Morning Becomes Eclectic playlist, April 18, 2023

Click in for the world premiere of Everything but the Girl’s final single before their feverishly anticipated new album, Fuse, drops this Friday (Apr. 21). “No One Knows We’re Dancing,” changes the pace a bit from the dance-forward singles we’ve gotten from Fuse so far. While the song itself is an ode to band member Ben Watt’s time DJ-ing day parties in West London, the atmosphere it provides is contemplative and lush. It takes its time to present character studies of the types that find their community on the same dance floors week after week after week, eventually coming to “know everybody’s name.” Stylistically it feels like something of a bridge between the group’s keenly observed, early-era acoustic sounds, and the genre-defining electro they’ve offered up since the mid-90’s. We are officially counting down the seconds until we have the full album in our hot little hands.

The rest of today’s MBE is similarly reflective, and action packed. You’ll hear plenty of sonic nods to the influential percussion style of Azymuth’s Ivan "Mamão" Conti, as the founding member of the famed Brazilian jazz-funk trio died recently at the age of 76. We’re also getting into the mood for the upcoming season at the Ford Theater with a cut from serpentwithfeet who will be bringing “Heart of Brick” to the storied venue in October. The stacked line-up for the full season — which includes KCRW staples Mac DeMarco, José James, Thee Sacred Souls, Hermanos Guitierrez and Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily (performing together for the first time as a trio) — can be found here.