Browsing Tag

RnB Trip Hop

Ride the ‘Waves’ in Stephanie Michelle’s Latest Spiritually Scintillating Synth Pop-Meets-Soul Release

With all the style of Portishead, the soul of Seal, and the sonic beguile of Erykah Badu, the latest single, Waves, by the RnB visionary Stephanie Michelle draws you into a transcendent connection with something far beyond the self.

The intimate approach to the production created an aural phenomenon that will leave you sinking deeper into the tranquilly euphonic experience as it explores epiphanies that lead you to overcome what no longer serves you. Despite the lyrics leaning into aching emotions, the Detroit-born singer, songwriter, and producer ensured that Waves is as cathartic as watching water rhythmically lap against the shore.

With her influences ranging from Tori Amos to Depeche Mode, and her time spent in a synth-pop band, Stephanie Michelle’s sonic signature is rendered in deeply distinctive calligraphy. If you always want to tune into artists who charter unique paths with their sound, get on board with this phenomenal artist.

Waves is now available to stream on here

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Juracán reached the epitome of caressive seduction in his downtempo trip-hop track, Ya Te Olvidé

Trip-hop’s sultriest evocateur, Juracán, allowed raw emotion to pour into his most sensually sublime single to date, Ya Te Olvidé. If the intimate Spanish vocals don’t leave prickles of heat under your collar as they sweep across the mellifluous guitars, glitchy percussion, and trumpets, the caressive seduction in the trip-hop instrumentals will turn up the heat.

Ya Te Olvidé injects a brand-new context into the adage “gone but not forgotten” by alluding to how memories made with ex-romantic partners fade like old Polaroids, regardless of how much we want to cling to some of the sweetest moments in the bitter-sweet dichotomies that relationships inevitably traverse.

If you’re looking for solace after experiencing the obsoletion of inside jokes and watching pictures lose all meaning, you are sure to find it within Ya Te Olvidé. Either that or you’ll start a new sonic love affair with Juracán.

Ya Te Olvidé was officially released on November 3rd; stream the single on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Get into the soulful hip-hop groove with the collaborative alchemy that spilt between Giuseppe Grondona, Lisabel & Nikola Kovacevic in ‘Mar My Mind’.

Giuseppe Grondona, Lisabel, and Nikola Kovacevic got into the urban groove with their collaborative RnB rendezvous, Mar My Mind, which is due for official release on June 22nd.

With the tantalising time signatures in the backbeat, the jazzy-with-soul melodious layers which allow the soundscape to gel with gravitas, and the affectionately easeful flow of the vocal harmonies, Mar My Mind is all too efficacious in its ability to leave an imprint on your sentimental senses.

Finding the perfect middle ground between syncopated innovation and 90s RnB nostalgia, the triad of luminary artists created the ultimate proclamation of resilience. Written within the lush layers of soul is the testament that, no matter what life throws at you, getting bitter is never the only inevitability.

Stream Mar My Mind via Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

School is in session for Monicasuperiorroze’s lesson on sensuality in her seminal single, Close

The spotlight is moving ever closer to the sensuous soulstress, Monicasuperiorroze. The Palmdale-residing RnB artist brought as much heat as the Cali sun she finds her inspiration under in her seminal single, Close.

The kicked-based grooves and sultry harmonies set an elevated laid-back tone, while the lyrics show how visceral affection should always be. With nuances of trip-hoppy jazz written into the extended mix and ample room for vocal progression and tensile amplification, Close is a whirlwind for all the senses.

There is a discernible boldness and confidence in her indie RnB stylings; she could never be accused of being assimilative. If she’s following any rulebook, it is the one she constructed from the confetti after ripping up the rules laid down by everyone before her.

Stream Close on YouTube. Follow Monicasuperiorroze on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bedroom producer, J4RED transcended genre in his artfully reflective introspection slice, ‘hurt u’

Sometimes it is the emotion that grips you; sometimes, it is the musicality and originality; in his third single, hurt u, the bedroom producer, J4RED, proved that he is a triple threat. Perhaps even more impressively, hurt u transcends genre while carrying vast universal appeal.

The dark mellow pool of experimentalism created the perfect atmosphere for the fiery yet quiescent vocals to ooze into, allowing you to feel every ounce of the exhaustive frustration that breeds from dynamics where the mental scars tally our time together.

After launching his music career with his EP, UNCONSCIOUS, which debuted when he was 17 years old, he joined bands in the UK and Germany, and produced for other bands, such as the up-and-coming metalcore band, Half Me. If he keeps on at this level of momentum, it is only a matter of time before he breaks into the mainstream.

hurt u is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

QueenK melds RnB with trip-hop in her soberingly evocative release, My Butterfly

RnB and trip-hop collide in QueenK’s latest seductively demure multi-lingual release, My Butterfly, which switches between the independent artist’s mother tongue and English; to mesmerising effect.

My Butterfly falls into the short and sweet trend with a duration of just 1:55 minutes, but QueenK wasted no time in the hypnotic release that mourns the loss of butterflies and questions their existence in her absence. The lyric, “my butterflies don’t fly like they used to”, is particularly striking when versed by QueenK’s vocals that wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch production.

My Butterfly was officially released on January 7th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast