SOME OF MY current favourite RELEASES...
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Music Playlists.
On the last month and day of the year, I wanted to bring you guys my current music update but with a slight twist. In today’s edition of music of the week we’ll detail my favourites of the month plus the entire year - similar to the playlist on Apple Music if you click the link above. Starting with my first we have, Bootleg CD - IZCO feat. Ramonie. In the last edition I touched on Ramonie and how I stumbled across him and he’s further represented my faith in him through this release. IZCO’s production goes without saying, immaculate. Recently I’ve even turned back to older tunes he’s made like ‘Stack & Grind’, ‘Warrior Chant/Ps In’ and ‘Shooot Day’- they all encapsulate the artists in such different ways and still are recognisable sounds provided by IZCO. #2 R.I.P Freestyle - Chiraq Now Chiraq is one I watch closely because he’s an up and coming artist. He recently just appeared on the U18’S Blackbox Cypher which was released only a couple of days ago. He has a clip from the cypher that is currently circling the internet, showcasing his desire of longevity within the music scene. This one right here is definitely one of my favourite songs that he’s released so far, it’s up there with ‘Better Know’ . The production on this one is brazy, his flows? The way he plays with his cadence at the end is genuinely what makes the entire song for me. Throughout the tune you can hear explicit clarity which aid his bars. “I’m the biggest stepper, King Of the Hill…” Hats off to him for real. #3 Index & Twenny-Nine After Two - Odeal It doesn’t feel like a music update without mentioning Odeal’s name at this point. This month he dropped the MIBA EP - “Maybe I’m Best Alone” - which consists of my two of my favourites, ‘Twenny-Nine After Two’ and ‘Index’. Index was previewed so long ago - I’m sure I still have the Instagram live somewhere in my phone - and was definitely overdue. Twenny-Nine after Two is euphoric, with this one O takes me to a place of self-recognition when he said, “Even though we got somewhere to be, I realise what the problem is”. I love this one with all my being, especially since it was new to me in the drop and kept that element of surprise that you feel with a new artist. With both songs he makes any kind of sexual and emotional interaction seem so much more than surface level. In terms of over the year though we have to start with ‘Soso’ + the entire Boy Alone album by Omah Lay. I did a music of the week blog on this one already, but this project found me when I was most vulnerable and that’s why it had such a big impact on me this year. “Soso take my pain away.” #2 Lagga - M1llionz I chose this song specifically because earlier on this month I re-watched the Groundworks cypher of 2019 and wow? Digga D was a huge part of this because between a lot of artists you could see the brotherhood he has with them just by knowing their lyrics. The vibe I felt when M1llionz performed this song was unparalleled and it reminded me why he is where he is within the music industry - deserves all he has and more. #3 Side A & Side B - Youngs Teflon Both EP’s he dropped this year are honestly immaculate and he puts a whole new meaning behind storytelling rap. Every single time I re-listen I remember why I love this rapper so much. click here for side A review. click here for side B review. #4 Who Wanna - K-Trap + Krept & Konan. K-Trap has had an amazing run this year and this album alone proves it. The entire ‘Last Whip II’ was a piece to remember but this song here, I believe it has everyone in a chokehold. It was in my Top 5 when I spoke about it on music of the week and with hindsight I wouldn’t change it at all. Overall, you can tell my annual favourites were also pieces I listened to at the time of their release and then furthered to dominate my playlists as the year went on. I’m genuinely so grateful for all the good music that has been dropped this year, started off strong and we’re ending off in the same manner. That was my update for December and a wrap up of the pieces that above all were special to me. Happy New Year in advance - Miriam.
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Music Playlists.
I know this is very late, to be honest I’ve had this one in my archives for a while but there’s been so many new releases it’s been impossible to get through - and this week I genuinely don’t feel like talking about a project I’m not entirely in love with. Without further ado let’s get into the Top 3 of Tems’ EP, ‘For Broken Ears’ in order too, might I add. At number 1 we have Damages: I had come across this song before the project dropped and I had it on repeat. At the time I’d heard nothing like it and it was a part of my introduction into Afro-soul. Remembering this time is so healing because lockdown was a difficult stage for all of us and how this song resonated with me at the time? It was unreal. This song was also the first I had heard of Tems and she did more than make me a fan; damages UNdamaged me to say the least. #2 Higher On top of being a consistent consumer of this specific song, when she dropped the live performance on Genius? I was sold for real. Tems’ voice is just so moving and what she’s singing about is angelically delivered. Higher definitely had us in a chokehold on TikTok and every other app I’d open. “When you speak all I can hear is silence”. #3 Interference Interference to me sounds like competition within yourself as it's like, "you thought this was my threshold? think again." I love it though because it doesn't come across as unhealthy at all - except when applied to relationships. I think this song was a perfect introduction to the project itself, on my first listen I wasn’t necessarily intrigued by this song but as I look back, the EP honestly couldn’t have started any other way. “If you thought I was disturbed before, baby boy I’m gon’ disturb you now.” I just want to touch on the “Témìládè Interlude'' quickly. I think in an African household we’re always so auspicious and ‘knowledgeable’ about these kinds of things. But what I especially love is when we’re fulfilling prophecies of our parents' beliefs for our lives. To me it’s very wholesome to know that your parents saw potential in you - beyond all they have to - and you as the child, made sure it came to pass. Honourable mentions to Free Mind, Ice T and The Key, all honestly amazing songs in this project and it wouldn’t have been what it was without them. Like, “I make Iced tea and I make it with your lemons,” who can hate this?? Genuinely I am so grateful to Tens for dropping this in 2020, it reached me at a time where I was most vulnerable and she’s stuck with me ever since. I’m excited to see what more she delivers in 2023. ‘No man can curse what God has made’ - Miriam. Music Playlists.
