D’Angelo

D’Angelo has always been somewhat enigmatic. A truly weird and wonderful artist, his arrangements on 2000’s sophomore effort ‘Voodoo’ were futuristic and fantastic, recorded on analogue equipment (using Stevie Wonder’s mixing desk no less) at New York’s iconic Electric Lady Studios. His debut ‘Brown Sugar’ was equally seductive, provoking the old guard of R&B and coating the production in a woozy, drug soaked sheen – thus making D’Angelo both a forward thinker and a traditionalist.

Sadly in recent years, D’Angelo’s problems with substance abuse have threatened to put his name in the headlines more often than his undoubted musical talent, making him a troubled, if not wholly forgotten artist. Today though, Kollektivnye are proud to welcome back the pretender to the R&B throne.
Leaked online a few days ago, the first musical sighting of D’Angelo in 12 years is suitably weird – a cover of Soundgarden’s ‘Black Hole Sun’ (remember the video? With the eerie grinning? That’s the one.). Reminiscent of Quasimoto’s debut ‘The Unseen’, D’Angelo’s voice is raised an octave or two amidst a sea of synthesisers, distorted bass and laidback, funky drums. If Brainfeeder had released this under another name it would come as no surprise, as Thundercat and his excellent ‘Golden Age Of Acopalypse’ comes to mind when digesting this offskew slice of future funk. It’s trippy as fuck, and my god do we enjoy it.

And with news of D’Angelo’s new album popping up in a recent Pitchfork interview with Questlove

D’Angelo ” Black Hole Sun ” (Demo)