FEATURE: He’s the One: Robbie Williams at Fifty: An Essential Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

He’s the One

Robbie Williams at Fifty: An Essential Playlist

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ON 13th February…

the music world will mark the fiftieth birthday of Robbie Williams. One of the biggest artists Britain has produced, I wanted to celebrate his upcoming birthday with a playlist. Rather than include Take That music, it is going to be his solo material. The bigger singles and some deeper cuts. Before I get there, it is to AllMusic. They can assist when it comes to charting the career of Robbie Williams. A hugely popular artist who has enjoyed incredible chart success, he was also recently named President of his beloved Port Vale football club. His latest album of original material, The Heavy Entertainment Show, came out in 2016. I wonder if we will see a follow-up:

"From teen idol to international headliner, English singer/songwriter and consummate showman Robbie Williams graduated from '90s boy band Take That to become a successful solo artist, embracing a mischievous bad-boy image while becoming one of the U.K.'s most prominent entertainers and one of the best-selling artists of all time. Following his stint with Take That -- during which time Williams and his bandmates issued three multi-platinum hit albums -- his star grew even brighter, with a string of chart-topping records and sales that surpassed Take That by a wide margin. Setting the stage with his 1997 debut album, Life Thru a Lens, he scored the first of many hit singles with the soaring "Angels," an enduring U.K. staple that became his breakthrough worldwide hit. Sophomore LP I've Been Expecting You was a career peak for the showman, certified ten-times platinum and breaking him into new markets with the timely "Millennium." With each successive release, Williams remained at the top of the album charts, accumulating number one singles such as "Rock DJ," "Somethin' Stupid," and "Candy," which carried him into the 2010s.

Born Robert Peter Williams in 1974, he grew up loving football and stage performance, balancing the two during his childhood in Stoke-on-Trent. When he was just 16, he was recruited as the youngest member of the boy band Take That. Roguish and more charming than the rest, he was a distinctive standout in the quartet. He also fought regularly with the other members and their management, primarily because he was occasionally averse to being so heavily packaged. So it didn't come as a surprise that he was the first to leave the band, departing early in the summer of 1995 to pursue a solo career (by some accounts, he was fired from the group).

Although he was the first out of the gate, it took Williams a while to get started. For most of 1995, he attempted to boost his credibility by tagging along with Oasis, hoping that Noel Gallagher would give him a couple of songs. He never did, but all of his time with Oasis launched Williams into a world of heavy partying, drinking, and drugging. Over the course of 1996, he became a tabloid fixture in the U.K. Occasionally, he was quoted as saying his new music would abandon lightweight dance-pop for traditional Brit-pop, but his first single was a cover of George Michael's "Freedom '90." Released late in 1996, the single failed to gain much traction, but his second attempt, 1997's "Old Before I Die," was more in the vein of his early pronouncements, featuring a distinct Oasis influence.

Williams finally released his first solo album, Life Thru a Lens, in 1997. Boosted by the international success of the single "Angels," the record became a big hit in Britain, prompting his second, I've Been Expecting You, to go multi-platinum upon its release in 1998. (The Ego Has Landed, a U.S.-only compilation designed for breaking Williams to American audiences, was released stateside in the spring of 1999.) Sing When You're Winning followed in late 2000, gaining success with the video hit "Rock DJ," while a big-band album of standards (Swing When You're Winning) appeared a year later. By this point, he had become one of Europe's premier pop stars, known for his headline-grabbing behavior as much as his hit-studded albums. Moreover, his solo work had sold far more copies than his work with Take That.

In 2002, Williams celebrated an enormous new contract with EMI (rumored to be upwards of 80 million dollars) but suffered the loss of his longtime production partner Guy Chambers. Escapology, the fifth Robbie Williams album (and the last to include Chambers' input for 11 years), sold millions of copies in Europe, though it failed to persuade American audiences. As a result, the 2003 concert record Live at Knebworth wasn't released in the States. Williams introduced a new musical partner, Stephen Duffy, with a pair of songs from his compilation Greatest Hits, and he reappeared in 2005 with Intensive Care. Although the album topped charts in Europe and helped Williams set an impressive concert record -- his 2006 record-breaking world tour sold over one and a half million tickets in one day -- a certain creative atrophy was setting in, despite the new input from Duffy.

Within a year, he had recorded and released Rudebox, a dance album recorded with half a dozen outside producers, some featured guests, and several covers instead of self-penned material. Rudebox hit number one across Europe but only went double platinum in the U.K., becoming his lowest-selling studio album to date. Accordingly, Williams' next LP -- the 2009 release Reality Killed the Video Star -- found him returning to the sound of his older albums, with the Buggles' Trevor Horn handling all production duties. Reality was Williams' only record not to top the U.K. album chart, bested by the trio JLS.

The following year, most news of Robbie Williams surrounded his reunion with Take That, which took the form of a new album, Progress, plus a few new songs recorded with bandmate Gary Barlow that were released on a new Williams hits collection, In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990-2010. Barlow also figured in the writing and production of the ninth Robbie Williams studio album, Take the Crown, released in late 2012. Produced by Williams alongside Jacknife Lee (Snow Patrol, R.E.M., Bloc Party), the record saw him return to the eclectic pop sound of his earlier work, with a trailer single ("Candy") written by Williams and Barlow. The track reached number one across Europe, including the U.K., as did the album, which was certified platinum.

For his next release, Williams worked with Chambers again on his second swing album, Swings Both Ways, which comprised a mix of standards and originals. Released in late 2013, it featured a variety of guests including Lily Allen, Olly Murs, Rufus Wainwright, Kelly Clarkson, and Michael Bublé. Williams spent the next few years relatively quietly, settling into family life with his wife, Ayda Field, and their two children, and releasing only an odds-and-sods collection (Under the Radar, Vol. 1) in late 2014. He returned to the pop realm in late 2016 with the release of his 11th LP, The Heavy Entertainment Show, which featured production by Chambers and Richard Flack, as well as songwriting contributions from the likes of the Killers, Stuart Price, and Rufus Wainwright. Entertainment became his 12th U.K. chart-topper, making him the most successful U.K. solo act in chart history upon its release.

In the summer of 2018, Williams performed at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony, issuing Under the Radar, Vol. 2 a month later. He also joined the judges' panel for the 15th season of the U.K. X Factor. A third entry to his non-album compilation series Under the Radar arrived in early 2019. His 12th effort arrived later that year. The Christmas Present found Williams in fine form, tackling holiday classics like "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and "Santa Baby" on disc one (titled "Christmas Past") and offering newly penned additions to the Christmas canon with material such as "Let's Not Go Shopping," "Rudolph," and "Christmas Future." On this release, Williams was joined by friends Jamie Cullum, Helene Fischer, Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, and more. It saw him hit the top of the U.K. album chart for the 13th time, a feat only previously matched by Elvis Presley.

After a low-key couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic, it emerged in early 2022 that Williams had been working alongside producers Tim Metcalfe and Flynn Francis to create bubbling, electronic trance material. Naming themselves Lufthaus, the trio released their debut single, "Sway," that February and followed it with "To the Light" in April. In June, Williams released a new version of "Angels," the first fruit of an album called XXV that offered re-recorded, orchestrated renditions of his career highlights in collaboration with Chambers, Steve Sidwell, Jules Buckley, and the Metropole Orkest. That October, Lufthaus issued their first effort, Visions Volume 1”.

On 13th February, Robbie Williams turns fifty. I am sure he has big plans himself. Various radio stations will mark it in their own way. I His solo debut, 1997’s Life Thru a Lens and 1998’s I’ve Been Expecting You are albums that I really love. I have followed his career since then. Never an artist to repeat himself, Williams has covered a number of genres and musical styles. Injecting each with his distinct personality and music voice. One of the Pop greats, I am ending this feature with a complete playlist of his best work together with…

SOME lesser-played tracks well worth a listen.

FEATURE: You’ve Got to See Her: Blondie’s No Exit at Twenty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

You’ve Got to See Her

Blondie’s No Exit at Twenty-Five

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ONE of the more underrated albums…

by the legendary Blondie, No Exit was released on 15th February, 1999. I wanted to mark twenty-five years of a very important release. It was the band’s first album since 1982’s The Hunter. I can appreciate that there might have been some expecting Blondie to be at their very best in 1999. Maybe coming back with an album to rival their 1970s peak. The band’s latest album, 2017’s Pollinator, was better reviewed and received. Even so, one cannot underestimate the importance of 1999’s No Exit. I was in my final year of high school and vividly remember getting the album’s lead single, Maria. That came out in January 1999. That song got to number one. It was a huge success. Genuinely one of their best songs ever. Classic Blondie! If there are few moments across No Exit to rival that, I do think that their seventh studio album is underrated and worthy of new consideration ahead of its twenty-fifth anniversary. I am going to bring in a couple of reviews for this album. As it is a big anniversary, one would hope that a few of the songs from No Exit – such as Maria and Nothing Is Real But the Girl – are played on the radio. I have fond memories of buying the album. Having listened to Blondie growing up, it was thrilling knowing they were putting out new material. I believe they are in the studio at the moment working on another album.

Led by the super-cool and iconic Debbie Harry, No Exit reached three in the U.K. and eighteen in the U.S. I am going to start out by bringing in an article from Ultimate Classic Rock from 2014. Marking fifteen years of No Exit, I wonder how many people around in 1999 could predict new Blondie music. Their only album from the 1990s, happily they have put out a lot of material since then. A band that has undergone change but remained passionate and a live fixture:

“Unlike a lot of the era's defunct acts, Blondie never really left the public consciousness, in part because singer Deborah Harry managed to carve out a fairly successful solo career while scoring parts in a series of films. But more importantly, the band's influence – and Harry's in particular – grew exponentially in the years after their breakup, with a burgeoning group of image-conscious pop and rock acts (including Madonna and No Doubt) blending pop, rock, and New Wave in similarly savvy fashion.

"In a way, we never really finished our mission," Harry told the Associated Press in 2012. "But I think getting back together and writing new music was a really good thing for us."

Before they could reach that point, however, Blondie's former members had to find their way back together. It was a particularly messy proposition, considering that the band was not only responsible for forging musical partnerships, but the long romantic relationship between Harry and guitarist Chris Stein, which ended in 1989. While Harry and Stein continued to work together, with Stein contributing to all of Harry's solo records, things were a little more complicated when it came to some of the other ex-Blondies.

In 1997, the original Blondie lineup reconvened for a series of live dates, provoking a lawsuit from former members Nigel Harrison and Frank Infante, who'd been present for the band's best-selling albums. While they weren't able to prevent the reunion, Harrison and Infante did succeed in earning lasting wrath from Harry, who later told the AP, "There was no excuse for them suing us. That ended it."

By the end of the year, original bassist Gary Valentine was out of the band again, and Blondie returned to the studio as a four-piece, with Harry and Stein joined by drummer Clem Burke and keyboard player Jimmy Destri. The fruits of the band's labor, dubbed No Exit, were released Feb. 23, 1999. They hadn't released a note of new music since 1982's underwhelming The Hunter, but fans welcomed them back with open arms, sending the record to No. 18 on the U.S. Billboard chart – and No. 3 in the U.K. For the band members, it added a note of redemption to a story that once seemed destined to end with acrimony.

"Close personal relationships are hard," Harry said in a 2003 interview with Uncut. "We get along a lot better now, and Chris is my favorite person in the world and I adore him. Back then ... I think we exploded and imploded simultaneously somehow. It was a very dark period for us. We wound up with no record contract, no manager, and we all had tax problems up the wazoo. It was just this big morass of serious, very adult problems. All of a sudden we were standing there legless."

"It was a madhouse," she recalled of the group's early-'80s split during a 1993 interview with Q. "We didn't take any vacations and that was the big mistake. Whenever we read bad reviews, we'd have these tremendous fist fights and everybody would be really freaked out and pissed off with everybody else for being jerks. It was like punching up your brothers, a family feud thing."

Feuding behind them, Blondie re-emerged triumphant with No Exit, scoring a worldwide hit with the record's first single, "Maria," and returning to the road for a lengthy comeback tour that kicked off an era of renewed creative vitality for the band. They followed No Exit with The Curse of Blondie in 2003, and continued to record and tour.

"We’re part of the future as well as the past," Harry pointed out in 2013. "Making new music is really, really important for me and for the rest of the band. When we first got back together in 1997, one of the stipulations I had was that it not be just a revue of Blondie’s greatest hits. I really felt convinced of and dedicated to the idea that we had to move ahead and do new music".

This article from Bill Copeland Music News from 2009 shone light on an album that did not quite get the commercial success in the U.S. that it deserved. Whereas the music throughout No Exit is strong, poor marketing and the public misperceiving the album and where Blondie were stifled and watered down a terrific comeback:

“Listening to the CD now, I think if Blondie had done a better job staging their return, they would have enjoyed the best comeback in music history. A push with local music promoters in each major U.S. city as well as licensing for film and television could have given their new tracks a combination of guerrilla marketing as well as a national strategic presentation.

Blondie’s real problem was public perception. Being off the radar screen for several years left people thinking they were through. Once they reappeared, many assumed they had nothing new to offer.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. “No Exit” was a typical Blondie smorgasbord of genres and styles that worked for them in the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The title track is a driving, grooving rocker with a rap interlude between Deborah Harry and rapper Coolio. “Boom Boom In The Zoom Zoom Room” is a breezy jazzy piece that finds its sex appeal in a groove that insists on taking its time. Ballad “Maria” oozes sweetness and “Happy Dog” dances around rocking guitars while Harry pouts a sexual come on. “Screaming Skin” opens the disc with blistering guitars cascading around a hard rock beat.

Harry’s voice was then at its rangiest and richest, probably from time spent pursuing a side career as a jazz vocalist.

Yet, in 1999, radio turned a deaf ear to Blondie, and the public never got a fair taste of “No Exit.” And it’s too bad, since they still tour—usually as part of a package with other 80s band, and their old songs are still on radio and are still featured on television and in movies. “Dreaming” marks the moment when the two title characters in “Zack And Miri Make A Porno” realize they’ve been in love with each other for ten years. With such a solid grounding as catalogue artists, it is hard to listen to their CD from 1999 without a haunted feeling for what might have been.

An exhaustive review of “No Exit” reveals at least one person’s opinion of what Blondie had to offer the music world ten years ago.

“Screaming Skin” opens with Harry in top vocal form. Her silky and dynamic voice hits all the right cadences and her inflected timbre sets the eerie tone for this guitar driven rave up.

A wash of synth and electronic enhancement of primitive percussive beats pulls us into “Forgive And Forget,” a danceable pop rock number caressed by Harry’s high seductive range.

“Maria,” a throwback to Blonde’s original sound, succeeds with Harry’s aloof, casual approach the right topping for poppy keys. “Maria” hit number 1 on the U.K. music charts but stalled out at 82 in the U.S. Billboard charts. Harry was the first female singer in British history to achieve a number 1 hit 20 years after her first single hit number 1 there. Do the Brits know something that we Yanks don’t? Maybe so. “Maria” hit number 1 in 13 other countries as well.

Title track “No Exit” opens with an odd twist on Johan Sebastian Bach’s creepy organ melody before Harry jumps in with attitude and aggression. Guitars and keys drive this rap rock number while Harry and rapper Coolio battle it out in a contest of cool in this oddly appealing tune about a friend contemplating suicide. I cannot believe a film producer hasn’t plugged this number into the soundtrack for a dark, artsy, meaning of life film.

“Double Take” utilizes lush synthesizers, saxophones, and an embracing rhythm section to recreate more of Blondie’s 80s style. “Nothing Is Real But The Girl” continues Blondie’s earlier sound. A driving rhythm section, pulsating keyboards, and aggressive guitar reveal Blondie’s roots in pop and disco. Pulling back into their new sound with “Boom Boom In The Zoom Zoom Room,” Harry showcases her cool, jazzy approach as she waltzes over this bopping, breezy tune that breathes sensuality into the grooves. Drums and bass are so palpable here I can picture Clem Burke’s sticks hitting skins and Leigh Foxx’s fingers plucking knobby strings.

The CD does loose some steam near the end. “Night Wind Sent,” a low-key graceful glide relying on dynamics for lift, kisses the ear as it passes imperceptibly by. “Under The Gun” offers a danceable percussion track but doesn’t really go anywhere despite Harry’s dynamic voice. “Out In The Streets” brings the energy level back up a notch, yet, it’s another filler tune that goes nowhere even though, again, Harry’s voice is in fine form.

“Happy Dog” becomes the life of the party and more than saves this CD from the eject button. Bluesy slide notes and blistering guitar grab like a mugger and entertain like a stripper. Drummer Burke whips up a backbeat to motivate the feet and guitarist Stein cranks out enough crunchy chords and grinding phrases to build a perfect dramatic arc.

“The Dreams Lost On Me,” with its pseudo roots feel of banjo, accordion, and fiddle, is a nifty and likeable addition even though Blondie will never convince anyone they’re a deeply into old Americana music. “Devine” brings us back to Blondie’s penchant for inspired creativity. A keyboard driven circular melody gives this pop rock song its catchy interval of notes while a second keyboard fills in spaces with washy sounds. Together with Harry’s voice this song tickles the ear as only Blondie can.

Blondie’s grand finale “Dig Up The Conjo” makes for one of the CDs most memorable tunes. A hypnotic dance beat anchors a swirl of keyboards from Jimmy Destri that never let go. Bouncy guitars and bass fill in the background and keeps the ear glued to the music.

With an album this good, it’s hard to understand how Blondie failed to return to the top. Many of their 1980s peers staged comebacks with out releasing any new music. Others made it with mediocre packages. Blondie needed a combination of high road and low road marketing. Film and television licensing would have overcome the blockade caused by classic rock radio stations not playing new material from classic rock artists. Local press in major cities could have given Blondie an anchor with the taste-mongers/culture vulture types”.

There are other positive reviews like this one that show Blondie lost little of their step. After the disappointing The Hunter of 1982, Blondie found a new gear and spark for No Exit. Ending the 1990s with a terrific album, I think it still sounds great now. Ahead of the twenty-fifth anniversary of No Exit on 15th February, I wanted to spend some time with an underrated album from a legendary band. People really need to give No Exit…

ANOTHER listen.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: D’Angelo at Fifty: The Essential Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

PHOTO CREDIT: Gregory Harris for GQ

D’Angelo at Fifty: The Essential Playlist

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AN important music birthday is coming up…

so I thought it only right to mark that with a playlist. The artist in question is D’Angelo. Michael Eugene Archer was born on 11th February, 1974 in Virginia. One of the music world’s most talented and astonishing artists, he released the phenomenal debut, Brown Sugar, in 1995. His latest album, his third, was released in 2014. Black Messiah was under the name of D’Angelo and The Vanguard. Three faultless albums, I wonder if we will get a fourth at any point. In any case, across these three albums alone, D’Angelo has established himself as a legend. I am going to end this feature with a playlist of his best cuts. A mixture of well-known songs and deeper cuts, it is the ultimate guide to the acclaimed and highly successful artist. Before getting to the playlist, AllMusic provide a detailed biography of the legend:

“D'Angelo established himself as an unwitting founder and leading light of the late-'90s neo-soul movement, which aimed to bring the organic flavor of classic R&B back to the hip-hop age. Modeling himself on the likes of Marvin Gaye, Prince, Curtis Mayfield, and Al Green, D'Angelo exhibited his inspirations not only with his vocal style -- albeit with a stoned yet emotive twist all his own -- but also wrote his own material, and frequently produced it, helping to revive the concept of the all-purpose R&B auteur. His first album, Brown Sugar (1995), gradually earned him an audience so devoted that the looser and rhythmically richer follow-up, Voodoo (2000), debuted at number one despite a gap of almost five years, and won that year's Grammy for Best R&B Album. A wait of nearly three times that length preceded the release of the bristlier Black Messiah (2014), a Top Five hit that made D'Angelo a two-time Best R&B Album winner. The musician since then has released "Unshaken," recorded for the soundtrack of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018).

The son of a Pentecostal minister, Michael D'Angelo Archer was born February 11, 1974, in Richmond, Virginia. He began teaching himself piano as a young child, and at age 18 won the amateur talent competition at Harlem's Apollo Theater three consecutive weeks. He was briefly a member of a hip-hop group called I.D.U. and in 1991 signed a publishing deal with EMI. His first major success came in 1994 as the co-writer and co-producer of the Jason's Lyric soundtrack single "U Will Know," a Top Five R&B hit featuring a one-time all-star R&B aggregate dubbed B.M.U. (Black Men United). That led to the July 1995 release of Brown Sugar, D'Angelo's debut album. Across the next several months, the Top Ten of the R&B chart made room for three of its singles: the title track, written and produced with A Tribe Called Quest's Ali Shaheed Muhammad; a self-produced cover of Smokey Robinson and Marvin Tarplin's "Cruisin'"; and "Lady," made with Tony! Toni! Toné!'s Raphael Saadiq. In the process, Brown Sugar caught on with R&B fans looking for an alternative to the slicker mechanized sounds dominating the urban contemporary landscape, and went platinum. In October 1996, the majority of a September 1995 performance -- featuring another major studio collaborator, Angie Stone, on background vocals -- was released in Japan as Live at the Jazz Cafe, London.

Between proper LPs, D'Angelo took some time off and split acrimoniously with his management. Meanwhile, neo-soul, a marketing term coined by industry executive Kedar Massenburg, caught on as a legitimate subgenre with the success of like-minded artists such as Maxwell and Erykah Badu. D'Angelo surfaced on a handful of soundtracks, primarily via cover versions, contemporizing Eddie Kendricks' "Girl You Need a Change of Mind" (Get on the Bus), Prince's "She's Always in My Hair" (Scream 2), Ohio Players' "Heaven Must Be Like This" (Down in the Delta), and Ashford & Simpson's "Your Precious Love" (a duet with Badu, for High School High). He placed a DJ Premier-produced original, "Devil's Pie," on the soundtrack for Belly, and joined Lauryn Hill on "Nothing Even Matters," a cut off the Grammy-winning The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

fter all that intermittent activity and a series of delays, D'Angelo made his full return in January 2000 with the looser and more jam-oriented Voodoo. Affirming the devotion and size of D'Angelo's following, the album debuted at number one. A highly collaborative and freewheeling recording, it was created at the same time as Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun and Common's Like Water for Chocolate, and involved much of the same personnel, some of whom -- including Badu, Common, ?uestlove, J Dilla, Q-Tip, James Poyser, and D'Angelo himself -- were dubbed the Soulquarians. The drifting falsetto ballad "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" narrowly missed the top of the R&B chart and won a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal. Voodoo likewise won for Best R&B Album. Throughout the remainder of the 2000s, D'Angelo made only a handful of recorded guest appearances. Most notably, he took part in a version of Fela Kuti's "Water No Get Enemy," recorded for the Red Hot + Riot compilation. Raphael Saadiq's "Be Here" and Snoop Dogg's "Imagine" were events by virtue of the artist's mere presence, while two versions of the Dilla production "So Far to Go" -- first heard on Dilla's posthumous The Shining, then reworked for Common's Finding Forever -- also reunited him with Soulquarians.

D'Angelo's long-awaited third album, said to be titled James River, was originally due in 2009 but did not materialize. In January 2013, Billboard asked ?uestlove about the status of the recording, and was told that "99% of it is done." Around this time, D'Angelo was performing more often, including European club dates and scattered festival appearances. In March 2014, Live at the Jazz Cafe, London, expanded and reissued internationally through Virgin, served as stopgap product once more. During the second week of that December, cryptic posts on various social media platforms announced "Black Messiah is coming." One of the earliest warnings came from journalist, author, and filmmaker Nelson George, who had recently featured D'Angelo for his Finding the Funk documentary and conversed with the musician for a public conversation facilitated by Red Bull Music Academy. On the evening of the 14th, George hosted an exclusive listening party for Black Messiah, an album credited to D'Angelo and his backing band, a mix of old and new associates dubbed the Vanguard. The LP was released the following day on RCA. More adventurous and outward looking than what preceded it, Black Messiah entered the Billboard 200 at number five and won the following year's Grammy for Best R&B Album, while lead single "Really Love" took Best R&B Song. D'Angelo toured briefly and wasn't heard from again until the October 2018 release of the video game Red Dead Redemption 2. Along with Daniel Lanois and Rocco DeLuca, he provided "Unshaken" for the game's soundtrack. The song was available commercially on its own the following January”.

Looking ahead to D’Angelo’s fiftieth birthday on 11th February and it makes me realise how there are few like him in music. Even though he has influenced other artists, there is something about D’Angelo that is hard to replicate. Any news of new material would be hugely welcomed! To celebrate his importance and brilliant work, the playlist below is an assortment of D’Angelo gems and some intriguing deeper cuts. All of these songs show that D’Angelo is…

ONE of the greats.

FEATURE: ‘24/7: The Ongoing Issue of Misogyny and Inequality in Music

FEATURE:

 

 

‘24/7

PHOTO CREDIT: Карина Каржавина/Pexels

The Ongoing Issue of Misogyny and Inequality in Music

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THIS may sound like me…

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

covering something I have written about a lot. You would be right though, as it concerns something very serious, it is worth repeating. There is no doubt that the music industry has always had an issue with misogyny and sexism. This leads to inequality and huge issues It is not only the music industry. Hollywood and the acting industry too. From notable omissions during the Oscar nominations through to the pay gap between men and women, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. With men still holding most of the executive positions – and welding the most power and influence still -, we are always going to see slow progress. Rather than something quick and long-lasting. In terms of music, there are hints of light and progress in various corners. Even if the BRIT Awards finally included more women and tipped the balance in favour of them – it took complaints and women pointing out the imbalance to get their act together, rather than them realising that something needed to be done! -, certain categories had one or no female nominees. When it comes to the band market and genres like Rock and Hip-Hop, women are vastly under-representation and lacking. It makes us ask questions about the industry and areas where women are struggling to get noticed. Not enough done to foster their talent. With every seeming move forward in one area, there is stagnation or a move back in another. Frustrating to see the industry not doing as much as it should. Before moving onto a couple of news pieces/interviews that caught my eye, it is worth noting that award ceremonies like the BRITs making long-overdue changes hopefully will lead to changes regarding festival line-ups.

Still, with women dominating music, this is not being reflected in terms of festival line-ups! Big festivals like Reading & Leeds choosing very few female headliners; other ones relying on tired and samey legacy male acts to headline rather than expanding shows a real lack of respect for women. I know there are festivals that have a balanced bill and are making change. Glastonbury are expected to both have two female headliners this year - and, one hopes, have at least a fifty-fifty balance across the rest of the line-up. In the past decade – or, let’s say, ten festivals – Glastonbury has had only five female headliners. One of them, Florence + The Machine, was a replacement for Foo Fighters. With two this year, that only means seven in the past eleven years. Not even a third of the headliners being women! Compare it to the twenty-eight male headline acts and you can see how women are viewed. Glastonbury has never had more than one female headliner in a year (I mean the three acts who play the Pyramid Stage and not the Legends slot). Women not headline-worthy? This is rubbish! One only needs to look around the music scene from the past decade to see all the amazing queens who were worthy of headliners! Rather than there being genuine and good excuses – women not available or there being conflicts of schedule -, the fact is they are not being asked at all. A recent feature from God Is in the TV highlights the fact that many festivals are recycling male acts and not taking chances on female artists. Those who would be perfect and refreshing headliners. It makes for depressing and sadly predictable reading:

“Look at some of the recently announced festival line-ups coming out of the UK right now, taking extra notice of the mid-level festivals such as Y Not, Kendal Calling, Isle Of Wight, and Tramlines. Now take another look at them, this time without paying attention to which is which – can you distinguish between them? Probably not. Why is this? Well, it’s easy to see why. They all have the same headliners, or at least from the same pool. It feels like a discussion that gets bought up every year, and it seems to get more infuriating with every year that passes. Why are festivals in the UK so scared to diversify their line-ups?

Although achieving a more gender-diverse split would be nice, it is not just about gender. Festivals should strive to attain gender-diverse line-ups, and this can be made possible by following the PRS’ KeyChange movement that aims to increase gender balance in the music industry. What is important is for people to feel inspired when they look at these line-ups. However, can festivals achieve this when they are so focused on making their events a nostalgia trip? I don’t think so.

It’s disheartening to look at these line-ups to be greeted by a Gallagher brother – past his sell-by date and riding on the success of albums almost 10 years older than the average YNot Festival attendee (with the Derbyshire-based festival being quite widely known in the Midlands for being the one that teenagers go to post GCSEs) with most throwing in The Kooks, who haven’t had a relevant release since 2006, and, more often than not, The Vaccines, who peaked with their 2011 debut, for good measure. But, why is this the way forward for most of these mid-level festivals?

The answer lies with lad culture. Festivals are almost certain to make more money from nostalgia acts, as these are the crowd that they attract. Festivals look to the one-time-a-year festival goer and accommodate them, knowing that these people will rock up with their cans of Strongbow Dark Fruits, flares in one hand, bucket hats in the other, and they will do so with a large group of mates that will spend hundreds of pounds on the bar, ultimately resulting in more profit for the promoters involved.

