New Wax Wednesday

To borrow a line from the late great Oscar Peterson, “We get requests.” What I mean by that is, we here at AP are constantly inundated with album review requests on a daily basis — and while we can’t cover them all (as much as we’d like to!), sometimes, that certain special LP makes it through to our tables and ears, reminding us why we do what we do.

Case in point is NYC-based multi-instrumentalist Dawn Drake, who reached out to us via email to see if we would review Nightshade, a self-released, 2025-pressed LP credited to her full band, Dawn Drake & ZapOte. This “worldbeat-meets-funk” ensemble — I’m quoting their own words here, but it’s a wholly accurate assessment! — incorporates Afro-Cuban jazz, hip-hop, and samba into (their words again) “a soul-shaking mix with [Drake’s] original lyrics of love, environmental, and social justice.”

I first sampled their undeniably catchy call-to-action track “Wake Up,” and I was intrigued enough by its worldly, percussive remix by Chico Mann and Geoff Mann to write Drake back and request the LP for full needle-drop listening. Check out “Wake Up” below via its official YouTube clip to see and hear just what I mean. (Betcha you can’t sit still while it plays, btw.)

Once I got the LP in hand and on my table, it was readily apparent that Nightshade is the right music for the right time. First off, I love Drake’s choice to go with purple-swirl vinyl here, and I experienced no playback issues with it. The LP itself was flat and well-centered, and Drake smartly made sure it was housed in a plastic-lined inner sleeve as well. Elements like the burbling bass, full-swinging horns, occasionally warbly/swirly keys (shades of George Duke!), and energetic congas all came through full, rich, and clean. The real secret salsa in the grooves of Nightshade is just how tight Drake and ZapOte are — no doubt the result from having played so many live gigs together over the years. To be able to capture such verve and energy so consistently on wax is no small feat, imo.

The SRP for the Nightshade LP is $30, and you can get your own signed copy of it directly from Drake’s official store here, once you scroll down past the mugs. Ratings-wise, I give the Music an 8.5 overall (though some tracks rate up to a full 9!) and the Sound a solid 8. After spinning the Nightshade LP on constant repeat, here’s hoping that Drake + ZapOte are able to continue releasing their affecting, multicultural music on vinyl whenever possible.

To get the inside scoop on how Nightshade came to pass on wax, I again reached out to Drake directly for all the important details.

Mike Mettler: Needless to say, Dawn, I love what I’m hearing of Nightshade on vinyl. Where did you have the LP pressed, and how many copies of it did you have pressed?
Dawn Drake: Thanks, Mike! I pressed 100 copies of the Nightshade LP, and the vinyl was both cut and pressed at the Precision plant in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The source material was digital wav files — 24-bit/44.1Hz.

Mettler: Nightshade originally came out as a CD a few years back, yes? I imagine finally being able to put it out on vinyl must be a dream come true.
Drake: Yes! Finally having this album out on vinyl is definitely a dream come true! I released the album [on CD and digitally] in November 2019 right before the pandemic. During the pandemic, vinyl production was backed up and very expensive, so the dream had to take a backseat for a couple of years!

Mettler: Where was the music for Nightshade recorded, and what was the timeframe for those sessions? Did everyone get to play together in the same room?
Drake: The timeframe for the actual recording was between 2013 and 2017. As an independent artist, it took a long time. For the most part, the music was recorded at the Institute for Audio Research in Manhattan under the leadership of Dan Grigsby, who was teaching a course in recording there. That is also how I recorded most of my [previous] albums.

Thanks to Dan, the recordings were made for free by the students in the course. We recorded the rhythm section together in the same room and then overdubbed horns, percussion, and vocals. I also did quite a few overdubs myself on different keyboards and percussion in my studio, as well as with [my co-producer] Jeremy Page in Brooklyn.

Drake: Some of the tracks, such as “Ethwaap” [Side B, Track 2], “Chi Chi’s Afrobeat” [Side A, Track 3], and “Oya de Zarija” [Side A, Track 2], are the result of the work of Jeremy Page, who combined different session mixes from live and in-studio recordings with overdubs we did in his studio. He is also responsible for the resulting sound of many of the tracks as he bounced the digital files to analog tape, ran them through his amp, and then re-recorded all that back into ProTools.

