Dirty Talk＜Cream Color Vinyl＞

カリフォルニア出身のラテンアメリカ系R&Bシンガー、Michi(ミチ)がデビューアルバム『Dirty Talk』を2025年にStones Throwからリリース。
時代を超えた音をひとつに融合したスタイルで、90年代～2000年代初頭にインスパイアされたR&Bのボーカルに、70年代の温かみのあるファンクやソウルを彷彿させる演奏やプロダクションが組み合わされている。アルバムのプロデュースは、Durand Jones & the IndicationsのBlake Rheinと、親しいコラボレーターであるPaul Cherryが担当。客演にはレーベルメイトのKieferや、ブラジル人アーティストGabriel da Rosaなどが参加。アルバムリリースに先がけて、Knxwledgeのリミックスが3曲も先行リリース中。2025年Stones Throw流R&B/Soulアルバム作品をお見逃しなく。

Michis Stones Throw album debut is the culmination of over a decade in music. The singer and songwriter born Michelle Guerrero spent the better part of the 2010s in Private Island, playing keyboards and providing secondary vocals, stepping into the spotlight on "Dont Call Me." Comparisons to Adele wouldnt have been entirely off-base. From the tail end of the decade into 2021, Michi released an EP and a few singles of predominantly breezy alt-pop that emphasized the softer and more mellifluous side of her voice. After she left her native Los Angeles for a smaller nearby town, she found a stylistic groove more suited to her. Aided by scholarly new collaborators Blake Rhein (of Durand Jones & the Indications) and Paul Cherry (who has worked with Anna Burch, Eyedress, and Dent May), Michi teased out the soul and later contemporary R&B influences that were previously just under the surface. There is little actual dirty talk -- just the occasional warranted curse and a well-placed line of self-adulation -- but no matter how beguiling her voice, Michi isnt the least bit reserved when it comes to expressing what she wants and putting her foot down. The albums first half is all billowy yet stimulating slow jams and midtempo grooves, classed up with rich basslines, hand percussion, and strings. Side Two sharply changes direction with the tough, loved-up disco-house of "Theres No Heaven" followed by a Spanish-Portuguese bossa nova duet with Gabriel da Rosa. Then comes an achingly fed-up 808 ballad and a glistening highlight that sounds like it was written for DeBarges In a Special Way as an intended showcase for Bunny DeBarge. "Way I Do," featuring labelmate Kiefer on piano, indicates that Michi can also stand out in a quieter, more acoustic setting. Dirty Talk is at home on the label that counts Peytons PSA, Eddie Chacons Sundown, and NxWorries Why Lawd? among its 2020s crop of progressive R&B albums that have broad appeal despite working outside the constrictions of commercial radio programming. ~ Andy Kellman

西海岸で活動するラティーニクスのシンガーによる初アルバム。ポール・チェリーとインディケーションズのブレイク・レインの制作らしいドリーム・ポップとレトロ・ソウルの合体的な快作で、傷心を自己愛で癒す曲を可憐な声でムーディーに歌っていく。ゲイブリエル・ダ・ロサとのボッサ、キーファーとのソウル・ジャズといったストーンズ・スロウ仲間とのコラボも快演だ。
bounce (C)林剛