French Musician Oko Ebombo Named His Speaker Joséphine

This is SOUND ADVICE, a weekly destination for playlists curated by Interview’s friends, enemies, and lovers. Over the past few weeks, we’ve gathered playlists from Shygirl, serpentwithfeet, UNIIQU3, and Chelsea Wolfe. This week’s guest is Oko Ebombo, a Parisian-born, Congolese musician whose first full-length album, Free Emotion, dropped in October. Ebombo began his career as a dancer, poet, and performance artist; an early run-in with David Bowie inspired the track “Black Bowie,” the opener to his 2016 EP Naked Life. His style, though genre-bending and ever-changing, is what he calls “street jazz”—a cocktail of afro-jazz, hip hop and Congolese rumba—with playful percussion and rich vocals delivered in English, French, and Lingala. This week, as he readies for two headlining shows at The Bourse de Commerce in Paris, Ebombo curated a soulful playlist of instrumentals just for us. He also made time to answer our Sound Advice questionnaire, revealing his go-to late night meal and the name of his personal speaker (which, of course, he brings everywhere).

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What song do you have on repeat? “Blue Shit” by Mica Levi.

Who do you trust most with aux? Cinnaman, Crystallmess, Carista, Etienne Order, Kirou.

Favorite album artwork of all time. Bitches Brew by Miles Davis. 

Name your favorite artist no one knows about. 22

Go-to late night meal? Chicken’s King in Paris.

Which song on this playlist makes you cry? “This Is How We Walk on the Moon” by Arthur Russell. 

Favorite cover track of all time? John Maus’s “Cop Killer” by myself. 

If you could work with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be? Dean Blunt. 

Which city has the best music scene? Detroit. 

Where do you dance? Everywhere with my speaker named Joséphine. 

What song reminds you of your childhood? Indeep’s “Last Night a DJ Saved My Life.” 

What was your first concert? James Brown in Paris, Place de la République.