Afropunk is Exclusively Streaming Bartees & The Strange Fruit’s Brand New Album, Magic Boy, Which is Officially Out on Friday.
Listen to the first single, “Going Going.”
Watch the video for the second single, “IDK.”
Bartees Cox, a songwriter and guitarist based out of Brooklyn, created Bartees & The Strange Fruit as a conduit to surface stories about people of color. The title of the debut album, Magic Boy, (out December 8, 2017 via Pineapple Record Co.) is inspired by a lyric from the song “Hear My Train A Comin” that goes: “Well, I gotta leave this town, gonna be a Voodoo chile .. and try to be a magic boy.” This particular lyric has always resonated with Bartees since he made the decision to leave his home in rural Oklahoma for the East Coast, a change that is looked back on as being a pivotal moment in his life. This record marks Bartees’ obsession with analog recording, tape machines, space echoes, reel-to-reels and a number of other types of hi-fi recording gear. Each song was recorded to tape, or at least mixed to tape, to give it the warmth of a real performance.
“The “Magic Boy” is how my family sees me,” says Bartees. “Their kid that has made it work in New York, chasing a dream.”
Upcoming Shows:
December 9
New York, NY at Nosebleed Sessions
January 5
Brooklyn, NY at Cape House
(Record release show w/Project Diem and Lizzie No)