 But if this is what is believed to be the ‘way forward’, then who will be headlining these festivals in five years time? Who will be there to sell the tickets if festivals today aren’t helping to promote the next big thing? Here is where festivals like Truck Festival, Deer Shed, and Bearded Theory excel – as they often break away from the norm and offer new, not-seen-before headliners a chance to show attendees what they’ve got. This year’s Truck Festival sees Isle of Wight sensations Wet Leg step up to the challenge, receiving their first major headline slot, marking their festival season comeback off the success of their self-titled debut album, not only doing something different, but something exciting too.

Festivals need to diversify their headliners by inviting new acts to fill the stage. It may be more of a risk for them financially, it may result in a change of demographic, but it will inspire more festivals to take the same risk. If festivals want to have a crowd that is more representative of the population, they need to pay attention to the full-time gig-goers who are continuously pushing new artists to the forefront, it’s time to give the Wolf Alices, the Fontaines D.Cs, the Young Fathers and the Amyl & The Sniffers of the industry a chance to prove themselves. It’s the only way to save the industry from caving in on itself”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Rahul Pandit/Pexels

If there is some progress happening at some festivals, award ceremonies and areas of the industry, it still is eclipsed by the huge gulfs and sexism that remains elsewhere. One hopes that festivals yet to announce their bills do better. This constant lack of respect for women. Insulting their talent and potential. An industry that needs to address its misogyny and bias against women is not doing enough. Very few male allies and those in positions of power doing enough to confront a continuing issue. It is not only inequality that continues to rear its head. Attitudes towards women. Misogyny and abuse that keeps making the news. I was reading an interview from The Guardian. They spoke with Nadine Shah recently (her album, Filthy Underneath, is out next month). Rather than there being particular and recent occasions where Nadine Shah has been affected by sexism and misogyny, mentions of her past work that addressed these subjects made me think how many other women in the industry have faced similar things. Many women have struggled with their mental health and addiction issues. Whilst it can feel stigmatising for all genders, one feels there is this judgment against women. The way they are portrayed in the press. Shah speaks about and has addressed the gender pay gap. How music journalism is dwindling (many female voices being taken away). How few women have spoken about their experiences with rehab. I wonder if there is still this attitude towards women when it comes to personal struggles and addiction. If they are scandalised and hounded rather than supported:

“She is writing a memoir about her time in rehab because there are so few accounts of it by women. “I was ashamed about being there,” she says. “There was shame in being a woman who was an addict, whereas male musicians might have been revered for it. One of the reasons we can’t get many women into recovery is because of the stigma.” I mention Amy Winehouse; Shah was briefly friends with her. “She was ridiculed so awfully,” says Shah, but “she was an unwell person”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Suki Dhanda/The Guardian

Shah is a singular force in British rock, as funny and charismatic in person as she is on stage and in song. The Tyneside songwriter’s atmospheric, tragicomedic post-punk songs tackle tough themes with an acid tongue, and find absurdity in bleakness: her 2017 Mercury prize-nominated album Holiday Destination had songs about the Syrian refugee crisis and Islamophobia. The follow-up, Kitchen Sink, sent up the sexism she has experienced as a woman in her 30s, and depicted men selecting mistresses as if they were livestock.

After her debut album, 2013’s Love Your Dum and Mad, written after the deaths of two former boyfriends, Shah became an ambassador for the mental health charity Calm; she has called out issues such as the music industry’s gender pay gap, the unfairness of the streaming economy for musicians, or the “racist bullshit” she’s faced because of her Muslim surname (her father is of Pakistani heritage). Now, drinking tea in a London bar, she is self-effacing: “I think a lot of people found me righteous before, like: ‘If she’s not talking about how we should save refugees, now she wants to fix streaming. And here she goes again.’”

There has been quite a lot written this year already that has sparked anger. Pitchfork being incorporated into GQ means that the industry will lose some incredible female journalists. With there still being imbalance and issues when it comes to highlighting female voices, it seems like another body blow. Women like Nadine Shah speaking about their experiences with sexism through the years. How there are nerves and reluctant to speak personally and open through, perhaps, a fear of being judged or subjected to tabloid-style scandalisation. Hoe progressive is the music industry?! Certainly, a lot more so than the 1990s I feel. Even so, at a time when there should at the very least be equality across the board and a lot of respect given to all women, we seem to miles away from that! Still, this male bias exists. It extends beyond everything covered so far. Many women have been subjected to online harassment, sexual harassment and abuse. This is another stain and huge problem that is not going away. The last thing I want to mention is a recent case of deepfake technology being used to produce pornography featuring Taylor Swift. I have seen so many reactions online – mainly from men – making light of it. Saying it is a bit of fun. Even worse, seemingly getting off on it! It shows that there is still such a debasing attitude towards women.

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

Horrific indignity and disgust is greeted with acceptance and cheer by many! The Guardian explained what is currently happening. Even some of the most powerful women in music are being abused and degraded. Showing how women are still valued because of their bodies rather than their talent and minds. A vile and disturbing case of degradation that adds yet more toxicity to the music industry. Like I said: with every step forward, there seems to be a bigger step back:

“The rapid online spread of deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift has renewed calls, including from US politicians, to criminalise the practice, in which artificial intelligence is used to synthesise fake but convincing explicit imagery.

The images of the US popstar have been distributed across social media and seen by millions this week. Previously distributed on the app Telegram, one of the images of Swift hosted on X was seen 47m times before it was removed.

X said in a statement: “Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them.”

Yvette D Clarke, a Democratic congresswoman for New York, wrote on X: “What’s happened to Taylor Swift is nothing new. For yrs, women have been targets of deepfakes [without] their consent. And [with] advancements in AI, creating deepfakes is easier & cheaper. This is an issue both sides of the aisle & even Swifties should be able to come together to solve.”

Some individual US states have their own legislation against deepfakes, but there is a growing push for a change to federal law.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Zurga/AP

In May 2023, Democratic congressman Joseph Morelle unveiled the proposed Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act, which would make it illegal to share deepfake pornography without consent. Morelle said the images and videos “can cause irrevocable emotional, financial, and reputational harm – and unfortunately, women are disproportionately impacted.”

In a tweet condemning the Swift images, he described them as “sexual exploitation”. His proposed legislation has not yet become law.

Republican congressman Tom Kean Jr said: “It is clear that AI technology is advancing faster than the necessary guardrails. Whether the victim is Taylor Swift or any young person across our country, we need to establish safeguards to combat this alarming trend.” He has co-sponsored Morelle’s bill, and introduced his own AI Labeling Act that would require all AI-generated content (including more innocuous chatbots used in customer service settings, for example) to be labelled as such.

Swift has not spoken publicly about the images. Her US publicist had not replied to a request for comment as of publication time”.

In a larger sense, it makes me wonder whether we will see any real progress in the music industry. I know there are developments happening. Influential women being commended and highlights. Some festivals doing better regarding their line-ups. Some radio stations working towards a balanced playlist. People, the vast majority women, calling out sexual abuse and the toxic side of the industry. Sexism and misogyny is still rife. If attitudes towards women are not as regressive as they were years ago, things have not come as far as they should. With every story about inequality, discrimination, ignorance or misogyny, it makes me wonder whether there is this unmoving perception of women. If their music is being celebrated and spotlighted, why does this not result in greater visibility, opportunities and respect?! Maybe it is the fact that men have too much of the influence still. Too few male artists and those in the industry speaking up and out. This year should have been one where we saw improvement. If a minor success story at the BRITs has patched over one hole, there are other (stories) that take us into a dark place. Women need to be championed more. They deserve more opportunities than they get! They deserve fewer/no barriers in their way. Not only do venues and spaces need to be safer for women. The online world does too. Perceptions around women, in so many ways, seem to be stuck in the past. Unwilling to move and evolve. It is sad and hugely angering to see. Progress and correction needs to happen. It needs to happen…

PHOTO CREDIT: Dominika Roseclay

MUCH faster than it has been!

FEATURE: Gold Soundz: Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

Gold Soundz

Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain at Thirty

_________

MAYBE not ranked…

IN THIS PHOTO: Pavement in 1994

alongside the best albums of the 1990s, I think that Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain should be! The fact that it came out in 1994 – the best year ever for music – meant that other albums got credit and more attention. The fact is that the band’s second studio album is a classic. Released on 14th February, 1994, I wanted to mark the approaching thirtieth anniversary of a huge album that everyone should hear. Led by songwriter Stephen Malkmus, this album was a minor commercial success upon its release. Perhaps resonating more with critics than the public, in the years since its release, many more people have connected with the awesome Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. You can read fascinating features and insights into the album here. You can also pick up a copy here. I wondered whether there would be a thirtieth anniversary reissue. So that it can be made available on different coloured vinyl or cassette. I will come to some reviews for this album at the end. In 2014, Stereogum published an oral history of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. It is amazing to imagine why this stunning album did not fare better in the album charts:

“For Pavement, already an underground sensation thanks to 1992 debut Slanted And Enchanted, this album marked a massive leap in terms of fidelity and style. Sonically, they traded the static-laden home recordings of their early days for studio work with outside engineers. Crooked Rain was hardly a polished record, but it sounded bright and clear compared to what came before it. Stephen Malkmus’ lyrics continued to be an inscrutable collage of scattered phraseology, ironic commentary on the music industry, and inside jokes interspersed with brief glimpses of relatable human sentiment; in the single “Gold Soundz,” the apparently soul-baring lyric “So drunk in the August sun/ And you’re the kind of girl I like/ Because you’re empty, and I’m empty” exists alongside nonsensical banter like “Did you remember in December/ That I won’t eat you when I’m gone.” But Pavement’s music underwent a substantial makeover on Crooked Rain. The band largely left behind the post-punk framework of Slanted in favor of an easygoing classic rock influence, establishing a template they’d work from for the rest of their storied career.

Although Crooked Rain never climbed above #121 on the U.S. album chart, it was by far the most visible release yet for the young New York label Matador Records, generating radio and MTV airplay for a scene that existed almost completely underground. That’s partially because it boasted the most accessible music to ever emerge from that scene. The songs bursted with undeniable melodies couched in off-kilter delivery, be they vocal hooks tweaked by squawks and whimpers or effortlessly slinky guitar leads that shined and careened like casually waved sparklers. The chorus from lead single “Cut Your Hair” is indicative, pasting the album’s most indelible melody into wordless falsetto mewling. It sounded unlike much of the leading alternative radio staples of the day, but it did reference some of them by name when Malkmus playfully dissed Stone Temple Pilots and the Smashing Pumpkins in the closing bars of the country-tinged “Range Life.” The album-closing guitar epic “Fillmore Jive” declares the end of the rock and roll era and ends on an unfinished sentence.

Such exploits didn’t rocket Pavement to the forefront of the commercial alternative explosion that dominated the early ’90s in the wake of Nirvana; a year after Crooked Rain’s release, the band was pelted with rocks and mud at Lollapalooza’s West Virginia tour stop and had to end its set early. But the album did (ahem) cement Pavement’s fervent fan base, a cult that grew steadily until their breakup at the end of the ’90s and blossomed exponentially in the 2000s when bands and critics alike began rampantly name-checking the group as a formative power in the underground. Furthermore, Crooked Rain paved the way for Matador’s rise into a fertile middle ground between the mainstream and the underground and, in a larger sense, guitar-based indie rock’s evolution into a commercial force in the new millennium. It’s hard to imagine bands as disparate as Fleet Foxes, Arcade Fire, and the Shins ascending to legitimate rock stardom without Crooked Rain laying the groundwork a decade earlier — firstly by unapologetically blending punk and classic rock influences, secondly by nudging the cloistered indie underground out into the mainstream spotlight without making the leap to a major.

Its place in music history aside, Crooked Rain remains an incredible collection of songs, a document of a singular band at the peak of its powers confidently carving out new territory. The music feels effervescent and alive in a way that belies the disjointed way the record was assembled. The lyrics stick with you, even the ones that read like complete nonsense. It is an unforgettable album and one well worth remembering. So today, with the assistance of the members of Pavement and other key figures in the record’s creation, we do just that. Below, those closest to the action tell the story of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain”.

As a slight detour, I want to source from 2019. Billboard collated recollections and testimony from artists about how Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain impacted them. What their experiences were discovering this album. If songs like Cut Your Hair are played more than any from the album, there is a richness and consistency throughout that makes it an incredibly solid and compelling listen – one that will grab you from start to finish:

“I didn’t really have a lot of access to music, because my parents don’t really listen to music that much, and I grew up not being able to watch TV or use the computer except on the weekends (laughs). So I didn’t have MTV nor did I know how to download stuff off the Internet. It wasn’t until my freshman year of high school that I acquired a group of friends who would burn CDs for me. And I had a friend burn Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain for me, and I would play it all the time on my Discman. “Range Life” is a big favorite on the album, because going on tour with Potty Mouth the song really resonates with me. The idea of “I want a range life if I could settle down” — always going out on the road and never really having a stable life. I identify with that sentiment very strongly. – Abby Weems, Potty Mouth

I was in junior high school and deep into radio grunge played on Atlanta’s 99X when my older brother purchased Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. I’d heard him play Slanted and Enchanted a few times on our hour commute to school but was lured in by CR‘s higher fidelity, the “Cut Your Hair” single, and the Smashing Pumpkins / Stone Temple Pilots commentary. It seemed like “Cut Your Hair” could have been on mainstream radio. It was more or less the first time I can remember describing someone as “indie-rock” to my friends. Most of my buds were into jam bands and when Phish later covered “Gold Sounds” I felt redeemed. Jams aplenty on CR, particularly the “Stop Breathin'” outro jam and “5-4= Unity” in particular being favorites for me. But I was definitely most interested in the lyrics and how a “career” could seamlessly morph into a “Korea” or how “if I could settle down, then I would settle down.” It seemed like the more Stephen repeated a word or phrase, the more dimension it accumulated. CR has great one-liners like “there’s one thing I’ll never forget, hey you gotta pay the dues before you pay the rent” or “no one serves coffee, no one wakes up,” but it also has lyrics I’ve misconstrued for years. I used to think “Unfair” said, “walk with a credit card in the air, swinging nunchucks like you just don’t care” which I later refined to “slinging nachos like you just don’t care” before realizing that it was officially “swing your nose like you just don’t care.” But that’s what made it all so great. It all somehow simultaneously mattered a lot and didn’t matter at all, it was playful, fun, and without enough reverence to be irreverent. It wasn’t angsty because nothing seemed worthy of getting angsty about. It was just cool. – Parker Gispert

I don’t think me or Curtis actually like Pavement. I had this experience with the lead singer I thought was funny. The first time I saw him was my first day working at a BBQ restaurant in Texas. I was flustered and didn’t know what I was doing. He was very polite. The next time I saw him I told him about it and he was very polite again. Then I saw him when I was drunk a few months later and accidentally told him the story again. This time he seemed less into the conversation. I realized that I had already told him about it before. But now I feel like I have to say this story every time I see him. I told him for the third time at a show for Matador. We haven’t run into each other for years but an ex of mine said she saw him at some festival and he said “you have that annoying boyfriend right?” And she said “not anymore.” – Coomers, Harlem

I am old enough that I remember when “Cut Your Hair” was a hit on the radio, and young enough that I have yet to see a Pavement show. I remember, as a kid during the onset of some of the best indie rock, Pavement came across as fresh and obscure. Malkmus spoke with a simultaneous candor and nihilism that was really appealing to my young brain. Crooked Rain shows Pavement at their finest. Pop indie rock candy that could be chewed by the weirdos. That’s how it felt to me, and still does. I have never heard a song like “Range Life,” well, in my life. The melodies are their own, as well as the perfectly tight loose jangle of the band. “Stop Breathin” is a ballad that no one could write but Stephen Malkmus. Pavement is able to cleverly celebrate their influences through a unique sound that is their own. Bands will spend years trying to sound as nonchalantly beautiful as this album just IS. P.S. I saw Stephen Malkmus this past summer, and he was more boyish and lackadaisically perfect than ever! – Lilly Hiatt

Crooked Rain is my all time favorite Pavement record. In fact, “Range Life” is one of the few songs I’ve covered live. I got kicked out of my apartment in North Carolina because the owners wanted to sell the whole house. The song “Range Life” seemed to encapsulate that period for me, so I got onstage at the Mothlight in West Asheville and sang it to my heart’s content. It’s an oddly relatable and beautiful song for a band that seemed so content to throw a wrench in most pop structures. My friend Dom helped me rewrite the Smashing Pumpkins lyrics at the end to be about DIIV and Sky Ferreira and we got a good chuckle out of it. Also, “Stop Breathin’” is a perfect song. It’s rare to hear a U.S. Maple influence on a mainstream rock band. Anyway, Pavement rules. Malkmus rules. – Eric Slick, Dr. Dog”.

I want to end with some reviews. I will start out with Rolling Stone. They reviewed Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain when it arrived in 1994. It is clear that this album from the Californian band was very different from anything around them. Maybe a reason why it both resounded with some and maybe did not instantly connect with others:

“ROCK IS DEAD — long live rock. The Who introduced this contradictory sentiment 20 years ago, around the time of punk’s birth, and Pavement revive it for punk’s rebirth — and not a moment too soon — on their stunning new album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. While the Who smashed guitars and eardrums, Pavement smash preconceptions on Crooked Rain — about how an indie-rock band should sound, about whether “alternative music” is an alternative to anything — creating an album that’s darker and more beguiling than their heralded previous efforts.

Despite — or maybe because of — obvious lifts from Sonic Youth, the Fall and the Pixies on earlier releases, Pavement’s slacker sound, which buried primitive pop melodies under layers of pretty noise and lazy rhythms, made critics and the college-radio crowd swoon. On Crooked Rain, Pavement — vocalist-guitarist Stephen Malkmus, guitarist Spiral Stairs, bassist Mark Ibold, percussionist Bob Nastanovich and drummer Steve West — avoid the expected indie inclinations to noise, volume and lo-fi sound, replacing them with clearly ringing guitars and Bowieesque tinkling piano.

Crooked Rain’s clean production and insidiously catchy melodies hardly signify that Pavement have sold out — if anything, their vision is more warped and caustic than before. On such previous releases as Watery, Domestic; Slanted and Enchanted; and the numerous, hard-to-find vinyl EPs collected on Westing (By Musket and Sextant), the band’s lyrics seemed artily tossed off, resembling dada transmissions from another, more surreal dimension.

On Crooked Rain, though, Malkmus, the band’s principal songwriter, appears concerned with more earthly matters, in particular the rise of alternative music and the concurrent death of rock & roll: As “Newark Wilder” laments: “It’s a brand-new era/And it feels great/It’s a brand-new era/But it came too late.” On “Cut Your Hair,” Malkmus equates the recent popularity of alternative music to a trendy haircut, mocking Nirvana-be’s who “dance right down to the practice room/[To] get attention and fame,” reminding them that “songs mean a lot/When songs are bought/And so are you.” On “Range Life,” Malkmus gets specific in his vitriol, dropping vicious put-downs of his peers that would seem more at home in a hip-hop dis than in that song’s sweet, country-rock shuffle. He targets Smashing Pumpkins, claiming, “They don’t have no function/I don’t understand what they mean/And I could really give a fuck.” He also derides Stone Temple Pilots as “elegant bachelors,” adding that they “do absolutely nothing more to me.” Elsewhere, Malkmus’ lyrics are replete with drug references and desperate, mundane pleas, as in the chorus of “Stop Breathin'” (“Stop breathing for me now”) or this refrain from “Fillmore Jive”: “I need to sleep/Why won’t you let me sleep?”

Pavement’s contradictions come to a head in the album’s closer “Fillmore Jive,” which is seemingly inspired by the death of Bill Graham and rendered in an elegiac tone reminiscent of Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer” (and Don McLean’s “American Pie”). In “Fillmore,” Malkmus addresses various punks, rockers and the “dance faction,” bidding them to say “good night to the rock & roll era/’Cause they don’t need you anymore.” It’s ironic in itself that as Malkmus declares that rock is dead, he displays the sort of passion, skepticism and inventiveness that only offers proof of its ongoing vitality”.

Moving to 2014, where The Quietus gave their assessment of a magnificent album. One of the very best of the 1990s. They reviewed it twenty years after its release. Since then even, you can hear bands coming through that are distinctly influenced by Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. If you have not heard the album lately, then take some time out and experience it. You will not be disappointed:

“That joy’s in its buoyancy, its wide-open major cadences, the shimmering warmth Pavement slid into after Steve West took over drum duty from Gary Young. It’s in the sound that other publications describe as "classic rock". In the way that at the end of ‘Silence Kid’, you get Malkmus’ admission that he’s “screwing myself with my hand” – that brief fall into fucked-up defiance – and then a few seconds later, ‘Elevate Me Later’ kicks in and it’s back to exuberance. It’s in the way it splinters out like fireworks from the steaming, angry freak-out of ‘Unfair’, one of the few songs on the album in which the subject is disarmingly obvious:

We've got desert, we've got trees

We've got the hills of Beverly

Let's burn the hills of Beverly!

It’s how, within a breath, the band move from that release of rage towards their California homeland to the laid-back beauty of ‘Gold Soundz’, and pull you right along with it. It’s in the unexpected, sparkling jazz of ‘5-4 Unity’. And then, of course, it’s in the wonderful alchemy of loucheness and yearning in ‘Range Life’. It’s such a warm, loose song, an easygoing pisstake that famously damned the Smashing Pumpkins (Billy Corgan was offended, but Malkmus, of course, had just grabbed any old band or two from the air because they sounded right).

The album became a strange, shimmering tapestry of things to take seriously and things to mock; a combination of optimism, melancholy and smart slacker indifference that was a guiding philosophy for years. It probably still is.

Believe in what you wanna do

And do you think that is a major flaw?

Quicksilver shifts between earnestness and diffidence; endless alterations between soul-baring snapshots of a deep, vast inner life and cocky mockery. And the instinctive genius of the way these both flowed alongside the melodies or jutted out against them made the whole thing glorious.

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain is arguably the most commercial record in the Pavement canon; ‘Gold Soundz’ being exemplary here. Sandwiched between the rougher Slanted & Enchanted and Wowee Zowee, it’s a glimpse of a band who could have, if they wanted, gone in a mainstream indie rock direction. This was as crowd-pleasing as they got – there are more polished, pretty tracks on it than on any of their other albums. Even so, it also contains its own resistance, most especially in ‘Heaven Is A Truck’ (as Beavis & Butthead asked about Pavement: “Are they even trying?”); and the disjointed dissonance of ‘Hit the Plane Down’. This resistance wasn’t calculated or even particularly conscious. Pavement really weren't trying. They simply shrugged at external notions of success and got back to making the record. And if the world thought it pretty and embraced it, or thought it ugly and shunned it, so be it.

'Fillmore Jive' is where it ends.

passed out on your couch

A song that meanders, dips and builds around a desperate yearning to be asleep; to be submerged in dream. How resonant this hollowed-out, underwater song would sound to me for so many years. When Stephen Malkmus sings “I need to sleep” then begs “why don't you let me?” I felt it deeply, listening on a Sunday night after another weekend making myself make the most of my twenties. So much of that decade is exhausting; you have to show up, think about

career, career, career, career

about people's new haircuts, needing credit cards, elegant bachelors (are they foxy to you?), if you’re the kind of girl he likes (cos you’re empty), all those fortresses and ways to attack, your grandmother's advice – and you need to sleep.

When I asked to write this review, I wondered if an album that shone so brightly in the past would be lost to me now, as the truth is, I don’t listen to it much these days. I thought that at 32 I’d wonder why it’d had such a hold over me five, ten years ago. I was ready to admit that if something so of its time and at such an angle to the world could still steal over me in the same way, it’d prove I was stuck in an extended adolescence or in ex-stoner nostalgia – that I should just admit defeat and become a 90s casualty, giving into wearing nothing but flannel shirts and listening to Brian Jonestown Massacre.

But recent spins have only reaffirmed that its exuberant grace is transcendent. And anyway, you can never quarantine the past”.

I will end with this review from Secret Meeting. It is interesting reading what they had to say in their 2020 piece. How the music scene was transforming and turning by 1994. It was a fascinating year where some scenes peaked and were levelling off and others were coming through. Within that year, early on, Pavement put out this incredible musical statement:

“When Pavement released their second studio album in 1994, the alternative music scene in the US had been riding the crest of a wave. Genre-defining records from the likes of Soundgarden, Nirvana and Beastie Boys would all go on to reach number one in the Billboard chart that year, and acts which had emerged from the DIY underground had become household names. But the worm was slowly starting to turn – as with most crossovers, there is always a danger that A&R men, TV Execs and unscrupulous advertisers start to see the dollar signs, and the inevitable sub-par ‘cash-ins’ begin to appear. It was the first flashes of this cynicism that ended up seeping into Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain – an album that satirically critiqued the music scene. Questions about whether The Stone Temple Pilots were ‘foxy’ or not, tales of ‘Range Rovin’ with the cinema stars’, and a tongue in cheek line about the ‘drummer’s hair’ were all thinly-veiled barbs about the way the mainstream media and related hangers-on had started to jump on the alternative bandwagon.

For a songwriter who’s often claimed his lyrics are largely nonsensical, and is known for using phrases purely because they sound good together, on Crooked Rain it seemed Stephen Malkmus was making more of a point. None more so than on Elevate Me Later. But instead of a typical punk attack on the rich, Malkmus cuts them down with wry digs at the woes of upper class fashionistas and again at the music suits.

For all of Pavement’s avant-garde, noiserock-lite tendencies, they’ve always had a deft ear for melody, and pop gem Cut Your Hair is a fine example. A scuzzy, upbeat song complete with a throwaway ‘ooh ooh ooh’ refrain that mocks the image obsessed music scene, and the poseurs and scenesters that inhabit it.

The jewel in the crown of the album is undoubtedly Gold Soundz – a beautifully written, twilight-kissed song that shifts focus momentarily and catches the melancholy feeling of remembering people or times that have been lost. 5-4=Unity maybe shouldn’t have made the cut. However, on an album that moved away from the MTV-led version of alternative music, it isn’t surprising that Pavement included an instrumental in a 5/4 time signature – in fact it wouldn’t have been surprising for them to release it as a lead single.

Alt-country track, Range Life, is an Americana-tinged song that trots along breezily, and stays just on the right side of being glib or cheesy. With brilliantly throwaway lyrics, Malkmus describes youth in suburban America, and makes the mundane sound idyllic- ‘Out on my skateboard, the night is just humming/ And the gum smacks are the pulse I’ll follow if my Walkman fades’. After an understated, but perfectly placed bar-room band middle eight, Malkmus again can’t help but turn his thoughts to his contemporaries, referencing both The Stone Temple Pilots and The Smashing Pumpkins – and on a song with such a carefree, laid back sentiment it’s easy to see why Malkmus has nothing in common with Chicago’s perpetual nihilists.

Pavement always had a punk ethos, DIY values – they didn’t really fit into the Generation X mould. It’s also hard to say exactly when Pavement peaked (they would go on to release three more brilliant studio albums), but it could be argued that commercially, critically, and creatively Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain wasn’t ever really bettered. The band split after Terror Twilight in 1999, but would reunite again in 2010 to tour in support of the aptly named best of compilation, Quarantine The Past. They also announced last year that they would be reforming once again to play a pair of shows this weekend to celebrate the anniversary of Primavera festival, which, obviously, has been postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak. But the reaction to the announcement was greeted with such anticipation that it’s hard to overstate their ongoing popularity.

Members of Pavement have forayed into other musical ventures since the split, but it’s Malkmus who found the most success in the post-Pavement years – releasing a plethora of albums, including 2018’s Sparkle Hard, that would arguably go on to overshadow the Pavement back catalogue, and cement himself as the ever inventive, constantly shifting godfather of lo-fi slacker rock.

In terms of its legacy, Crooked Rain helped inform new generations to a whole host of other artists – including modern day acts Parquet Courts and Car Seat Headrest. Their influence has been synonymous with some of the best alternative music of the last quarter of a century, while still remaining a band who simply can’t be imitated”.

On 14th February, it will be thirty years since Pavement released their acclaimed second studio album, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. One of the absolute standouts from 1994, in years since it has gone on to influence artists. You hear its songs played on the radio. It has endured and created this distinct legacy. I am not sure whether Stephen Malkmus and the band will mark the thirtieth anniversary. I hope they do! After all these years, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain remains a work of brilliance. We will be discussing this wonderful album…

FOR years to come.

FEATURE: Change in Speak: De La Soul’s Seismic and Groundbreaking Debut, 3 Feet High and Rising, at Thirty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Change in Speak

De La Soul’s Seismic and Groundbreaking Debut, 3 Feet High and Rising, at Thirty-Five

_________

ON 3rd March…

it will be thirty-five years since De La Soul’s iconic and revolutionary debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, was released. Released through Tommy Boy, it is one of the most important Hip-Hop albums ever. For so many years it was unavailable through streaming services. That recently changed. It was also issued on a range of physical formats, meaning old and new fans of the album could listen to it. At a time in Hip-Hop when there was an angrier and more political sound reigning – with groups like N.W.A. and Public Enemy -, New York’s trio (Kelvin ‘Posdnuos’ Mercer, David ‘Trugoy the Dove’ Jolicoeur, and Vincent ‘Maseo’ Mason) offered something more peaceful and positive. Heralding in the ’Daisy Age’, this was a different approach. Relying more on skits and humour, there was this contrast with the more direct and brutal sounds of what was around them. Even so, 3 Feet High and Rising was a massive critical and commercial success. I wanted to look inside the album ahead of its thirty-fifth anniversary next month. I am going to get to some reviews of 3 Feet High and Rising. There are incredible articles that dive inside the album and how it was made. You can get the album here. I will finish with a couple of reviews for this landmark album. I am going to start out with some features about one of the greatest albums ever released. Record Collector looked at the mighty 3 Feet High and Rising last year:

“What does ‘Tush eht lleh pu’ mean?” It was the summer of 1989, and that innocuous rebuttal was just about the most aggressive moment on De La Soul’s game-changing debut album 3 Feet High & Rising. From now on, hip-hop was going to be a Day-glo sampladelic cartoon strip of good vibes. This was the Daisy Age (“da inner sound y’all”) and that meant saying goodbye to all that crazy cop shootin’ gangsta shit. Or so we thought.

