Smoke weed, listen to Ade

One of my minor regrets of 2021 was not starting a thread to celebrate Ade’s ‘Midnight Pizza’, which was one of my favourite albums of the year but which I never saw anyone talk about.

Ade’s general vibe is… emo-pop meets house-pop? The former is in the nasal, yearning vocals and the nerdy, sometimes very specific narratives. But the emo feel to the songwriting and vocals is smoothed out even before the sonics get to work on them, like maybe it’s also a The Postal Service kind of vibe or something (I never listened to The Postal Service). And then the arrangements are these ebullient dance pop efforts like a nerdy bedroom Real Lies.

Anyway now Ade has released a new single “Opposites” and I love it, not least because it is so precise an encapsulation of the preceding album’s charms while also being sleeker and glossier and slightly bigger budget, such that it acts like an appropriate reintroduction. Bustling percussive house and a vague story about external social pressures on relationships all in under 4 minutes, which would be just great as it is but then has to go over the top with a brief, hyperactive vamping piano line for the final month which makes it one of my favourite tracks of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAFj1NypSCM

https://northerntransmissions.com/ade-finds-his-groove/

Had never heard him. Just glanced at this old interview with New York City resident Ade-

NT: Who would be your ideal artist to do a vocal collaboration with?

A: That’s a good question. One of my favorite records of all-time would have to be the debut album from Gorillaz. I feel like a lot of people like the Demon Days record the best out of their discography, and it’s definitely a great one, but I mean that first album is just so inventive and happy and truly, literally sort of cartoonish in its production style. But I have also always been a huge fan of The Dust Brothers and Q-Tip and also the Beastie Boys. I don’t think I would personally care for somebody super recognizable as a name. I’d like to work with somebody that I think just has a good character. A lot of the Top 40 chart songs are mostly all collaborations. So I like to just make music on my own mainly but I really like rappers who are also producers and have a distinct sound in that capacity.

i like the more junior boys homagey stuff he does -- "opposites" in particular" -- but wanted to post the new single just so tim knows he isn't shouting into a void

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWN3Xgn7cF0

tim, 'midnight pizza' is great. i think i thought it was more interesting than anything first few times around but locking into it more, what a lovely and idiosyncratic record. it made me think a lot about thomas dolby??

‘another weekend’ is a wild tune.