Thandii x Regalado // Coco Okayo

On its second release, Sama Sama Records turns a cross-generational collaboration into something far richer than an exercise in revivalism. Executive-produced by Norsicaa, Coco Okayo brings Margate art-soul duo Thandii together with veteran Filipino drummer Jun Regalado, whose vast discography and rediscovered 1978 cut “Pinoy Funk” have introduced his elastic rhythmic touch to a new generation of listeners. Recorded between Manila and Margate, the album draws from the warmth and movement of 1970s Manila Sound without trying to recreate it wholesale. Instead, Jess Berry and Graham Godfrey fold Regalado’s drumming into their own hazy vocabulary of alt-soul, disco-funk, trip-hop, and beat-driven art-pop. The title track establishes the record’s humid, slightly off-center atmosphere, pairing loose-limbed percussion with Berry’s coolly expressive vocals and drifting flute. “Run Run,” featuring Filipino American artist Ian Santillano, pushes toward swaggering funk-rock, while the tender “My Angel” makes especially evocative use of the kulintang, allowing its metallic chime to become part of the song’s emotional language rather than mere ornamentation. Across the album, guitars, saxophone, keyboards, congas, saronay, and hand percussion continually move in and out of focus, giving the music a tactile, lived-in quality. What ultimately holds Coco Okayo together is its refusal to treat heritage as something fixed. Regalado does not simply lend the project historical legitimacy, and Thandii never sound like tourists. Together, they create a fluid diasporic pop music that feels respectful of its roots while remaining playful, strange, and unmistakably alive.