Browsing Tag

World Music

Get your good vibes straight from the source in ORAL P’s blister of Afropop bliss, Give Me Love O

Posted on 10 September 2022

East Nigeria-hailing Afropop artist ORAL P has captured international audiences since his 2018 debut; in his first release of 2022, Give Me Love O, he’s as soulfully versatile as ever.

With its jazzy undertones and rich Afrobeat flavour, Give Me Love O falls into that rare category of music that throws away commercialism, embraces a brand of soul that knows no borders and oozes commercial potential as a result of the vibrantly innate good vibes. With Give Me Love O on your playlists, you will always have a source of serotonin.

The Radio Edit of Give Me Love O is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rob Benny is ‘Still Searching’ for meaning in his percussive EDM single.

Posted on 3 September 2022
https://soundcloud.com/robbennyofficial/still-searching?si=fa05a6ab2e2848eba1350edc0968e23c&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

I’m not a big advocate of the adjective epic, but nothing else comes to close to encapsulating what the NYC electronica artist and producer Rob Benny conjured with his percussive EDM single, Still Searching.

With the world music overtones, there is a vital sense of spirituality in the progressive mix. Given that there is a fundamental lack of that around in 2022, Still Searching is a revitalising sensory experience, which affirms that even in the most trying times, there is still meaning and purpose out there; you just have to reach for it. Even though we are instant gratification-seeking creatures, meaning takes time to manifest. I couldn’t think of a better soundscape to drink in while we wait.

Still Searching is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Prepare to be torn from passive slumber with Cielo Pordomingo’s orchestral alt-electro feat of world music, Wake Up

Posted on 9 July 2022

Here to tear us from our jaded slumber with her spiritual synthetics is the alt-electro trailblazer, Cielo Pordomingo, with her latest single, Wake Up.

‘Enlivening’ scarcely cuts into the alchemy that the composer, singer, and producer used to reflect her soul in the orchestrally heightened single. It’s Europop meets Depeche Mode via Bond soundtrack with a classical chamber outro; need we say anymore? If we want to do Cielo Pordomingo justice as a lyricist, definitely.

Wake Up is far more than your average cry to people letting their lives pass them by. Pordomingo practically takes you by the hand to guide you through your awakening while addressing the problem of our tendency to waste existence by branding it as just another day. At this point, if she started a cult, I’d jump right into it.

Wake Up is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emma Hunter contested the heteronormative hegemony in her latest single, Love is Not a Choice

Posted on 8 July 2022

With the hypnotic grace of medieval mystic, Oxford’s Emma Hunter demonstrated that there’s nothing unnaturalistic about deviating from the heteronormative hegemony with her latest single, Love is Not a Choice.

Queerness may seem like a modern phenomenon, especially in the vision of those desperate to stand on the neck of progression, equality, and acceptance. Yet, even the most bigoted view is bound to widen to the tune of Hunter’s signature flamenco guitar loops, art-rock percussion and arcane vocal layering.

The musicality that takes you on an intercontinental sonic trip runs at the same celestial level as the intrinsic sense of spirituality in the rhythmically arrestive production. Which once again sees Emma Hunter resisting the contemporary constraints of genre.

The official video for Love is Not a Choice, directed by Matt Trevor-Roper, premiered on July 8th. Check it out via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ariana Saraha & Flight Behavior showed us the true tribal roots of folk in Grandmother’s Tears

Posted on 26 June 2022

Here to remind us of what folk music was before it was commercialised and dominated by The Lumineers is the world music album, From the Wild, from Ariana Saraha & Flight Behavior.

The opening single, Grandmother’s Tears, takes contemporary frustrative energy and stretches it back a millennia through a soundscape inspired by infinitely more than the grand sum of human construction and destruction. With each element of nature a potential muse for Ariana Saraha & Flight Behavior, it’s almost surreal that they’re of this era. After listening to the lyric “Grandmother’s tears, they have fallen. Four thousand years”, which will haunt my contemplation for quite some time, I scarcely seem rooted in 2022 myself.

Ariana Saraha & Flight Behavior’s album, From the Wild, is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Intuitively spiritual rhythm meets sensual folk in DORA GOLA’s latest single, Dance with Danger

Posted on 17 June 2022

If any track is going to tempt the weary and wary out of their comfort zones after sanity diminishing lockdowns, it is the artfully fierce electronic folk-pop earworm, Dance with Danger, from the spiritually magnetic singer-songwriter, DORA GOLA.

With the intuitiveness of the rhythm, you scarcely need her bio to tell you that she’s a dancer. Her connection to music is enviably strong, but at least she’s had the grace to share her natural gift with the world through emboldening hits that tease your rhythmic pulses as much as they stir the soul.

