Exclusive Premiere: Alistair Blu “Smooth Temptation”

Smooth Temptation is a soulful, modern funk inspired tune that plays like a love child between the early sounds of Smokey Robinson and the production styles of Mndsgn and Dam-Funk.

The track is a slow burner and features rich vocal harmonies and deep grooves contributed by members from the Montreal soul collective, Busty and the Bass. The song is obviously sexual in nature, and the instrumentation (horns, synths, and filtered piano) adds to its warm, flirtatious sound.

Fusing hip hop with the melodic synths and hypnotic grooves of g-funk, Canadian singer/rapper/producer Alistair Blu is best known as the co-lead vocalist and keys/synths player of Montreal electro-soul outfit, Busty and the Bass. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, he was raised on a healthy diet of jazz, early 2000s hip hop, R&B, and psychedelic rock— perhaps explaining why his solo work doesn’t fit into any one box.

Alistair Blu’s debut single, “Sweet, Damn, Hold the Phone” serves as an homage to Y2K-era West Coast g-funk. Whereas “Insane,” his follow-up track with Nate Husser of the rap group The Posterz, leaned more into the traditional, bar-trading hip hop fare.

He’s a gifted pianist who made a name for himself with his band. But it’s his command of language and surreal, if nostalgic production tendencies that has established him as one of Canada’s most exciting new solo acts.

Spotify Stream

Additional Infos

– Alistair Blu will be performing his new and unreleased solo material with an 8-piece band, made up of some of Montreal’s finest musicians (Caulder Nash on keys, Melissa Pacifico on backup vocals, Shaun Ryan on drums), including members from his full-time musical project, Busty and the Bass (Julian Trivers on drums, Louis Stein on guitar, Scott Bevins on trumpet, and Chris Vincent on trombone) at Petit Campus on June 28th. Here is the ticket link for the show: https://lepointdevente.com/billets/tix190628-alistair-blu-petit-campus

– Busty and the Bass are scheduled to perform this summer at various festivals across North America, including Ottawa Blues Fest on July 12th and Vancouver’s Westward Music Festival on September 13th.

A full list of their upcoming shows is detailed on their website: https://www.bustyandthebass.com/tour

Website: http://alistairblu.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/AlistairBlu/?ref=br_rs
IG: https://www.instagram.com/alistair.blu/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7dEAqzF4wPoJChmtpSYKpR
Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/alistair-blu/1099230384
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/alistairblu