The Washington Post - 17.02.2020

5

eZ

the washington post

.

friday, february 21, 2020

of factors: low blood sugar, for-

getting which fret to start on, or

taking mushrooms and forget-

ting how to play the song all

together. For the band, there’s no

such thing as being “too” f ree. As

Cox says, “ I’m fine with c onfusing

audiences.”

[email protected]

ous sound of their debut album,

“Love in High Demand,” the mu-

sic of To o Free is born of those

anything-goes jam sessions. “I’ve

never played in a project where

electronics feel so spontaneous,”

Godwin says.

Live, the songs have a habit of

mutating depending on a variety

bounce queen Big Freedia,

names new jack swing band Guy

as an inspiration. “I love that

bombastic enthusiasm for love,”

he says, and that enthusiasm

comes across in songs where

love is yearned for and insisted

upon.

And despite the clean, luxuri-

BY CHRIS KELLY

W

hen D.C. trio To o Free

is in the studio, the

jam sessions yield an

abundance of ideas,

from curious chunks of music to

fully formed songs. But no one

knows how or when inspiration

will strike.

“This is something I realized

about our process,” Carson Cox

says. “If I don’t hit record from

the second everyone shows up, I

miss something great.”

Cox, along with bandmates

Don Godwin and Awad Bilal,

circled each other for years in

various underground, DIY

scenes. eventually, the three end-

ed up in the District making

dance punk in a band with D own-

town Boys’ Mary Regalado.

But after a few years touring

with his band Merchandise, Cox

had made a bunch of music on

his computer — “4 million

things” that needed a home. He

had Bilal sing on some of it, and

Godwin starting contributing as

well.

Compared with their other

project, To o Free is more purely

dance music. synth arpeggios

shimmer over saw-toothed

basslines and the clattering drum

machine rhythms of freestyle,

electro and beyond, while Bilal’s

sultry voice brings a seductive

energy to hypnotic grooves.

Bilal, who has worked with

BY BRIONA BUTLER

C

ome to a sango set pre-

pared to dance. And to

replenish yourself. With a

sound that ranges from

meditative to exuberant, the 28-

year-old DJ-producer imbues his

soundscapes with sincerity and

feeling — “a warm feeling, a

cleansing feeling, a fresh feeling,”

he says.

The seattle native grew up with

a percussionist grandfather and a

career navy mother who moon-

lighted as a hip-hop producer in

Music

free to experiment

emily Geller

From left, Don Godwin, Awad Bilal and carson cox make dance music as Too Free. Their songs are the

product of anything-goes jam sessions.

Too Free

Show: saturday at 10:30 p.m. at

U street music Hall, 1115 U st. NW.

ustreetmusichall.com. $10-$12; free

before 11 p.m. for 21 and older.

BY STEPHANIE WILLIAMS

Jacquees

Getting exposure as a new

musician is tough, but Jac-

quees knew just how to drum

up attention: by riling up his

peers. In 2018, the Decatur,

Ga., native crowned himself

the King of R&B, a lofty

decree for the then-23-year-

old fledgling star. He didn’t

buckle at the rebukes that

followed, but he did couch

his claim a little on the open-

ing track of his latest album,

aptly titled “King of R&B.”

“every day, a star is born/And

if we talkin’ kings, there’s

more than one/You should

clap for ’em,” he clarifies on

“King.” He doesn’t attempt to

outdo these kings either, in-

stead taking cues from his

forebears to make sensual

R&B numbers with sharp

hip-hop sensibilities. Jac-

quees doesn’t quite take the

throne with “King,” but more

so lays the necessary ground-

work to eventually get there.

Friday at 8 p.m. at the Fill-

more Silver Spring. $33.

marc Anthony

The pressure to reinvent

yourself as an artist is magni-

fied for veteran musicians.

Marc Anthony, however,

didn’t care for reinvention

when making his first album

in six years. “opus” does not

have any splashy features, nor

was there any interest from

see music on 6

4 more

concerts

to catch

2019’s “Moments spent Loving

You,” with vocalist Xavier omär —

his sound pushes from slow-

bouncing R&B into full, jubilant

gospel.

“everything I do is for the glory

of God,” sango says of his core

creative impulse. It results in an

intuitive, genre-melting sound

that h e calls “spiritual bass music”

— a sound that’s “meant to bring

you toward something.” s tep onto

the dance floor and that “some-

thing” i s for you to decide.

[email protected]

the ’80s and ’90s. As a self-

described “big sponge,” sango

says observing his family create

influenced his process deeply. By

2011, sango had left home for

California where he found an en-

tirely new support system:

soulection, the L os Angeles-based

record label and radio station that

has since evolved into a renowned

collective of underground pro-

ducers and tastemakers.

You can hear all those years of

familial support in sango’s expan-

sive, freedom-seeking discogra-

phy. He says his music traces the

bloodlines that connect southern

crunk and trap, with detours into

Brazilian baile funk and other

styles. on his two latest albums —

2018’s “In the Comfort of” and

songs that leave you with ‘a fresh feeling’

GlassFace

Sango

Show: Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at

U street music Hall, 1115 U st. NW.

ustreetmusichall.com. sold out.

The 28-year-old DJ-producer

sango will bring his R&B,

gospel sound to u street music

Hall on Wednesday.

UPLOADED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws