Andrew Veeder on July 10th, 2014

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The Foreign Exchange began in 2002 as just that – a long-distance collaboration between North Carolina rapper Phonte (Little Brother) and Dutch producer Nicolay, with the former asking if he could track vocals over a Nicolay beat he found on the Internet. That yielded a Little Brother B-side, and then, in the spirit of The Postal Service, the two kept collaborating over email and IM, completing an album under the name The Foreign Exchange before they ever spoke over the phone or in person. Their debut, 2004’s “Connected,” combined healthy doses of electronica, hip-hop and R&B into something new and fresh, and featured the classics “Raw Life” and “Brave New World.” Eventually, Nicolay moved stateside, and the duo followed up with 2008’s “Leave It All Behind” (earning a Grammy nomination for the single “Daykeeper”) and 2010’s “Authenticity.” Their fourth album, last year’s “Love In Flying Colors,” finds the Foreign Exchange’s sound continuing to evolve; this effort is more funky in the vein of Dam-Funk and jazzy in the vein of Thundercat, and features the stand-outs “Right After Midnight” and “Call It Home.”

||| Stream: “Right After Midnight,” and “Call It Home / Pity”

||| Live: The Foreign Exchange play the El Rey Theatre on Friday night.