With the peak of winter in the rearview, March is a great time to soak in some newfound sunshine, take some party turns in the slush and dig into some of the new music pouring into KHOL.
It’s also a great time to celebrate both Black History Month and Women’s History Month. It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to legendary figures like Roberta Flack and Gwen McRae. Our top tracks highlight up-and-comers like Moonchild Sanelly and Naya Ali.
You can discover new, reissued and modernized versions of classic tracks in KHOL’s new “Top Tracks of 2025” Spotify playlist.
Below you’ll find the entire playlist along with my thoughts on a few standouts.
Happy listening!
Follow us on Spotify to keep up with our recent favorites.
Roberta Flack – Compared To What
First and foremost, rest in peace to the late great singer and pianist Roberta Flack who died Feb. 24, 2025. With hit songs like “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” Flack was one of the most important voices of the ‘70s, with her soulful, understated style. She grew up a classical piano prodigy, but made her name in Washington, D.C. clubs before dropping jaws with her debut album “First Take” in 1969.
Recorded in a hard-to-believe 10 hours (hence the title), the future star’s first offering showcased her unique mix of soul, jazz, and folk as well as her impressive skills as a bandleader. On album opener “Compared To What,” Ron Carter’s mighty bass leads the charge on this protest anthem about unfulfilled promises of civil rights activism, abortion rights and the Vietnam War.
Though at times overshadowed by the legendary talents of her peers Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone, Flack stood out as a romantically sophisticated force to be reckoned with. In the liner notes for “First Take,” her longtime mentor, collaborator and friend Les McCann said, “[Roberta’s] voice touched, tapped, trapped and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known. I laughed, cried and screamed for more … she alone had the voice.”
With her stirring concoction of rock, soul and psychedelia, Jeannie Piersol is one of the enigmas of the ‘60s San Francisco music scene. Though relatively unknown, the talented singer emerged from the same Marin County community as Bay Area icons like Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and Big Brother and the Holding Company. Piersol was close friends with Grace Slick and her brother-in-law Darby Slick, joining them in an early line-up of the acid rock outfit The Great Society before leaving to front her own bands, The Yellow Brick Road and Hair.
“The Nest” is the first-ever career-spanning collection of Piersol’s work, featuring studio outtakes, demos, live performances, and sought-after singles. Psychedelic soul standout, and penned by Piersol herself, “Gladys” began as a demo she sent to Jefferson Airplane for potential inclusion on their album “After Bathing At Baxters.” When the band declined the demo, Piersol re recorded it herself and released it as her debut single.
Originally released in 1968, “Gladys” features backing vocals by iconic soul singer Minnie Ripperton, drums by Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White and was inspired by a visit Piersol and her husband made to tour a potential rehearsal space at a warehouse along the Embarcadero in San Francisco. They asked the receptionist named Gladys about the cost of one of the available spaces but were quickly turned away because of their long hair and unconventional attire.
Sly & The Family Stone – Family Affair (Questlove Rhythm King Edit)
“SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)” is the latest documentary by The Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, whose directorial debut about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival took home an Oscar in 2021. The film follows the exciting and tumultuous journey of Sylvester Stewart, aka Sly Stone, the Bay Area radio DJ turned singer/songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and producer of the integrated, genre-bending pop/rock/soul/funk band Sly & The Family Stone. Massively influential on legendary peers and future stars alike (Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder and Parliament-Funkadelic to name a few), the group scored big hits between 1967 and 1971, including “Everyday People,” “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” and “Family Affair.”
Early in the film, we find a young Sylvester Stewart working as a radio DJ for the San Francisco soul station KSOL while at the same time fulfilling the role of in-house producer at Autumn Records, where he worked with and produced for bands like The Beau Brummels, The Mojo Men, Bobby Freeman, and the aforementioned The Great Society (where he most likely crossed paths with Jeannie Piersol).
