Another interesting thing about the endless flux of the streaming era is that, for all that it’s supposed to homogenise and flatten things out, sometimes it ends up allowing more interesting things to belatedly get their due. Look at the way once-obscure musicians like Julius Eastman, Alice Coltrane or Arthur Russell have snuck into the vocabulary of alternative and even mainstream music. But also, acts who weren’t short of success or acclaim but were nonetheless perhaps considered a bit cultish, nerdy or niche have gradually achieved a sort of cross-generational depth and universality of appeal that few predicted. Thus Aphex Twin becoming the most streamed artist on the planet right now, or the way Cocteau Twins, Sade and Nina Simone have quietly become vastly influential.
Talking Heads certainly fit this pattern: they seem to not only be more popular than ever, but with a deeper appreciation across the generations for all the aspects of their music. This is now the second major tribute album full of international stars in under two years – and where 2024’s Everybody’s Getting Involved emphasised the alt-pop / art-pop aspects via the likes of Paramore, Miley Cyrus, Lorde and The National, the BBE label’s extravaganza brings out the groove and internationalism. And it does it in spectacular style, too. The variety here is extraordinary – from the nimble highlife of Ghanaian rising star Florence Adooni’s “Cross-Eyed and Painless” to Rosie Lowe’s postpunk-meets-Detroit-electro “Burning Down the House”, aja monet’s lavish jazz poetry on “The Book I Read” to WITCH’s glorious Zambian psych-funk “Once in a Lifetime”.
Wu-Lu delivers South London beatnik funk, Bilal a mystical incantation, and Róisín Murphy – making her recent precipitous plunge into Morrissey-ish reactionary contrarianism even more frustrating – on the form of her life belting out “Born Under Punches” with house music royalty Kenny Dope Gonzalez. There’s vintage dub reggae from Puerto Rican Angeleno Pachyman and the most frazzlingly futurist ballad take on “Psycho Killer” by Cameroonian Parisian Astrønne. On it goes, a constant stylistic rollercoaster, yet somehow against all odds a real album, with everything working together with the spirit of the originals always present even when they’re flipped on their head or turned inside out. A glorious achievement, a heart warming reminder of what creative ambition there still is out there, and a beautiful way for the Heads to abide.
Listen to "Once in a Lifetime":
