There are few artist/producers willing to take a chance as Kenny Dope, the House/Dance aficionado with the ability to form and bend sound to his will. His latest, “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)” featuring Roísín Murphy, is the second single from Naive Melodies (BBE Music)—a tribute album to Talking Heads, which is out October 24, 2025. Following Rogê’s cover of  “Road To Nowhere,” legendary producer Kenny Dope teams up with genre-defying vocalist Róisín Murphy for a heavy, head-nodding reimagining. 

As one-half of Masters at Work, with Little Louie Vega, Kenny Dope has spent decades shaping the sound of underground dance music, blending house, hip-hop, Latin, and funk into raw, percussive grooves. Here, he transforms “Born Under Punches” into a deep, dubbed-out psych-funk workout – grounded in gritty drums, warped synth textures, and live instrumentation that nods to Fela Kuti, electro, and early NYC dance floors. Róisín Murphy, best known as the magnetic voice of Moloko and a longtime boundary pusher in art-pop and disco, brings hypnotic vocal swagger to the track, channeling the paranoia and propulsion of the original while giving it a bold new emotional and physical edge.

Featuring an array of artists such as Aja Monet, Kenny Dope & Roísín Murphy, Liv.e, Bilal, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Roise Lowe, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Theo Croker & Theophilus London, Pachyman, Vicky Farewell, Wu-Lu, and more —Naive Melodies is a bold and visionary tribute to the music of Talking Heads, reinterpreted through the lens of Black musical innovation.

Curated by Drew McFadden—the DJ and producer behind BBE’s acclaimed David Bowie tribute album,  Modern Love—and mixed by Mikaelin ‘Blue’ Bluespruce (Solange, Blood Orange, Mariah Carey), this new collection dives deep into the Afro-diasporic rhythms and experimental soul roots that helped shape Talking Heads’ unmistakable New Wave sound. Inspired by artists like Fela Kuti, Parliament, and Al Green — whose influences loomed large in the band’s rhythmic DNA — Naive Melodies shines a light on the Black music traditions that underpinned their artistry.

“With Naive Melodies, I wanted to spotlight the deep and often overlooked influence of Black music on the sound of Talking Heads, drawing from the rhythmic foundations of Afro-diasporic traditions, soul, gospel, Latin, and spiritual jazz,” McFadden says. “This project is a chance to reimagine Talking Heads’ legacy through the lens of the very innovations that helped shape it, bringing those influences to the forefront through the voices of today’s most forward-thinking artists.”