Nu Strut has swaggered onto the scene with a new album, Cognac & Cigars.
Now, this is less of an album as it is a journey through nuerofunk and bass foundation; a creative concoction of genres, timeless sound, and a heavy drenching of disco funk. Nu Strut’s Cognac & Cigars, released with Electric Hawk Records, kicks it off with ‘Pornstache’, a lyrically in-your-face, groovy track laced with dubstep wubs and dubs. It’s bold, but not too busy; there’s plenty of breathing room between each element making it so the soundscape isn’t crowded even though each bit is so unique. This marriage between old and new demonstrates how transcendent and timeless music can be and just how gifted a musician Nu Strut is.
That relationship carries throughout the album, but is also rather noteworthy on the next single ‘BUSSIT’. This track is more tightly woven and its melody is driven not by vocals but by a plucky electric guitar strike. The bass is chunky in this one, is layered in delicately, and jazzed up with a pop of horns here and there. This is a track that is easy to wander off in simply because it is so catchy and easy to get funky with.
There are a few tracks that hone in on more jazz and funk flavors like, ‘Jazz Cabbage’ and ‘Nova Bossa,’ but flirt with plenty of brass horns, big bass, and modern electric sounds. One of my favorites though was ‘You’ which features vocalist Charmae. The rhythm is quicker than most of the other tracks on this album, but its smolder is supreme. The brass horns and easy bassline make Charmae’s voice sound sweet and soft, but not sticky. This isn’t a ballad but it gives off plenty of charm and sophisticated emotion. It’s gentle but determined and irresistibly groovy.
Check these tracks out and more on this eclectic collection of expertly crafted, genre-bending music on Cognac & Cigars below.