Long Island high school friends, Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo (two of them still in their teens, the other just turned 20), spelled their names backwards, too, but under the patronage of wizard DJ/producer Prince Paul, they were about to kickstart the future. Despite vinyl being their primary source material, they unwittingly accelerated the rise of CD culture into the bargain by cramming 24 tracks onto a 67-minute slab of vinyl. But more than anything, they completely revolutionised hip-hop. Scroll through the tributes to the tragic news that Dave “Trugoy The Dove” Jolicouer had died last month, just a few weeks after speaking to RC for the interview to go with this review, and you’ll have everything you need to know about the high standing in which De La Soul were held.

Back when the trio emerged, the hip-hop landscape could be roughly divided into two teams. On one side the righteous rage of Public Enemy and the gun-toting misogyny of NWA; on the other, flashy gold chains and New Jack Swing. In De La Soul’s wake came Del tha Funkee Homosapien, Digable Planets, Da Bush Babees, Dream Warriors (how come they all began with a ‘D’?), a transformation unthinkable without 3 Feet High & Rising. Spiritual cousins, Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest, would soon charge forward, baton in hand, helping to reinvent a medium whose cliched rhyme and posturing was already wearing thin.

Just a few weeks before his death, Dave “Trugoy The Dove” Jolicoeur recalled the dawn of a new hip-hop era.

The early records have been absent from streaming services, meaning there is a new generation of hip-hop fans who probably haven’t ever heard them.

Early in our career, there was no such thing as streaming services, no language about internet or downloading. So, it has meant a lot of renegotiating and unfortunately, it didn’t seem that labels who held our catalogue had any interest in doing that. Our parent company, Tommy Boy, had folded and our music was being bounced around so much we were never sure who the right people were to sit down with. But it’s good that new listeners will hear it now. At our shows, there’s always been quite a range in the demographic – people bringing their kids, younger faces – and it still excites us when people stumble upon our music. With The Magic Number being in the Spider-Man movie [it featured over the end credits of Spider-Man: No Way Home], that seems to have flicked a switch for younger people.

3 Feet High & Rising sounded like a new dawn, and was a catalyst for a change on the hip-hop scene with artists like Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest following up with incredible albums of their own. Did it create intense rivalry between the artists?

I don’t know if hip-hop needed to change, but it felt like it needed an awakening, fresh air. I remember the release party for the album – there was KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick and they were like gods at the time, and they were saying stuff like, “Man, this is so fresh, we need more of this!” So, it definitely felt like a new chapter. There were moments when we were recording in the same building with Tribe. I can remember us thinking, “Oh God, how are they doing this?! This is fucking amazing!” So, you start questioning yourself, going back to the other guys saying, “Right, we’re gonna have to make some dope shit or we’ll get left behind!” Those times exemplified what hip-hop is really about. It became a competition, MCs versus MCs, DJs versus DJs, or sometimes more serious rivalries like LL Cool J versus Ice T. The same thing was happening with our crew. Hearing what Tribe were doing spurred you on to do something even better.

One of the most striking aspects of your music at the time was its eclecticism, the incredible range of samples you used. These days are you still inclined to draw from mum and dad’s record collections?
Yeah, we still dig through those old record collections. Sampling is still part of our musical culture. That’s what inspires and moves us. We have tonnes of vinyl we still go back to. For …And The Anonymous Nobody [2016] it was all about creating, using a live band, but at our core, we like to go into the garage or the basement and dig through tons of old vinyl for inspiration”.

It is impossible to state how important 3 Feet High and Rising is in terms of shaping Hip-Hop. Even if the Daisy Age did not last too long, it definitely influenced many other artists. In 2019, for its thirtieth anniversary, Albumism dissected this phenomenal album. They mention the importance of the production by Prince Paul and the sampling that helps define and colour the songs:

“Released 30 years ago, 3 Feet High and Rising was unlike anything that had been released before it. It was a strange and sprawling piece of work that was the product of four young men making the bold and brave statement that it was okay to be different in hip-hop.

It’s hard to oversell how 3 Feet High and Rising was borderline alien compared to anything that had been released before it. There had been other crews that were left of center, like Ultramagnetic MCs and the Jungle Brothers, (more on them in a sec), but De La Soul were positively indecipherable. Pos, Dove, and Mase, along with producer “Prince” Paul Huston came together to craft the definitive oddball hip-hop album that created the lane for others who wanted to “try something different.” And while making the album, Prince Paul encouraged De La to experiment as much possible, try new things, and not be afraid to make mistakes. It’s this wide-eyed and liberated attitude that give 3 Feet High and Rising a lot of its charm.

It made sense that they came together with the aforementioned Jungle Brothers and the fledgling group A Tribe Called Quest to form the groundbreaking Native Tongues clique. The crew became synonymous with outside-of-the-box thinking in regards to hip-hop music, and 3 Feet High and Rising is the foundation for their movement.

When I first heard 3 Feet High and Rising, I didn’t quite get “it.” I was 13, and the album was a bit too odd for me at the time. The group used obscure slang and their lyrics and skits seemed to be filled with in-jokes that were inscrutable except to those in their immediate crew.  A classmate had to explain to me that “Potholes In My Lawn” was about people stealing their rhymes; I would have had no idea otherwise. Still, I’d dug the singles, especially the “Buddy” remix, which I’d gotten to know through its low-budget but madcap video. What a difference a couple of years made, as I revisited 3 Feet High right around the time that its successor De La Soul Is Dead (1991) surfaced, now more open to its idiosyncrasies and bizarre moments.

Much of the attention of 3 Feet High centers on its production, handled by Prince Paul. Specifically, it centers on the sample sources for the album. A lot of hip-hop artists mainly subsisted on samples from James Brown and Ultimate Beats and Breaks Records. De La Soul and Prince Paul were one of the first groups to utilize records from eclectic sources as the bricks and the mortar for their tracks. They sampled songs from relatively obscure artists like the Mad Lads and Cymande, and untouched musical ground like Steely Dan and Liberace. The album’s title is taken from a line in an early Johnny Cash song. The type of creativity that De La used on this album is functionally infeasible for a major label hip-hop release in 2019, due to the massive costs associated with the sample clearances. It’s one of the biggest reasons why Tommy Boy Records only recently worked out a deal to get the album onto streaming services.

As mentioned earlier, the album’s subject matter can be hard to decipher, but the group spends the album positioning themselves as rejecting the traditional definition of what it means to be a rapper. “Me Myself and I” remains the group’s anthem in that sense, expressing the importance of substance above traditional style, and how if the music dope, their dress doesn’t really matter. The point was hammered home in the video for the song, which was about rejecting the ultra-machismo driven image of what many associated with being a rapper. The group came to dislike the track, and for years prefaced live performances of it with chants of “We hate this song. We hate this song. We hate this song, but you love this song.”

For all the attention that 3 Feet High receives for the group’s abstract approach and their beats, Pos and Dove don’t get enough credit as innovative emcees. The two really experiment stylistically, crafting non-traditional rhyme schemes and patterns, switching deliveries and flows mid-song. They display this aptitude right from the get-go with their first single “Plug Tunin’,” and continue on songs like “Magic Number,” “Change in Speak,” “Living in a Full Time Era,” and “D.A.I.S.Y. Age.”

3 Feet High is also associated with the “D.A.I.S.Y.” image aka Da Inna Sound Y’all, first alluded to on songs like “Potholes” and further championed on “Me Myself and I.” Tommy Boy made this a central part of their marketing scheme for the group, often championing De La as “hippies.” De La noticeably bristles at the hippie label and the marketing scheme in general, and notoriously spent their tours getting into fights with locals who assumed that the group was soft because they were associated with “daisies”.

I want to get to a review from Pitchfork. I find it impossible that anyone would find anything to fault about De La Soul’s debut album! Luckily, the vast majority of critics have the album resounding love. I wanted to take some sections from Pitchfork’s impassioned and hugely positive review of the 1989 album that is a true classic:

“In 2011, 3 Feet High and Rising was added to the Library of Congress National Registry of Recordings. Even that honor prompted no action from Warner Brothers. So on Valentine’s Day in 2014, De La Soul gave away digital files of their entire Warner catalog to their fans. That sharing has been the only official digital release of these records, which remain locked away in that null existence between copyright orphanhood and full viability.

Questlove told New York Times reporter Finn Cohen, “I mean, 3 Feet High and Rising is very much in danger of being the classic tree that fell in the forest that was once given high praise and now is just a stump.” We are left to ask: as history is made and remade, who can be heard in America?

On the album’s proper opener, “The Magic Number,” over a sample of the “Schoolhouse Rock” theme song and a chopped version of John Bonham’s huge drum break from “The Crunge,” Pos and Trugoy had rocked a virtuoso, rapid-fire manifesto full of mind-spinning wordplay. Pos positioned hip-hop as the new insurgency:

Parents let go cause there’s magic in the air

Criticizing rap shows you’re out of order

Stop look and listen to the phrase, Fred Astaires,

And don’t get offended while Mase do-si-do’s your daughter

Trugoy described his creative process:

Souls who flaunt styles gain praises by the pounds

Common are speakers who honor the scroll

Scrolls written daily creates a new sound

Listeners listen ‘cause this here is wisdom.

By the end, Mase and Paul were scratching snippets at a fast and furious rate—Steinski, Syl Johnson, and Eddie Murphy all fly by before Johnny Cash suddenly drops in to give the album its title: “How high’s the water, mama? Three feet high and rising.” The line was taken from a reverb-drenched performance of “Five Feet High and Rising,” a blues in the grand tradition of Mississippi River flood songs.

De La Soul were making a point about the power of culture to mobilize people to action or immobilize them with fear. It was an idea they explored more explicitly on their fable, “Tread Water.” There were animals, squeaky organs, friendly humming—at the time, journalist Harry Allen called it the most African song he’d heard in hip-hop—but “Tread Water” also offered perhaps the most ambitious hope on the record, that De La’s music might help us all elevate our heads above the water. In this polar-cap-melting, politically disastrous age, the song feels prophetic.

Today’s debate over sampling is mostly mind-numbingly narrow, shaped largely by big-money concerns that are ahistorical, anti-cultural, and anti-creative. The current regime rewards the least creative class—lawyers and capitalists—while destroying cultural practices of passing on. Post-hip-hop intellectual property law rests on racialized ideas of originality, and preserves the vampire profits of publishing outfits like Bridgeport Music, that sue sampling producers while preventing artists like George Clinton from sharing their music with next-generation musicians, and large corporations like Warner Brothers that continue to disenfranchise Black genius.

By contrast, the processes of sampling and layering on 3 Feet High and Rising and other hip-hop classics of that era demonstrate the opposite: expansively, giddily democratic—Delacratic, even—values.

Pos’s production on “Eye Know” put Steely Dan into conversation with Otis Redding and the Mad Lads, his work on “Say No Go” Hall and Oates with the Detroit Emeralds. The musical chorus of “Potholes in My Lawn” pointed not only to Parliament’s 1970 debut Osmium, but to the African American roots of country and western music.

Together, the sampled sounds of the Jarmels, the Blackbyrds, the New Birth, and even white artists like Led Zeppelin, Bob Dorough, and Billy Joel, make a strong case that all of American pop is African-American pop, from which everyone has been borrowing. Sampling—De La Soul sampling Parliament, Obama sampling Lincoln, Melania sampling Michelle—is nothing less than the American pastime, the creative reuse of history amid the tension between erasure and emergence that is central to the struggle for the republic. No one can ever do it as big as De La Soul did”.

Thirty-five years after its release, 3 Feet High and Rising remains one of the most important albums ever released. That idea of heralding in a more positive sound of Hip-Hop. AllMusic gave Del La Soul’s debut some incredibly positive words. So innovative, funny, compelling and eclectic, the majestic and timeless 3 Feet High and Rising sound be heard by everyone. If you have not heard the album in a while, I would urge you to spend time today revisiting it:

“The most inventive, assured, and playful debut in hip-hop history, 3 Feet High and Rising not only proved that rappers didn't have to talk about the streets to succeed, but also expanded the palette of sampling material with a kaleidoscope of sounds and references culled from pop, soul, disco, and even country music. Weaving clever wordplay and deft rhymes across two dozen tracks loosely organized around a game-show theme, De La Soul broke down boundaries all over the LP, moving easily from the groovy my-philosophy intro "The Magic Number" to an intelligent, caring inner-city vignette named "Ghetto Thang" to the freewheeling end-of-innocence tale "Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)." Rappers Posdnuos and Trugoy the Dove talked about anything they wanted (up to and including body odor), playing fast and loose on the mic like Biz Markie. Thinly disguised under a layer of humor, their lyrical themes ranged from true love ("Eye Know") to the destructive power of drugs ("Say No Go") to Daisy Age philosophy ("Tread Water") to sex ("Buddy"). Prince Paul (from Stetsasonic) and DJ Pasemaster Mase led the way on the production end, with dozens of samples from all sorts of left-field artists -- including Johnny Cash, the Mad Lads, Steely Dan, Public Enemy, Hall & Oates, and the Turtles. The pair didn't just use those samples as hooks or drumbreaks -- like most hip-hop producers had in the past -- but as split-second fills and in-jokes that made some tracks sound more like DJ records. Even "Potholes on My Lawn," which samples a mouth harp and yodeling (for the chorus, no less), became a big R&B hit. If it was easy to believe the revolution was here from listening to the rapping and production on Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, with De La Soul the Daisy Age seemed to promise a new era of positivity in hip-hop”.

On 3rd March, 1989, an album was released into the world that would shake up the Hip-Hop world. There was not a lot of comparisons or like-minded albums at that time. It was both unusual and radical that an album like 3 Feet High and Rising would sit alongside very different sounding albums. Enduring and succeeding as this positive and peace-loving album, 3 Feet High and Rising is faultless in my eyes! I vaguely remember when it came out and how people reacted to it. It still moves me…

THIRTY-FIVE years later.

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential March Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: Ariana Grande/PHOTO CREDIT: Ariana Grande

Essential March Releases

_________

THERE are a load…

of great albums out next month that I think people should pre-order. You can see the full range of albums out in March. I shall start with 1st March. There are some amazing albums that are out this week. There are two I want to highlight particularly. The first is Faye Webster’s Underdressed at the Symphony. This is an album that I would recommend people pre-order:

“Faye Webster’s songs are direct lines to the human subconscious, and Underdressed at the Symphony documents what happens once you begin to build a new self from the ashes of your old routines. This rebirth isn’t flashy or definitive, but is instead a series of seemingly mundane moments that, scattered across weeks and months, sneak their way toward something like healing. Yes, there’s a breakup in play, but Webster is not documenting the heartbreak of a breakup so much as she’s navigating the contours of heartbreak itself.

Recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in Texas with her longtime band, Webster is accompanied on Underdressed at the Symphony by Matt Stoessel’s arcs of shimmering pedal steel, the plaintive, unhurried drums of Charles Garner, and, occasionally, additional guitarwork from Wilco’s Nels Cline, among many other crucial players. The title of the album refers to Webster’s post-breakup compulsion to visit the symphony on a whim, usually buying a ticket at the last possible second. “Going to the symphony was almost like therapy for me. I was quite literally underdressed at the symphony because I would just decide at that moment that that's what I wanted to do,” she says. “That's what I felt like I needed to hear. I got to leave what I felt like was kind of a shitty time in my life and be in this different world for a minute.”

That strain of lightheartedness with a melancholic backbone permeates the album, and is the major driving force behind “Lego Ring,” which features Atlanta multi-hyphenate Lil Yachty, the only guest voice on the entire album. Yachty’s ghostly warble floats just under Webster’s voice, jabbing through empty space, trembling over a low rumble of bass. The song is also a sort of release—a buoyant moment that cuts through the sadness. “I think I hit a point in songwriting during this record where I was just like, man, I said a lot.” Webster says. “I'm just going to sit down and sing about this ring that I really want.” Like the rest of the album, Webster isn’t providing answers, nor is she on some epic journey of healing and self-care. Instead, she’s choosing to just live, to document heartbreak and ridiculous moments right next to each other, until they start to blur together, becoming real enough for us all to feel”.

The other album out on 1st March that I want to point people towards is Everything Everything’s Mountainhead. One of our most consistent and original bands, there are few that have a sound and dynamic as Everything Everything. Mountainhead looks like it will be among their best albums. If you are a big fan of the band or not, this is going to be an amazing album that I would urge people to pre-order:

“In another world, society has built an immense mountain To make the mountain bigger, they must make the hole they live in deeper and deeper. All of society is built around the creation of the mountain, and a mountain religion dominates all thought. At the top of the mountain is rumoured to be a huge mirror that reflects endlessly recurring images of the self, and at the bottom of the pit is a giant golden snake that is the primal fear of all believers. A “Mountainhead” is one who believes the mountain must grow no matter the cost, and no matter how terrible it is to dwell in the great pit. The taller the mountain, the deeper the hole”.

There are four albums from 8th March that have caught my eye. The first, and one of the biggest and most anticipated of the year, is Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine. You can pre-order the album here. Following the release of its first single, yes, and?, there is a lot of excitement around the album. Rolling Stone provide more detail:

“Ariana Grande‘s hint-dropping tactics in the lead-up to her latest single, “Yes, And?” offered fans a few puzzle pieces about her upcoming album era. In the song’s music video, a red card reading AG7 — shorthand for her seventh studio album — featured coordinates that led to Montauk, New York. And on Instagram, the singer shared a selection from Alexander Pope’s poetic “Eloisa to Abelard” from 1717. The clues all came together as Grande finally announced the record title: Eternal Sunshine, out March 8.

As it turns out, Montauk was the prime filming location for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the 2004 film directed by Michel Gondry. Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey — whose birthday is today — star in the film. The “Eloisa to Abelard” passage that Grande shared read: “How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot! the world forgetting by the world forgot. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! Each pay’r accepted. and each wish resign’d.”

Eternal Sunshine marks Grande’s first album release since Positions arrived in 2020. Over the last few months, the singer has quietly teased the record with videos and photos of her in the studio with Max Martin. She first worked with the pop juggernaut on her sophomore album My Everything, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary later this year.

At the close of 2023, Grande reflected on her year in a post that described it as “one of the most transformative, most challenging, and yet happiest and most special years of my life.” She added, “There were so many beautiful and yet polarized feelings. I’ve never felt more at the mercy of and in acceptance of what life was screaming to teach me. I feel more human than ever. I feel more deeply than ever. I feel softer and stronger, all at once.”

The album’s first single, “Yes, And?,” took aim at critics and skeptics who observed her from a distance over the course of time and came to their own conclusions about her artistry and personhood. The record’s lyrics request that people “don’t comment on my body, do not reply” and prompt them to investigate: “Why do you care so much whose d— I ride?”.

The second album out on 8th March is Kim Gordon’s The Collective. This is the second solo album from the legendary Kim Gordon, it follows 2019’s No Home Record. It is going to among the absolute finest albums of this year. I would recommend that people pre-order the album. A magnificent and must-hear release from Sonic Youth icon. Here are some more details. If you are on the fence or have not heard about the album, this will give you some motivation and insight:

“Musician and visual artist Kim Gordon returns with her second solo album, The Collective on Matador.

Recorded in Gordon’s native Los Angeles, The Collective follows her 2019 full-length debut No Home Record and continues her collaboration with producer Justin Raisen (Lil Yachty, John Cale, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Charli XCX, Yves Tumor), with additional production from Anthony Paul Lopez. The album advances their joint world building, with Raisin’s damaged, blown out dub and trap constructions playing the foil to Gordon’s intuitive word collages and hooky mantras, which conjure communication, commercial sublimation and sensory overload”.

I shall get to 15th March soon. Before that, Norah Jones’s Visions is going to be an album you’ll want to keep an eye out for. Like Ariane Grande, Norah Jones’ new album has a gorgeous and eye-catching cover. Her upcoming ninth studio album sounds fascinating. I have loved her music since the 2002 debut, Come Away with Me. Visions looks really intriguing. You should go and pre-order this album:

“Nine-time Grammy winning singer, songwriter, and pianist Norah Jones releases her ninth solo studio album Visions, a collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist Leon El Michels. Visions is a vibrant and joyous 12-song set that finds Jones singing about feeling free, wanting to dance, making it right, and acceptance of what life brings. It’s the yang to the yin that was Pick Me Up Off The Floor, Jones’ last album of new original songs which was released early in the pandemic lockdown of 2020 and foreshadowed many of the dark emotions of that period”.

Another pretty big this year comes out on 15th March. It is The Libertines’ All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade. Another album with an interesting and distinct cover, I have been thinking all the band have gone through. Their debut, Up the Bracket, arrived in 2002. Their last album, Anthems for Doomed Youth, came out in 2015. The latest release looks to be their strongest since 2004’s The Libertines. It is going to be worth pre-ordering this album. Make sure that it is on your radar:

“The Libertines release their fourth studio album entitled, All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade. The release marks the band’s first new album in nine years and opens with the infectious new single, Run Run Run.

On All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade, the quartet of unlikely lads have gathered from their new-found homes in France, Denmark, Margate and London to solder a strongest-ever internal bond, and scale new creative heights resulting in the best music of their extraordinary career so far”.

Moving to 15th March, there are plenty of top albums to seek out. Because there are quite a few from the final two weeks of March, I will highlight one from 15th March that is worth investigating. Lenny Kravitz’s Blue Electric Light is going to be a tremendous listen. Kravitz always releases amazing albums. In a month that is offering up striking album covers, Lenny Kravitz throws his hat into the ring! In May, Kravitz turns sixty. His debut, Let Love Rule, is thirty-five on 6th September. His consistency is amazing. Go and pre-order Blue Electric Light:

“Timeless. Explosive. Romantic. Inspiring. How else to characterize Blue Electric Light, Lenny Kravitz’s 12th studio album? Kravitz’s mastery of deep-soul rock ‘n roll is a long-established fact. As a relentless creative force—musician, writer, producer, actor, author, designer—he continues to be a global dynamic presence throughout music, art and culture.

Blue Electric Light is an impassioned suite of songs, that broadens this distinction and is the latest contribution of a man whose music—not to mention his singular style—continues to inspire millions all over the world. On the album, Kravitz's talents as a writer, producer and multi-instrumentalist resonate as he wrote and played most of the instruments himself, with longtime guitarist Craig Ross”.

There are six incredible albums out on 22nd March. It is a busy week! The first is FLETCHER’s In Search of the Antidote. The Pop trailblazer is a name that should be on people’s minds. She is a tremendous artist. You can pre-order the album here. If you are new to the wonder of FLETCHER’s music, CLASH fill some gaps in this article that looks ahead to the release of In Search of the Antidote:

“Fletcher will release new album ‘In Search Of The Antidote’ on March 22nd.

The pop trailblazer released her debut LP ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ back in 2022, a scintillating set of future-facing anthems that saw Fletcher speak her truth.

Returning with recent single ‘Eras Of Us’, the American star hinted that something new – something big – was upcoming.

New album ‘In Search Of The Antidote’ ends the wait for her next statement. Out on March 22nd, it’s typically personal, with Fletcher acting as the creative pivot alongside producer Jennifer Decilveo.

This time round Fletcher assembled a stellar cast, with contributors including Aldae, Jon Bellion, Julia Michaels, Monsters & Strangerz, and Michael Pollack.

The title should be taken literally – Fletcher believes that love is the antidote to our human problems. She comments..

Over the years, I’ve looked for the antidote in so many things: women, the road, the stage, fans, spirituality and self-reflection. Making this album was an excavation, a deep dive where I asked myself what would truly heal me, and my ultimate realisation was that love is the antidote.

From the ‘Finding Fletcher’ EP to ‘you ruined new york city for me’ to ‘THE S(EX) TAPES‘ to ‘Girl Of My Dreams’, love has always been my muse. But before now, I don’t think I’d ever really looked at love through all the different lenses and angles and discovered all its infinite manifestations. That’s what this album is about for me”.

In addition to some magnificent album covers arriving in March (including FLETCHER’s), there is some sensational music too. Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future is an album I want to bring to your attention. Out on 22nd March, you can pre-order it here. A must-own album from a truly special songwriter and artist. Here are some more details about potential one of the best albums of this year:

“Bright Future marks Lenker’s first album since 2020’s songs and instrumentals, and features co-production from Philip Weinrobe, alongside contributions from Nick Hakim, Mat Davidson, and Josefin Runsteen. On Bright Future, Adrianne Lenker, a songwriter known for turns of phrase and currents of rhyme, says it plainly, “You have my heart // I want it back.” Documented with analogue precision, what began as an experiment in collaboration, became proof Adrianne’s heart did return, full to the brim, daring her into the unknown.

Bright Future’s co-producer and engineer, Philip Weinrobe, prepared the studio. He has been Adrianne’s partner on previous solo albums, but this was something new. Adrianne did not intend to make an album. They would instead explore the songs with no expectations. Even with an open outcome, from the start, Phil wanted to capture the sessions with the purest, technical honesty. He rolled onto Double Infinity’s old cherry wood floors an Otari 1/2 inch 8-Track and Studer console.

To fill the air of the 150 year-old main room, Adrianne wanted piano, guitar, and violin. Mat Davidson plays them all. “I’ve known Mat a long time,” she says, “It doesn’t matter what instrument, his spirit just pours through.” At 17, Adrianne met Nick Hakim. She trusted her friend of 15 years to bring his sensitivity to the piano. “The way Nick would hold my songs, he would put every ounce of love.” Adrianne first met Josefin Runsteen in an Italian castle, and sought the classically trained violinist and percussionist’s “magnetic and contagious” energy. “She has such fire.” In addition to instrumentation, they made a chorus, adding carefully measured vocal harmonies. The sessions impressed and enchanted Adrianne. “I think the thing these people have in common, they are some of the best listeners I know musically. They have extreme presence.”

Admirers of Adrianne’s solo music and Big Thief will find on Bright Future her reliable talent captured in stunning, magnetic clarity. In the company of parlour instruments, Adrianne’s modern melodic and lyrical inventions create new traditions. Her vocal flights at times outwit gravity, then land, guiding along an earthly path. The wholeness of the un-spliced recordings preserves a time of musical friendship during a golden season. The album also features the original recording of the now-beloved Big Thief song ‘Vampire Empire.’ Although they recorded for only some days, in Adrianne’s recollection, “It felt like we were together forever”.

An album that I am particularly interested in is Gossip’s Real Power. Another tremendous album cover – it must be something about March or 2024, where artists want to make a visual impression in addition to a sonic one -, it is amazing that we get a new album from Gossip. It has been a long time coming. You can pre-order the album here. Real Power is among the most anticipated of the year:

“Beloved, Portland pop / indie-rock trio Gossip returns with Real Power, their first album in 14 years. The album marks a reunion with acclaimed producer Rick Rubin, who helmed the band’s pivotal 2009 album Music For Men. Rubin coaxed the band started recording in 2019 after completing a tour for the ten-year anniversary of Music For Men. Recorded at Rubin’s home studio in Kauai, the process was temporarily halted by the pandemic and resumed when restrictions lifted. The result is an 11-track celebration of the galvanizing might of music, the joy of creative expression, and the power of chosen family in the aftermath of collective and personal trauma. The timing is ripe for a Gossip reunion, and Real Power heralds a new maturity and renewed sense of purpose for the trio. “When we began, so much about Gossip was about running away—that was always in the music,” says Ditto. “We survived. We came from nothing, and we got the fuck out of there. And to be here 20 years later and still making music together is just incredible”.

There are three more albums I want to cover off before getting to one from 29th March that is well worth checking out. On 22nd March, Lauran Hibberd’s girlfriend material arrives. Again – and not to labour the point to death! -, we have a standout album cover. I have been following Lauran Hibberd’s career for years now. She is one of our very best artists. Her new album is one you will want to pre-order:

“After documenting her life to date on Garageband Superstar, more than anything Girlfriend Material captures who Hibberd is in this moment – changed from the artist we met on album one and likely different from the artist we’ll meet in the future. It is, she says, a record that captures everything she is right now. “I’m figuring out who the hell I am,” she smiles. “I’m lighting candles and trying to manifest, I’m reading books, and I’m trying to run – all of these things will fade off in the next two months, and I’ll never do them again, but it’s part of that process.” ‘Girlfriend Material’ courses with that exploratory, sometimes confused, questioning feeling. The widescreen, glittering duet ‘Pretty Good For A Bad Day’ was co-written with and features Alex Gaskarth, frontman of All Time Low, one of her biggest influences. The bravest moment of the album comes in ‘I Suck At Grieving’, a song that manages to both jangle and pummel as it finds Hibberd lamenting herself for “avoiding” mourning her dad and projecting her feelings onto other incidents and annoyances instead”.

The incredible duo, The Staves, release All Now on 22nd March. Formerly a trio of Jessica, Camilla and Emily Staveley-Taylor, the duo of Jessica and Camilla continue on. 2021’s Good Woman (which was their previous album) was the last as a trio. All Now is a new chapter. You can pre-order the album here. I would urge people to pre-order their copy:

“It was in December 2022 that The Staves celebrated the 10th anniversary of their debut album Dead and Born and Grown - a strange and beautiful period in the lives of sisters and band members Jessica, Camilla and Emily Staveley-Taylor, making their fourth album All Now with the same organic vulnerability as that first record: except now everything was different, and they kind of were too.

All Now emerges, bold and bright, from a period of quiet, which followed a period of chaos, for the band. When Good Woman was released in 2021, to positive reviews, it felt like "an echoing silence" to share such a cathartic album with a world shut down. So The Staves had to retreat, again, and actually wrestle with everything they had been through.

The result? An album as rich and honest as all the most profound music by The Staves scattered across albums for the last decade, calcifed here into something special.

But the most thrilling part of this album, is that the hardest pills to swallow, here, almost have a sweeter taste. Once you've survived the climb to the top, learned from the journey, you may as well enjoy the view. "When you sing about hesitation and fear, there's a lot of power in not making it sound fearful and being quite steadfast instead," says Camilla. "It feels like an act of taking control." With All Now, there's no letting go”.

The final album from 22nd March I want to spotlight is Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood. This is going to be a terrific album. A slight mystique looks back at us from the album cover. Making the listener wonder what will great them when it comes to the songs within. Here are some more details about an album that you will definitely want to add to your collection:

“One of the hardest-working singer-songwriters in the game is named Katie Crutchfield. She was born in Alabama, and grew up near Waxahatchee Creek. Skipped town and struck out on her own as Waxahatchee. That was over a decade ago. Crutchfield says she never knew the road would lead her here, but after six critically acclaimed albums, she's never felt more confident in herself as an artist. While her sound has evolved from lo-fi folk to lush alt-tinged country, her voice has always remained the same. Honest and close, poetic with Southern lilting. Much like Carson McCullers's Mick Kelly, determined in her desires and convictions, ready to tell whoever will listen.

And after years of being sober and stable in Kansas City-after years of sacrificing herself to her work and the road- Crutchfield has arrived at her most potent songwriting yet. On her new album, Tigers Blood, Crutchfield emerges as a powerhouse-an ethnologist of the self-forever dedicated to revisiting her wins and losses. But now she's arriving at revelations and she ain't holding them back”.

Out on 29th March, we get a welcome offering from a music legend. Sheryl Crow releases Evolution then. Many thought that 2019’s Threads was going to be it from her. Luckily and happily that is not the case. Whether there are going to be more albums to come or this is definitely her final one, it is just great Crow is bringing us more music. Go and pre-order Evolution. It is going to be pretty special:

“Nine-time Grammy Award winner and 2023 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame Inductee Sheryl Crow releases her 11th full length studio album, Evolution via The Valory Music Group. The album comes as a welcomed surprise after Crow publicly stated that she would not release another full-length album after Threads (2018) and kicks off with her lead single “Alarm Clock,” which is perhaps Sheryl Crow’s most radio-friendly pop song since “Soak Up The Sun”.

March is a busy month for awesome albums. I have listed the ones I think you should pre-order. There are many more that you might want to check out too. From Ariana Grande to Everything Everything…there should be something in there for everyone. If you were looking for some early tips about the March albums to add to your collection, then I hope the above was of…

SOME use to you.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Cate

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Cate

_________

THE bewitching and beautiful music…

of Cate is that which I would recommend to everyone. Full name Cate Canning, she is a Canadian artist residing in London. Having recently released the gorgeous singles, Rocket Science and You Don’t Love Me, we are going to hear a lot more from this tremendous artist. Last year was a busy one for Cate. Releasing awesome singles like One Hit Wonder, U Want Me and Girlfriend, many fans would love to see an album this year. I am going to come to some interviews from Cate. In case you do not know about her and where she came from. I am going to come to some interviews from last year. To begin, let’s go back to 2022 and an interview with Discover Gigs and Tours. Influenced by some of the queens of Country and Pop, Cate talked about her then-new long-E.P., Tell Me Things You Won’t Take Back. Even though she had been releasing music since 2019, this E.P./short-album was her most complete and compelling work to that point:

“You’re originally from Vancouver, Canada, how have you found living in London? Has the city inspired your music in any way?

I love love London! It inspired this EP in so many ways. A lot of the songs were based on specific places in London!

Who would you say your main influences are?

Kacey Musgraves, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Shania Twain!

You recently released your song ‘The Ruler’ what inspired you to write this song?

Yes! I wrote that song with my two friends Rory and Tessa. We were joking around that this one guy is the king of the cruel world, and then we sat down and wrote the song in like an hour!

Your new EP Tell Me Things You Wont Take Back is out on the 28th October, what was your songwriting process like for this?

I wrote the EP all throughout 2020-2021. Most of the songs were written with friends or on zoom with some of my favourite collaborators. I didn’t really know it would be an EP when I first started writing it, and now here we are!

What’s the best gig you’ve played so far?

My favourite gig I’ve played so far has to be the headline show I did earlier this year at Camden Assembly. That was my first headline I’ve done having music out. I wrote/released my whole project in lockdown so it was so special to see everyone in a room together”.

I am moving onto an interview from Thomas Bleach from October. Cate was in Australia supporting Gretta Ray. She was also discussing the new single, One Hit Wonder. If you have not discovered this incredible artist who is clearly going to have a big future, then make sure that you get involved and follow Cate:

“THOMAS BLEACH: Your new single “One Hit Wonder” is out now, and I love the playful analogy that he disappears after a short but amazing moment, just like a one hit wonder. What inspired this parallel idea for you?

CATE: It actually started as a joke. I was in a session with my friends Elle and Corey for another artist, and we were all really tired. I started singing something, and it took me a few times, but then Elle just started singing “she’s a one take wonder”. So I started mimicking that and kept going with it, and then decided we should write a song about that. So we started writing it and I was like, “well, this is obviously gonna be a thing about a man”. So it came really quickly, which was fun. We then went back in the studio two days later with Andreas who produced it, and finished the idea.

TB: Was there a one hit wonder that you tried making work in the song but it just didn’t?

C: I didn’t want to offend anyone, so I googled “the biggest one hit wonders”. But here’s the thing… I still offended people. The dads are after me at the moment. But I tried so hard to not go niche, and just do the biggest one hit wonders that everyone can agree on. So there I was on a Buzzfeed article thinking I was safe. But I honestly wrote it in the order of the article I ready *laughs*. I knew I wanted “Somebody That I Used To Know” in there.

TB: From releasing “Tell Me Things You Won’t Take Back”, what is something you learnt about yourself as an artist, as it felt like such a big growth from “Love, The Madness”?

C: That EP was crazy as it was just me and my friends in lockdown. I hadn’t played a show yet, and I didn’t quite know what the reaction for my music was going to be. So creating music now is such a different experience to then, as it was so insular in that period as I was just writing songs for me, and then putting them out. But then once I played a show I was like “oh, people will hear these”, so now I feel like I’m also thinking about the live show when I’m writing songs.  I feel like I’ve grown as a writer in the way of those things now. I think I’m also a bit more bold now as a writer, which is good.

TB: “Funny Story” to me still feels like an essential Cate track. So what is a recent classic Cate funny story that you can share with us?

C: I feel like I said a lot of things at the Sydney and Brisbane shows that I wouldn’t have said if I was so delirious, so that was rogue but funny. When we got to the Brisbane show, I had landed that morning and I fell asleep on the sofa at the venue with a tiny towel on me. Gretta came up to me and was like “wakey wakey! It’s time to do your show!”. So that’s not a crazy story, but it is funny and random *laughs*.

There are a few more interviews that I want to include before ending this feature. Spindle Magazine chatted with Cate back in August. However you define her music, Spindle argued that Cate was breathing new life into Disco-Pop. Clearly someone gaining a lot of kudos from the press and fans alike, this year is going to be a huge one for Cate. I have always loved what she puts out into the world:

“Congratulations on releasing your latest single, ‘U Want Me,’ it’s absolutely fantastic! Can you take us through the creative process for the record? We hear that you wrote the track with two of your friends.

Thank you so much! I wrote the single with my friends Navvy and Josh Wilkinson exactly one year before it was released. I was listening to a lot of disco music at the time, and I wanted something that felt like that. I really wrote the song for one of my friends who was going through an awful break-up and I realised I didn’t really have any songs to send her – so I wrote this one! 

What themes or messages did you want fans to take away from ‘U Want Me’ after listening?

I just wanted a really confident” I Don’t Miss You” type song, so I hope it helps some of them get over their exes ahaha

We need to talk about the track’s high-energy music video! When brainstorming for the visual, which elements of the song were you most excited to bring to life?

I loove the video, it was SO fun to film. My creative director Abi Ford was the real mastermind behind this video. She’s amazing, and made the whole day so comfortable and fun. We really just wanted it to feel like one of those nights dancing in your room with your friends listening to break-up songs.

Your last few releases have had such a retro 80s/disco sound. Is there an artist or album from that era you looked toward when creating ‘U Want Me,’ ‘Girlfriend,’ and ‘Get Better?’ 

It’s funny because the disco influence really came from Karl Frederik (who produced all 3 songs). I was listening to a lot of Kacey Musgraves and Shania Twain at the time so not exactly disco. 

Let’s go back to your music beginnings. When did you first realise that you wanted to be an artist? What was your “ah ha” moment?

Honestly probably watching Hannah Montana. I was obsessed. Also when I started Idolising artists like Taylor Swift and Dolly Parton, that’s when I really fell in love with songwriting.

It’s been over four years since you released your debut single, ‘Sad Song.’ How have you evolved as an artist since then?

Oh my god, so much! I really didn’t know what I was doing back then. I was just making music with my friends and then releasing it through CD Baby. I feel like I have a clear direction of the type of music I want to make now. It’s so crazy that the song came out 4 years ago; it’s like my first child. 

Looking back on your journey, what advice would you give your younger self? 

Just to relax and make as many mistakes as you can – they make great songs. 

With ‘U Want Me’ currently making the rounds, what else can fans expect from this music era? How will it differ from your album ‘Tell Me Things You Won’t Take Back?’

They should expect a lot more music this year. It will be different from that EP in many ways but also that EP represents so much of the way I tell stories in my songs – so I think it’ll definitely stay true to that. 

You’re set to have a busy fall season with headline shows in Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Dublin, Birmingham, Bristol and London. Can you spill some details on what fans can expect from your upcoming shows?

A whole new show!! New everything. I’m so excited for these shows. We have so many surprises planned. I can’t wait!”.

In October, Dead Good Music spoke with the tremendous Cate. This was back in October. In the midst of a second U.K. headline tour, she was asked about the difference between her home in Canada and London. Also, what her future held in terms of new music and a possible album. It is always fascinating reading interviews from Cate. You learn something new and get a better impression of a phenomenal young artist with a sound all of her own:

“Cate Canning grew up in Abbotsford just outside Vancouver in Canada. In high school she fronted a country band and when she left frequently drove down the West Coast highway to songwriting sessions in LA. During these sessions she met fellow artist Cian Ducrot who, along with another singer, debunked to London with in 2019. Ducrot produced her debut EP Love, The Madness the following year and her debut album Tell Me Things You Won’t Take Back followed a month later. Citing fellow Canadians Kacey Musgraves and Shania Twain as influences and with a love for Dolly Parton, her mix of sugar rush pop and emotive country style storytelling sees her out on a current second headlining tour. We put a few questions to her after the show in Birmingham.

You are currently on a second headlining UK tour. How’s it going so far?
So great, I love touring the UK!

What have been the tour highlights?
I’ve loved every single show for different reasons. Birmingham was a gig i’ll never forget – I lost my voice the day before the show and everyone basically sang for me. I’ll never forget it.

What do you do in your downtime? Any hobbies?

I always take up hobbies then forget them a few months later ha ha, but one that has stuck is reading. I’ve been reading ”Notes on Heartbreak” by Annie Lord on this tour!

You played British Summer Time in Hyde Park last year and Down on the Farm. Do you prefer playing festivals or smaller venues?

I looove both, but the smaller venues are extra special because they are usually headline shows.

Who were your musical inspirations growing up in Abbotsford, Canada?

I have loved Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves for sooo many years now. They inspire everything I make.

Vancouver always gets voted in the top 5 best cities in the world. In your experience what makes it achieve such an accolade?

It’s just the best city in the world in my opinion. I grew up outside of Vancouver and then moved after highschool and would love to go back one day. It’s the most beautiful city surrounded by mountains and the ocean.

How does living in London compare?

I love London so much, but it’s very different. I love England for different reasons. I love writing music in London – it’s so so inspiring.

What do you miss most about your hometown?

My brother and Lepp’s farmers market ha ha

How do you think your song writing process has changed since your debut release ‘Sad Song’ in 2019 to your latest single ‘One Hit Wonder’? Do you think it has changed at all?

I think it has stayed the same in many ways but it’s more storytelling now.

Which one of your tracks are you the proudest of?

Probably ‘Cant Wait To Be Pretty’ just because of how honest it is.

Which track would you direct people to who haven’t heard your music before, that sums you up as an artist?

I think ‘Cant Wait To Be Pretty’ or ‘Ruin’.

What are your future plans? New releases, a new album, another tour?

Ive been writing in Nashville for another project…

What would be your advice for any aspiring pop stars?

To write as much as you can and with friends!

What’s the best thing about being a pop star?
The shows and meeting the fans after the shows”.

I am going to end with an interview from Ticketmaster Discover. Also going back to August, they spoke to Cate ahead of her British tour. Having enjoyed so much momentum off the back of some incredible singles, there was this intrigue and interest. A lot of people wanting to know how the people and music of her native Canada stacks up against the U.K. There is no doubt that Cate is a modern music treasure that everyone should know about:

“Have you found British pop to be a friendly space in general?

Yeah, in my experience. When I first moved here it was COVID, so it was really hard to make friends. But I feel like once I met a few people it was really welcoming. I feel like every girly musician I meet at shows is always so nice.

And it’s less competitive that it used to be, I guess maybe because with Spotify and TikTok there’s more room for everyone. Especially in the UK. Obviously, there’s little ounces of it, but I feel like I’ve been lucky with all the people I’ve met.

How have you found the British pop scene in general compared to your experience in Canada?

It’s interesting, because Canada has so many talented musicians, but there’re not a lot of sessions going on unless you’re in Toronto. I grew up right outside of Vancouver, and those sessions… you couldn’t really fill a week, whereas in London there’s just a lot more things happening. And Vancouver’s live scene too… it’s a shame, because there’re so many good musicians there and so many amazing people who go to Vancouver, but it’s a very tame city for live music. London has a lot more going on, which is why I moved. If you grow up making music in Canada, you kind of assume you have to move to America or the UK. But I love Vancouver. Home of Carly Rae Jepsen!

In songs like ‘Can’t Wait To Be Pretty’ and ‘Groupie’, you talk a lot about these feelings of inadequacy and coming in second to someone else. Have you found that writing these songs and seeing the response to them has healed those feelings at all?

It’s so healing. Singing ‘Can’t Wait To Be Pretty’ used to be really scary, but now it’s one of my favourite moments of the set. I feel like once I release a song, the feeling is, it was mine and now it’s not. I’m very lucky that the people who come to my shows are really open. It’s all girls holding each other, and it’s so cute.

It’s a real sisterhood feeling. Which I feel is so indicative of where female pop is at the moment – that willingness to confront ugly and uncomfortable emotions head on.

That’s what I look for in the music that I love. I listen to a lot of sad songs to make myself happier. In ‘Can’t Wait To Be Pretty’, I’m capturing this really obscene feeling, and it doesn’t mean that’s how I feel all the time, but it’s there, and it’s put into something. And it’s cool to see at the shows, too. I feel like live music is so exciting right now. I was saying this about Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. People dressing up and getting so excited for concerts just feels so nice after COVID when we couldn’t go to anything.

And at my shows too, it’s a lot of glitter and a lot of pink and a lot of girls holding each other and it feels like… somebody said it feels like a drunk girls’ bathroom. Which is really cute. There’s a lot of very unapologetic girliness.

Looking a little bit further into the future, is a debut album something you’re starting to think about?

I’m definitely starting to think about an album, which is really exciting. Like, how I’d want that to sound and where I want to make it. I’m going to Nashville in August, and I think I’m gonna put a whole bunch of songs together and start thinking about an album. I’m gonna deep it. I’ve never done it before. It’s why I put out an eight song EP but I didn’t call it an album. I think the first album I make has to be so, like, entirely me. Right now, I’m really lucky. I get to just experiment with a whole bunch of sounds. I feel like the stuff I was doing on the last EP was more like singer songwriter pop. I love it, and I think I’ll eventually go back to that kind of acoustic pop. I think if I put out an album, it’ll kind of be like that.

And even further ahead, what are your main goals for the next few years of your career?

I want to tour in Canada and America. That’s one of my biggest goals, whether it’s opening up for someone or doing my own tour. I want to have at least an album or two out in five years and tour self-sufficiently”.

If you have not heard Cate or know much about her, then go and check out her social media. Rocket Science and You Don’t Love Me are her latest offerings. Yet more terrific single, you feel that 2024 is going to be Cate’s biggest year so far! She is an artist that all eyes should be on. I hope to see her play live if she has a London date soon. For those hunting a new artist who will continue to exceed expectations with their music, then look no further than…

THE wonderful Cate.

____________

Follow Cate

Official:

https://www.cateofficial.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/catecanning/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/catecanning

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@catecanning

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7D25zMq1tDmT0nfh6ieYph

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAdjKaEb4cki7NyKojOGgrA

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/catecanning/

FEATURE: The First Sound of the First Track: Inside Kate Bush’s Moving and the Majestic The Kick Inside

FEATURE:

 

 

The First Sound of the First Track

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

Inside Kate Bush’s Moving and the Majestic The Kick Inside

_________

THERE are a couple of interviews…

that I wanted to cover off. I will write more about The Kick Inside closer to its forty-sixth anniversary on 17th February. Today, I will discuss it in the context of its remarkable opening track. Although Wuthering Heights, Kate Bush’s debut single, was released on 20th January, 1978, some may not have heard that. In any case, the first track on The Kick Inside is Moving. It is really the only song that could open the album. It is a song I always felt could have been released as a single in the U.K. It clearly meant a lot to Bush. Opening her album with whale song (it is sampled from Songs of the Humpback Whale, an album including recordings of whale vocalisations made by Dr. Roger S. Payne), there is this beautiful meditation on personal growth and crashing the lily in her soul – meaning her timidity and fears were going. Getting rid of any sadness or lack of will, this song about growing and connecting with dance the physical. It was for her mime instructor, Lindsay Kemp. He taught mime in London during the 1970s. Bush attended his class and learned a lot from him. Someone who helped bring Kate Bush out of herself, this first track on her debut album is dedicated to Kemp. There is a lot to love and admire about Moving. One reason I want to cover it off is because it was released as a single in Japan on 5th February, 1978. Time to discuss the song on its forty-sixth anniversary. First, the Kate Bush Encyclopedia give some details about one of Kate Bush’s finest and most beautiful songs:

“Moving’ is a song written by Kate Bush, included on her debut album The Kick Inside. The song is a tribute to Lindsay Kemp, who was her mime teacher in the mid-Seventies. She explained in an interview, “He needed a song written to him. He opened up my eyes to the meanings of movement. He makes you feel so good. If you’ve got two left feet it’s ‘you dance like an angel darling.’ He fills people up, you’re an empty glass and glug, glug, glug, he’s filled you with champagne.”

‘Moving’ opens with a whale song sampled from Songs of the Humpback Whale, an LP including recordings of whale vocalizations made by Dr. Roger S. Payne.

Formats

On 6 February 1978, ‘Moving’ was released as a 7″ single in Japan only, featuring Wuthering Heights on the B-side. 

Versions

There are two officially released versions of ‘Moving’: the album version and the live version from Hammersmith Odeon. However, a demo version from 1977 has also surfaced and was released on various bootleg cd’s.

Performances

Soon after the release of The Kick Inside, Bush performed ‘Moving’ alongside with ‘Them Heavy People’ on 25 February 1978 on the BBC TV show Saturday Nights at the Mill. On 12 May, she took part in a Dutch special TV show dedicated to the opening of the Haunted Castle, the new attraction of the amusement park Efteling. She performed six songs in six videos filmed near the castle and across the park. At the beginning of the video for ‘Moving’, the camera shows a tombstone covered with leaves. Then, the wind blows the leaves and lets appear the name of Kate Bush. She performs the song in front of the castle’s door. In June 1978, Bush sang ‘Moving’ at Nippon Budokan during the Tokyo Music Festival. The performance was retransmitted on the Japanese television on 21 June and was followed by a 35 million audience. She won the silver prize alongside with the American R&B band The Emotions. In 1979, Bush included ‘Moving’ on her first tour, The Tour of Life. Her performance can be seen on the video Live at Hammersmith Odeon”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz 

There are few opening tracks on a Kate Bush album as strong and fitting as Moving. For those who bought the album back in 1978, putting down the needle and listening to Moving come into view must have been an experience for the senses! Like nothing else in music at the time, it is this hypnotic and gorgeous song that takes you somewhere else. You lose yourself to it. Even though The Skinny misinterpreted the ‘crushed lily’ line in Moving, they did acknowledge that it was a perfect opening track on Kate Bush’s debut album:

“Opening track Moving was the only other song to be released before the whole album. However, for inexplicable marketing reasons it was only released in Japan, with Wuthering Heights as its B-side. It begins, and hence begins canonical Kate Bush, with 20 seconds of whale song before segueing into a moving tribute to Lindsay Kemp, with whom Bush had taken mime classes (and also taught, influenced and collaborated with David Bowie). The lyrics invoke a sense of motion as an enveloping state, one which surrounds and affects, that can uplift, 'How I'm moved, how you move me / With your beauty's potency / You give me life...', but can also be destructive, as exemplified in the abstruse line: 'You crush the lily in my soul'. A mixture of gleefully simple sentiment, theatrics and enigma; a perfect introduction”.

I do think that there is not enough focus on The Kick Inside. Kate Bush’s debut album, it is enormously important. I am going to cover it in more detail closer to its anniversary on 17th February. With all thirteen tracks written by Kate Bush, this insanely talented and original teenage artist came into the music world. She would develop her sound. Many argue that she would hit her peak later on. I still think that The Kick Inside is her best album. In terms of its range and the impact it has, there is no other album that leaves the same impressions. I can only imagine the excitement Kate Bush felt entering the studio (AIR in London) when she recorded her debut! It was a new experience for her. Showing no weaknesses or nerves, what she put out into the world in 1978 is this masterpiece. Starting with the stunningly beautiful Moving, you cannot help but be hooked into the album. It gets into your head and heart and stays with you. With so much attention paid to Hounds of Love (1985), I do think that some overlook Bush’s earliest albums. Moving is one of thirteen distinct and fantastic songs. I feel it would have been a chart success if it was released in the U.K. Instead, we had Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes. Both remarkable songs, Kate Bush was spoiled for choice when it came to potential singles! The wonderful Moving was…

THE perfect introduction.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Carpark

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Carpark

_________

AN exceptional trio…

who have not long released their latest single, Happy on Mars, it comes off the back of some late releases last year from Carpark. Declaring their intentions for 2024, this is a phenomenal group that people need to get behind. The London trio consists of lead singer and bassist Scottie, drummer Loda and guitarist Hattie. I am going to get to some interviews with the band. They have been together a little while now, though they were making their earliest moves during the pandemic. I always feel sorry for artists that had this start. It is almost like last year and this is ‘catch-up’ in terms of releases and visibility. Carpark put out singles in 2021 and the tremendous E.P., The World Ended in 2012, in 2022. Before getting to some more up-to-date press, When the Horn Blows covered the single, Don’t Want You, in 2022. They gave us some background to this incredibly tight-knit and wonderfully talented trio:

“The London-based 3-piece consists of lead singer and bassist Scottie, drummer Loda, and guitarist Hattie. From playing their first gig in a friend’s garage only last year, to opening for Lauran Hibberd on her UK tour, the indie rock band have made notable accomplishments since their musical debut in April 2021. Since releasing their first EP ‘The World Ended in 2012’ this March, 2022 has been a busy year for Carpark, consisting of various festival appearances over the summer, as well as two London headline shows. The trio’s talent has not gone unnoticed, with the self-managed band gaining themselves features on Jack Saunders’ Radio 1 Future Artists show and Spotify’s New Music Friday UK”.

With fresh material out this year already, many are looking forward to a possible album from Carpark. There are a smattering of interviews and profiles from between 2021 and 2023. There are going to be further pieces as we move through the year and more and more people get to know Carpark. There is actually an E.P., Born to Be Average, coming next month. It is a perfect time to spotlight the trio. I shall come to an article that mentions the E.P. at the end. Before that, there are a couple of features/interview I want to include. I will start with an interview from Bring the Noise from last year. An exciting time for Carpark, they were getting under people’s skins and getting their music played at some big radio stations:

“People definitely came and it was so much fun. It was the perfect way to start our day. So for people who haven’t heard of Carpark before can you sum yourselves up in five words?

H: We can do one each.

S: Concrete.

H: Rock.

S: Cars.

H: Dry humour.

Loda: Chaos.

S: You can choose whichever five sum us up best.

You released ‘The World Ended in 2012’ last year, what can you tell us about any news music and follow up plans? You played Suburbs Of Hell during your set. What can we expect and when can we expect it?

S: Suburbs Of Hell is going to be the next single we release which we’re really, really excited about and it’s going to be end of summer. Yeah, we don’t know the exact release date yet. But like, we had the first mix yesterday and it’s sounding great. We’re really excited to get that out.

H: It’s close!

So what is the vibe going to be? Is it going to be the same as the old Carpark? Are we going to hear something completely new?

L: I think sonically it’s definitely levelled up and we’re really, really excited about the new songs. I think in terms of the things that we’re writing about now yeah, I think it’s kind of changed a lot. I don’t know we kind of were going through a bit of a phase where everything we’re writing is a bit like catastrophic and a bit like maybe that’s the running theme of everything we write is everything’s a bit awful, but we’re actually positive people I think.

S: feel like it’s gonna be a slight evolution. But you know, we might still throw in a little ballady number.

Everybody loves a ballad don’t they? Those are the rules.

S: Those definitely are the rules. We plan on following them.

And final question, what are your 2023 and beyond plans for the band?

S: 2023 plans are we have a headline show. Our next headline show, which is on the 29th of September at the Lower Third on Denmark Street, which we’re really excited about. That’s going to kind of be around the release of new music, which we’re pretty hyped for. Yeah, so after this festival, we’ve got like a few weeks in the studio recording our next thing. So yeah, we’re gonna be busy, but we’re really excited”.

There is a lot coming up for Carpark. An E.P. is on its way. No doubt an album will be along soon. I am thrilled to see this London three-piece getting a lot of love and applause. Their music is instantly compelling and addictive. I hope to see them live very soon. Euphoriazine featured the trio when covering their new track, Suburbs of Hell. That came out back in October. Another big step from the immense Carpark:

“Carpark, made up of Hattie, Scottie and Loda, are back with their brand new single,  “Suburbs of Hell.” Transporting listeners to what could be the soundtrack of a 2000s coming of age movie, Carpark brings the energy, relatability factor and nostalgic feel to their music. Gaining much deserved attention from BBC Radio 1’s Nels Hylton and Jack Saunders, it is clear to see why Carpark are a band that many people have taken an interest in.

With a catchy chorus, sugar sweet vocals and the grungy undertone, Carpark knows what it takes to create a signature track and not be predictable with whatever they deliver. That’s what sets them apart in this ever changing scene. The relationship that all three members have with each other, both through their live performances and on record works perfectly to create a song like “Suburbs of Hell.”

Produced by Spaceman, who produced music for artists including Dua Lipa and Dermot Kennedy, it is hard for emotion not to shine through in the creative process. Carpark are rewriting the rules and continue to bring a refreshing vibe to the scene. According to the band, the meaning behind “Suburbs Of Hell” is, “A dark parallel reality brought to life, it’s about the anger and frustration of being trapped in the inner city of hell but aspiring to live out in the suburbs and sunbathe with the devil in your back garden.” This is something that many people may be able to resonate to, as well as the band’s authentic character and style.

The production of the track allows each element to stand out and have its own moment. “Suburbs of Hell” fits in perfectly amongst the band discography. The signature sound of Carpark always shines through, as well as being able to switch things up which makes things exciting for every release. This year saw the band play festivals including Barn On The Farm and 2000 Trees, where they played the track live for the first time. Quickly capturing the attention of the crowd, this is well translated on the record.

Encapsulating their style and culture in their songs, this doesn’t go unnoticed. It shines through and as always, it feels authentic. 2022 saw Carpark drop their five track debut EP which received high praises and rightly so. This gave people an insight into the trio and what they are here to deliver. “Suburbs of Hell” does the same. Showcasing infectious riffs and strong drum beats, the track is a reminder of living in the real world and knowing exactly where you want to be, as well as recognising that there can be obstacles in the way to overcome.

In this ever so changing industry, staying authentic and releasing music that resonates with the audience is one but major step to gaining the right sort of fans and being seen in a positive light. This is what Hattie, Loda and Scottie do best and will surely continue to do throughout their career. If “Suburbs of Hell” is anything to go by, especially with the release of their highly- anticipated EP, Carpark are ready to kick off 2024 the right way”.

Last month, Loud Women got to listen to Born to Be Average. It does seem like the E.P. heralds in a new chapter and sonic evolution for Scottie, Loda and Hattie. It does sound like the E.P. is Carpark stamping their personality on the scene! Really announcing themselves. Listening to their songs and you get a real live sense. Like the songs are recorded live. Something that means their songs will translate to the stage easily:

“They may cite Blink-182 as one of their biggest inspirations, but Carpark are redefining pop punk and making it their own. The effortlessly cool trio are here to make you play air guitar in your bedroom like you’re fifteen again.

Scottie, Hattie, and Loda (even their names are cool!) already have a stream of knockout singles and an EP under their belt. Now they promise an enticing follow-up, Born To Be Average, dropping early next year.

Two of the five tracks on the upcoming EP have been released so far. ‘MIA’ is an angsty, nostalgic grunge-fest with dreamy bedroom vocals and a home-style video to match. Any ’90s baby is sure to be transported back to the days of wailing into their hairbrush surrounded by band posters and fumes of Charlie Red. ‘Suburbs of Hell’ is pure classic guitar pop, though the lyrics paint an ultra-relatable picture of feminine rage.

With so much variety to offer in just two of its tracks, Born To Be Average is set to be a real gem of an EP. The band themselves promise that all sonic bases will be covered, stating:

“Born To Be Average introduces the new era of Carpark with heavy rock and even some dance elements, but we also have a ballad that pays homage to earlier Carpark, and a song that is so undeniably inspired by the pop/punk influences we grew up on. It’s been a really fun process and we can’t wait for everybody to hear all five songs in February”.

There is nothing average about Carpark. Their E.P. is going to get a lot of attention. Based on what they have released so far, there is no doubt they are going to be on the scene for years to come. Avoiding too many carpark-related jokes, but they are very much here for a longstay. Such a close-knit and fantastic trio, recent singles Happy on Mars and MIA give you an impression of what the E.P. will be like. A group that you need in your life, spend some time with the music of Carpark. Once heard, it is impossible to forget…

THIS electric and exciting trio.

___________

Follow Carpark

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/carparkband/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@carpark.band

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/carparkband

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6wNKTp1adxnPYP5L3Vja3b

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@carparkband

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Carparkband/

FEATURE: Spotlight: EMMI IIDA

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Tabitha Brooke

EMMI IIDA

_________

AN artist who…

is very much more than just the music she is making, EMMI IIDA is someone who needs to be on your radar. What I mean by that is that music and this new artistry is a culmination of other things. A way to create something holistic through music. Someone who wants to not only create incredible sounds that are remembered and people embrace. There is this consideration towards mental and spiritual heath. Nourishment and fulfilment. I will come to some features and interviews in a minute so that we can learn more and getting a better impression of EMMI IIDA. Before that, from her website, is some detail and biography about this incredible creative:

“EMMI IIDA (Emmi Granlund), 33, is an internationally recognised Finnish visual artist, holistic interior architect & musician currently based in the countryside of Southern Finland. She creates art in unlimited forms through her company EFG Productions Oy, expanding her horizons consistently. Most recently, she has founded EFG Records Oy, a record label focusing on bringing holistic wellbeing and union with healing frequencies”.

I know that, among other radio stations, EMMI IIDA has received praise and airtime from Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 6 Music. Craig Charles has also featured her work. I shall end with a feature about the amazing single, Trinity (perhaps her strongest work to date). There is a lot to recommend and love about EMMI IIDA.

I will wrap up with a couple of features relating to Trinity. It is early days still, so we shall see more music from EMMI IIDA this year. Someone I am excited about and would recommend to anyone. So different to other artists out there. You get the impression that, unlike most, EMMI IIDA is trying to make the listener feel better. Get inside their heart and mind. This holistic approach to music. The music itself is incredible! It does seem that she is going to be very busy throughout 2024. I shall come to an interview from back in October. Before that, Naluda Magazine spoke with EMMI IIDA about the single, Energy Guru, and what she has planned for 2024:

“Check out our interview with internationally recognized Finnish visual artist, holistic interior architect & musician EMMI IIDA who just released her new single ‘Energy Guru’ via EFG Records Oy.

The multi-faceted artist has hosted solo art exhibitions around the world, from Barcelona to Los Angeles. She now seeks to translate her artistic prowess into her music, with ‘Energy Guru’ set as her second official release, following the success of her song ‘Blooming’, which gained support from notable tastemakers METAL Magazine and CLASH Mag, as well as securing her an interview with MTV Finland. In addition, ‘Energy Guru’ was produced by #1, gold-disc selling songwriter and producer Jess Sharman, who has created music for shows and movies like Grey’s Anatomy, Love Island and The Inbetweeners.

Hi EMMI, please tell us a little about you?

I was born and raised in the countryside of Southern Finland, was the oldest of six kids with five younger brothers… we had kind of a free upbringing in a countryside environment so that leaves a lot of room for creativity, I’ve been painting and making things from scratch from a young age. For the past decade I lived in the States, in Minneapolis and Nashville, and recently moved back to Finland with my two kids, appreciating it all, the safety and pure nature, even more now.

Describe your sound in 3 words?

Ethereal, dreamy, meditative

Who influenced you and why did you choose to make music?

People who expand their limits inspire me. Music has always been close to my heart but it was only 4 years ago when I started getting these songs. Or should I say I opened up to the possibility of being able to write a song.

Tell us about your new single “Energy Guru?”

It’s about the connection with the divine, with it all. It’s about finding the truth, your own true nature and co-creating your world with the Source, feeling oneness, union with everything there is.

What’s the story behind the song?

The song started playing in my head summer 2020 when I was meditating at a cabin in Lapland of Finland. It was playing with the full orchestra, explaining to me that you can find the energy guru within you, when you calm your mind, listen to your intuition and get clear with anything that’s been bothering you.

How was working with popular producer Jess Sharman in the project?

Jess is such a talent, both in songwriting and producing. We were going through the lyrics and the song structure and tweaking it to find the best possible outcome for the song, and I feel like we did. I learned so much working with her this spring and I’m very, very grateful to have the honour to be working with her.

What is the most rewarding part of your work?

Personally it’s been so healing to create these songs. The element of the healing frequencies in the songs and the messages of the songs are so therapeutic in themselves, that I feel success if one other person other than myself gets the same feeling of hope and love that has helped me. Also it’s so rewarding when my kids sing the lyrics of the songs, that brings me to tears every time.

If you were a book, what would be the title of the book and why?

I have written a book actually, related to the album! It’ll be published in 2024 so you’ll see.

What’s next for EMMI IIDA in the last months of 2023 and for 2024?

Exploring, grounding and expanding. Taking time for just being”.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by EMMI IIDA (@emmi.granlund)

Phuture Sound spoke with EMMI IIDA back in October. With the amazing Blooming out in the world, they wanted to know about her the defining moment in her career, in addition to what is her biggest inspiration as an artist. I would encourage everyone to spend some time with this amazing artist:

“EMMI IIDA is an internationally-recognised Finnish visual artist, holistic interior architect & musician currently based in the countryside of Southern Finland. She released a new single, ‘Blooming’, on the 22nd of September 2023 via her own label EFG Records Oy. The song is accompanied by a stunning music video filmed in the Peak District of England, produced by Sebastian Luke-Virgo. The multi-facetedartist has hosted solo art exhibitions around the world, from Barcelona to Los Angelesand now seeks to translate her artistic prowess into her music, with ‘Blooming’ set as her first major official release. Accelerating her artistic momentum, the track has already gained support from notable tastemaker METAL Magazine. We chatted with the multi-modal artist below.

Walk us through your creative process?

For me having space and time for creativity is vital, creating the right atmosphere for those subtle energies to flow and to get inspired. I have two boys, who are 2 and 4, so peace and quiet is such a luxury in our household, but I try to make time for my morning rituals every day: lighting up a candle, burning palo santo and grounding incense, taking a moment for a meditation session and journaling. That truly sets the tone for the day and uplifts your vibrational levels. And that opens up the space for new ideas and songs, too.

What has been the most defining moment of your musical career?

I opened up to the idea of creating songs about four years ago. It was all about curiosity and honouring the art form of music, as previously I had been focusing on my visual art, designing and creating clothing and interiors – I did my school for interior architecture and design. So at first, after writing down my first song, I started playing with Garageband and self-producing some sort of demos of them. I lived in Nashville at the time, for the past four years, and studied Logic Pro with an engineer for a spring, wanting to learn how to speak the same language with actual producers and learn more about the process. The eagerness of making the best versions of my songs was the defining moment of my career. I was lucky to find the talented team around me, Jessica Sharman as co-writer and producer and Femke Weidema as mixer and masterer. It’s been such an eye opening project, creating this whole album of 14 songs and I’m excited and hopeful for them to help someone with similar struggles that I’ve been going through.

@emmiidaworld

BLOOMING MUSIC VIDEO PREMIERED BY CLASH MAGAZINE

♬ original sound - EMMI IIDA

What equipment or software are you using the most?

All of the instruments in the songs are produced electronically, we used Logic Pro for them. All of the songs are tuned into 432 Hz which has been shown in the studies that it improves one’s wellness levels by lowering stress, helping to get better sleep and bringing harmony instead of the constant chaos in our lives. I also studied sound healing and do sound baths with Tibetan singing bowls, gongs and koshis – sound is a great way to fall into a meditational state of mind, we’re re all vibrational beings and full of water, so that immediately takes us to peace and calm. Also the songs of this project have additional frequencies to unblock specific chakras, that are related to the themes, the deeper messages of the songs. For example, ‘Blooming‘ is for the sacral chakra, our sensuality and creativity, and Energy Guru is for crown chakra, our connection with it all, the oneness.

Whats your performance setup looking like?

The last time I was singing solo for an audience was with a choir as a kid, so we’ll see what kind of Beyonce level performance will unfold this time, haha.

Who are your biggest inspirations at the moment?

My kids inspire me every day. It’s fascinating to see the level of creativity when one hasn’t been programmed yet or doesn’t have any issues with self-confidence, it’s just pure joy, excitement and creation.

Whats next for you as an artist?

I have many upcoming projects, filming music videos, producing new songs and painting for art exhibitions.. and performing the songs of this project, too! I’m excited to expand my horizons as an artist and open to see where it takes me”.

Let’s wrap up with some more recent press. Muze.fm featured EMMI IIDA in December. Highlighting the incredible single, Trinity, it was another remarkable release from the multi-talented Finnish artist. Someone who is going to make some really big steps through this year. I do hope that there are some gig dates in the U.K. later in the year. Plenty of people here who would love to see her:

“Finnish multi-modal artist EMMI IIDA has released an avant-pop single, ‘Trinity’ on the 1st of December 2023 via her own label EFG Records Oy. EMMI IIDA is an internationally-recognised visual artist, holistic interior architect & musician. The single follows the success of ‘Blooming’ and ‘Energy Guru’, which saw support from notable tastemakers METAL Magazine, CLASH Magazine, and NOCTIS Mag as well as securing her an interview with MTV Finland. ‘Trinity’ premiered with an interview from Naluda MAG and received early airplay from BBC 6’s Craig Charles as well as over on RTÉ 2FM.

‘Trinity’, sees EMMI IIDA ramping up the attitude – her last two singles were distinctly spacey, ambient and ethereal – here, her vocal tone and instrumental backing are more upbeat, with more of a pop sensibility, while still retaining her holistic and spiritual intentions . Featuring a pulsating synth bass over a deep marching drum beat, distorted synth arpeggios, pads, and effects, the track is a gorgeously extraterrestrial sonic landscape.

EMMI IIDA shared: “Think about being an alien who arrives on Earth for the first time. She’s wondering what’s going on in here, all the madness, and if we still have time to make a change and save it all. ‘Trinity’ is all about finding that power within, activating our solar plexus chakra, through the frequencies and messages of the song”.

@emmiidaworld

TRINITY OUT NOW

♬ original sound - EMMI IIDA

I will finish off with Wonderland. Magazine and their spotlight of EMMI IIDA. There has been a lot of positive press and praise of EMMI IIDA from the U.K. Her music is definitely hitting people and leaving an impression. Someone I am quite new to but was instantly fascinated by. I think she is going to go a very long way in the coming years. A name to keep your eye out for. Trinity is a magnificent song that showcases a wonderful and hugely creative soul that everybody needs to know about. Make sure you follow her on social media:

“EMMI IIDA, a versatile Finnish artist, seamlessly navigates between various creative pursuits, spanning from visual artistry to holistic interior design. In her latest work, ‘Trinity,’ Iida showcases a mesmerizing and experimental evolution in her musical repertoire, skilfully fusing avant-pop elements with her distinctive ethereal sound. The track features distorted synth arpeggios, pads, and effects, creating a sonic backdrop that complements the eclectic visuals which feels synonymous with retro science-fiction cinema.

Set against the desert backdrop of Joshua Tree, California, ‘Trinity’ captures the ethereal essence of EMMI IIDA, whilst evoking memories of late-90s sci-fi fantasy cinema. The narrative commences with EMMI descending from the expansive blue skies, adorned in a silver ensemble and futuristic visors. As she journeys through the desert, a radiant burst of light metamorphoses her into a more ‘human’ form, now clad in all black. A serendipitous encounter with a wanderer reveals a metaphysical connection, tapping into IIDA’s distinctive exploration of spirituality, as she activates his third eye.

Discussing the themes and inspirations behind the project, Emmi shared: “’Trinity’s music video is about an extra-terrestrial landing on Earth against her own will, as she has been given a mission of waking people up, trusting their intuition, activating their own willpower, solar plexus chakra and opening their third eye. She’s wondering about the state of our Earth and horrified by how it currently is: how we’re fighting instead of finding our way to union, oneness. She’s hoping there’s still time left for us to make a change. Is there?”.

I wanted to spend some time with the brilliant EMMI IIDA. You may not have heard of her name, though I guarantee you will love her music. A label owner who has that different approach to music, as EMMI IIDA is a visual artist and holistic interior architect, you get this different approach to music. Songs that are designed to heal, lift and inspire the listener. A debut album is out on 22nd February. She is a stunning artist who I predict good things for. Do make sure you follow EMMI IIDA, as she is very much…

SET for massive success.

______________

Follow EMMI IIDA

 Official:

https://emmiida.world/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/emmi.granlund/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@emmiidaworld

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/48cuVGUphasvPgtyetiLP5

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBGz1eoyD0m53_L4JR7HQLA

FEATURE: Speak the Rhythm on Your Own: Soundgarden’s Spoonman at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

Speak the Rhythm on Your Own

Soundgarden’s Spoonman at Thirty

_________

I will mark the album…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Soundgarden (Matt Cameron, Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Chris Cornell) in February 1994/PHOTO CREDIT: 4/Shinko Music/Getty Images

closer to its thirtieth anniversary on 8th March. That album in question is one of the best of the decade. It is Soundgarden’s immense and near-perfect fourth studio album, Superunknown. It is rammed with some simply awesome songs. Most know it for Black Hole Sun. The third single from the album, it was released on 13th May, 1994. Because the lead single, Spoonman, was released on 15th February, 1994 – quite an interesting post-Valentine’s Day release! -, I wanted to mark its upcoming thirtieth anniversary. It is one of the finest songs from an album that I really love. I will come to the single and dive deeper. A fifteen-track album can seem a bit sprawling. In the case of Superunknown, you are engaged to the very end! Spoonman is the eighth track. In the middle of the pack, it is a nice kick into the second side. Even if the first half is stronger – as it contains Black Hole Sun, Superunknown, My Wave and Fell on Black Days -, Superunknown is well sequenced so that there is a strong end to the album. Written by the band’s lead, Chris Cornell, I wanted to salute this great track. We sadly lost Cornell on 18th May, 2017. He is still very much missed! That incredibly powerful, raw voice that could display so many emotions and so much depth, not enough people talk about him in terms of his songwriting. An incredibly original and intelligent lyricist, he was the antithesis to some of the more meat-headed and simplistic Grunge and Alternative bands of the 1990s - those who were writing sexist, dumb and banal lyrics. A single that was a top twenty in the U.K. and a top five in the U.S., Spoonman remains one of Soundgarden’s best-loved songs. It is their third most-streamed song on Spotify (behind Fell on Black Days and the gold medal holder, Black Hole Sun).

In terms of the songs on Superunknown, there are tracks about Cornell’s depression and emotional state. Black Hole Sun seems like a need for sunshine and hope following bleakness. Released around the time of Kurt Cobain’s suicide in 1994, a feeling of something coming and washing away the rain. Spoonman is less personal and enigmatic. Its title suggest something quite eccentric. It is an appropriate mid-album track. Most would pass people by or be a great pivot/interval. Instead, Spoonman is a natural single and one of Soundgarden’s best compositions. In this Request interview from October, whilst exploring and explaining the lyrics behind Superunknown songs, Chris Cornell revealed Spoonman’s influence and story:

“Getting back to Superunknown, the first single was "Spoonman." The song is superficially about Artis the Spoonman, but the underlying sentiment is that rhythm and music have healing properties.

It's more about the paradox of who he is and what people perceive him as. He's a street musician, but when he's playing on the street, he is given a value and judged completely wrong by someone else. They think he's a street person, or he's doing this because he can't hold down a regular job. They put him a few pegs down on the social ladder because of how they perceive someone who dresses differently. The lyrics express the sentiment that I much more easily identify with someone like Artis than I would watch him play”.

Before moving on, Loudwire published a feature in October about the magnificent Spoonman. One of the band’s most iconic songs, some people are not aware of its truth and meaning. It is definitely a standout of Superunknown in that sense. Nearly thirty years old, this song still holds a quirkiness, mystique, power and beauty that few other tracks. Testament to the connection and musicianship of Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron:

“The track is featured on the band's fourth and most commercially-successful album Superunknown, which came out in 1994. It peaked at No. 3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock songs chart, and it won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance at the 1995 Grammy Awards. Despite its popularity, many people don't know the origin story of the song, so we're going to dive in and explain it.

Who Is the 'Spoonman'?

"Spoonman" was inspired by a man named Artis, who made a name for himself as a street performer in Seattle. His instrument of choice were always spoons, so he was given the name "Artis the Spoonman." According to his website, he started performing in 1972, and eventually shared a stage with Frank Zappa and Aerosmith, in addition to Soundgarden.

“My mom bought me a pair of musical spoons when I was 10... I had a collection of records that I played along with on my bongos and spoons and I’d sing along, too. She never told me to turn it down or turn off the music," Atis recalled to Maximum Ink in 2019. "I’ve always wanted to be a rocker... Imagine yourself as a 12-year-old, and instead of being something like what your father was, you said: poet or musician. Who is going to accept that? I just wanted to be a rock star, and who would have thought of that?”

"It's more about the paradox of who he is and what people perceive him as. He's a street musician, but when he's playing on the street, he is given a value and judged completely wrong by someone else," Chris Cornell said of the song in an interview with Request in 1994.

"They think he's a street person, or he's doing this because he can't hold down a regular job. They put him a few pegs down on the social ladder because of how they perceive someone who dresses differently. The lyrics express the sentiment that I much more easily identify with someone like Artis than I would watch him play."

What Was Artis the Spoonman's Connection to Soundgarden?

Soundgarden knew of Artis because he'd been performing in Seattle for years, and they developed a friendship in the '90s. The rockers invited the artist to open one of their shows in Seattle, and they later asked him to play his spoons on the recording of the song "Spoonman." He's also the star of the music video.

"We didn't know what a spoon solo was gonna sound like on a Soundgarden song since it's never happened before. You don't hear a lot of rock songs with spoons in them, so it was sort of an experiment and it turned out really great," Cornell said during a special with MTV.

"I never really met 'em until they invited me to open a show for them two years ago here in Seattle," Artis explained in the clip. "When I'm in Seattle, or wherever I'm anywhere, my only aspiration and involvement vocationally for 20 years is playing spoons and entertaining."

IN THIS PHOTO: Artis the Spoonman, pictured left, performing in Seattle in 1993

Where Is Artis the Spoonman Now?

Artis suffered a heart attack in 2002, according to The Seattle Times, and a pass-the-hat benefit held during a festival in Seattle helped raise over $3,200 for him to help with his medical bills. Several years later, he moved to Port Townsend, Wash. and has lived there ever since [via KUOW.org].

He released an album called Finally in 2018, and keeps the spoons from the "Spoonman" video in a cabinet in his home, according to the aforementioned Maximum Ink interview.

“I just managed to be a rock-star with fucking spoons!” he concluded”.

There are features like this that give more insight into a classic song. I am fascinated by the origins of Spoonman and how it took shape. The fact that it sounds like an anomaly on Superunknown is because of its inspiration. Rather than Chris Cornell taking from the personal or traditional lyrical sources, this song has a very different starting point – especially in terms of its geography. Rolling Stone explained when they marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of Superunknown on 8th March, 2019:

“In a deleted scene from Cameron Crowe‘s grunge-steeped 1992 rom com Singles, Matt Dillon’s character, Cliff Poncier, busks on a Seattle street. A friend walks by and asks him what happened to his band, Citizen Dick. “They didn’t get it; they weren’t with the program,” the dudely, long-haired singer-songwriter says. “But I’m solo now — I’m doing some really, really interesting things.”

At that point, he reaches down and grabs a homemade demo tape from a box. “That’s my latest,” he says of the cassette, adorned with his silhouette and simply titled Poncier. “They’re playing that record in France.”

At the time, Poncier wasn’t real, but the fictional tape — the brainchild of Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament — served as the inspiration for “Spoonman,” a future classic by Soundgarden, one of the bands featured in the film.

“The idea was that Matt Dillon’s character, Cliff Poncier, in the course of the movie, he loses his band, and he loses his girlfriend, and he gains soul,” Crowe told Rolling Stone of the origins of the Poncier tape “So, there’s a period where he’s on a street corner busking, having lost his band, but beginning his solo career. And there would be, in reality, these guys standing on the corner outside the clubs in Seattle hawking their solo cassettes. So we wanted Cliff Poncier to have his own solo cassette. And Jeff Ament, in classic style, designed this cassette cover and wrote out these fictitious song names for the cassette.

“And Chris Cornell was another guy who was close to us when we were making the record and still is a good friend,” Crowe continued. “I really loved Soundgarden; they were my favorite band. I originally thought Chris could play the lead, but then I think that turned into too big of a commitment for everybody and so he became the guy he is in the movie, but in the course of making the movie he was close to all of us. He was always around.

“Anyway, Jeff Ament had designed this solo cassette which we thought was hilarious because it had all of these cool song titles like ‘Flutter Girl,” and ‘Spoonman,’ and just like a really true-type ‘I’ve lost my band, and now I’m a soulful guy — these are my songs now’ feeling. So we loved that Jeff had played out the fictitious life of Cliff Poncier. And one night, I stayed home, and Nancy [Wilson], we were then married, she went out to a club, and she came back home, and she said, ‘Man, I met this guy, and he was selling solo cassettes, and so I got one for you.’ And she hands me the Cliff Poncier cassette. And I was like, ‘That’s funny, haha.’ And then she said, ‘You should listen to it.’ So I put on the cassette. And holy shit, this is Chris Cornell, as Cliff Poncier, recording all of these songs, with lyrics, and total creative vision, and he has recorded the entire fake, solo cassette.”

“I felt like these titles were brilliant,” Cornell told Rolling Stone of the tape in 2014. “They inspired me. I never would have written [‘Spoonman’] or the other four songs that were part of that if the titles weren’t compelling.”

Cornell’s solo version of “Spoonman,” listed on the tape as “Spoon Man,” appeared in the film and was released at the time on a promo CD. (The entire Poncier EP was reissued in 2017 on the deluxe edition of the Singles soundtrack, and also later came out as a stand-alone Record Store Day exclusive.) Soundgarden’s brawny version of the song would become the first single from the band’s fourth LP, Superunknown, which turns 25 today.

Ament’s original title was inspired by the Seattle street performer Artis the Spoonman, known for playing percussion with spoons. Cornell’s lyrics delved further into Artis’ persona, and the real-life Spoon Man would be featured on the song itself as well as in the video.

“It’s more about the paradox of who he is and what people perceive him as,” Cornell said of the song in a 1994 interview. “He’s a street musician, but when he’s playing on the street, he is given a value and judged completely wrong by someone else. They think he’s a street person, or he’s doing this because he can’t hold down a regular job. They put him a few pegs down on the social ladder because of how they perceive someone who dresses differently.”

Cornell also later credited Artis for inspiring his career as a solo singer-songwriter.

“He also changed my life in that the only thing I do outside of Soundgarden is this one-man acoustic show that I tour with,” he told Rolling Stone. “He was a big inspiration for me that anyone can do that. I remember sitting in a room, probably with eight or 10 people, and he walked in with his leather satchel he always carries with him and took out spoons. Everyone’s jaw dropped. I thought, ‘It’s amazing this guy performs at festivals, fairs and street corners.’ This guy can walk into a room and get a reaction. Suddenly, I felt embarrassed and smaller, ’cause I felt like I call myself a singer, a songwriter, a musician, and I’ve sold millions of records and toured the world, but I can’t do what he can. I can’t just walk into a room and pick up an instrument and perform and entertain everyone and their jaws drop. So that stuck in the back of my mind, and at some point I started to pursue that. He was the main inspiration for that.”

The song would make it to Number Three on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and win the 1995 Grammy for Best Metal Performance. The band performed it hundreds of times, including at Cornell’s final show in Detroit on May 17th, 2017”.

On 15th February, the first taste of the genius album that is Superunknown turns thirty. For many, Spoonman might have been their very first experience of Soundgarden. I think that Black Hole Sun was my initial exposure. I listened back to albums such as Badmotorfinger (1991) later on. Spoonman, in my view, is one of the all-time best Soundgarden releases. A perfect introduction to the classic Superunknown, I wanted to celebrate this song ahead of its thirtieth anniversary. It makes me think of Chris Cornell and how he is so missed today. How he would be chuffed that this song continues to get played and hit new ears.! Superunknown turns thirty in March. Another chance to remember one of the best songwriters and leads of his generation. Spoonman is a typically brilliant offering from a musical mind…

LIKE no other.

FEATURE: U-Love: Remembering the Great J Dilla at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

U-Love

Remembering the Great J Dilla at Fifty

_________

THERE are a few features…

I want to come to, as they look at the genius and legacy of J Dilla. Born James Dewitt Yancey in Detroit, Michigan on 7th February, 1974, many see this incredible producer and Hip-Hop genius as one of the most influential of his day. We sadly lost him on 10th February 2006 at the age of thirty-two because of complications related to lupus. Even though he died very young, he left behind this immense legacy and influence. Posthumous albums have been released. People perhaps know him best for the 2006 album, Donuts. There are weird parallels with David Bowie, in the sense of a career-best album was released both close to his birthday and the day he died. In J Dilla’s case, Donuts was released on 7th February, 2006 – his thirty-second birthday. Three days later, J Dilla died. Heartbreaking that he did not get to see how Donuts was received and celebrated, we are glad that he left behind an incredible body of work. J Dilla emerged during the mid-1990s underground Hip-Hop scene in Detroit. He was a member of the group Slum Village. He was also a member of the Soulquarians. They were a musical collective during the late-1990s and early-2000s. I will come to a book that was written about J Dilla and his impact on the world. First, AllMusic provide some biography about the great J Dilla:

“Frequently and rightly placed in the same context as DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Kanye West, J Dilla (aka Jay Dee) built and sustained a high standing as a producer's producer while maintaining a low profile. When Pharrell Williams appeared on BET's 106 & Park in 2004, he excitedly declared that Dilla was his favorite producer and told an audibly stumped crowd that it had probably never heard of the man. At the time, Dilla had been active for well over a decade and had netted enough beats -- including the Pharcyde's "Runnin'," De La Soul's "Stakes Is High," Common's "The Light," and several others with production teams the Ummah and the Soulquarians -- to be considered an all-time great. Dilla never produced a mainstream smash and, in many cases, his presence has to be confirmed with a liner notes scan. (And even then, that might not help; he occasionally went uncredited.) He never marked his territory like Just Blaze ("Just Blaze!") or Jazze Pha ("This is a Jazze Phizzle produc-shizzle!"), and he never hogged the mike like P. Diddy. He let his music, and its followers, do the talking. Rather than provide immediate (or fleeting) thrills, he was hooked on working the subconscious as much as the neck muscles. He was so focused on his work that it took a severe toll on his health.

Born and raised on the east side of Detroit, Dilla -- James Yancey -- was forced by his parents to become involved with music, and he was a record fanatic at a young age, absorbing funk and rap singles and jazz albums, from Slave to Jack McDuff. He learned to play cello, keyboards, trumpet, and violin, but drums got him like nothing else. He tried his hand at producing tracks on a tape deck by using the pause and record buttons, and he also took up MC'ing. In 1988, he formed Slum Village with Pershing High School friends Baatin and T3. It wasn't until 1992, after receiving some valuable guidance from fellow Detroiter Amp Fiddler, that his talent really began to take shape.

A session keyboardist who had worked with Prince, Parliament, and Enchantment, Fiddler taught Dilla how to use the MPC drum machine. To say that Dilla was a quick study would be an understatement. Fiddler introduced his protégé to A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip, who heard some of Slum Village's material, liked it, and helped get the word out. Following sessions with First Down (a collaboration with Phat Kat, another Detroiter), Little Indian, and alternative rocker Poe, Dilla's production career reached full flight. In 1996 alone, he worked with Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, and the Pharcyde, all the while playing a major role in the Ummah with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. (He did extensive work on Tribe's last two albums.) Before long, hardcore hip-hop fans began to know Dilla for his steady wobble, which was unfailingly musical and rich in details -- shuffling hi-hats, oddly placed handclaps, spacious drum loops with drastically reshaped samples of tracks both obscure and obvious.

Through the remainder of the '90s, Dilla quietly racked up more output, including Janet Jackson's "Got 'Til It's Gone" (for which he did not receive credit), additional tracks for the Pharcyde, and collaborative work with Q-Tip on all of 1999's Amplified. Largely upbeat and filled with boisterous energy and thick sounds, Amplified is one of many pieces of evidence against the argument that Dilla was about one sound and one style. During the producer's steady rise, Slum Village remained a priority. Fantastic, Vol. 2 and Best Kept Secret (the latter credited to J-88, an SV pseudonym) were released within weeks of each other in 2000. However, the producer would only contribute a few tracks to the group from then on, as his schedule became increasingly tight. As a core member of the Soulquarians, with James Poyser and the Roots' Ahmir "?eustlove" Thompson, Dilla worked on Common's Like Water for Chocolate, D'Angelo's Voodoo, Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun, and Talib Kweli's Quality. Through 2005, he continued to work with past associates while dipping his toes deeper in R&B. A favor was returned on Fiddler's 2004-released Waltz of a Ghetto Fly, and a couple dynamite tracks -- Steve Spacek's "Dollar" and longtime collaborator Dwele's "Keep On" -- were released the following year.

Amazingly, from 2001 on, Dilla was also a prolific solo artist. A couple singles and the Welcome 2 Detroit album came out in 2001, and a number of low-key instrumental compilations and incidental 12" singles followed shortly thereafter. Rarely praised for his mike skills, he was often assisted by the likes of Phat Kat, Lacks, and Frank-n-Dank. Wooed by a Madlib mixtape that featured the rhymes of Oxnard's finest over his own beats, Dilla forged an alliance with his admirer for 2003's Champion Sound, released under the name Jaylib. It was around this time that his health took a sharp decline. For over two years, he had to use a dialysis machine. Despite having to perform in a wheelchair, he was still able to tour in Europe during late 2005.

Donuts, an album of instrumentals that Dilla completed during one of his extended hospital stays, was released on February 7, 2006, his 32nd birthday. Three days later, while staying at his Los Angeles home with his mother, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey, he passed away, a victim of cardiac arrest. While reflecting on the tremendous loss, close colleague and friend Thompson (an authority if there ever was one) compared the producer's level of genius to that of jazz giant Charlie Parker. Karriem Riggins, a close associate, put the final touches on another album, The Shining, which was released six months later.

A dizzying quantity of posthumous albums, EPs, and singles, most notably a greatly expanded edition of the Ruff Draft EP, were issued throughout the decade that followed. In 2014, Dilla's mother, who was involved in many of those releases, donated her son's MPC and Minimoog Voyager synthesizer to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. The Diary of J Dilla, which originated as an early-2000s project for MCA, saw release in 2016. MCA had signed Dilla for his reputation as a beat maker, but Dilla confounded the major label by switching to MC mode and enlisting the likes of comrades House Shoes, Waajeed, Madlib, and Pete Rock as producers. After an extended period that entailed major legal obstacles and the recovery of recordings, the album was released in 2016 on the reactivated Pay Jay label through Mass Appeal. Yet another poshumous release arrived in 2017. Titled Motor City, that set consisted of previously unreleased instrumentals selected and sequenced by Maureen Yancey”.

There is a book you can buy here called Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm. Written by Dan Charnas, it was released in February 2023. Pitchfork provided details of a must-read book for any fans of J Dilla’s work:

“After his untimely death from lupus-related complications in 2006, just after his 32nd birthday, J Dilla became recognized as one of the most important producers in hip-hop history. Born James Dewitt Yancey to an opera singer and a jazz bassist, the Detroit native started rapping and beat-making as a kid, forming the rap trio Slum Village with his high school friends, and eventually working with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, the Roots, and Erykah Badu. With his meticulous knowledge of records and wily command over drum machines, he created intricate, sample-based productions that defied the rigid structure of the grid and altered how musicians of all stripes thought of time. “What Dilla created was a third path of rhythm,” writes journalist, record executive, and professor Dan Charnas in his upcoming biography of the artist, resulting in a “new, pleasurable, disorienting rhythmic friction and a new time-feel: Dilla Time.”

Charnas’ book, Dilla Time, is a fascinating, immersive look at Dilla’s impact both during his lifetime and beyond: the producer’s relationships and upbringing, his musical interventions, and the contentious dispute over who gets to control his posthumous legacy. Below, we have an excerpt from Dilla Time (out February 1) about how mentorship from A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip led to Dilla’s first big production credits and the formation of the musical collective the Ummah”.

There is another article, this one from The New York Times that dives into that book. Because we are approaching what would have been J Dilla’s fiftieth birthday – on 7th February -, I am ending with a selection of his best work. With a heavy dip into Donuts. I hope that there is celebration of the amazing and peerless J Dilla closer to his fiftieth birthday. It is strange to think that Donuts came into the world nearly eighteen years ago. It still sounds so fresh and immediate to this day:

“Listenership and the breadth of Dilla’s influence have grown exponentially since his death. There are now annual Dilla Day events around the world, and his music has been celebrated by institutions like Lincoln Center and the Detroit Institute of Arts. His MPC3000 is displayed behind a glass case at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Charnas teaches a course about Dilla, which is how the book originated, as an associate professor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University.

Over the years, there has been almost a deification of Dilla; Charnas’s book takes great efforts to humanize him. Though he is sympathetic to his subject’s struggles — particularly his misfortunes as an artist in the major label system and his deteriorating health — Charnas does not shy away from describing his imperfections.

Dilla had a temper and could become jealous, those closest to him said to Charnas. When he was frustrated, his quietness would break as he lashed out at them. But the same people who told Charnas these unflattering stories continued to care about Dilla unconditionally.

“He was private, and there’s still things I don’t talk about,” said Frank Nitt, Dilla’s close friend since middle school whose music he later produced as part of the group Frank-n-Dank. “But on the flip side, being who he was and how he’s being perceived by the people at this point, there’s a lot of misconceptions.”

One of the foundational Dilla myths is how he arrived at his signature sound, in which the rhythm can feel off, different or just wrong. Some have said it was a failure to quantize his compositions, a feature in digital recording that eliminates human error and puts the timing of drum beats in their “correct” place.

Charnas explains that Dilla’s process was more complex and that he took multiple steps to purposefully accentuate the sonic effects of error. The result was a fresh rhythmic feel that Charnas labels the titular “Dilla time” — differentiating it from straight time and swing time, the two rhythmic patterns that defined Western music. Dilla’s explanation for his innovation? He would just say that’s how he nodded his head.

Charnas traces Dilla’s influence beyond hip-hop and soul, as it extended to pop, electronic music and jazz. His imprint can be found in songs by artists like Michael Jackson, Flying Lotus, the 1975 and Robert Glasper. (“Dilla Time” reveals that Dilla blew off potentially working with ’N Sync, twice.) Sometimes Dilla’s impact has been circuitous. He inspired young Los Angeles jazz musicians like Terrace Martin and Thundercat. Then Kendrick Lamar had those artists work on and expand the palette of his landmark 2015 album, “To Pimp a Butterfly.”

Charnas also clarifies the story around “Donuts,” an instrumental album that Stones Throw Records released right before Dilla’s death that has become a key entry point for new generations of fans. It’s been said that Dilla recorded “Donuts” in the hospital, embedding messages for loved ones in his compositions as the end approached. In reality, “Donuts” was born from one of the many beat tapes he had made. It was largely edited and extended by Jeff Jank, who worked at Stones Throw, and completed months before Dilla died.

Though he settled on J Dilla around 2001, he was alternately credited under names including Jay Dee, Jaydee, J.D. and Jon Doe. For much of the mid-90s into the turn of the century, he was part of two production collectives, the Ummah and the Soulquarians, alongside more famous members.

In the book, Charnas relates how during the making of D’Angelo’s 2000 opus “Voodoo,” D’Angelo and Questlove called Dilla and Prince their “two North stars.” Dilla was around for many of the recording sessions at New York’s Electric Lady Studios, but none of the songs he initiated were completed. In the end, when he received his copy of the record, he was disappointed to realize that his name was nowhere in the liner notes.

“The main theme for James in this story is credit, being seen,” Charnas said, “and he’s struggling to be seen.” Even on Common’s “The Light,” the biggest hit Dilla ever produced, he’s listed as “The Soulquarian’s Jay Dee for the Ummah,” leaving him, as Charnas said, “smothered in brotherhood.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Gregory Bojorquez/Getty Images

Charnas’s main reasons for writing the book are not only to make Dilla’s contributions to music known but to also explain that the devotion from fans is justified. “Ultimately it’s really about me saying to everybody who loves Dilla: ‘You were not wrong. Your affection was not misplaced,’” he said. “He is special, more special than many of you all even know”.

On 7th February, it would have been J Dilla’s fiftieth birthday. There has been controversy regarding posthumous releases and bootlegged stuff. The estate having to seek legal advice and act. It is sad that it has slightly muddied the waters. I have included as much as I can. Material that demonstrates J Dilla’s brilliance, though I know that there are E.P.s and albums that perhaps the estate of J Dilla are not happy with. Releasing three studios albums in his lifetime – 2003’s Champion Sound was with Madlib (J Dilla’s moniker was ‘Jlib’) -, there is a lot to explore when it comes to this much-missed genius. A true music and production original, when you look at artists and talent that has arrived since J Dilla’s death in 2006, it is clear that there are…

FEW like him.

FEATURE: An Angel Among Us: Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow Is Proof That She Is Among the Music World’s Elite

FEATURE:

 

 

An Angel Among Us

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 2011’s 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow Is Proof That She Is Among the Music World’s Elite

_________

I am going to be…

going back to 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart soon for some anniversary features. Before I do, I am flipping right through to Kate Bush’s most recent album. There are a couple of reasons why I am coming to the album. There is a definite demand for new Kate Bush material. I am not sure whether that will happen. As Del Palmer died recently, I feel the chances of her working with another engineer are slim. It is a shock that we may never get more Kate Bush material. Nothing new from her. Even so, when she was speaking about 2011’s 50 Words for Snow, she hinted that there was more written. Even when promoting the 2016 live album of Before the Dawn (2014), that feeling that this was not the end. I am not sure whether there are songs recorded waiting to come out. We hope that 2011’s album was not the end of things! What is startling about 50 Words for Snow is that it was another bold and assured move from Kate Bush. 2005’s Aerial is quite orchestral in its feel. Sweeping and grand in places. It has its own sound and is quite sprawling too. With a lot of individual tracks across the double album, it is vastly different to 1993’s The Red Shoes. Similarly – and with 2011’s Director’s Cut coming before it -, 50 Words for Snow is entirely different. With seven tracks (the fewest ever seen on a Kate Bush album), there was mot emphasis on the texture and layers of a track. Bush and her musicians allowing the songs to unfold and move. No punchy single or shorter track that could be suitable for radio.

The opening and closing cuts invoke a chill as they dwell on the ephemeral nature of the life cycle. "Snowflake," which features the choirboy pipes of Bush's 12-year-old son Bertie, gives voice to the melting consciousness of the natural world itself; "Among Angels" reads like the sweetest kind of suicide note. In between there are imagined couplings – with a gender-bending snowman in "Misty," and with a lover found and lost through many reincarnations (and played with brio by Elton John) in "Snowed In At Wheeler Street." The bounding "Wild Man" chases a yeti.

The trip-hoppy title track casts actor Stephen Fry as a Siberian scientist building a lexicon in white. That song could be a metaphor for Bush's own creative process. In its choruses, she goads Fry on with vocals that come close to the legendary witch whoops of her youth: Come on, Joe, you have 32 to go! The listener can easily imagine Bush pushing herself in a similar way: waking up in the morning and telling herself to get on that sled and ride her theme to a new destination.

We who treasure her can rejoice that she cut a path so quickly. Along with May's reworking of older material, Director's Cut, this makes for two Bush albums in a year. The once moderately reclusive artiste may be entering a fruitful late season. Let's hope she continues on her elemental mission. One hundred words for starlight, maybe, Kate?”.

In addition to celebrating 50 Words for Snow and showing that it is among her most arresting and best albums ever, there is also that assumption (from some) that was the final album from Kate Bush. Maybe a sign that she was bringing things to a close. Maybe Del Palmer’s passing confirms that. If you listen to 50 Words for Snow and the wonder and scale of it, you get a feeling that Bush was starting this new phase. Inspired to write songs differently to how she had done in the past, the whole world would embrace another Kate Bush album. We will not know whether that will happen unless Bush says something one way or the other. I would encourage people to listen to 50 Words for Snow, as it is not like her other albums. Embracing negative space and very much letting songs go on and create this very distinct atmosphere, I get the impression Kate Bush had in mind another album or two like this. Maybe not snow-themed or with the exact same sound, one could imagine a future album that embraces fantasy and a brilliant concept. It did not feel like a final chapter. Director’s Cut cleared the way for new work. Rather than end with one more album, I guess Bush was excited to do a lot more. 2014’s Before the Dawn, like The Tour of Life in 1979, was a live event after two albums. After that, maybe more material. Bush has been in retrospective mode since 2014. Releasing studio albums and this and that. I have said how Del Palmer’s death has a profound impact on future music. Even so, listening back to 50 Words for Snow, one hears this new passion and quality that I always thought would be followed up. It still might be. We are not sure what lies ahead in terms of Kate Bush’s career. 50 Words for Snow is this hugely influential artist once more doing something incredibly innovative and fresh. Yet very much being Kate Bush. A distinct sound that showed, thirty-three years after her debut album, she was at her absolute peak. Not many artists can claim that! Listen to the album and get lost in…

THIS spellbinding and beautiful world.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Sam Akpro

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

  

Sam Akpro

_________

AN artist I hope…

becomes more engaged and frequent on Twitter, as he could have a real and growing audience there, Sam Akpro is someone who should be bigging himself up! A huge talent who released the amazing single, Death By Entertainment, in November, I want to introduce someone who should be on people’s minds. Before getting to some features and interviews, here is some more detail about the sensational Sam Akpro:

“Born from Peckham’s tangled streets and an imagination keen to distort, discomfort and entice is the sound of Sam Akpro. Sparked equally by the borderless sonic contortions of Yves Tumor as he is the extreme post-rock manipulations of Slint and the kitchen-sink observations of Hak Baker, there is a depth here – and a sense of discernment – that belies his twenty-four years.

Dive into his 2021 debut EP, Drift, and you will hear propulsive post-rock that’ll grab you by the collar, a mutant orchestra of strings and distorted electronics that pass like a dark, unsettling cloud. The scale of Akpro’s ambition caught the ear of Wu-Lu, Shame and 404 Guild who welcomed him to open their performances across South London, inheriting new listeners and a burgeoning reputation with his fusion of no-wave, jazz and funk.

All the while, he felt a pressure to define his sound, to carve out a statement of intent – but his hotly-awaited second EP, Arrival, proves that it’s in that space of uncertainty where interesting things start to happen. He returned to a place of no-pressure experimentation, trying on sounds, particular feelings, until he found the right fit. It was all about instinct, and from following something so natural, the confidence you hearfeels effortless. Compared to his previous EP, Arrival’s four tracks come as a surprise. Akpro is taking his sound right to the edge, drawing on a hyped-up heaviness that feels like a rush of blood to the head; a kind of adrenalin hit that will have you sprinting for miles.

‘Trace’ is the connector between where Akpro has been and the next step in his evolution: written at the tail end of his previous EP which he had co-produced with Finn Billingham of Sunken, its off-kilter funk was reflective of the relaxed atmosphere that he finds to be the most creatively fertile. ‘Leaving Please’, a feverish sonic freak-out, similarly came to life in a matter of hours. Tumbling down a rabbit hole of sampling, digging for his own drum brakes and listening to the beats of J Dilla, the making of the track proved to be a perfect storm of everything that sparks Akpro’s creativity.

Arrival was also created in a time of turbulence. With the world upended by the pandemic, he found his world confined to four walls. Under the weight of it all, making music suddenly felt strained. Only a sound like that of the title track could be born of a time like that with its pacing rhythm and percussion that rains down like hellfire. “The headspace for this track was probably more of a depressing one,” he says, “just because the world felt quite weird at the time. Everything just stopped. It felt like being in limbo.”

Single ‘New Blocks’, however, represents something far more hopeful. It was written alongside his band who transformed his production sketch into the chameleonic track you hear today. Coiling tension its unrelenting rhythm to create an uneasy, jazz-indebted arrangement, just when you think you have it figured out, Akpro pushes the sound over the edge into oblivion, caught in a punishing freefall, going faster, faster until it reaches its conclusion.

Mind-altering: that’s his ambition for this project, to warp your expectations and catch you by surprise. Arrival implies that Sam Akpro has reached his destination, but really, it’s a roadmap for where he’s heading next”.

I will come to another interview in a minute. First, Fred Perry chatted with Sam Akpro and asked some quick-fire questions. An insight into his music tastes. Still relatively new to the scene, I think that this year is going to be one where Akpro’s music gets him noticed and he gets some big gig opportunities:

“If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?

I would go on stage with Miles Davis’ band around the time when he made bitches brew because I like the crazy switches in the music he made. The other band would be Joy Division, because they had a lot of energy and stage presence.

Which Subcultures have influenced you?

Skateboarding has influenced practically my whole teenage existence cause I grew up doing it from the age of 11. It’s where I’ve made the majority of my friends and it’s got me involved in other things like music and graffiti.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?

That would have to be Miles Davis, just from what I’ve seen him say in interviews about music and the mix between the technicality of playing and the feeling of it. Also, I respect the fact that he didn’t take shit from people. A lot of integrity.

Of all the venues you’ve been to, which is your favourite?

I haven’t been to many venues but the one I did like was the Tate Britain, I played there three months ago with my band. The sound in there was really good because of the acoustics in the gallery.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?

Yves Tumor cause I feel like he’s tapped into a very unique sound and the evolution of his albums is very unheard of.

The first track you played on repeat?

'Paper Plans' by K-Trap.

A song that defines the teenage you?

'Feels Like We Only Go Backwards' by Tame Impala.

One record you would keep forever?

'Loraine' by Linton Kwesi Johnson.

A song lyric that has inspired you?

“Familiarity doesn’t breed gratitude just contempt”

From 'Ezekiel’s wheel' by Jay Electronica.

A song you wished you had written?

'Patron Saints' by Ka.

Best song to turn up loud?

'Night Mode' by UnoTheActivist.

A song people wouldn’t expect you to like?

'Be the One' by Dua Lipa”.

Sam Akpro songs are magnificent collages that fuse elements from all kinds of styles and eras to create something truly individual. As he understands it himself, the wide-ranging, open-minded taste that facilitated this was forged on the skate park. “Skating was where I got a lot of my musical references from… just because it was so varied. Peckham Skate Park: make sure you get that name in the article! There’s so many types of people there, middle class kids, me from the estate opposite, people that would never have met anywhere else. That’s where I met a lot of people like JADASEA and Pinty.” These slightly older creatives offered guidance and inspiration, not only as music-makers, but also as listeners.

The skate park provided a context for musical exchange, not only in association with its various patrons but also in the skate videos shared among that community. “Every skate video is by a different person and they’ve got a different taste in music,” Akpro explains. Skipping through YouTube on the new family computer, Akpro was given an unsorted guide to music history bringing him from hip-hop to Tame Impala to David Byrne. Childhood friend Finn Dove, who recently produced the video for “Trace”, cut his teeth making skate edits, leaving choice of song up to the featured skater. Akpro remembers these videos and their music, noting they “subconsciously influenc[ed] me. I would listen to a song while watching a video but then at a certain point I would be watching just to listen to the music.”

Akpro’s sound is truly modern, speaking of that digital native upbringing, with access to the entire history of music, not only on dedicated platforms like Spotify but also out of context, as was the case with those skate soundtracks on YouTube. A noisy life in Peckham further expanded his sonic palette, involving gigs, parties, and even just music blasting out of shops. All around him, friends were producing their own music out of bedrooms and school practice rooms. “A lot of successful drill artists came from my school,” he explains, while also coyly referring to black midi as “friends from BRIT school doing well making guitar music.”

Being a part of a busy cultural community in Peckham, the evolution of Akpro’s own musical project came naturally and swiftly. After releasing his first EP on his birthday in June 2019, he continues “it happened really quickly.” His friend Me, Charles arranged to put him on at a night at Rye Wax, with the band ending up as headliners. After a few hasty practices at a Pirate Studios (“in Croydon of all places”) the band found themselves at an unexpectedly packed-out room, playing to a 120-strong crowd. “A lot of mates were there supporting,” he smiles. It was a show of the strength of that community, and though Akpro modestly suggests “I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he felt for sure that this was something worth pursuing. “It felt so organic the way it was happening”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Holly Whitaker

Whilst one can find press and interviews from years back with Sam Akpro, I think this is an artist that is still rising and coming through. Not everyone has connected with his music. As CLASH wrote last year when they interviewed Sam Akpro, this Peckham prince is looking for intuitive creativity. He is someone whose music has pricked ears and got him noticed. I would watch out for this amazing talent. A distinct and wonderful young voice on the British music scene:

“Sam started sharing his music on SoundCloud in January 2019, finding welcome success and laying the groundwork to cultivate a dedicated and supportive core fan base. Citing the 1000 true fans theory, which states that only 1000 dedicated fans are required to actively support an artist’s career, as something that resonates deeply with his purpose. “Where music started for me was on SoundCloud, with House of Pharaohs and that kind of era. SoundCloud was very, very sick, even to this day I have followers on there that have been there since the night it started.”

His mother’s Gambian background and his father’s love for gospel and highlife music had a hand in shaping his ear but arguably the largest component of his creative tapestry comes from his love for skate culture and the connections he developed kicking around the streets of South London. The freedom, exploration and individuality of the culture brought new modes of expression for him. “It’s madness… and the culture when you meet all the people in it, it’s really good. Because obviously, it’s not just the painting, it’s going to steal the paint from the shop all of that just like running around tracks or behind the block late at night.”

Waxing lyrical about his inspirations he mentions that Sonic Youth and The Alchemist were crucial in the development of his sound, but above them all stands the king himself, J Dilla. He became obsessed with the drums and sampling techniques of the era and wanted to experience that process for himself. “The Shining album innit, that’s a mad album. Like it’s hip-hop but there’s more than that in there. A lot of it started from sampling. Once I took it out of my bedroom and to the band it became something bigger.”

The songs he ends up releasing are usually the ones created in a short amount of time. These fast-developing ideas serve as the foundation for his tracks. ‘Trace’, for example, was created in an hour and was kept for four years before being re-recorded and released. Once it was out Sam combined it with a music video that transforms Peckham into a dark, psychedelic animation. Mentioning that he wanted it to be like a fever dream so people could understand his associations with his home turf. This intuitive approach coupled with a longer development time means he can slowly add and subtract elements, tweak the music, and try out new ideas, refining the tracks over time. “Some of my best stuff comes from moments when I wasn’t consciously trying to control the outcome, I want to allow the music to flow naturally”.

Go and follow Sam Akpro. As I said, some more Twitter engagement would be good. Building up hi social media portfolio. Maybe getting onto TikTok. There is a world who have already discovered his music. Yet, there are so many more who are unaware of this special artist. I think this year is the one where Sam Akpro…

TRULY breaks through.

_____________

Follow Sam Akpro

PHOTO CREDIT: Cassian Gray

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/sam.akpro/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEZ6Ky4Ho_-guTXkZ02lXvA

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0gs6n0OYGwA7j4L4HHqKV2

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Sam_Akpro

FEATURE: Revisiting… Reneé Rapp – Snow Angel

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Reneé Rapp – Snow Angel

_________

I want to jump straight in…

and get to some interviews with the amazing Reneé Rapp. Many might know her first as an actor. Having just appeared in the film remake of Mean Girls, there is a lot of buzz and praise around this wonderful talent. Also completing tour dates for her debut album, Snow Angel, it has been a busy past year or so. I am going to come to some press around Snow Angel, as I think it is a tremendous album that is underrated – not getting the acclaim and spread that it deserved. I wanted to start off with  this High Snobiety interview. Among discussing her mental health, we also an insight into this incredible actor and artist who is very much she wants to be. A huge name and queer icon who has a legion of love and fans behind her:

“Today, she attributes much of the stability she’s found on this tour to her team. In the past, her team’s were, shall we say, a little toxic. “I had so many people telling me what was wrong with me for so many years… I'm in a much more supportive space.” While she notes her privilege as a cis white woman, and the things that shape  her experience in the industry, Rapp explains she has really struggled with standing up for herself – especially earlier in her career.

“A lot of people will be like, ‘Wow, she's such a bitch. She comes across so bratty.’ And it's actually just me advocating for myself… if me asking for basic respect is bitchy and going for what I want is bratty, then okay, I would love to be a bitch. Because then I'm really enjoying saying what I want and living how I want to, to serve and support myself, and the people around me. That's actually great to me — hot take.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Morgan Maher

I had so many people telling me what was wrong with me for so many years. I’m in a much more supportive space.

But getting to a place where she’s surrounded by a supportive team that both respects and pushes her hasn’t been easy. “I also have been fortunate enough to craft my business and my team with people around me who keep me in line, absolutely, but I've tried to bust my ass to make sure that I can call shots.”

Beyond her supportive team, Rapp is grateful for her queer community, and the platform it has given her. Coming to terms with her sexuality as a kid in North Carolina, she remembers moments where she had to battle her own internalized homophobia, and deeply empathizes with the infinite spectrum of ways people come to love their own queerness, an idea she explores in the video for “Pretty Girls” directed by the one and only Cara Delevingne.

“When I was a kid… I was coming to terms with bisexuality or whatever you want to fucking call it, I remember saying out loud, ‘Well, I would really want to kiss a girl, but I don't think I could ever marry a girl.’ I remember saying that as a really young kid, and I think a lot of people do.”

The song and corresponding video focus on the classic queer experience of wondering “Are they into me into me? Are they into me to experiment? Or are they My boyfriend said it would be cool if we made out into me. Which, truthfully, is an experience most of us gays have been on both sides of.

PHOTO CREDIT: Morgan Maher

“I've done some shit I'm super not proud of,” Rapp admits. “And I've also done some things where I've been like, ‘Yes, this is amazing for me and this is very empowering.’ But I've also done shit out of true exploration and trying to figure out who I am and what I want. And I don't know, for me, that's never ended.”

These days, things are certainly different for Rapp. ”I've said to my partner, ‘Look, I've never loved being bisexual so much in my life as I have in this relationship. Because I feel so happy here.’”

Rapp’s relationship with her mental health, her body, and her queerness, have greatly informed the ways in which she looks at the fashion world.“I feel my best when I feel good. And that's coming from somebody who's been told, ‘You need to cover up’ or ‘You need to lose weight’ or ‘You look too frumpy’ or things like that for my entire adult life so far in a professional setting… I love fashion and I love versatility, and I love how it can make you feel on different days.”

She laughs when I bring up my favorite maybe-controversial topic: dressing gay. “It's such a joke, and probably such a bad joke, but I always say my style changes depending on how gay I want to feel that day.”

But for Renee (and for many of us) weighing feeling comfortable and safe, expressing different parts of ourselves via fashion while still feeling affirmed and authentic, also requires acknowledgment of the ways conforming to gender stereotypes, and being perceived by the world, has shaped our experiences.

“I really enjoy when I dress hyper-feminine or appear hyper-feminine, and then people are very confused. I quite love it. It didn't use to serve me when I was a kid though, because I was like, ‘Wait, I'm gay.’ Which is such an interesting complaint, because growing up in the South, I was blessed and lucky to present in such a way that I wasn't actively looked at through a specific lens.”

For Rapp, this perspective makes for an openness to experimenting with her own style and expression. “I could think that I don't like something one day and then somebody could wear it and make it look really fucking cool and style it really well. And I think it's sick. I am so for anything”.

I want to come to a couple of the positive reviews for Snow Angel. It is an album that I would recommend people check out. A top ten album in the U.K., Snow Angel was the first introduction for many to this awesome and original artist. Reneé Rapp is an artist who deserves a lot of respect. Her debut album was among the finest and most important of last year. The Guardian spoke with Rapp back in August about her new album. Having quit the Broadway musical of Mean Girls to protect her mental health, she was in candid and open mood when it came discussing her psychological wellbeing:

“Snow Angel, the debut album by US musician and actor Reneé Rapp, doesn’t pull its punches. Three songs in, the 23-year-old is airing out an old friend with exaggerated, vitriolic vim: “You’re the worst bitch on earth,” she sings over Poison Poison’s breezy acoustic pop, “I hate you and your guts.”

Over the course of Snow Angel – which puts her firmly in the realm of emotionally candid young pop singers such as Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo – Rapp also criticises herself and ex-partners, writing raw, sophisticated songs in an attempt to make up for a childhood in which she was told she was “too emotional” by everyone around her. She has long been cursed with “really caring what people think, in a way that does not serve me”, she says. So, whenever she is worried about sending the wrong message with her music, she tries to remember: “I’m not making art to say this is my moral high ground and this is what I believe and agree with – I’m making art to be like, damn, this is what I’m feeling right now,” she says. “That doesn’t mean I’m proud of those feelings, but they are what they are – and that’s just art at the end of the day.”

Rapp anticipates criticism about Poison Poison. “Some people could listen to it and say: ‘How the fuck could you write a song like this? Why are you tearing down other women?’” She stresses that the issue is one of “women tearing down women in front of men. Trust me, I have not been out-girlbossed.”

It makes sense that she would be drawn to the subject: over the course of her relatively short career, she has made something of a muse out of mean girls. Rapp got her big break in 2019, playing the role of Regina George in the Mean Girls musical on Broadway; until recently, she was a lead on Mindy Kaling’s HBO show The Sex Lives of College Girls, playing the wealthy, preppy closeted lesbian Leighton. (Today she can’t discuss her film and TV work due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes.) On her popular TikTok account, where she has more than a million followers, she often adopts a disaffected, eye-rolling persona, speaking with the ironic detachment of the coolest bartender at the local bar you are a little too scared to go into”.

I am going to end with some reviews. DORK outlined why Snow Angel is not a typical album from an actor-musician. Full of personality and potential, it is an amazing debut from Reneé Rapp. It is one of my favourite albums from last year. I cannot wait to hear what a second album may offer:

“Oh, so you’re an actor who dabbles in music, are you? Or perhaps a musician with a flair for acting? We’ve seen plenty of those. What’s so special about you, huh, Reneé Rapp?

Well, quite a lot, as it turns out! Within the first few beats of the opener ‘Talk Too Much’, it becomes evident that ‘Snow Angel’ isn’t merely a vanity project or a superficial brand addition. Instead, it’s a record that bites back with genuine fervour. Raspy, rambunctious, and seamlessly blending both vulnerability and strength, it firmly establishes the tone, marking Rapp as an undeniable force to be reckoned with.

The album’s mood may ebb and flow – transitioning from the tropical undertones of ‘Poison Poison’ to the sassy, confident strides of ‘So What Now’ – but there’s a palpable authenticity to ‘Snow Angel’ that distinguishes it from the pack. It’s a deeply personal record that wears its journey with pride, showcasing a raw, unflinching honesty at every turn. ‘The Wedding Song’ delivers verses laden with plucked strings reminiscent of Panic! At The Disco’s iconic ‘I Write Sins…’ before erupting into a powerful, anthemic chorus, while ’Pretty Girls’ is a shimmering, high-definition mega-bop that even Carly Rae Jepsen would approve of.

It’s the album’s title-track that really stuns, though. A piano-driven slow-burner, it goes from heart-wrenching and crystal-sharp to a brash, bombastic hymn of defiance. “I tried so hard, I came so far,” Rapp asserts. Holding nothing back, it’s the perfect representation of both an artist and an album that puts real substance behind the shine. Reflective, audacious, deeply emotional, and relatable with it, Reneé’s got nothing left to prove. Clear a space in the A-list, Reneé Rapp has arrived.

4/5

TOTAL SCORE”

The Line of Best Fit were also full of praise for the terrific and endlessly playable Snow Angel. With Rapp co-writing all of the twelve tracks (a Deluxe version was released with an extra four tracks – all of which she co-wrote), there is a lot of the personal in the songs. That comes through when you listen to Snow Angel:

“On an app full of Gen-Z teens constantly thinking about climate change, relationships, or the, well, everything, happening right now, it’s no surprise pissed-off anthems like Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u”, newly released “vampire” or GAYLE’s “abcdefu” struck a chord. Even pop songs with a powerfully delivered chorus or bridge – Mimi Webb’s “Red Flags” or Taylor Swift’s sleeper hit “Cruel Summer” – are enough to take anger out on.

That’s where Reneé Rapp comes in – an intelligent songwriter turning the direction inward, towards herself. Her breakout “Too Well” soundtracked self-hatred upon seeing someone with a new partner: “I get so sick of myself,” she yells atop a pulsating beat on her 2022 EP Everything to Everyone.

Her debut full-length, Snow Angel, follows the same angst and pent-up energy that all pop songs must have, anxiety so explosive it results in some of the year’s best moments. The title track, cleverly picked as the album’s lead single, harbours the assurance “I’ll make it through the winter if it kills me,” eventually exploding into a stadium-ready outro. “I met a boy, he broke my heart,” she says, a lyric so simple it wouldn’t work anywhere else but in an emotion-driven scream. The aptly-titled “I Hate Boston” follows the same sonic pattern, documenting how one failed relationship can sour an entire location. “The whole thing is haunted,” she sings as the song builds into an inescapable crescendo.

Her astute writing – devastatingly funny, and shocking in a way Samia explored on her sophomore album Honey – comes into play several more times, particularly on the bossa nova “Poison Poison.” “Yes, I am a feminist,” she prefaces, “But bitch, you’re making it so hard for me to always be supporting all women.” The shock value – “is she… allowed to say that?” Twitter users might ask – is genuinely reflective of the undue hatred you might feel for someone existing. “Fuck you, you dumb bitch,” she ends. Another swing on the album is towards those who don a queer persona in the name of quirkiness – on “Pretty Girls,” she tells an experience knowing women who, after a couple of drinks, will kiss other women for fun, but forget about it the next morning. It’s easy to understand why Rapp, openly bisexual, disdains this sort of behaviour. “Keep on pretending, pretty girl,” she acknowledges through clenched teeth.

Snow Angel is also delicately tender when Rapp chooses to be. On its opening track, she examines her anxiety in relation to pseudo-obsessive-compulsive signs (“If I see a blue car today, we’ll probably have to break up”); on “Gemini Moon”, a similar track about dissonance, she admits, “I talk shit then I bite my tongue.” She pretends to be calm on “Tummy Hurts”, where she envisions a past partner’s lineage with a new family: “Someone’s gonna hurt their little girl like their daddy hurt me.” On the closing track, an ode to turning one year older, she laments that her birthday wish – to get better, in some intangible, encompassing way – remains the same.

Snow Angel is exuberant, hilarious (“I just want some recognition for having good tits and a big heart” is a standout line) and not afraid to go there. Rapp has big feelings, and she’ll let you know about it. It’s an oddly assured debut, tender and strong at the same time – and its greatest strength is that Rapp is as good of a songwriter as a performer of her own emotions”.

I want to revisit the stunning Snow Angel. I think that some were a bit mixed towards it. Perhaps assuming that this was another actor trying their hand at music, unaware that this is a complete and compelling album that is unlike anything else. One that needs to be played and shared more today. If you have not heard Reneé Rapp’s Snow Angel, then take some time out…

AND check it out.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Erika de Casier

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Erika de Casier

_________

I shall come straight to…

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlotte de la Fuente for Rolling Stone

some interviews with the amazing Erika de Casier. I want to head back a little way for the first interview, as de Casier has been on the scene a little while now. Perhaps someone that many people are not aware of. She announced the album, Still, will be released on 21st February via 4AD. It is going to be an album you’ll want to check out. In 2021, Rolling Stone spoke with the Danish artist in 2021. It was around the release of her second studio album, Sensational. Erika de Casier is someone I am quite new to, so I am listening back to Sensational, in addition to her 2019 debut, Essentials:

“Her 2019 debut album, Essentials, featured sensual R&B and Nineties nostalgia, laced with the frenetic production of U.K. garage and a hint of drum ‘n’ bass. Songs like “Do My Thing” garnered comparisons to Sade and Aaliyah, and made de Casier a quiet star among a certain set of sensitive dance music fans. Her approach is not unlike what Tracy Thorn did with Everything but the Girl, transposing emotional depth onto dance culture’s innate euphorics. That quest for depth has been a defining characteristic of the past year, with global shutdowns forcing the entire world to look inward.

De Casier spent the majority of quarantine alone, remotely finishing her last year of university while simultaneously finishing the new album. In another Scandinavian twist on American annoyances, she studied music in a self-directed program that her country subsidizes for its citizens. As part of a university project, she presented tracks from the album that will likely soundtrack moments of introspective romance around the world. And yes, she passed. “They thought it was cool,” she says. “I was really surprised that they were so open to it.”

De Casier was born in Portugal; her mother is from Belgium and her father is from Cape Verde, a small island off the coast of West Africa. When she was a kid, she relocated with her mom to a small town in Denmark called Ribe, where she and her brother were the only mixed-race children at their school. She remembers finding solace in music videos, where she saw people that looked more like her than any of her classmates. “MTV was a place where I could turn it on and it’s like, ‘Oh, people like me,’ and feel a sort of relief or a sense of belonging,” she says.

After completing an exchange program in Vermont as a teenager, de Casier enrolled in university in Aarhus, where she’d meet the DJ and producer known as Central, who would provide production help on a number of tracks on Essentials and, perhaps most importantly, furnish some of the record’s most memorable remixes. The club mix of “Intimate” was many people’s first introduction to de Casier. That track, an assertive drum ‘n’ bass beat softened by her gentle croon, is a case study of everything the singer does well. Her melodic flourishes, inspired by the glory days of black music in America, when artists like Missy Elliot and Aaliyah were stretching the confines of what defined popular music, graft naturally to the sonic sensibility of club music, itself indebted to the experimentations of mid-’90s R&B. The result is something pure; it’s borderless, timeless, and genreless.

De Casier says she approached the new album as a clean slate. She’d released Essentials independently, and its positive word-of-mouth reception gave her a sense of a proof of concept. For this new record, which will be released later this year on the label 4AD, she wanted to trust her instincts in the same way. “I wanted to just put Essentials behind me and say, ‘That was a lovely record, now I want to do something new,’” she explains. “I was trying to remember what it felt like to just let go and stop trying to meet any expectations.”

With the surplus of alone time afforded by the pandemic, that freedom came easier than it might have otherwise. As a songwriter, though, de Casier has a knack for keeping things centered regardless. “Instead of writing about how I did react to a situation, I write about how I wish I would have reacted,” she says. “You know how sometimes when your friends ask you for advice, you’re like, ‘Yeah, you should just do this,’ but you never follow your own advice when it’s about you?”

There’s an admirable patience in the tales of love, loss, and rejection that de Casier constructs. On “Busy,” an upcoming single from the album, she takes a classic U.K. Garage beat as the canvas for her to politely inform any potential suitor that she’s focused on herself first and foremost. It might be a letdown, but at least you can dance to it.

In moments like these, de Casier’s music recalls the empowerment ballads that Destiny’s Child or TLC constructed in the early 2000s. Except where a previous generation might have called for outward displays of confidence, her music — like the rest of the world for the past year now — is all about bringing that confidence home.  “I’ve had a lot of time to think about how I am with people,” she says, “and parts of my emotions that I haven’t maybe dealt with before”.

I am going to move it onto more recent interviews. An artist who is not only creating her own magnificent work. Erika de Casier is writing wonderful music for other artists. GQ spoke with de Casier in August. She had written several songs from NewJeans’ E.P., Get Up. The K-Pop group having this secret weapon in the form of a modern-day R&B great:

“As of press time, the Copenhagen-based singer-songwriter Erika de Casier boasts a relatively modest 38.6k followers on Instagram, 7.78k subscribers on YouTube, and 281,948 monthly listeners on Spotify. But to some of music’s biggest names, de Casier is an IYKYK secret weapon.

Those relatively humble numbers are pulled into focus when you realize who’s listening: In 2020, pop superstar Dua Lipa slid into her DMs, professed her admiration for de Casier’s music, and commissioned a remix of her Future Nostalgia single “Physical.” Last year, over Instagram DMs with Dev Hynes, she was drafted to sing on Blood Orange’s “Relax and Run.”

“I remember I woke up and it was a notification from Dua Lipa,” de Casier remembers, laughing. “I was just like, ‘What is this fake account that wrote me?’”

This year, the 33-year-old is having another surreal moment—this time, as a songwriter drafted in by Hybe’s indie label ADOR for the buzzy K-pop girl group NewJeans. Co-writing four out of six songs on NewJeans’ blockbuster Get Up EP, which sits at No. 1 on the Billboard charts (and includes global smashes like “Super Shy” and “Cool With You”), de Casier has lent her increasingly distinctive sound—unfussy, unhurried, Y2K pop and UK garage-indebted R&B—to a genre that has traditionally leaned on maximalist pop hooks.

De Casier honed that sound over two albums of sexy, skittish, bedroom jams for introverts. And as she prepares to release her just-finished third album (“coming soon,” she says), she seems poised for a breakout moment of her own.

Erika de Casier’s curious trajectory is a case study in pop music’s globalized present. She’s a Portugal-born, Copenhagen-based singer-songwriter of Belgian and Cape Verdean descent, who grew up on a steady diet of US and UK pop and R&B acts like Destiny’s Child, Craig David and Sugababes. Recently, de Casier talked to GQ about writing for NewJeans, the influence of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” and the magic of multilingual pop.

GQ: You’ve built quite a following for yourself as an independent act who’s done things on their own terms. How has working with big pop entities like NewJeans and Dua Lipa—and even more established acts like Blood Orange—influenced your work?

Erika de Casier: NewJeans is the first project that I've written for that's not my own. For me, it was really freeing to write for another artist, because it lets you put yourself aside in another way. I think I've maybe in the past been afraid that if you write for others, it takes away some of the creativity or something from your own stuff. And that is not true at all, because it actually just makes you more aware of what your style is and what you really want to do.

I just had a lot of fun writing those songs and that's something I can bring to when I'm making my own music. For me, it develops your creativity in another direction, which then can shed light on how you do your own stuff.

And also, I don't know, it just takes away the ego. And it takes away the pressure—which is funny, because you would think there would be so much more pressure because it's for such a big name as NewJeans. When writing for NewJeans, I just felt like, "Well, if they don't like it, they can always just say no to it." [Laughs]

How did you end up writing for NewJeans?

So I just got this email from one of their team members that just said like, "Hey, we're having a session in Copenhagen, we would love to see you there." And then I was randomly talking to my friends, Catharina [Stoltenberg] and Henriette [Motzfeldt] from [Norwegian electronic pop act] Smerz, and my friend Fine [Glindvad Jensen, a singer-songwriter] and they were like, "Oh, we got that email as well… What? That's so random." And then we just decided, okay, let's all just go there. We met there and wrote one of the songs “ASAP” together, the four of us.

There was these also other producers that we wrote a bunch of songs with like Frankie [Scoca] from New York, Kristine Bogan who lives in Berlin but is from the States, and there was another guy called Monro from the UK. So it was just all these different people and then my best friends.

It's kind of mind-blowing.

Yeah, because I don't know how they heard of me. Because on that [massive pop] scale, we're just so small. And in Copenhagen… Why did they have a session in Copenhagen? It's so weird! [Laughs] But yeah, I'm so happy about it”.

I will finish with a new interview from The Guardian. It mentions how Erika de Casier has been working with this alter ego, Bianka, in addition to writing songs for other artists. It seems now, it is a time when she is stepping out alone and trusting her own voice and identity. A terrific artist whose music is instantly recognisable and memorable, Still will be an album that announced her to a wider world. After working with NewJeans and songs she wrote for them being hugely popular, it is now time for her own music to get the praise it deserves:

“One of those sides is as pop’s most sought-after songwriter. Last year she co-wrote four of the six tracks on the second EP from hugely popular K-pop girlband NewJeans. Released in July, Get Up sold more than 1.65m copies worldwidein a week and beat the Barbie soundtrack to No 1 in the US. The call to collaborate came completely out of the blue. “To be honest, I didn’t know who it was,” laughs De Casier. “I read the email and was like: ‘NewJeans? Who is that?’ So then I looked them up and thought it sounded pretty fresh. They asked me if I’d listened to K-pop and I had to be honest and say: ‘No, I haven’t,’ and they were like: ‘Perfect!’ They have their antennae out and they’re trying different things.” Rather than simply utilising De Casier’s way with a catchy hook, songs such as Super Shy (more than 390m Spotify plays and counting) sound exactly like De Casier records: all tactile, softly sung R&B, liquid drum’n’bass plus a gift for tender introspection housed in a club setting. “People were writing to me: ‘Is this you singing?’ and I’m like: ‘Nope,’” she says. “I find it flattering that they liked the sound and they kept it the way it was.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Colin Solal Cardo

Born in Portugal to a Belgian mother and Cape Verdean father, De Casier credits her humility to Denmark, the country she moved to when she was eight with her mother and younger brother. “It’s a part of me,” she says, referring to janteloven, the Scandinavian trait of not wanting to stand out. “It feels unnatural to talk about myself.” When she first moved to the small town of Ribe, she was unable to speak Danish. She and her brother were also ostracised for being the only mixed-race children in their school. De Casier found solace in MTV, both in the music’s universal language and because she could see people with the same skin tone.

As she got older she started to dabble in music production on her computer and would borrow CDs by the likes of Destiny’s Child and Erykah Badu from the local library. Her hushed, introspective vocal style was honed more out of necessity than anything else; she would often sing at night and didn’t want to disturb her flatmates. Music was never meant to be a career, however. “I was thinking about going to art school and I was thinking about medicine. Then I wanted to be a psychologist. That’s a plan B for me.” She still has trouble calling herself a musician today, three albums in. “I have a lot of impostor syndrome. I don’t know if you ever do something and think: ‘Yep, I’m a musician.’”

But it’s in the music she creates, often as sole songwriter and producer, that De Casier can dismiss any misgivings and tap into her id. On the Sensational highlight Polite she scolds a date for being rude, while Still’s loose album-long concept of charting a relationship from hot-and-heavy beginnings to messy endings is anchored by the slinky Ooh, which finds De Casier breathily describing fantasies and dishing out come-ons. My Day Off, meanwhile, is both a nod to her hectic schedule and a newfound sense of being able to say no. “I didn’t feel like answering any emails or messages,” she says of the song, which also mentions the very un-R&B topic of catching up on laundry. “I was just being a brat on that song – it’s like: ‘I just need a day off.’”

Days off are going to be few and far between in 2024. Still will be followed by more touring and more songwriting for others, while songs for album four are already taking shape. But, for now, all of that is at the back of De Casier’s constantly whirring mind. “I’m not hearing back from the builders, I don’t have a kitchen, I’m living in a building site,” she sighs, looking around at the dusty detritus. “We’re in my living room where I’ve knocked down a wall,” she says, before clarifying: “I didn’t do that myself.” It turns out there are some things she can’t do”.

I am going to finish it here. I wanted to do a sweep and look back at where Erika de Casier has come from and where she is now. An artist that I am really interested in who I think that is going to release a lot of new music, everyone needs to keep an eye on her. I am new to her, yet I am going to look out with interest at what comes next. After Still is released on 21st February, there will be a lot more coming from Erika de Casier. Do make sure that this is an artist…

YOU acquaint yourself with.

___________

Follow Erika de Casier

 Official:

https://erikadecasier.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/erikadecasier/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1nIJEqPyIj5qutlgWNmQB0?si=tw-2yacNSL6DwUlLemmdJw

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCklUVCXk0jZny51BO_qK3Rw

Bandcamp:

https://erikadecasier.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/erikadecasier/

FEATURE: Let's Get Together and Feel All Right: The Upcoming Biopic, Bob Marley: One Love

FEATURE:

 

 

Let's Get Together and Feel All Right

The Upcoming Biopic, Bob Marley: One Love

_________

THERE are going to be a fair few…

PHOTO CREDIT: Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley in Bob Marley: One Love/PHOTO CREDIT: Chiabella James/Paramount

music biopics this year. Among artists being immortalised on the big screen are Amy Winehouse. One of the problems with a music biopic – and the Back to Black film starring Marisa Abela – is the authenticity of the lead. It can be very hard and a real balance ensuring that the person playing an iconic artist is just right and embodies their look and spirit. When it comes to  the new biopic, Bob Marley: One Love, it is understandable that there might be reservations about anyone playing the late Reggae godfather. Out on 14th February (appropriately!), there will be a lot of eyes on this biopic. One that many have longed to see. I think that it will be one of the best and well-received in modern times. I will look more about Bob Marley and his legacy. Firstly, there are a couple of interviews with the star of Bob Marley: One Love, Kingsley Ben-Adir. Entertainment Weekly spoke with the British actor back in December:

“By the time Ziggy Marley approached Kingsley Ben-Adir to play his late father in the upcoming biographical film Bob Marley: One Love, the actor had already portrayed the likes of Malcolm X and Barack Obama on screen. Having played those fabled figures, however, didn’t do much to quell his trepidation about stepping into the role of the reggae icon.

“There were a lot of reservations,” Ben-Adir, 37, tells EW over Zoom from his native U.K. “I was completely convinced that there’s no point in auditioning for this. I can’t sing. I can’t dance.” He later quips, “My question was if they'd been on a worldwide search and they said yes. And I said maybe they should go on another one.”

But the role kept coming back to him. Finally, he surrendered to assembling an audition tape, first spending a weekend studying Marley’s performances and becoming particularly “obsessed” with his 1977 performance of “War” at London’s Rainbow Theater. With a vote of confidence from Ziggy, who produced the biopic alongside mother Rita, sister Cedella, and wife Orly (an executive producer), his road to embodying the reggae pioneer and activist began.

Directed by King Richard’s Reinaldo Marcus Green, One Love offers an intimate portrait of Marley’s life and fame, tracing the assassination attempt against him in December 1976 to his historic performance at the One Love Peace Concert in Kingston, Jamaica in April 1978, which sought to bridge unity amidst the volatile political crisis between the country’s two major political parties, Jamaica Labour Party and People's National Party. Lashana Lynch also stars as Marley’s wife, Rita.

Ben-Adir learned to sing and play guitar for the role, performing all of the songs with his own voice during filming. “Not necessarily well all of the time,” he notes. “I butchered a lot of people's ears for many days." The final cut blends his voice with Marley's archival recordings. "Bob’s not someone you can choreograph or copy," Ben-Adir continues. "His singing and dancing is from an internal experience, so you really have to find your own version of that for yourself”.

I will move onto an interview from The Guardian. In a very recent chat, we get to know how much being cast as Bob Marley means to Kingsley Ben-Adir. It is exciting that we get to see a music legend brought to the big screen! I still think that Bob Marley is underrated. An artist that is not as discussed and played as much as he should be. I hope that Bob Marley: One Love brings more people to the incredible and powerful music of Marley (and The Wailers):

“Where the range of Marley’s music suits his voice, he agreed to do a bit of singing in the movie. He thinks he managed those parts OK, without being any sort of natural: “Thanks God, I asked for a singing teacher.” To further aid his preparation, Ben-Adir flew to Kingston to spend time with Marley’s family and to consult with his surviving bandmates and collaborators. “Many of the people I spoke to in Jamaica were wary of me when I first sat down. And rightly so. ‘Who are you coming over here to do this? Who are you?’ I would tell them: ‘If I was you, I’d feel the same. But I want to try my best to represent this properly.’ I told them: ‘Listen, I’ve grown up with Jamaicans, believe me I’m not taking this lightly. I’ve agreed to do it, so I’m fucking going to try my best.’”

PHOTO CREDIT: Gavin Bond/The Observer

That question they put to Ben-Adir in Jamaica – “Who are you?’ – I end up putting to him again in the pub. More than the usual amount of mystery surrounds this guy. In the few interviews Ben-Adir has given in the past, he tends not to reveal much. Today, he chats fairly freely about his wife, with whom he practised his Bob Marley: One Love lines and from whom he pinched the pale red hat. But he is careful not to give her name or any identifying information. Google his name and you’ll likely come across a lingering question about his religious background. He has a Jewish surname. The Jewish Chronicle recently claimed Ben-Adir as Barbie’s “Jewish Ken”, though I can’t find a reliable record of him ever saying so. I inhabit a half-Jewish hinterland myself and because of this I feel (just about) comfortable asking Ben-Adir whether he identifies as a Jew.

Pleasant about it, but categoric, Ben-Adir avoids answering. “It’s about wanting the people who love you to feel safe,” he says, adding: “I definitely find it cringe when I read actors using the media as a space to vent their therapy.” However well-meaning a conversation with a journalist might be in the moment, he continues, the nuances of a person’s private life can easily get lost in translation when written down. Because of this, whenever he has a contractual obligation to promote a film or a TV programme, he tends to ask his publicists: what’s the minimum amount I can get away with before it starts to damage my reputation in the industry? “I feel nervous about people knowing stuff about me. I do feel frightened by the idea of celebrity and being recognised. I get the tube every day, I cycle everywhere. I live a normal life and I really, really like it.”

Ben-Adir acknowledges that, behind the scenes, some people involved with the movie have been nervous about this decision. “The family were asking for one thing, which was: ‘Keep it real, completely authentic, no white-washing.’ And then I’m reading [early] scripts where that wasn’t fully reflected.” Siding with the Marleys, Ben-Adir was among those who pushed for redrafts that made fuller use of patois, even if that risked limiting the movie’s commercial prospects. “I don’t know,” he says, thinking back on all of this from the pub, “maybe the financial stakes aren’t as important to me as to other people. I was always, like, ‘How cool would it be to have a foreign language movie, no subtitles?’ It gives this biopic its individuality.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Chiabella James 

Ben-Adir tells an apt story about his favourite TV show, The Sopranos, episodes of which he frequently re-watches. In one episode, Tony Soprano stands on a mountaintop and yells out… something. The recorded dialogue isn’t clear. Soprano might be yelling, “I did it!” or the line might be, “I get it!” After years of wondering, Ben-Adir says, he finally put on subtitles the other day. He solved the mystery (“I get it!”), but surrendered forever a delicious ambiguity. It convinced him that in art “you don’t need to know everything straight away. You only need to feel it. I think I could watch a movie like City of God, no subtitles, and still be transfixed without knowing what they’re talking about. For my taste, anyway, I want to feel the essence of things, I want to feel these moments of authenticity, I’m happy to try to understand the story of a scene without necessarily understanding all of the words.”

At the pub, about to head off to that studio in town and record the final lines of Bob Marley: One Love, Ben-Adir warms up some more with that Marley dialogue he has by heart. He recites a rousing speech about Black suffering, then a religious tract. Every so often he throws in phrases – direct lifts from Marley’s recorded interviews – that nobody has ever been able to decipher, not Ben-Adir listening along in slow-mo nor the members of the Marley family he consulted for help. Marley spoke in patois, he spoke in English, and just sometimes he spoke a language that was entirely his own. Ben-Adir hopes all this makes the final cut of the biopic, because it was true to the bio”.

It is important that Bob Marley’s story is being brought to the screen. If anyone wants to get an impression of the influence of Bob Marley, then there are articles like this that chart his story and remarkable rise to prominence. In terms of civil rights and his messages of peace and unity. I am going to end in a minute. I want to source a great article from last year that charted the life and legacy of Jamaica’s beloved son. Music and messages that are as important and needed now more than ever:

“Birth of The Wailers

Bob Marley was born in the small country settlement of Nine Mile, in St Ann, Jamaica, on February 6, 1945. His father, Norval, originally from the UK, was absent, though he did send some money to Marley’s mother, Cedella. Norval died when Bob was ten; practically penniless, Cedella headed south for Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, ending up in Trenchtown, a slum district but a wellspring of sporting, political and cultural talent. The young Bob loved music, especially US musicians such as The Impressions, The Miracles, and The Moonglows. He had a decent voice and, in 1962, recorded some songs for Leslie Kong, owner of Beverley’s records in Kingston’s Federal studios. Three were released as singles on the fledgling Island label in the UK, credited to Robert Marley.

The singles flopped, but, undaunted, Bob formed a vocal group with fellow teenagers in the government yard in Trenchtown, Bunny Livingston and Peter Tosh, plus a revolving cast that included Junior Braithwaite, Constantine “Vision” Walker, and female vocalists Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith. Walker also worked with The Soulettes, a vocal outfit whose leader, Rita Anderson, would become Bob’s wife and musical foil. Bob’s group’s name eventually settled as The Wailers. Under the tutelage of local star Joe Higgs, they absorbed the finer points of harmony singing, and he took them to Studio One in 1964, where they cut a series of ska hits, including “Simmer Down,” “It Hurts To Be Alone,” “Rude Boy,” “Put It On,” and “One Love,” most written by Bob, though the group’s lead vocalist role rotated. Often basing their harmonies on The Impressions, albeit with a Jamaican beat, they sang of love, folklore, and rude-boy antics. The Wailers were teen stars across the island, but received little renumeration.

IN THIS PHOTO: Bob Marley live at the Lyceum Ballroom, London in July 1975/PHOTO CREDIT: Adrian Boot

Gritty and rebellious

Stripped to a core of Bob, Bunny and Peter, in 1966 the group formed their own record label, Wail ’N Soul ’M, partly funded by Bob’s stint on a Chrysler production line in the US. The Wailers’ company released a series of superb, often serious records in the rocksteady style, but only two sold strongly, the suggestive “Bend Down Low” and the romantic dance invitation, “Nice Time.” Any income was absorbed by studio and session charges, and pressing and distribution costs: the group remained, in the Jamaican word, sufferers. Bob’s interest in Rastafarianism was confirmed in April 1966, however, when his wife, Rita, witnessed the visit to Jamaica of the faith’s living God, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie Of Ethiopia. Bob was instructed in his new spirituality by Ras Mortimer Planno, the religious teacher who greeted HIM at the airport.

Bob returned to Beverley’s with The Wailers in 1969, but Leslie Kong’s successful upbeat sound did not suit the group. In 1970, a union with maverick producer Lee “Scratch” Perry proved more fitting. He identified a rebellious tendency in the group and encouraged it, revealing a swelling militancy across two albums, Soul Rebels and Soul Revolution. Scratch urged Bob to sing in a more emphatic manner and helped them sound more rootsy. Several songs that would fuel Bob’s mid-70s rise debuted under Scratch’s regime, including “Small Axe” and “Sun Is Shining.”

The Wailers left Scratch, taking Aston “Family Man” and Carlton Barrett, Perry’s bass and drums brothers, with them. They again focused on their own label, renamed Tuff Gong. Bob flew to Europe to write for US star Johnny Nash, then met Chris Blackwell, who asked The Wailers to create an album for his label, Island. Catch A Fire (1973), was gritty and rebellious, yet built to appeal to the era’s rock culture. A further album, Burnin’, was, naturally, just as hot. When Eric Clapton, regarded as the most serious rock musician of the era, had a US No.1 with Bob’s “I Shot The Sheriff” in 1974, Bob’s stock rose further. Live!, which found him and The Wailers in celebratory form at London’s Lyceum Theatre, delivered a major 1975 hit in “No Woman, No Cry.” But this Wailers was a backing band: Peter and Bunny had quit before 1974’s seminal Natty Dread album. Bob’s wife, Rita, and established reggae vocalists Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt handled the harmonies as The I-Threes.

One love

Island marketed Bob Marley & The Wailers like it promoted its rock acts. Bob’s dreadlocked image helped, and the seriousness of his message destroyed a lingering idea among some critics that reggae was trivial. In Jamaica, Bob was important enough to face a gunman’s assassination attempt in December 1976. The motive remains unclear, but one theory suggests political factionalism in Jamaica turned its fury on Bob when he agreed to appear at the Smile Jamaica concert organized by the Prime Minister. Bob, wounded in the arm and chest, played the gig just two days later.

Brave he may have been, but Bob was not reckless. He chose to recover somewhere safer, and flew to London. The move affected his music positively, resulting in the 1977 album Exodus, which enjoyed more than a year on the UK charts and carried the hits “Jamming,” “Waiting In Vain,” “Three Little Birds,” and “One Love”/”People Get Ready.” Time later named it the album of the 20th Century. Bob also cut the successful Kaya in the UK. In April 1978, he faced down danger to unite the leaders of Jamaica’s antagonistic parties at Kingston’s One Love Peace Concert, forcing the politicians to clasp hands while he sang “Jamming.” Bob’s will could not be denied.

Bob’s progress continued unabated, with the serious Survival and Uprising albums delivering contrasting classics, “Redemption Song” and the anthem-like “Zimbabwe,” the latter of which was written in 1979 and gloriously performed in Harare on 17 April 1980, at the African country’s independence celebrations. However, Bob was secretly seriously ill. He’d been diagnosed with cancer in 1977, and the disease became critical when he collapsed in Central Park, NYC, two days before his final gig, in Pittsburgh, on 23 September 1980.

Bob left Earth to do his work in the next realm on 11 May 1981. He was 36. Jamaica gave this child of the ghetto, a true believer in a religion the island’s middle-class rejected, a full state funeral. He had done more for the country and its sufferers than any number of official schemes.

In the decades that followed, Bob’s legacy has been carefully handled. For years, his music has never appeared on inappropriate compilations, and official collections, such as Rebel Music, Songs Of Freedom, and the perennially popular Legend, pay respectful tribute to his work and message. Some fans assume that Bob is still a physical presence, so eternally contemporary is his message of unity, spirituality, and freedom”.

I think that Bob Marley: One Love is going to receive huge reviews. As I opened by saying, it can be very hard getting a music biopic right. In terms of the tone and balance of the script or casting the right lead, there are a precious few that manage to please all fans and critics. There have been some successful biopics through the years, though few from the past decade or so that stand in the mind. I do feel that Bob Marley: One Love will be a huge success. With Kingsley Ben-Adir so committed about getting his portrayal right and spending time getting singing lessons and immersing himself in Bob Marley’s world and career, there is this authenticity and real passion behind the performance. It will highlight how important Bob Marley is. It is going to be brilliant seeing one of the most important artists ever brought to the screen. That peerless and unmistakable sound. If you are a fan of Bob Marley/Bob Marley and The Wailers or do not know much, it is well worth a trip seeing the upcoming biopic. Out in cinemas on 14th February, Bob Marley: One Love is going to be…

A huge success.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Kaleah Lee

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Kaleah Lee

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I will come to some interviews…

with the amazing Kaleah Lee. This is a Canadian artist who I am new to. I am keen to know more about. I think that this year is going to be a very busy year for her. Late last year, Pitch Perfect PR shared some biography about this wonderful artist. Someone who I hope gets to tour in the U.K. and bring her music over here:

“Vancouver-based artist Kaleah Lee shares “Where’d The Time Go?,” her first new single from a forthcoming project out next year. Hushed and organic, it’s an intimate glimpse at her artistic prowess that extends from poetic field recordings to tender folk. Written and produced by Lee herself, “Where’d The Time Go?” began as a poem which she then set to an intricate guitar-picking pattern. “Noticed the hollowing out of your cheeks // How you’ve grown up to desire nights quiet and meek,” Kaleah sings. “How you welcome the tears // How did you switch to tea?”

“I initially wrote ‘Where’d The Time Go?’ when I had a few moments to myself on my birthday this year,” says Kaleah. “For me, birthdays are a strange and bittersweet thing, being a day when the reality of getting older is scarily magnified. The song is a sort of meditation on not only being hit with the fact that I’m getting older, but also that my parents and loved ones are getting older too. Time is so, so precious, and all the change that comes with each passing year seems to become more and more obvious, whether I want it to or not. ‘Where’d The Time Go?’ feels like a time capsule for me, and I know that I’ll appreciate looking back at it being such a candid and specific representation of how I felt on that day.”

Raised in suburban Vancouver, Kaleah began playing music at her church, eventually focusing on piano and guitar as she got older. She wrote her first original music in 2020, and was encouraged by her sister to release it.  Kaleah started turning heads with her original songs on TikTok, amassing over 20 million views, 85k followers, and receiving the attention of Taylor Swift, Bon Iver, Maggie Rogers, Gracie Abrams, and more. That buzz turned into high demand for more new music; Kaleah responded in 2022 with a string of singles, including her debut, “Heavy Handed,” resulting in over 4 million streams, playlist covers on Spotify’s coveted “Fresh Finds” and Tidal’s “Rising,” and spots in Spotify’s “Fresh Finds Class of 2022” and Tidal’s “Rising Best of 2022”.

At the start of last year, Lyrical Lemonade spent some time getting to know better Kaleah Lee. At that point, Out of Body was her new single. One of her best to that point. With so many interesting and talented rising artists round, it can be easy missing some of them. Make sure Kaleah Lee is someone you check out and investigate right away:

“Sam: I love that. Okay, so you were born and raised around Vancouver right? What was it like growing up there?

Kaleah: Yeah, so I live technically not in Downtown Vancouver, I live in the suburbs like 20 minutes away. It’s really quiet here, sort of in the middle of nowhere and a little removed from a lot of action, but it’s nice; very quiet and lots of nature, so that’s been a very nice thing to grow up around. The actual city though, I really enjoy spending time there. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s much different from where I am normally, but I love it. There are a lot of different things to do…A lot of demographics of people, so it’s always interesting. A lot of different food and experiences.

Sam: When it comes to your family in Canada, did you grow up in a musical home? Did anyone sing or play instruments?

Kaleah: Not really, no. Most of my family were athletes. That’s what I did most of my life too, but I have an uncle who is a musician, but I wasn’t around that growing up. Half of my family is filipino and they love music so much, but it was never anything that was super serious; and actually, no one knew that I could sing until maybe a few years ago, but yeah I grew up with instruments though. I played the piano which I would play by ear, so my parents got me lessons…But overall, music wasn’t anything that anyone took very seriously.

Sam: Okay, so with that, what is your creative process like? How do you take an idea and turn it into a full fledged song so seamlessly?

Kaleah: It’s very strange. Sorry that’s a word I use a lot and it’s so hard to explain it, because it’s never the same I would say.  Sometimes I have the notes app or my journal and I’ll just write random things or if I think of a line, I’ll jot it down to revisit later; or sometimes it’s like a zone I’ll get into, but I’ll just be playing chords and start writing simultaneously whatever I feel and whatever comes to mind, but yeah, it’s always different every time. It is mostly very emotional and feelings based for the most part. Maybe I’ll re-read a journal entry and try to make something out of it. But at the same time, it’s not always me trying to make something…It kind of just happens.

Sam: You’re amazing. Talking to you really shines a light on why your music is so good. I’m so Inspired by you…Okay, final question. It’s almost the end of the first month of the year. What are you excited about and looking forward to in 2023?

Kaleah: I’m excited to just keep doing what I’m doing and see how it can progress and grow. Interacting with people has been really cool. People have been making little group chats and adding me to them and I just get to see the community that’s forming and that’s been really cool to watch, so I’m excited to be able to watch that grow and see how I can be more a part of the people who are listening to me”.

Prior to moving to a current feature around Kaleah Lee, there is another interview from last year that I am keen to get to. No Multiple Faces spent some time with an artist they were very fond on. Someone baring her soul and connecting with an online audience. Even though I have just discovered her music, I am now truly a fan of this wonderful artist. I know that we will get a lot of awesome new music from Kaleah Lee this year:

“Ahead of the release of her new single ‘All At Once’ on March 29th, and on the back of her last single ‘Out of Body’, I spoke with Kaleah about her music, the community that she has built online, and her role as a rising star in the music industry.

With a proven talent to draw people towards her and her artistry, I asked Kaleah:

The community that you have built on social media has played a big role in your journey in music so far, and you seem to really facilitate this sense of belonging and community amongst your fans. Do you find there to be a certain type of person that gravitates towards you and your music?

The community that’s forming has been one of the most rewarding parts of all of this. This is interesting because it’s something that I’ve thought of a lot and noticed myself! I’m not sure I’d say there's a specific type of person that gravitates toward my music. They vary so much in age and whatnot, but they do all seem to share the commonality that the music resonates in some way. It’s like talking to different versions of myself at different stages and walks of life which sounds crazy, but it’s made me feel so much less alone and hopefully them too. I think that collective understanding and connection is a big part of why there's a community in the first place. They've all been so supportive and so special in their own way!

What is the storytelling process that you take through your music?

Most, if not all of what I write is based on an experience or feeling that I’ve had, and it’s a way that I cope with literally anything. I’d say the storytelling process I take is a cathartic one. It can start with a thought or emotion I’m experiencing at that current moment, revisiting a journal entry, playing around with a chord progression, or all three at the same time. Usually, when I’m at the point of making anything a song, the “story” has been fleshed out somehow, most likely written in my journal or just something that’s happened that has been living in the back of my mind, so connecting it to music is like the last piece. I try to express the experiences I’ve had as candidly and acutely as possible. 

Social media likes to box people into certain aesthetics (soft girl, sad girl, etc...). Do you feel this, and is there any inclination in you to lean into any box to appease the categorization features of internet culture?

I’m aware that these aesthetics exist, but I wouldn’t say that I personally try to pursue any particular one. I make what I feel is right for me to make and if someone feels the need to fit it somewhere, maybe to help them identify how the music makes them feel or if it’s how they express their connection to the music, that’s great! But I also think that if it’s taken too seriously, being limited to creating on one plane of space can be restricting to the growth of an artist or person in general. It’s definitely not a goal or really even an interest of mine to be placed in any one particular place at all or to place others in one particular place at all. It’s important to make what you want to make!”

Where do you draw the majority of your inspiration from? And what is the source of inspiration that people may be surprised by?

The majority of my inspiration comes from my personal experiences. I use writing to express the things I feel because it seems to be the only way I’m able to articulate myself exactly how I want to…I’m terrible at talking about how I feel hahaha. I’m not sure if this is surprising, but I also get a lot of inspiration from nature and its interconnectedness and how everything I experience seems to be intertwined with it or can be represented through it. 

Is there something specific that you'd like to represent or stand for as a rising star in the music world? Personal or on a wider scale.

I feel like there are so many things I could say but something I stand for, and I’m choosing this one because it has become important to me now more than ever, is taking care of yourself. Especially on an emotional level. I’ve recently come to terms with the fact that I can’t fully be the person I’d like to be for others until I find ways to get help for myself first! It can feel daunting to reach out for help, and might even feel weird to do things for yourself, but it's scary how easy it can be to neglect your own needs with others in mind. Having a healthy relationship with yourself first is so, so important not only for you but for the people in your life that you love as well”.

It has been quite a ride for Kaleah lee so far. Her cover versions are amazing. Whether interpreting boygenius, SZA, Taylor Swift or Billy Joel, the stripped back and affectionate versions have done won a lot of attention and love online. Music is definitely her calling. After studying Interior Design at college and then dripping out during COVID-19 when everything went online, Kaleah Lee has not looked back. The Line of Best Fit recently spoke with an artist whose music is very lyric-driven. Someone who grew up on the music of artists like Bon Iver and Lorde, it is no wonder that her own music has that same sort of attention to words. A debut E.P. is due later this year. Rotting Fruit is the first taste of it. After taking herself out of college, things have been pretty busy for the Canadian artist:

“Since then, Lee has toured with Leith Ross across the West Coast, from Canada to LA. “That was huge for me, playing shows in general,” she tells me. “I think that's the one thing I was really scared of and I'm sort of still nervous when I do it, but getting kind of thrown into that, where I had to do it for a few nights was a great way for me to get out of my shell in that way. And it also just helped me feel more comfortable to share what I'm making with a direct audience.”

It’s certainly a jump from performing at home: “I only just play in my room for the most part, and that's super comforting,” she says. “So to be able to kind of pivot and do that elsewhere feels comforting as well. But, yeah, I think the start of making music too, I was really scared to add production to stuff because I was just so used to how stripped down acoustic stuff was, and it was comforting. I think it's just always been a safe space for me.”

Even her music videos reflect the safe space that home represents for her.. Snippets of rivers and rocks and tree roots appear as she wanders through the vast expanse in the visual for “All at Once.”

“I'm very affected by my environment and I guess a lot of the things I write about are more personal topics and more emotional-based things. So that's honestly directly influenced by my surroundings,” she explains. “So definitely the rain and all of that is a huge thing. Just as a person, too, kind of the same thing. I’m very influenced by what I'm around.” It's no surprise that this carries through in her writing to today given that she is still in Vancouver, hometown based and adjacent to the elements that offer so much solace.

The likes of Swift and Cyrus continue to influence Lee and have laid the foundation for her own songs, where she’s making space for the emotions of young women and validating them in her own self-expression, ushering in fresh lyricism that comes from her own vulnerability.

The perspective of her work is rooted in the experiences of her adolescence and what it is to navigate this time in her life as she comes of age. “I would say ‘Rotten Fruit’ is probably one of the most emotionally liberating things I have written,” she tells me. “And it's sort of about as you get older, you start to form your own opinions and your own belief systems, and I think it was weird at first to realise, like an out of body, third person kind of watching yourself thing. It was strange to navigate, but once I was able to sort of surrender to the feelings, like maybe things I believe now don't align with what I used to believe or what I was taught growing up, it became super liberating. That's sort of what the song is about, just navigating those feelings.”

@kaleahvl

didnt cry on my bday but i wrote this and idk whats worse 

♬ original sound - Kaleah Lee

Even as she builds upon the production in her music and moves away from the purely acoustic sound she has come to be known for, the themes stay constant. “I just always will find some kind of comparison to relate it back to nature. It feels like a safer way for me to express things. Not super directly, but through something that's comfortable.”

She wants to get out of Vancouver soon, but being a product of her environment bodes well for Lee. It’s this perspective and observation that has gotten her this far already. “The nature will always find its way in,” she says”.

If you have not discovered Kaleah Lee, then I would suggest that you do so. She is a tremendous young artist with a bright future. Definitely standing our from her peers, we are going to be hearing a lot more from this amazing artist. I hope that we get to see her in the U.K. From a personally selfish place, it would be good to see her on the stage. I know there is a lot of support for her here. For those searching for an artist that will stick in the mind and they will return to time and time again, then the magnificent Kaleah Lee if for you. She is an artist you will…

NOT want to miss out on.

___________

Follow Kaleah Lee

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/kaleahlee/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/kaleahvlee

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@kaleahvl

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6JgC582KHI4BpHIhbFHVAQ

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoRK561mhybmlbC7A-r_J4w

FEATURE: Lost in Your Light: Dua Lipa: One of Britain’s Most Important Pop Icons

FEATURE:

 

 

Lost in Your Light

Dua Lipa: One of Britain’s Most Important Pop Icons

_________

ON 30th January…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Bailey-Gates for Rolling Stone

it will be four years since Dua Lipa released the single, Physical. The second to be taken from her as-then-unreleased second studio album, Future Nostalgia, that album came out in March 2020. I know that she is working on a third studio album. One that is almost done. The London-born British-Albanian artist is someone who, I feel, is our most important modern-day Pop icons. If the U.S. has Taylor Swift and Billie Eilih, we have Dua Lipa. I feel that she is out greatest modern Pop artist. Not only an incredible artist, Lipa is a budding actor and a magnificent live performers. One of the best of her generation. A hugely consistent and brilliant songwriter, I will bring in a couple of recent interviews with this modern-day superstar. Alongside the queens of modern music – including Lana Del Rey and Megan Thee Stallion -, there is no denying that Dua Lipa is an all-time great! Someone who will go down in the history books. In terms of her sound and influence. She is someone already inspiring emerging artists. At twenty-eight, we are going to see her in the industry for many years to come. There is a lot of excitement around a third album. Also, as they have yet to declare their headliners, many wonder whether Dua Lipa will be one of the three headliners who will take to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage later in the year. Maybe her, Little Simz and a male band will be the three names.

There are a couple of interviews that I want to bring in. Giving an insight into the creative and personal mind of Dua Lipa, I think that they go into detail as to why she is so compelling and acclaimed. In my mind, she is a modern-day Pop giant who does not get as much credit and spotlight as other artists. A queen of music, she is also someone wrestling with the public’s perception of her. In terms of who a modern-day Pop artist, do people want them to be smart and political? Perhaps something that is applied to women in a rather patronising and sexist way, should modern artists stick to music and not aspire and ideas beyond that?! This BBC article reports how Dua Lipa has reacted to a certain perception of her:

“Dua Lipa is one of the world's biggest pop stars, but the singer has voiced her frustration with the public's perception of her.

"I don't know if people believe that I like to read books," she said. "They don't want you to be political. They don't want you to be smart. There is so much more to me than just what I do."

Since her breakout single New Rules in 2017, the British-Albanian singer has launched a book club, a lifestyle newsletter and an international music festival in Pristina, Kosovo.

She has also made headlines for her political views - criticising the UK government's stance on immigration and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Speaking in a new interview with Rolling Stone, she said her worldview had been shaped by her parents' experience of fleeing the Kosovo war in the late 1990s.

"My existence is kind of political, the fact that I lived in London because my parents left from the war," she said.

"I feel for people who have to leave their home. From my experience of being in Kosovo and understanding what war does, no-one really wants to leave their home.

"They do it for protection, to save their family, to look after the people around them, that kind of thing, for a better life. So I feel close to it."

PHOTO CREDIT: EPA

The star said she saw parallels between what her parents went through and the situation Palestinians currently find themselves in, which prompted her to sign a petition calling for a ceasefire.

However, she was also critical of the atrocities carried out by Hamas during their deadly attack on Israel last October.

"I don't condone what Hamas is doing," she said. "I feel so bad for every Israeli life lost and what happened on 7 October.

"At the moment, what we have to look at is how many lives have been lost in Gaza, and the innocent civilians, and the lives that are just being lost.

"There are just not enough world leaders that are taking a stand and speaking up about the humanitarian crisis that's happening, the humanitarian ceasefire that has to happen."

'I won't spill my guts'

While the star has been vocal about her political views, she is less forthcoming about her personal life.

"I think I'm British," she told Rolling Stone, by way of explanation.

"I don't think I'm here to spill my guts on a talk show because it's going to be good for a news cycle or getting attention.

"As much as people think they know the people they support, I actually don't think they know anything about them anyway."

She was more keen to discuss her third album, which due for release later this year.

The record will be the follow-up to her Brit Award-winning disco odyssey Future Nostalgia.

The singer promised a change of direction, with Rolling Stone describing the album as a "psychedelic-pop-infused tribute to UK rave culture", inspired by bands like Primal Scream and Massive Attack.

"This record feels a bit more raw," she said.

"I want to capture the essence of youth and freedom and having fun and just letting things happen, whether it's good or bad. You can't change it. You just have to roll with the punches of whatever's happening in your life."

It will be the star's first record since splitting with TaP Management, who discovered and developed her as an artist.

She said legal agreements meant she "couldn't talk much" about the separation, but confirmed she had bought back the publishing rights to her biggest hits, and cautioned young musicians to educate themselves on the the business side of the music industry.

"Pay attention early on... I don't think enough people tell young artists that," she said.

"Everything feels so exciting in the beginning, and of course it is, but it's good to have the knowledge, and good to take care of yourself."

The star will next be seen at the Grammy Awards on 5 February, where she will perform alongside acts like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo.

She is one of the nominees for song of the year, thanks to her Barbie song Dance The Night. The tune could also pick up an Oscar nomination when the shortlists are revealed on 23 January”.

Tomorrow (23rd January) could indeed she Dua Lipa Oscar-nominated. I also think that she will be a festival headliner this summer. A third album due soon, this is a moment when Dua Lipa ascends to new heights. A supreme talent, she is also someone who holds a lot of influence and importance. I think that there are sections of the public and media who may balk at her political side. Maybe not pay as much notice to her book club and other projects. She should not be deterred. It is these various sides and assets that makes her such an amazing and rounded artist. Touching lives around the world, I do hope Lipa is not disheartened. This year is shaping up to be one of most successful and important. Rolling Stone featured Dua Lipa earlier this month. Discussing, among other things, influences on her third album, her dating life and acting projects, it is a deep dive into an artist who is one of the most astonishing in the world. And someone I feel is still underrated:

“She’s slightly jet-lagged, having landed from London a few days earlier. Two days before her flight, she released her new single, “Houdini,” a neo-psychedelic dance-floor rager. The next morning, Grammy nominations were announced, and she found out her Barbie hit, “Dance the Night,” was up for two awards, including Song of the Year. “I didn’t even know they were coming out that day!” she says. She celebrated by going to her friend’s DJ set, and admits she was kind of hungover for her flight.

But in between such big moments and celebrations, Lipa has been figuring out a lot about herself. Her highly anticipated third album is due later this year, and it captures a period of major changes in her life, including the end of a relationship and her forays into dating. She also parted ways with the management firm that represented her for a decade and bought back the rights to her music. Beyond that, she’s been planting seeds and piling up projects that include her Service95 newsletter, movie roles, and a production company, plotting out exactly what she wants to do in the future.

“I’m being thrown into learning lessons of resilience,” she says, “lessons of maybe not having to be so strong all the time and being OK with that.” She searches for the words a bit. “I don’t know.… I’m learning so much about myself.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Bailey-Gates

Lipa may have already been more resilient than she realized. Look no further than her origin story: At 15, she famously persuaded her family to let her leave Kosovo and moved back to London, where she was born, completely alone. She finished school, passed her A-levels, and began waiting tables and modeling while seeking out a team and label to get her music career off the ground. Before she turned 20, she was signed.

In the years leading up to and following the release of her 2017 self-titled debut, Lipa hustled in the studio and on the road, playing festivals and opening for Troye Sivan, Bruno Mars, and Coldplay. The work paid off with hits like “New Rules” and a Best New Artist Grammy Award. Then, in 2020, her hyper-glam disco revival Future Nostalgia became a pandemic blockbuster that climbed the charts and launched her into main-pop-girl territory.

The album was a rebel yell for Lipa. It became an unlikely soundtrack for millions of people during lockdown, and made disco a ubiquitous trend in pop for the next few years. And with her warm, soulful voice, mixed with her undeniable self-assuredness, Lipa became the pop diva ready to meet an uncertain moment.

While she’s one of the most-streamed artists in the world, she’s also your favorite rock star’s favorite pop star: When Elton John isn’t calling her up for lavish dinners, Mick Jagger is busting a move with her at his Christmas party. “We had a full dance party, dancing with Mick Jagger in his living room,” she says, laughing. She breaks into a light impression of Jagger: “He’s like, ‘All right, babe! Let’s go, darling!’”

Last summer, Trent Reznor said that he found “Levitating” so “well-crafted” it made him tear up. (“That was too, too cool,” Lipa says, smiling widely.) Recently, for her Service95 book club, Lipa spoke to Patti Smith, one of her heroes. Smith shared that she had seen a picture of Lipa in a chain-mail dress at the Barbie premiere and instantly thought of Joan of Arc. “Sometimes when I’m talking about things like this, I’m like, ‘It feels weird that I am even talking about myself,’” Lipa says.

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Bailey-Gates

Lipa is everywhere, but many critics feel they have barely cracked the surface of who she is. She slipped so easily between genres that her sound, and personality, came off as inscrutable earlier in her career. Glimpses into her life outside of the spotlight would come in frequent but well-curated waves on her Instagram, the only social platform she runs herself. For her, music is a job — and her personal life remains just that. “I like to just live my life, do my photo dump, write my songs, and dip,” she explains. “I’m not interested in trying to be controversial or do something for a reaction.”

Her poise and disinterest in drama often leads people to cast her as a guarded, too-perfect pop bot. Jokes and criticism that she’s not trying hard enough, not giving enough, have hurt her. In the middle of all this self-discovery, Lipa’s been figuring out how to create more distance from the noise around her.

The truth is, you can’t be as ambitious and precise as Lipa is without giving a fuck. “I really care about how the fans respond,” she says. (After “Houdini” was released, she was frustrated that people said it still sounded “disco” when none of her influences come from there.)

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t care about what the critics thought.… When you put your heart and soul into something, you want people collectively to be like, ‘Oh, it’s changed sonically, and it’s been something different.’”

She’s noticed a pattern with all of her singles so far, how they don’t start at the top and “gradually grow” over time. “They take so long and never get to Number One, but they stay around for a long time,” she says. There’s no irritation or anger in her voice when she says this; while a Number One in the U.S. would be nice, the longevity feels like a hard-earned win.

“As long as the songs stick around and people are listening to them, I’m cool with that,” she says.

When it’s time to leave, London is a darker shade of gray. Lipa walks me to the door, holding open my jacket for me to stick my arms into. She tells me about her dinner plans at BRAT, a Michelin-star restaurant in Shoreditch where she’s meeting up with a primary-school friend. After she recommends the negroni at the restaurant where I’m heading to meet friends, the gates close behind me. Like she promised, the negroni is delicious.

LIPA CAN TRACE her meticulous nature back to when she was a child. As a kid, she ran a blog called Dua Daily, a Service95 prototype where she would share her style tips and recipes. And as the oldest of three, she’s taken her job as a big sister as seriously as she has taken her gigs as both tastemaker and pop superstar. Her siblings were in school when Lipa’s career started taking off, and are now forging their own paths; her sister wants to be an actress, while her brother is producing music.

“It’s cool to just see them have their goals,” she says, grinning proudly. “I’d be like, ‘Oh, you guys want to come over?’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, no, I’m busy. I’ve got a studio session.’” Lipa sees their parents, Anesa and Dukagjin, as her blueprint: Anesa had been studying to be a lawyer and Dukagjin was both a musician and a dentist in Kosovo before they fled their homes in the early Nineties when the Bosnian war broke out. The couple completely started over in the U.K., where their three kids were born”.

I am going to end with an essential and career-spanning Dua Lipa playlist. I feel it was a moment when I needed to salute a modern great. Maybe not only one of Britain’s greatest-ever Pop artists. In a modern landscape where incredible women like Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey have such success and this gigantic fanbase, I think Dua Lipa stands alongside them. I can see Lipa in more films and T.V. projects in years to come. A third studio album that will get great acclaim and will be award-nominated. She is likely to be Oscar-nominated for her Barbie song, Dance the Night. I have a feeling there will be some Glastonbury news. In any case, there are few as compelling and important as Dua Lipa. This is an immense talent that we should hold…

CLOSE to our hearts.