Australian R&B-stress Maribelle teams with production duo Penthouse on new track for Crush Club Records. Following a template of mid to late 90’s R&B (Aaliyah, Mya, Faith Evans) distilled through 2016 production ideas, “About U” wins on its very strong stable tuneful melodies and being very good at its particular template. Also Maribelle’s vocal is $$$$.
Zone out to the superbly-scintillating guitar interludes and expressive keyboard melody of “Over Time” the latest lovely, quietly-simmering vocals-led hip-hop beats track from Hamburg, Germany producer Blunted Beatz (a.k.a. Dr Slice or Dave White). Reviewed by Erin Shay.
Aussie house man Mall Grab is releasing a new EP on March 11 on Church and the 3 AM sound of “Sun Ra” is the release’s title track. “Sun Ra” follows-up the very good Alicia-sampling “Can’t” which is also included in the EP.
B3 blog featured Canadian producer/vocalist and self-professed beat-crusher Four Lore wows us again with another gem “Linear”, a perfectly punctuated (light hearted) unique-sultry electronic beats instrumental that excels for its divinely positive conglomeration of whimsical percussion, whispery vocals, and bright barely-tangible keyboard notes (which really adds a subtle drama). Excellent. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
The silky smooth “Keeping Me Under” is new from UK rookies Two Another. An airtight French-influenced rhythm groove provides the gas/petrol for an electric set of melodies and particularly that “am i really that” falsetto line that first enters the track at 0:45 which is purely magic. Enjoy below.
We are blown away by the amazing weave of beautiful vocals and classic instrumentals on “Higher” the latest star-studded collaboration from B3 fave dancehall-heavy bootleg style-setting Toronto-based producer and Film Noir: Sound founder Krs. (now he is taking on some boss original joint productions including B3 covered “Faking It” as a part of his debut “Season III” EP). Featuring the incredible vocal prowess and production talents of B3 fave San Francisco artist Mars Today and the vocals of LA via Toronto r&b/neo-soul singer-songwriter Noah, “Higher” is a dynamic velvety meld of melodious synth, sax and trumpet accents, and warmly enveloping vocals (including some playful spoken word elements). We adore the soothing-worded lyrics of Mars Today in particular and how they mix with the straightforward stinger (slightly more gritty) poetics of Noah. Stream “Higher” (song two from Krs.‘s upcoming debut “Season III” EP) now. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
“In The Shadows” is next up for new duo Foreign Air who ran to the top of the Hypem charts last year with debut “Free Animal”. “In The Shadows”, much like it’s predecessor, is pinpoint precise in its anthemic indie rock songcraft. “In the Shadows” is the work of a pair of very skilled writers. Do not sleep.
Johnny Stimson’s latest exercise in spotless expertly-constructed pop is the very good “You Can’t Save Me”. Fresh from a tour with nascent popstress Tori Kelly and an EP upcoming, Stimson’s arrow is pointing up. Listen to those melodies. So much shine.
C Y G N. (featured here most recently for his quiet thriller “Place of Peace” an exquisitely-composed jazz-tinged experimental-beats-punctuated TheeReal joint collaboration) pays a simple-vibe tribute to J Dilla on his latest potently-creative synth-chord-drenched horn-tempered dub-enhanced beat-scape “For Dilla”. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
The A+ dark pop of “Run” is Eliza Shaddad’s new follow-up to her online breakthrough track “Wars”. The title track of a forthcoming EP, “Run” continues “Wars” immediate edge with Shaddad saying the song “has a life of its own, and I think half our total studio time was probably spent just trying to tame it.”, continuing, “It’s merciless in parts, musically, and lyrically, and a total beast to play live; getting to the end in one piece can actually be kind of cathartic.” Eliza Shaddad’s “Run” EP is out March 18 on Beatnik Creative.
New to the blog, Inland Empire (So Cal) producer Nick Pacoli remixes Joyce Wrice track “Take It Easy” to highly listenable results (we last covered Joyce Wrice for her Jay Prince “Beautiful Mercy” EP collaboration “Afrofunk”). We love how he maintains the focus on the original vocals (beautiful) while embellishing Joyce’s distinct vocal flair with a slightly more upbeat up-tempo dance sentiment (ie. subtle-vitality beats, classic symbol percussion and mellow minimalist synth accents). Reviewed by Erin Shay.
