British record label BBE Music has announced a new David Bowie tribute album. Modern Love arrives May 28, and features covers from across Bowie’s catalog by Helado Negro, Khruangbin, Jeff Parker, We Are KING, Meshell Ndegeocello, and more. Today, on what would have been Bowie’s 74th birthday (and the fifth anniversary of Blackstar), BBE shared the first single from Modern Love. Listen to We Are KING’s cover of “Space Oddity” below, and scroll down for the tracklist and LP art, illustrated by Cori Maass.
“There were so many amazing Bowie compositions to choose from but ‘Space Oddity’ has always been our favourite,” We Are KING’s Amber and Paris Strother said in a press release. “It’s so visual; it has always felt like time travel in a song. It tells such a vivid and imaginative story of Major Tom’s trip through space and it was such a cool experience to reimagine what it’d be like on the voyage.”
BBE compiled Modern Love to highlight Bowie’s connection with the soul, R&B, jazz, funk, and gospel sounds that influenced his own work. The project was curated by music executive and DJ Drew McFadden, alongside BBE Music founder Peter Adarkwah. “I felt that the connection between Bowie and R&B, jazz, funk, gospel and all things soulful, had never really been explored before,” McFadden said in press materials. “At least not so much in covers, which tend to lean more towards rock and pop. Certainly, there’s been plenty of Bowie covers over the years, but none that have really tapped into what seems to have been a big part of his core musical style and direction.”
Modern Love:
01 “Life On Mars” by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
02 “Sound & Vision” by Helado Negro
03 “Lady Grinning Soul” by Kit Sebastian
04 “Soul Love” by Jeff Parker and The New Breed (ft. Ruby Parker)
05 “Panic in Detroit” by Sessa
06 “The Man Who Sold the World” by The Hics
07 “Right” by Khruangbin
08 “Silly Boy Blue” by Nia Andrews
09 “Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family” by Foxtrott
10 “Move On” by L’Rain
11 “Tonight” by Eddie Chacon & John Carroll Kirby
12 “Modern Love” by Jonah Mutono
13 “Where Are We Now” by Bullion
14 “Fantastic Voyage” by Meshell Ndegeocello
15 “Heroes” by Matthew Tavares
16 “Space Oddity” by We Are KING
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