Following the release of Dance with Danger, the Poland-born, West Ireland-based artist will continue to make her discography a rediscovery of ancestral roots, mystery and sensuality. We can’t wait to hear what follows. She shines luminously bright in a sea of ego-driven artists.

Dance with Danger will hit the airwaves on June 17th. Stream it here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The world music genre got infinitely more otherworldly with Lara Eidi & Dave Manington’s latest composition, Fones

Posted on 1 May 2022
Fones by Dave Manington feat. Lara Eidi

World music composer Dave Manington found the perfect chanteuse for his latest release, Fones, in the singer-songwriter Lara Eidi. Her mystique-filled transcendent vocal timbre resounds around the lines taken from the poem of the same name by the Egyptian poet Constantine P. Cavafy.

After a Waitsy brooding bassline intro, the celestial-ism seeps-in through the luminously rich harmonies and nostalgic guitars, which breed sepia tones under the soaring harmonies. The exoticism within the multicultural jazzy experimentalism makes it all but impossible to capture the true essence of the flamenco laced release. Lara Eidi & Dave Manington truly are among the very few artists that can claim that their sound is completely original. We can’t wait to hear what follows.

Fones was officially released on April 29th; it is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

[Spotlight Feature] Ethan Mark delivered honeyed euphonic bliss in his indie psych soul single, The Concept of You

Posted on 17 March 2022

There is nothing hallmark about the rich and vibrant sentimentality of Ethan Mark’s latest single, The Concept of You. With the straight-from-the-soul vocal passion as a paramour of the sultry Flamenco guitars, the RnB track is the epitome of affectionate sincerity.

His mellifluous harmonised vocals become the central gravity of the title single from his upcoming album, which will release in June 2022. As the world music flair gently wrestles with the psychedelic indie vibes, it is impossible not to get caught up in the sun-bleached bliss of the exotically euphonic single that stands as a testament to Ethan Mark’s organically distinctive production style. Despite the tonal eclecticism that encompasses the soul of old school hip hop, the evocative capacity of alt-RnB and the grooves in non-westernised music, every element gels cohesively together under Mark’s sporadically off-kilter production style.

After getting a sneak peek of the upcoming album, it is easy to anticipate massive strides in the Toronto-residing artist’s music career.

Here’s what Ethan Mark had to say about his latest release:

“The Concept of You, and the upcoming album, came about from a challenge from my partner. She, a listener of neo-soul and jazz, challenged me to pare my usually elaborate and busy musical style down to something more organic, soulful, and pretty.

The result was a series of love songs encompassing many different facets of love. The single refers to her, the sepia-toned memories of summers, the roots we have put down together, and the love for home.

These themes felt especially important after a long period punctuated by isolations, introversion, and cabin fever. It’s accentuated by nylon guitar strings, cascading violins, gentle pianos, and the frailties and soul of harmonised vocals. In supporting the themes of roots, home, and love, the album is paired with visuals romanticizing wintertime in Toronto.”

The title track from Ethan Mark’s upcoming album, The Concept of You, is now available to stream on Spotify.

You can keep up to date with all of the artist’s latest releases via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Eldad Ben Naim brings a new flavour to jazz fusion with ‘In a Way of Jazz’

Posted on 31 January 2022

With his contemporary style and flair that doesn’t alienate the old school jazz aficionados, Eldad Ben Naim’s debut jazz fusion album, Watersoul, is an indulgent aural escape away from the fray of modernity.

The time signatures may be complex, but that does little to hinder the mellifluous pull of the melodies in the lead single, In a Way of Jazz. The extended track uses tribal elements along with metronomic effects to keep you entranced through the progressions. As In a Way of Jazz evolves, the sax finds its centre in the soundscape before the electric guitars start to bring arresting gravity to the release. Any existential weight you were carrying before the ambient and experimental outro will undoubtedly dissipate. The instrumental track is enough to leave your soul 10 pounds lighter.

In a Way of Jazz is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The world music sensation Nancita Kapi put us into motion with her standout single, Let’s Ride

Posted on 30 January 2022

Let’s Ride, taken from the sophomore album Chambre Froide/Black Ice, is a fiery introduction to the singer-songwriter Nancita Kapi. The breaking artist takes soul in her harmonic stride and makes world music resonate as even more global with her multilingual lyrics, pop melodies, afrobeat timbre and nuances of dancehall and RnB.

Her infectious energy, almost spiritually high vibes and sun-soaked beats are an indulgent affirmation that when cultures collide, beautiful things happen. After sharing stages with luminaries, such as YAO, Jamice, Jade, Carimi and Kavanda, we do not doubt that Nancita Kapi will celebrate plenty more highlights in her music career. For dopamine’s sake, get her on your radar.

Let’s Ride is available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast