Where lordkez hails from, “Aweh” expresses excitement in South Africa. This track came out last March, but I’m still hypnotized by its sway. It’s a mellow neo-soul, R&B, pop song that is so gentle with its moody electronics and bass groove. Heck, it even has an exotic yet playful pan flute. The artist is just so sweet and tender in her lyrics, that hearing that she’ll do anything for your person, including not judging you, that it’s all going to be OK. It’s a song that will do a lot of healing by a person who has done a lot of healing themselves.
Lordkez is making waves in South Africa right now and has already released her sophomore album, You, Me & the 90s. The album is about her spirituality and loving one self according to an interview with Offkey. What I love about her persona and words, is that her motto is to live in the now. And her music sounds like she enjoys the now so much.
Even not being from South Africa, “Aweh” just speaks to you so so kindly. It’s got you in its spell and you express excitement under its lovesick poetry.
You can listen to her album You, Me & the 90s on available streaming services.
Forgive the title. Still work shopping it. But this is the category in which I want to talk into the ether and into some ears about albums. If anyone is interested in my positive take on these albums or wanting to discover newer or older records then this is the place to stop by. And…here…we…go…
This is a jazz rap album that starts off with Dixon setting the mellow stage of a hot summer and wishes to talk to us about death. He and his friends ask, “Does magic really exist?” And what magic is this? Why to do a heroic act on bringing their friend back to life. This is a story.
And then an explosion of sound erupts in the second song, Sugar Water. As this character and his crew talks amongst themselves that they want to do it, they wonder, should they even think about doing this? As resurrection is taboo as hell and they might pay a high cost. But the spiritual chorus from Anjimile on the chorus and the slick Quelle Chris bars do their best to convince us this is just. Love the Ms. Jackson shout out by the way. They successfully revived their friend, but their friend wants to immediately get down to business.
In Crooked Stick, the rhymes that Alfred goes into just clicks so well making the words just click together like an oddly satisfying fit in a puzzle piece. “Pish-posh, bitch, watch.” or “Blip-blop, bitch, stop.” Recitatif starts off with this slowed down voice and goes into a killer jazz flute and mellow piano to tell about the struggles that African-Americans must endure and to survive as he also goes out of control in a killer second half along with Teller Bank$.
We go into a march and into a cinematic movie scene with a sequel from an already great song, Run Run Run comes through. Dixon is just on fire and is so passionate as he shouts that living is dying and living is probably a kind of hell. And then it transitions to my favorite song, We’re Outside Rejoice. With these church organs and reed splitting saxes, we feel like we’re in a house of worship as the background gospel vocals raise their hands in the air. They’re grateful for life, even though the pain is so high as Dixon is just a master of dichotomy with the bars of gratitude and how there’s hardship waiting at the end. Later in the album, they go into a tribute about their mother and then talks about his friends being collateral in his awe-inspiring magic. The energy persists with a beautiful horn section as the character sees how powerful the magic can be with these killer analogies from wanting profit from coins pulled behind his ear from a magician in Listen Gentle. And then we get to the spotlight of the show, the title track, Magic, Alive! With the call back that it’s not the magic you make from your lit up hands, but how bright you light up people’s eyes. That’s the real magic.
McKinley Dixon was a name I’ve heard from last year and couldn’t get into his critically acclaimed Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?!, however in Magic, he pulls out all the stops and all the bells, whistles, and kitchen sinks to make the jazz rap in this project, even more jazz. The piano, the brass, the bass guitar, the saxes, my Lord, the saxes!! And all other instrumentals are such a vital component to this album and Dixon’s versatile flow makes him go through the lyrics like a breeze. And not only that, like many great rappers and poets, he tells such a compelling story. There are only a few tracks here that didn’t keep up with the energy of the others for me, but they’re all mostly necessary to keep up that spirituality. I recommend any Kendrick fan to give Dixon a chance as he was such a gem to discover.
The last song is a closing of the curtain that hey, love is the answer. It has always been the answer to shine a light in the hearts of others. It’s a selfless thing to do, but the recipients will be your sole reason for living. The whole album speaks like a sermon. But it’s not the church we stay for, but its churchgoers.
FAVORITE TRACKS: SUGAR WATER, CROOKED STICK, RECITATIF, RUN RUN RUN PT II, WE’RE OUTSIDE REJOICE!, F.F.O.L., LISTEN GENTLE
LEAST FAVORITE: ALL THE LOVED ONES
You can purchase this album on Bandcamp and their catalog is available for streaming.
Saw this band perform live some time ago and was just in awe in what they were pulling off. Their sound although not new, is so exciting and so raw in emotion, you can not deny their hype train is just rolling in it. Highly recommend this energetic band and their very distinct vocalist, Cameron Winter to rock fans, new and old.
Their latest single that came out recently, starts out with Winter out of the gate saying his should be condemned yet he sympathizes with himself and others. And then the instrumental just drops and opens the pearly gates and we go into catharsis. It’s a melodic guitar passage that heals the soul as our hand is being held the entire time until the end of the song.
I am highly anticipating this album as their previous album, 3D Country was one of my favorites from 2023. Since then, they have made me looking forward to their music.
“You’d better come with a crucifix. You’re gonna have to nail me down.” That line goes hard, man.
Their album, Getting Killed will be released in September 26 and you can purchase this album on Bandcamp and will be on streaming.
Chat Pile, like many metal bands, are known for making their commentary of American society and politics. The hand they deal is heavy as well as their music. And boy howdy, is this heavy. Crushing to say the least, the genre they’re in sludge metal. I had to look up this sub-genre of metal and fell into a deeper rabbit hole, which according to a dissertation from UC San Diego sludge is derived from hardcore punk and doom metal (https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7bq7387s). I wanted to dive into one of my favorite tracks from last year as it is a whole world that I am so unfamiliar, but spellbound by to the point that it is exciting and frightening.
There are two dimensions of the title. It’s a play on words of mask and masculinity. This dark track talks about our protagonist who is in torment from not being reserved and not vocal of the pain they are in. The mask they put on to laugh at themselves when they’re the butt of the joke and to act like a tough guy to take the beatings that doesn’t need to be physical. The facade is held even when the song ends and the character accepts their fate just so they don’t feel laughed at or compromise with their toxic significant other. It’s not just the cacophony, the tortured vocals, or the heavy drums that makes this so harrowing, but the character being so relatable is the most damning of all.
The album this song was featured on Cool World, is so memorable. One day on this blog, I do wish to revisit the album in general and go into a deep dive. I want to make album overviews a thing. Any metal fan should know who this band is, and I can see why. Because the monsters of this Earth aren’t orcs or dragons. They’re fantasy. But the monsters that tears us from the inside, are genuinely real.
You can purchase this album on Bandcamp and their catalog is available on streaming.
It’s very hard to recommend and describe this kind of music and this duo. It’s polarizing, not because they sound bad. It’s because they push the envelope so far, it may not be anyone’s wheelhouse. But what is Matmo’s wheelhouse?
You can describe them as musique concrète composers that would make Foley artists blush, but they’re more than that. They’ve sampled pieces of plastic, Smithsonian displays, and a freaking washing machine. And here, in their latest album, pieces of metal. It’s not a gimmick or an afterthought, they make complex sound structures and amplify the qualities of what makes said object sound so ubiquitous to us.
In Norway Doorway, they used a door to be the main feature in this hall of gongs and bells. Feels like I’m in a temple occupied of monks. The titular door just has these elongated creaks with its unhinged hinges. It emulates a haunting trumpet for most of the time. You can hear more of this kind of alchemy and sorcery with other metallic objects on their latest album, Metallic Life Review.
For any electronic enthusiasts, dive into Matmos. Here. There. Anywhere. Because with this experimental group from Baltimore, you’ll have no idea where you might end up.
You can purchase their latest album on Bandcamp and their discography is available on streaming services.
The momentum accrued by the Nigerian-English pop artist, has been put him on watch by the indie scene. He has been around for a while, but recently just released his sophomore record this year and has even collaborated with one of the biggest forces of the UK hip hop scene, Little Simz, on her latest album, Lotus.
This pop single from last year has been infectious and contagious to my ears even after all these months. The song has words of a character who has been down on the dumps. He wants to be part of a band, be popular, and not cry as often. Why does this ear worm have to be so heart breaking and relatable? But despite this palpable pain of loneliness, he presses on.
Wrong place, but a good time.
You can purchase his latest album on bandcamp and his music is available on many streaming services.
A Lot on My Crate 