A much-buzzed up-and-comer in R&B for half a decade, singer, songwriter and producer Miguel Pimentel made his name in the background, writing for other artists such as Asher Roth and Usher, and failing to wow—aside from the hit single “Sure Thing”—when Jive Records finally put him in the spotlight and allowed him to drop his own debut album, All I Want Is You (2010). But with the new Kaleidoscope Dream, he proves himself a potent and very welcome voice expanding the boundaries of the genre in a year that has seen some exquisite examples of that, including the recent releases from Frank Ocean, the Weeknd and (to a degree) Passion Pit.
As the title indicates, the San Pedro, California-born artist of Mexican and African-American descent draws more heavily on elements of great psychedelic rock and pop to color his soul and R&B than anyone since Around the World in a Day-era Prince, even going so far as to fold a taste of the Zombies’ 1968 hit “Time of the Season” into his own “Don’t Look Back.”
Arriving just in time for Halloween and appropriately titled The Haunted Man, the third album from British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Natasha Khan — better known as Bat for Lashes — is a gorgeous but unsettling dreamscape that slowly but relentlessly works its way into your subconscious. Haunting indeed.
