THEESatisfaction released a new EP, THEESatisfaction Loves Anita Baker, up on their Bandcamp for free. The five-track EP is a smart and concise tribute to, surprise, R&B smooth jazz singing soulstress queen, Anita Baker. The EP blows by in a big and easy seven and a half minutes that immediately call for replay upon finishing. Really, I mean immediately.
Here’s the thing: THEESatisfaction really push their take on positivity and transcendent pureness of themselves and their work. It would be really easy to write that off in the jaded nature of #internetculture as a near parody of marketing and image-conscious press releases, but it's damn near impossible to hear these quick burst tracks in their vocal range and lyrical prowess with a calloused attitude. I’m trying and I can’t and it’s a twisted exercise because I don’t want to; I believe them.
The embodiment of hip-hop and jazz and soul here feels pure in its samples, in their flow, their swaggered cadence, in their obvious appreciation of music as a life force, and their respect for traditions that long outdate them without sacrificing a contemporary attitude and sound; it's all amazing, however brief. The longest track on the EP, and its last, “Cabin Fever Sweet Love” is recorded live and it ends on these vocal drop offs that are just bare and jaw dropping. It’s the final punctuation of something that tears me entirely out of my element and leaves me alone in a quiet room in the middle of the night wondering what the hell just happened to my music taste and slogging through a cluttered laptop screen with some panicked gusto so I can try it again. October just got seven minutes warmer and I just earned myself a hell of a lot of self-prescribed homework. Get on this.