Stone’s drug addiction and legal troubles come into focus later in the film as catalysts for the artist’s “second era.” Released in 1971 and performed primarily by Stone alone in his home studio, “There’s A Riot Goin’ On” leaves behind the optimistic psychedelic soul of the group’s ‘60s output, instead adopting a darker sound featuring drum-machine tracks taking the place of former drummer Greg Errico.
The album’s lead single, “Family Affair,” is a bittersweet record sung by Sly and his sister, Rose Stone featuring Billy Preston on the electric piano and Stone himself manipulating the Maestro Rhythm King MRK-2 to make it sound like a heartbeat. It serves as Sly & The Family Stone’s fourth and final No. 1 pop hit and stands as one of the earliest hit recordings to use a drum machine. For “SLY LIVES!,” director Thompson takes the original multi-track tapes of “Family Affair” and injects the song with some titillating modern production techniques for his own “Questlove Rhythm King Edit.”
Similar to the psychedelic sounds of Jeannie Piersol, Q Lazzarus, born Diane Luckey, was an artist shrouded in mystery whose career never quite materialized.
To support her struggles trying to make it in the music industry with her band in the ‘80s, Lazzarus worked as a taxi driver in New York City. It was during a blizzard one night that she picked up a passenger who turned out to be film director Jonathan Demme who had just wrapped a music video for Bruce Springsteen guitarist Steven Van Zandt’s “Sun City.” Eavesdropping on Demme’s debriefing with the song’s producer, Arthur Baker, Luckey asked if she could play him her music. Demme was awestruck and blurted out “Oh my God, what is this and who are you?!” From there a long-running creative partnership was born as Q Lazzarus’ music would feature prominently in four of Demme’s films over the next decade.
Q Lazzarus made the most impact on the public’s consciousness as the soundtrack to a sinister nipple-tweaking scene in the 1991 thriller “The Silence of the Lambs.” The film’s villain Buffalo Bill prances around merrily to the spooky new wave perfection of “Goodbye Horses” as his captive shrieks for mercy from the basement pit down below; a darkly beautiful marriage of music and imagery.
While “Goodbye Horses” has somewhat of a cult following, the rest of Luckey’s output has primarily remained under wraps until recently. “Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus” is a collection of recordings between 1985 and 1995 that acts as the soundtrack to the documentary film of the same name, revealing the diverse sounds, savvy styles and eclectic personalites of her work. Aside from the recognizable title track, Luckey’s cover of George Gerswin’s “Summertime” stands out as a dubbed-out club re-work of the original that would make Grace Jones blush.
Moonchild Sanelly – Scrambled Eggs
Seemingly channeling the mysterious magic of Q Lazzarus in the modern age, South Africa’s Moonchild Sanelly (born Sanelisiwe Twisha) has a sound impossible to pin down. But while Lazzarus lurked in the shadows, Sanelly is as in-your-face, bright and vibrant as you can get.
Her new album “Full Moon” fuses elements of afrobeat, hip-hop, and electronic music while feeding listeners with fierce beats, hypnotic rhythms, and raw, unfiltered lyricism. Produced by Johan Hugo (Mumford & Sons, M.I.A, Miguel), album opener “Scrambled Eggs” is a late ‘90s R&B infused anthem of confidence and independence dripping with style. The song highlights the finer things one gets to enjoy when successful, specifically avocado and eggs, and is the artist’s reminder not only to herself but the world around her that she’s a self-made artist making big waves on her own terms.
Sanelly’s self-described “future-ghetto-funk” sound has catapulted her onto the global scene (performances at SXSW, Primavera, Glastonbury) and attracted illustrious collaborators like Beyoncé, Gorillaz, Major Lazer and most recently Little Simz.
“This project has it all, from beginning to end,” Sanelly said of her new album. “The fights, the sadness, the getting back up, the letting go, the forgiveness, the acceptance. There’s a sense of mental and spiritual togetherness that comes with forgiveness and it makes you whole. So here I am, a full moon.”
Listen to KHOL’s Top Tracks of 2025 playlist on the embedded Spotify player above.
