I try to never judge a book or album by its cover. Usually its the cover that compels me to give an album a chance. So when I came across this interesting piece of cover art that looked like a cross between an early colonial era painting mixed with anime I was immediately intrigued. But I get so much music that sometimes it takes me a while to get around to actually listening to all of it and when I finally got around to pressing play on ‘Little Dragon‘ I wanted to slap myself for not checking it out sooner. I mean this came out in 2007!!! Where the hell was I at?!!!
This is good music in it’s purest form. Layered with complex production, melodic soulful lyrics, and instant head nodding tunes. I was urged to find out more about this group, and much to my surprise, although it shouldn’t have been, I learned that these cats are from frakin’ Sweden!!! And their soulful lead singer is Japanese!!! Like Dave Chappelle “I was fu*king shocked! If I didn’t have a visual reference I could have sworn my girl Yukimi Nagano was a straight up Soul Sista! But in a way she is, just not that kind, not that there’s anything wrong with that because this is good music and good music transcends all boundaries. And I heard from my homie from that other place called Birmingham SoulUK that they are releasing a follow up this year, can’t wait for that!!!
I’ve said before that the acts from across ocean are killing it right now. And its a beautiful thing, there is so much good music in the world and if you keep open mind and ear you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find a new talent that you’ve wished you’ve caught on to before but like they say, better late than never.
Little Dragon ‘Constant Surprises’
Purchase ‘Little Dragon’ from Amazon or iTunes
