Today we’d like to offer up six after-hours songs that would sit well in smoky bars, dance clubs or warehouses. They’re a distinctly modern blend of traditional soul, rap and electronic music. Notes slip and slide over minimal baselines and skittering drums. Vocal melodies twist electronically. Blips and bleeps bubble up beneath piano chords.
Smino: Three months ago, St. Louis-born Smino released his album blkjptr. After his group Young Dumb and Out of Control stopped producing music he began splitting his time between St. Louis and Chicago.
Teresa Jenee: This singer and beat maker’s released multiple albums over the past couple years. She’s played shows at Blank Space and appeared on KDHX. Her songs can start as space-age soul and twist into a tight piano ballads before launching back into the stratosphere.
Dylan Brady: Dylan Brady’s music both simmers and moves like a canoe in a bog. Heavily processed vocals compete with heavy bass and slinky synth lines before succumbing to industrial drums. He pulls audio samples from sci-fi and action movies although listeners might be hard pressed to identify any clips.
Audio Agitation is a recurring six-song playlist culled from recent releases or shaped by events in St. Louis' ever-changing music scene. If you're from the STL area or Missouri and you're putting out a record you think we should hear, send a heads' up to warnold@stlpublicradio.org.
