20 Dec 2014

D'Angelo - Black Messiah

From RNZ Music, 2:37 pm on 20 December 2014

D Angelo Greg Harris

It's dirtying up a genre that needed to be dirtied up a bit- he's shaken it all up and said 'nah, this is how you do it'."  - Riki Gooch

After a 14-year absence, D'Angelo - the great soul vocalist and multi-instrumentalist music that critic Robert Christgau dubbed "R&B Jesus" - is finally back on the scene with Black Messiah, an album that dropped with little warning this week. With only a handful of days to digest its soul, funk and R&B contents, drummer, beatmaker and D'Angelo-phile Riki Gooch has a listen with Emma Smith, and talks about the significance of this second coming.

Related Audio

Jeremy Taylor takes a listen to the new D'Angelo with Kathryn Ryan on Nine To Noon

Melody Thomas and Tom Scott (@Peace, Home Brew) attend D'Angelo's set at Soulfest 2014

Nick Bollinger reviews D'Angelo's stop-gap live album, released earlier in 2014

Music Details

Artist: D'Angelo
Song: Ain't That Easy, 1000 Deaths,
Composer:D'Angelo
Song:Charade, Another Life
Composer: D'Angelo, Questlove
Album: Black Messiah
Label: RCA

Get the RNZ app

for easy access to all your favourite programmes