Mettler: It looks like the running order is different on the Nightshade LP as opposed to that of the digital version. Is that because of vinyl-specific requirements related to the amount of information/instrumentation in/on certain songs?
Drake: I had to be careful of the length of each side of the record, and I had to leave one track out [“Shoulda Never Said ‘I Love You’”] because it resulted in too much music for one side. I changed the order because I wanted to conceptualize each side as an experience on its own.

Mettler: Good call! I saw the Instagram pic of you holding up a test pressing of the LP back in April [2025]. Did you have any notes before giving your final sign off? Things like, say, “bring the horns out more here,” or “the percussion needs to be fuller,” or "the keyboards need to pan wider,” etc.?
Drake: I really did not give any notes at that point because I gave all of those notes in the mixing process with Jeremy Page, as well as the mastering process with Kevin Blackler.

Mettler: Why did you choose purple swirl vinyl? I happen to think it’s a cool choice — and it played back cleanly on my turntable with no issues either — something that can sometimes happen with color vinyl, as you probably know.
Drake: I was interested in the fact that it was made of recycled materials. Also, I felt that it went well with the album cover. Purple is my favorite color! I was overwhelmed by the amount of color choices available for vinyl, as I really did not know there were so many! Another factor is that purple is the color for Oyá, which is the Yoruba deity that I am singing for in the second track [the aforementioned “Oya de Zarija”]. I’ve studied quite a bit of Afro-Cuban sacred music and culture.

Mettler: What type of turntable do you have? Looks like it’s an Audio-Technica in that other IG photo you posted.
Drake: The Bluetooth Audio-Technica is what I have, yes. This is the first record player I have had in years! The one I had in high school and college was a prized possession, but it got lost in the travels and travails of youth.

Mettler: What was the first record you personally bought and loved to play over and over again, and why did it speak to you?
Drake: The first 45 I bought was “Get Down on It” by Kool & The Gang, when I was 9 years old. I bought it because it was easily my favorite song. It was what I loved to dance to, and I even performed a gymnastics routine to it! [“Get Down on It” was released as a single in November 1981 by De-Lite Records, and it reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.]

That one was followed by another 45 — Rick James’ “Super Freak,” which I also loved at that age. [“Super Freak” was released by Gordy in August 1981, and it hit No. 16 on the Hot 100, and No. 1 on the Dance Club Play chart.] A couple of years later, Michael Jackson’s Thriller [on Epic, released November 1982] was one that I played over and over again.

However, the first full-length album that I remember buying is Boston, that band’s debut album. [Boston was released in August 1976 on Epic — and it’s still one of MM’s favorite-ever LPs too, for that matter!]

Mettler: Those are all great choices! Would you, say, put out your “Corona King” single on a 45 next? And yes, you can consider that a humble request! (laughs) Also, any thoughts of reissuing your previous releases on vinyl at some point as well, in addition to all-new music at some point?
Drake: I would definitely love to put “Corona King” and “Forever Summer” together on a 45 — Side A, and Side B. I am recording some new tunes as well now. I doubt that I would put out any of the other previous albums on vinyl unless I re-recorded them or remixed those tunes so that they would have something fresh about them.

I often think how I would love to re-do many of my tunes that are out there. However, with the cost of recording and distribution, as well as the fact that I make my living playing music and teaching music, I am not in a rush unless I find an “angel investor” or “angel executive producer” or independent record company who would foot the bill! I hope that I do!

Mettler: Me too. Anything else you’d like to add here before we go? The floor is all yours to wrap it up.
Drake: I just want to thank you for this opportunity to talk about my experience putting my music out on vinyl. I am so happy with how it came out. I also want to thank anyone reading this, and I’d urge you to check out my music on dawndrake.com so that you can purchase it for yourself.

DAWN DRAKE & ZAPOTE
NIGHTSHADE
1LP (self-released)

Side A
1. Shoulda Never
2. Oya de Zarija
3. Chi Chi’s Afrobeat
4. Salon de Coiffure
5. Wake Up

Side B
1. Puriya Makuta
2. Ethwaap
3. Zim Ta Tim
4. Bunny’s Jam
5. Judgment Rumba