian disco and funk record from Livy Ekemezie, who made Friday Night when he was young, just out of school in the early eighties. This bass-driven, sweaty-silky-smooth album conjures party-time seventies Lagos and Paradise Garage in every groove. We move into another nostalgia-laden record, Hotel New Yuma, that draws inspiration from Japanese cinema of the fifties and sixties through its tropicália bass lines and light, airy percussion layered with harmonized vocals. Unlike the first record, this one is brand new, released just a few days ago. We stick with the airy, nostalgic sound with Ronald Langestraat, a Dutch jazz musician who had modest success in the early eighties playing with other groups, though not with his own music. For a few years in the late eighties and early nineties, he played at Apollo Hotel, a chic and sophisticated spot, and secretly recorded some of his performances. If I could travel back in time, it would be to the lounge at the Apollo Hotel to listen to Langestraat play his “lounge sounds meet drum computer rhythms, punchy basslines, distorted space noises, reoccurring clarinet interludes and improvised piano solos.”1 Don’t miss this one. We bring up the energy with another African funk record from Senyaka, a South African rapper and Kwaito artist. He’s considered one of the first African rappers and was known for his bold, and often controversial, lyrics. If you like lofi synth-pop and R&B, start here. We end with a stunning album from Steve Weichert made of equal parts folk, soul, country, jazz, psych, and lounge.

Enjoy.

Or listen on Apple Music

Monday

Friday Night - Livy Ekemezie (1983)

Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services

Tuesday

Hotel New Yuma - Yuma Abe (2024)

Spotify / Apple Music / Other streaming services

Wednesday

Apollo - Ronald Langestraat (2020)

Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services

Thursday

Fuquza (Dance) - Senyaka (1983)

Spotify / Apple Music / Other streaming services

Friday

Steve Weichert - Steve Weichert (1975)

Bandcamp / Spotify / Apple Music / Other streaming services

Pair with

Braised Chicken with Apples & Cider. Easy, mostly a set it and forget it kind of thing. Plus, very seasonal. Pair with roasted carrots and a little salad.
Perfect French pet-nat rosé. I had this over the weekend at Elizabeth Street Cafe here in Austin, TX and it was so perfect and paired with every single thing we ate.
This insane candelabra. Are you in the market for a very expensive piece of decor that holds six candles? Well, look no further.
Is the twentieth century novel a genre? “It’s not that the art novel lacked ambition or was intended for a coterie audience. Frank thinks that the mission Watt ascribed to the eighteenth-century novel, to make “a full and authentic report of human experience,” did not change. It just got problematized.” From the New Yorker.
This profile of Ronald Langestraat. “Thirty-five years after Langestraat’s first album, his sound feels remarkably current. Today’s music isn’t as boxed in as it was when Langestraat first started making music, and the public is more receptive to esoteric art like his. Either way he’s not worried about it; the smiling Dutchman still doesn’t care about money or accolades.” From Bandcamp.