This Week in House Music: Beyoncé, Brandon Lucas, Laurence Guy & Robin S
Dr. Cornel West & Brandon Lucas
Did you hear? Beyoncé released a house track. (In case anyone forgot, house music is Black music.) I'm pretty sure "BREAK MY SOUL" will be stuck in my head for eternity, and I'm very okay with it. While last week also came with horrific news for Americans, Bey's empowering, upbeat anti-capitalist anthem hit even harder.
Best New Track: Brandon Lucas, Cornel West - My Tribe (Purple Love Records, June 23)
For This Week in House Music, we get two Best New Tracks! Before I knew Queen Bey had a new song on the way, I got a preview of Los Angeles soulful house artist Brandon Lucas's (aptly titled) fire new EP with Dr. Cornel West, Tribe of Fire. The groovy, inspirational lead track features fellow Black dance artists Afriqua and Life on Planets and the all-to-relevant words of Dr. West, from his "teachings around W.E.B DuBois writings on the darkness of the human condition." The EP is a taste of an upcoming collab from Lucas and West titled House of West that, not unlike Bey's new track, will "illustrate how house and techno are a part of the Black musical tradition."
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Best New Track: Beyoncé - BREAK MY SOUL (Parkwood Entertainment, June 20)
I'm sure you've already listened to Beyoncé's infectious new '90s house-nodding single, "BREAK MY SOUL," the lead single of her upcoming seventh studio album, Renaissance. "BREAK MY SOUL" is produced by hitmakers The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, a.k.a. Godz of Analog, who also partnered with Bey on "Single Ladies." The pulsing bassline features a sample of Robin S's 1992 dance-pop hit, "Show Me Love."
The inspiring track opens with New Orleans bounce powerhouse Big Freedia going off from her 2014 bop "Explode." Bey's lyrics take a cue from Freedia's, echoing the stress of working under capitalism. This is not the first time the two queens got together to create an iconic Black feminist anthem. Although Freedia had already been slaying for some time, she had her big break in 2016 when Bey tapped her for Lemonade's "Formation."
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Best New Mix: Rinse FM: Laurence Guy – June 25, 2022
On the latest episode of London-based house music DJ/producer Laurence Guy's Saturday Rinse FM show, he serves up an hour of vibey house and funk. Track IDs include "Love Comes In All Colors" by the Staple Singers, "Eyes Of Love" by Brothers Of Soul, "Save Me" by Doc Daneeka, and "Tedd's Beat Goes On" by DJ Spen.
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Best Classic Track: "Show Me Love," Robin S (1992, Big Beat / Atlantic)
Having been born in the late-80's, I have a soft spot for euphoric '90s dance pop and revisit it often whenever I need to lift my spirits and hype myself up. As a nod to Beyoncé's "BREAK MY SOUL" sampling Robin S' seminal 1992 classic, "Show Me Love," it is this week's classic house track. The track was first released in the U.K. in 1990 on a small indie label and later remixed by Swedish dance producers Stonebridge and Nick Nice, adding the instantly recognizable sound of the Korg M1 synth. This version topped the charts in the U.S., U.K., and other European countries and put Robin S on the map.
