World-renowned DJ Osunlade says it has been a decade since he last had a headlining gig in his hometown of St. Louis. But he’s about to change that.
He’s celebrating his latest album “Spectrum” with an album release event Oct. 27 at Takashima Record Bar in the Grove neighborhood. The event will include live performances, swag bags and more.
Osunlade has been talking to Takashima Record Bar co-owner Dan Hayden (a.k.a. DJ Hal Greens) about doing an event here that showcased him at the top, rather than his performing as part of someone else’s event.
“I’d been wanting to do something. I haven’t done anything in St. Louis since 2013, haven’t done my own thing. This is the only time,” says Osunlade, who after living around the world moved back to St. Louis in 2013 to look after his mother in the wake of his father’s death. “I don’t do a lot in St. Louis. I hadn’t really been a part of the city, never had been.”
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Followers of the Beaumont High School graduate have seen him spin in St. Louis at others’ gigs including a Nightchaser/Alexis Tucci event where attendees watched from pods inside City Foundry during the height of the pandemic. More recently he was spinning monthly at Carondelet Park, and there have been some “renegade” gigs locally as well.
“We said let’s do something, a celebration,” says Osunlade, who loves the music community he has gotten to know. “It’s good vibes. It seems like they need more from me here.”
Osunlade, known in soul, funk, jazz and house music circles everywhere, says his 14th album is set for the dance floor but it’s also made for all settings. He calls “Spectrum” his most electronic album to date.
“It's the only album where I went in my headspace and said ‘This is an electronic album.’ It's not so much about house. It's more pronounced electronic house, more saturated like today’s music. I'm leaning into that vibe. But the house-soul I do is still in it.”
There are probably more bleeps and blips on "Spectrum" than fans are used to with Osunlade.
“It’s more technical. That’s not really my thing,” he says, though the album gave him “new envelopes to play with, a whole spectrum of sound I can play with a new platform with a lot of different modular components.”
Songs on “Spectrum” include “Black Woman Cry,” which “I released last month for the heads (true fans),” “Booty Call,” a song “the South Africans are really gonna dig,” and “Reign,” featuring Han Litz and Myles Bigelow, “the most soulful song."
“Spectrum” is the last of five albums Osunlade recorded while he retreated to Portland, Oregon, March to May 2019 during pre-pandemic times. He chose Portland because he wanted to get back to nature, hiking, climbing and more, things that gave him an extra burst of creativity.
“It may have been the setting, being good with nature. I needed to be around nature, needed to be grounded,” he says of that creativity burst. “I had a good place where my friend offered me to stay. It was comfortable, I could go to the mountain and hike and see the lakes and streams, and that inspired me. I had a lot of time to block out the nonsense going on in the world.”
After Osunlade recorded the five albums in 2019, he released them periodically leading up to the release of “Spectrum.”
“The universe gave me a lot of stuff,” he says.
Other albums recorded in Portland include “MOSS” (2020), something he did to see if he could create an album on an iPad. “iAMONE” (2020) is an ambient album that also came out of the sessions. “That’s the most personal one. That’s me being quiet inside.”
There was also a full-blown house album diving into various styles of the genre, including acid house and disco house on “Basic Sketches for Beginners” (2020). He says he didn’t want this album as a slap in the face to newcomers during house music, but “if you’re gonna do it, get back to the basics.”
Releasing “Spectrum” now after recording it in 2019 puts the album in an odd space for Osunlade. He’s actually feeling “kinda detached from it because it’s been a while. I was in a different space physically. I wasn’t in my studio. I was doing makeshift things, making up stuff, working in other peoples’ studios. It wasn’t as comfortable as it could have been but it was still a good experience. It opened me up.”
Osunlade first began DJ’ing publicly in 2001 when he accepted a $250 gig in Milan to spin at a party for Italian house act Harley & Muscle. He's been hooked ever since.
His debut project was 1999’s “Native Tongues.” Other projects include “Aquarian Moon” (2006), “Elements Beyond” (2007) “Rebirth” (2010) and Peacock” (2014).
“I had no idea I would be doing this the rest of my life.”
He has also produced or written for Eric Roberson, Martha Wash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Vivian Green, Najee, Patti LaBelle, Musiq Soulchild, Eric Benet, Freddie Jackson and Larry Gold.
Though he has dabbled in different genres over the years, “it’s the house thing that has kept me.”
He started Yoruba Records in 1999, followed by Yoruba Soul Records in 2015. Between the two labels, which he runs out of St. Louis, he has released over 50 albums.
He’s also co-producing a documentary, interviewing different DJs around the country about how the pandemic affected them emotionally, spiritually and musically. “If they’re an American DJ, we’ve filmed them.”
What Yoruba Records presents Osunlade’s “Spectrum” Album Release Concert • When 8 p.m. Oct. 27 • Where Takashima Record Bar, 4095 Chouteau Avenue • How much $20 • More info eventbrite.com