Episode 45: Amber Navran on King’s “We Are King” (2016)

Episode 45

1st August 2018

Los Angeles’ underground soul scene is full of talent. The scene’s unique blend of soul, jazz, lo-fi, and electronica has helped to bring LA into prominence. Amber Navran is part of the community, first as a member of soul jazz trio Moonchild, and now as a solo artist. Her debut project, Speak Up was released to critical acclaim on Tru Thoughts Records in 2017 and showcases both her musicianship and her buttery vocals. She joined us to talk about KING, the Grammy-nominated trio whose EP The Story blew them all the way up and thrust them into the Twitterverse where they remain faves.

Episode notes

The Album: KING: We Are KING (2016)

Los Angeles’ underground soul scene is full of talent. The scene’s unique blend of soul, jazz, lo-fi, and electronica has helped to bring LA into prominence. Amber Navran is part of the community, first as a member of soul jazz trio Moonchild, and now as a solo artist. Her debut project, Speak Up was released to critical acclaim in 2017 and showcases both her musicianship and her buttery vocals. She joined us to talk about KING, the Grammy-nominated trio whose EP The Story blew them all the way up and thrust them into the Twitterverse where they remain faves.

We talked about the harmonies that make KING’s music so swoon-worthy, the arrangements that have dazzled listeners since 2011, and the many reasons “We Are KING” is a heat rock.

More on Amber Navran

More on KING

Show Tracklisting (all songs from We Are King unless indicated otherwise):

  • The Greatest
  • Moonchild: Be Free
  • Amber Navran: He’s Been Gone
  • Hey
  • Adele: Rolling in the Deep
  • Lalah Hathaway: Where it all Begins
  • Little Dragon: Ritual Reunion
  • Supernatural
  • The Story
  • Hey
  • Moonchild: Every Part (For Linda)
  • Supernatural
  • The Right One
  • Red Eye
  • Quincy Jones: Tell Me A Bedtime Story
  • Carry On
  • Mister Chameleon
  • In the Meantime
  • The Right One
  • The Greatest
  • Supernatural
  • Moonchild: Run Away (Remix)
  • Hey

Here’s the Spotify playlist of as many of the songs above as we can find on there.

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In this episode...

Oliver Wang

Oliver Wang

Host
Morgan Rhodes

Morgan Rhodes

Host

Christian Dueñas

Producer

Guests

  • Amber Navran

About the show

Hosted by Oliver Wang and Morgan Rhodes, every episode of Heat Rocks invites a special guest to talk about a heat rock – a hot album, a scorching record. These are in-depth conversations about the albums that shape our lives.

Our guests include musicians, writers, and scholars and though we don’t exclusively focus on any one genre, expect to hear about albums from the worlds of soul, hip-hop, funk, jazz, Latin, and more.

New episodes every Thursday on Apple Podcasts or whatever you get your podcasts.

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