I know no one asked for a part two, but I had more to say, click here for part one. Music is a very psychological creation, earlier this week I was asked about why I believe the artists we listen to reflect our characters, as I specified in ‘The Impact Music has on Society’. My response began with the fact that often we look for music yet, music finds us when we’re most vulnerable. A lot of our favourite songs have memories attached to them and so the song ultimately becomes more than a song but a characteristic building influence. We listen to people, through song or not, and so acknowledge that someone older than us may have some wisdom or expertise in a sector we’re yet to go through. To me, music is a comfortable way of hearing the uncomfortable, when I’m in my more political moods for example and I listen to artists like J.Cole, he puts into perspective societal suffering and also individual problems. And yet when he expresses these things, we still see all the positives through the negative. Side noting this though, the ageing of music has provided this cushion for award ceremonies. The MOBO awards for example, created a lot of rubble this year with their categories when presenting awards. It became apparent that a lot of the contestants within each category were either deemed to not have, done enough to be there, become anything other than generic, or just had a good repertoire prior to this year and therefore became an easy choice. To make a clearer example, Little Simz conjoined with Knucks won the album of the year award, but I think artists like Rimzee and K-trap were more deserving yet, they weren’t even contestants. To us, it was like someone used their Spotify wrapped to draft up what they assumed the rest of us consumed. I mean let’s not even get into streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify, in terms of providing a platform for newly established artists, it’s like witnessing a robbery in broad daylight. Back to the original point though, this year's draft comes across as though we’re being steered into a direction of containment. If we’re told who was the best this year and we’re stuck listening to artists that continuously promote the wrong ideals, it is ultimately an inevitable downfall when it comes to the creativity in music, never mind the creativity in consumption. Every song has a different approach and I feel that’s what creates creativity and originality in music. I think this has helped music develop because it’s opened up more genres. Genres to me represent the different cultures in music, Dancehall, Afrobeats, R&B the list goes on. But the one thing these denominations have in common is breeding the gate-keeping characteristic. It seems a lot of people develop selfish attributes when it comes to music as there’s this fanatic about being a ‘number one fan’ or being someone that ‘discovered an artist’ - when in actual fact through millions of streams your singular consumption is invisible and furthermore, who hired you as A&R or marketing? This characteristic also seeps through cultures as many ethnic people that consume these genres of music are also very boisterous about their heritage, at least that’s what they’ve been taught by these musicians. As opposed to a creation that was once made to wind down, it has now encouraged egotistical behaviours – funny enough a stereotype attached to men. All in all, music affects us in ways we don’t even recognise - our day-day is so consumed by melodic expertise that we don’t realise how much we embody these things. Play your favourite song, and tell me what you remember from the first you heard it - Miriam.
Music Playlists.
