When you hear the phrase “Late Night Radio” most people think of Delilah on 106.7 or some DJ playing club hits, not head bobbing beats with gut-wrenching soul vocals thrown over them. Hopefully Alex Medellin, aka Late Night Radio, will change that preconceived notion with his latest EP Polaroid.
Since his first EP Concrete Collage two years ago, Medellin has been making waves within Colorado’s bustling electronic music scene releasing two more albums Far Into The Night and Soap Box while playing fests like Arise Music Festival in Colorado, Sonic Bloom, and touring with Lettuce in the fall.
For Polaroid Medellin collabed with fellow Coloradan Kevin Donohue of Sunsquabi (you may recognize that band as one of the openers for GRiZ at Red Rocks this year) to provide the guitar on “Amnesia” and “Can’t Hold Back.” This effort to collab sticks out to us for two reasons, (1) we see Medellin’s effort to move away from samples and toward recorded instrumentals ala Pretty Lights on ACMOTS and (2) this effort to create more organic sounds is reflected throughout the album, a trend we’re noticing (and loving) in the electro-soul genre. (If you don’t believe us check out the three new GRiZ songs and Gramatik’s The Age of Reason)
Onto the album, Polaroid is the groovy, funky hip-hop/electro-soul that we’ve come to love from LNR. He brings us up slow on “Amnesia” ft. Kevin Donohue with classy violin samples, chopped vocals, and the plucky guitar of Kevin. Next the vibe is brought up a notch on “Baggage” with some gritty synths, bass wobbles, and more soul vocal sampling; that slow down at 1:50 has us lifted before launching back into the groove. “Can’t Hold Back” takes it up another notch with gut-wrenching vocals, fat basslines, and Donohue rambling around on some tweaked guitar riffs. Horns and bouncy bass greet you on “Medicine”, a spoonful of this song will clear your head and get you ready to take on the day. Lastly we have our favorite track “Break Free” which builds quickly and lifts you up on some sultry sax and vocals that will have you feeling limitless. The only critique we have of this album is that it’s only 5 songs and we want, no we need, more LNR to soothe our ears.
We suggest you get your groove shoes before pressing play on this one. Check it below:
As of now the only festival we’ve seen Late Night Radio on is Paradise Music Festival this July. Get tickets here while they’re still wicked cheap!
Connect with Late Night Radio:
https://www.facebook.com/l8nightradio
https://www.soundcloud.com/late-night-radio
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