Black Pumas
Black Pumas have released their second album Chronicles of a Diamond (October 27 via ATO / [PIAS]). Chronicles follows 2019’s Black Pumas, which picked up several Grammy nominations including Album of the Year.
Like Black Pumas, Chronicles of a Diamond once again harnesses the lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry between Eric Burton (a self-taught musician who got his start busking on beaches and subway platforms in his native Los Angeles) and Adrian Quesada (a Grammy Award winner whose background includes playing in Latin-funk orchestra Grupo Fantasma and accompanying legendary artists like Prince). Produced by Quesada and primarily mixed by six-time Grammy Award winner Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, The War on Drugs), the ten-song LP finds Burton taking the role of co-producer and infusing his free-spirited musicality into every track.
Burton recently did a powerful performance of "Angel" for La Blogothèque's Take Away Series, which struck a chord (pardon the pun) with the locals: "since we shot this Take Away Show with Black Pumas, we've been hearing 'Angel' in bookstores, bars and record shops. It all brings us back to this day when Eric was summoning passersby in the streets of Strasbourg-Saint-Denis, a neighborhood that rarely sleeps. 'Come alive, little angel / To this dream we're all living.' We’ve filmed the band twice before and it’s always magical to watch this guy follow his instincts, always in the moment. His powerful voice drew all the vendors of Passage Brady out of their stalls, leaving them with smiles on their face. That day, Eric also entered an alley with a no-entry sign (luckily written in French only) which he ignored to our great delight." (La Blogothèque)