It seems to me that I’ve waited way too long to do this top 5 so with that being said let’s just get right into it. These are not in order purely because my favourites on this project are subjective, one week I like one song more than another and I just can’t decide. #1 jULie feat. the Caveman Now I love this song because this was the first proper afrobeats vibe I had heard on my initial listen, this tune specifically made me think of Ghana high-life and literally how much I love it; I‘m glad I still have a piece of that moving into modern day music. I think it’s when the cavemen first come in that I feel that nostalgia, funny enough. The instrumental on this is brazy, that alone I could sit and listen to without fail. #2 late4dinner When I first listened to the project I thought this was my favourite, even after hearing Julie it still was so apparent to me. ‘You be my servant servant serve…’ is just so catchy and lingers around and lives in my head honestly. I also love the picture he’s painting in this song, alongside creating a tune for a casual bop Azanti has actually painted a scene for me to indulge in. #3 Vanity I just love his voice on this, I love the way the songs blend and uphold the feeling we were introduced to in the beginning. There isn’t much to say about this song but it just clicked for me and I can’t stop replaying. ‘There’s nothing I need, just me and you together my love.’ #4 AnTENNa As soon as this kicks in you’re already pulled in, if I didn’t know any better I’d think Azanti was trying to seduce me with this one. I love everything about this one his vocals down to his pronunciations and annunciations, “be like say you done find another nigga,” no way not with you around. From start to finish this song is heavenly even the way he says this lyric, “and the thing wey you dey do a done dey tamper with my soul,” I could listen to that snippet all day. #5 no.1 LoVER Talk about a song to introduce the project?? This one is out of this world. Quite ironic that I put it at the end but it sets the best precedent for the EP and with multiple listens you genuinely begin to understand. The 808’s on this are brazy, and the way Azanti‘s vocals glide on top of this brutal instrumental is so crazy I still can’t believe I’ve heard something like this. “Trust me, I’m your number one lover”. Unlike some other projects that I’ve heard this year, I knew I liked this project from when I’d first heard it. It’s actually a shame that my introduction to Azanti was just this year, I’m looking forward to catching up on his catalogue. I couldn’t be any happier with the body of work he’s produced. Honourable mentions to, ‘pressure’, ‘gettin’ hot’ and ‘wants and needs’ which are also songs that were so close to making it on my list - I mean the beat on gettin’ hot? Flowers need to be given to all his producers - but I don’t love them any less. Took me back many years so yes, nostalgia and best of all, he stole my heart - Miriam. Music Playlists. So a couple week’s back I went to ‘The Ultimate Seminar’ to watch panel’s discuss music in a way I have never heard before. I genuinely believe all artists, big or small, should go to these events - either to network, or to learn tricks of the trade; as someone who doesn’t do much in the industry I still enjoyed it. They touched on some interesting topics which I wanted to discuss today. I remember one of the panellists bringing up the fact that us as a music streaming community have trained our minds to become very low in attention span. With apps like tik tok in terms of music, if it doesn’t sound good within the first 30 seconds we scroll. We don’t realise but this actually affects artists and music production as now they’ve had to start asking questions that since before covid, no one even thought about. For example funding for music videos are now being put into short clips for tiktok and Instagram reels, for better consumption. Music videos are being overruled these days, I mean I genuinely had to ask myself when was the last time I watched a music video - excluding songs that are exclusive to YouTube only. I’ve even seen artists use the tactic of dropping the audio first and then video next, but let’s be honest once you’ve given me the song unless I feel the dire need to support I won’t go to watch the video. If anything they need to do that in reverse order, forcing more people to watch the video you spent so much funding on. It is sad though, the depreciation of music videos is not one I thought I’d be seeing anytime soon but nonetheless it’s the churning of society's development. In passing I also recall one of the panellists mentioning Rema and saying he references his music as rave music. In that moment I want to just include a screenshot of what I wrote down to depict the feelings that statement evoked. It’s quite funny actually but as I sat and listened I understood his perspective from them. The thing is the word rave has a very specific connotation in my environment, it’s a type of party that would have all sorts of flashing lights and very oonts oonts music, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down here.
But rather he chose this word to associate himself with implying that his music is the type of music when you go out to a party you would hear, you need to be on a vibe to listen to Rema otherwise he won’t hit as well as he should. During this panel there were constant references back to Central Cee as an independent artist. I think the prevailing factor of this is that he is teaching a lot of undiscovered artists, producers, and marketing teams how it is possible to build your own platform, whilst doing it in an innovative way. Honestly kudos to Central Cee, he’s building a legacy that none of us could’ve imagined. Divulging a little, in the current music update I uploaded last week the artist Strandz was mentioned in his ability to create sample rap that isn’t generic. I felt unable to take up the review's shine, battling with myself so I left my feelings for now. I genuinely feel like that point needed to be made because I know it wasn’t just me that felt stagnant in music for a while. If it wasn’t rapping someone else bar’s in a different order it was sampling old tunes. To be honest, anything being released at that time wasn’t sufficient. I’m not saying Strandz will ever be able to keep this consistent trend but a breath of fresh air was good for us all. But back to the seminar, the panel that I witnessed was filled with many people that worked in A&R and Marketing. People in the industry that worked in places like Sony, Spotify, Def Jam, Apple Music, the list goes on. They mentioned many artists I could just dream of meeting. There were also a couple of famous faces like Ms Banks, Cee Beats but sadly I missed their panel. I can say with my hand on my heart I’d like to be in full attendance to their next event with a couple more of my friends and I honestly can’t wait to go to more events like this! An ultimate lesson from the ultimate seminar - Miriam. |