SOCALLED plays Lula Lounge on May 19. Rating: NNN
On his fifth album, Montreal artist/producer Socalled mutates his klezmer hip-hop into something more ambitious and farther-reaching. Sleepover is an ear-pleasing hodgepodge of dance, folk, gospel, disco, and, yes, rapping over accordions.
The list of guest musicians is nothing to laugh at: original female MC Roxanne Shanté, horn player and James Brown BFF Fred Wesley, calypso luminary the Mighty Sparrow, Feist songwriter Gonzales, Def Jux hip-hop veteran C-Rayz Walz, Godspeed violinist Sophie Trudeau, to name a few.
An oddly captivating if utterly disconnected album, it wouldn’t be out of place alongside Gorillaz, RJD2 and Moby.
Top track: Work With What You Got
