Blood Orange - Sandra's Smile

The latest from Blood Orange is an indelibly stark melody that fits comfortably among the long list of his other, hauntingly, infectious ballads. The most basic of beats is brought to life by Devonte Hynes's wisp like croons and intonations. He again sounds like Prince at his barest, or a more toned down Silk. The song is structured around Hynes's voice, which seems to glide above the tinkering of John Carpenter-like bells, and guides us through this tale of woe. Since its arrival on the web, I keep revisiting this clip. Its shot in black and white it has a real timeless, nostalgia feel to it. As is always the case with Hynes as Blood Orange, he is both musician and performing artist. Here, he and his cohorts, decked out in serious time-warped-New York-early-90s gear, dance their way down a vacant city block. The moves feel effortless and free-form, though knowing Hynes, one can assume each aspect was fine-tuned and choreographed. As the Pop-ozone continues to mutate and reshape beneath the pink cloud of the Internet, we will repeatedly witness the meteoric rise of outsider artists. Grimes, is the perfect example of bedroom producer, turned Guggenheim curator/ Miley Cyrus compatriot. While we have already seen Blood Orange collaborations of the highest pop pedigree, we have yet to see him touch the sky. With time, there is little doubt that he too will have a Can't Feel My Face moment, straddling the line between familiarity and the future. Check the vid here, and keep a look out for all his other releases!

Jessie Ware ft Dev Hynes - Want Your Feeling

Jessie Ware's latest single is a plush covered, disco extravaganza. Mega-hit mastermind, Blood Orange, blanket's Ware's croons in a deluge of tip-toed guitars, cinematic strings, and a super groovy bass-line. It's a building, and building to a super fulfilling crescendo worthy of Donna Summer. Git into it people:

Blood Orange - Uncle Ace (a/jus/ted Remix)

Blood Orange's crypto-sexual subway ode gets a Darkwave re-imagining, by way of a/jus/ted. big A churns Uncle Ace's Disco leanings into throbbing grime-synth thrill-pop. Its a soundscape to the sulfur-scented shadows, that linger in the back alley behind the club. You know what i mean:

Blood Orange - Time Will Tell (video)

The latest single/clip from Dev Hynes is a sparse piano ballad reminiscent of his Sky Ferreira hit and an early Lionel Richie jam. Dev slides through a milky dance studio, plunking away on an ivory grand and then stepping into some Richie/MJ-esque dance moves. Its a simple but effective tune, proving once again that Hynes is the master of culling up a true retro R&B vibe. This is def a good one to check out, you won't be able to hit pause!

Blood Orange - Hold On We're Going Home (Drake Cover)

The title on Soundcloud for this track is HAVIN' A LAFF WHILE SAMANTHA IS ASLEEP ON A WEDNESDAY, but from the chord structure and lyric content one can decipher that this is actually that new Drake jawn! Duh, everyone knows Drake is the man and HOWGH is the dopest of dope tracks, even Dev Hynes can admit that. This basically is a much funkier and airier version of Drizzy with a crazy guitar solo at the end. It sounds like Blood Orange could have busted this out in his sleep, but apparently someone named Samantha (nom de plume for Solange????) was sleeping when he cooked this puppy up. Its glossy and sweet and should hold you over for this lovely weekend, or at least give you a good laff!