Category: Soul Music

New Video: St. Panther Shares Slinky and Soulful “The Deal”

Los Angeles-based Mexican/Colombian producer, singer/songwriter, rapper and multi-instrumentalist Dani Bojorges-Giraldo (they/them) is the creative mastermind behind the critically applauded recording project St. Panther. Bojorges-Giraldo’s previously released work was the soundtrack to the early part of this decade for many folks, but following their departure from the major label network, the Los Angeles-based artist took time to be among their peers, friends and loved ones.

Their forthcoming EP, the McClenney and Bojorges-Giraldo co-produced Strange World is slated for a November 7, 2025 release through art label drink sum wtr — and is their first collection of recorded output since their breakout debut EP, 2020’s These Days. The new EP’s material is reportedly a defiant, genre-transforming work that features a collection of soulful, modern pop songs that narrate and confront the wider climate of uncertainty and oblivion.

Thematically, Strange World is as much about Bojorges-Giraldo’ and their world — their village, their people, themselves — but also, the very strange world we inhabit right now. Drawing from soul, R&B, jazz, hip-hop and alt-pop the EP’s material sets out to urge for a sense of purpose, security and love admits seemingly universal apathy and chaos.

“I took this long pause to really listen to my village, listen to the needs of my community, and the people around me,” the St. Panther creative mastermind says. “We’re all feeling the weight of the world on our shoulders a bit. We want hope for our listeners, we want people to feel heard and that there’s someone out there representing this feeling.”

Regarding the EP, the Los Angeles-based artist remarks: “It’s been highly impactful–to say the absolute least–to witness the world in the state in today. In so many lyrics and melodies, I’m using this set of songs as a method of putting certain messages into our ether, intentionally shouting certain things from the rooftops that a friend jokingly said ‘for world peace;’ but this music is meant to activate people in some way to meditate about our relationship to each other, which feels like a good use for music right now.”

The EP will feature, the previous released EP title track “Strange World,” which received a double premiere from KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic and FLOOD Magazine and praise from Ones To Watch, Earmilk, RIFF Magazine and others, as well as the EP’s latest single “The Deal.” Featuring an old-school Quiet Storm-meets D’Angelo neo-soul-like arrangement featuring jazzy bursts of keys and a supple bass line, “The Deal” is one-part heartfelt confession of love and admiration, one-part admission of being hurtful/neglectful and one-part yearning plea to do better that feels intimately lived-in and experienced.

“Now I’m not sure if it’s always right to, but I tend to put music where prolonged silences live,” the St. Panther mastermind explains. “I’m not sure why it’s so hard to say what sometimes only music can, but in this case I wish someone had known me better and wanted to write a song like Dido’s ‘White Flag’ shortly afterward, a song that said – if nothing else – my love was true.”

The new single is accompanied by a live performance featuring the acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist in studio with a collection of their various long-time collaborators including McClenney.

New Audio: The Womack Sisters Share Soulful Ballad “I Just Don’t Want You (To Say Goodbye)”

Los Angeles-based soul and R&B trio The Womack Sisters — BG, Zeimani and Kucha — are proudly carrying on their family’s legendary musical legacy. The trio’s Daptone Records debut, “I Just Don’t Want You (To Say Goodbye)” is an old-school soul-styled ballad featuring a slow-burning Motown Records-meets-Staxx Records-like groove serving as a lush bed for Kucha and Zeimani’s plaintive vocals and BG’s soulful lead to effortlessly harmonize throughout the song.

At its core, the song tells a tale of someone coming to terms with the pain of being in love with Mr. Wrong when they know they deserve Mr. Right — and in order to get to Mr. Right, they’ll have to make an uneasy, life altering decision.

New Audio: Shawn Lee and Kelly Finnigan Team Up on a Breezy and Soulful “Say It Again”

Acclaimed singer/songwriter, musician, producer and Monophonics frontman Kelly Finnigan recently teamed up with acclaimed Wichita-born, London-based producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and Young Gun Silver Fox co-founder Shawn Lee on “Say It Again,” a breezy and soulful tune that seemingly channels 1970s Isley Brothers — in particular, think of “Summer Breeze Pts. 1 & 2,” “That Lady,” and the like.

“There has always been a mutual admiration society between myself & Kelly. Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of playing on both the Monophonics & Kelly’s solo records in the studio and live onstage,” Shawn Lee says. “This is the first I’ve had Kelly on something that I’ve put together. Good things come to those who wait…and here it is!”

Colemine Records officially released the track on all DSPs today. Be on the lookout for 7″ 45RPM vinyl on September 19, 2025.

New Video: bat zoo Returns with Aching “Lemon”

bat zoo is a rising American-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter and producer, who has developed a reputation for boundless creativity — and for genre-agnostic work. 

As a child, the rising artist and producer was immersed in a melting pot of musical influences, as a result of his father’s eclectic record collection. He grew up listening to soul, R&B, hip-hop and much more — and it opened his young years to kaleidoscope of sounds and styles, which helped informed his genre-blurring sound and approach. 

He also brings his artistic vision to life by seamlessly blending his work with dynamic visuals. Embracing authentic and innovation, the American-born, Berlin-based artist continues to push boundaries as a jack-of-all-trades creative director of his solo recording project, a culmination of many years of trial and error. He’s extremely busy: while developing his own sound as a solo artist, he’s also a part of the acclaimed Berlin-based vocal ensemble A Song For You and one-half of R&B duo GOLDA

bat zoo’s forthcoming EP, The Upward Bird is slated for a July 22, 2025 release through Lekker Collective. And in the lead-up to the EP’s release in just a few weeks, I’ve written about “Frozen Milk,” and “Diamond Lane.

The EP’s third and latest single “Lemon” is a classic soul-tinged ballad that seemingly channels contemporaries like Monophonics and Bobby Oroza while featuring warped guitar, a supple bass line, bursts of twinkling synths as a lush bed for bat zoo’s achingly tender falsetto, which expresses urgent, desperate yearning defiant pride within the turn of a phrase. But throughout the sense of yearning and pride simmer with an unresolved, uneasy tension that churns and shifts without resolution.

The accompanying video for “Lemon” sees the American-born, Berlin-based artist reflecting back on the bittersweet moments of a presumably recent breakup, seemingly focusing on the moments in which he should have done better, said more, worked for the relationship and so on — with the ache of regret and shame.