Took Me For A Ride

Zizi Raimondi “SUPAfresh”

The last time I featured Zizi Raimondi on this site just two months ago, she was doing a sleepy indie rock tune called “Folly Dolly” in which she was somehow both Lou Reed and Nico, and everyone else in The Velvet Underground for that matter. This time around it’s a completely different thing. “SUPAfresh” is a spacey funk song that falls somewhere in the space between the aesthetics of Grimes on her Visions album and the weirder edge of early 1980s New York art disco, like Arthur Russell, ZE Records stuff, and Madonna’s first few singles. It’s a major stylistic leap, but also the same thing in a different way – there’s this drowsy sexy vibe in both, and a high level of craft that feels very casual.

“SUPAfresh” is from an entire 19 track album called Bye Bye Club that’s all in the same aesthetic territory – groovy and zonked out and horny and vaguely sad. Her lyrics fixate on lust and intimacy, and how both feed into emotional mind games. It’s a very evocative and engaging record, and the feeling of her compositions conveys a lot more than her words. “SUPAfresh” is particularly sensual – the bass groove is incredible, and she layers on vocal harmonies and bright keyboard parts with remarkable grace. Everything seems to float elegantly in the negative space above that bass part.

Buy it from Amazon.