Ali Shaheed Muhammad is the hip-hop DJ, producer, and rapper you likely know best from his membership in A Tribe Called Quest. Adrian Younge is the multi-instrumentalist arranger and producer behind expansive, funk and vintage Morricone-saturated sounds, both as a solo artist and backing up Ghostface Killah and Bilal, among others.
They first collaborated on scoring and soundtracking Netflix’s dark superhero series Luke Cage. It was tight as hell. They finally came together again to compose more original work as the Midnight Hour and released a full-length eponymous LP last year, a fine fusion of cinematic funk, acid jazz, creamy soul and R&B, treated with some hip-hop beat-hawking, fleshed out with brass, strings, woodwinds, guest singers, and of course, a band (with Muhammad mostly on bass). The album they recorded in February and released in April, The Midnight Hour Live at Linear Labs, provides a compelling glimpse of what’s you can expect in a live setting (in a reduced lineup ala their NPR set): a mix of high-class sophistication and down-low groove-making. I fucking love this shit.
The Midnight Hour lands at Nectar this evening. Some media below.
