Leon Michels is building a roster of team players for his newly announced El Michels Affair album, 24 Hr Sports. Out Sept. 5 via Big Crown Records, the record kicks off with the lead single “Anticipate,” a grooving and bluesy record featuring Clairo.
“I’m simply holdin’ out for love/I don’t mind the wait/I know it’s exciting to anticipate the comedown/Won’t you let me in, boy,” Clairo sings over Michels’ twinkling arrangement. “If you could be kinder to me/We could hash it out/Make it lighter, baby/I can be more than just a pretty thing/I can hash it out before another round, don’t you think?”
24 Hr Sports will mark the first El Michels Affair album since 2023’s Glorious Game, a collaborative effort with Black Thought. Michels’ most recent album as the sole lead artist, Yeti Season, arrived in 2021. In the interim, he served as a producer on Clairo’s latest album Charm, Norah Jones’ Visions, Kali Uchis’ viral single “Moonlight,” and more.
Michel’s team of featured collaborators on 24 Hr Sports includes Clairo on “Anticipate,” Rogê on “Mágica,” Florence Adooni on “Say Goodbye,” Dave Guy on “Oakley’s Car Wash,” Shintaro Sakamoto on “Indifference,” Norah Jones on “Carry Me Away,” and Rahsaan Roland Kirk via sample on “Take My Hand.” “I made a conscious decision to do my own thing and say no to all the quote ‘opportunities’ that were being presented to me,” Michels said in a statement. “I thought, ‘I’ll make my own music, the kind that I like. Being able to do that actually created more of a calling card than if I would’ve just made pop music or whatever.”
According to Big Crown Records, 24 Hr Sports “was inspired by the fashion and graphic design of ‘80s & ‘90s Sports Illustrated magazines, MF DOOM’s Special Herbs albums, the sample sources used on them, and gospel music a la Pastor T.L. Barrett.” “I think the evolution of my sound is this: It’s coming from old records, so it references the past a lot, but I’m not a purist, I’m a fan of modern technology,” Michels said. “I think what I’m doing is new. It’s a merging of the past and present, not unprecedented, but a good mix of then and now.”
In 2021, Michels told Rolling Stone: “I had a long period of producing a lot of other people’s stuff, and that was taking a lot of my time. I would always get a couple tracks together and think, ‘Oh, this would be cool for a new El Michels Affair record,’ and then I would give them away to somebody else … I like the idea of El Michels Affair becoming just an outlet to do different shit and weird shit and stuff that interests me.”
24 Hr Sports Track List
1. “Drumline”
2. “Mágica” feat. Rogê
3. “24 Hr Sports Theme No. 1”
4. “Say Goodbye” feat. Florence Adooni
5. “Oakley’s Car Wash” feat. Dave Guy
6. “Anticipate” feat. Clairo
7. “Eastside”
8. “Clean The Line”
9. “Cortex”
10. “Shining”
11. “24 Hr Sports Theme No. 2”
12. “Indifference” feat. Shintaro Sakamoto
13. “Carry Me Away” feat. Norah Jones
14. “Take My Hand” feat. Rahsaan Roland Kirk
15. “Open Season”
16. “Victory Lap”
Leave a Reply