WIBLT: Fresh Picks For Your Playlists
WIBLT: Fresh Picks For Your Playlists
What I've Been Listening To, 5/12/21
This one’s for the mothers
If you haven’t yet, please follow the WIBLT playlist below, that is always updated with the eight standout tracks from all of the “What I’ve Been Listening To” posts in 2021.
For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her - McKinley Dixon
11 tracks, 48 minutes
Released: May 7th, 2021
From: Richmond, VA
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap
Recommended For Fans Of: Pink Siifu, The Roots, NNAMDÏ
“The best way to sum up this album is: I was sad, I was mad, and now I’m alive,” Dixon said for the album’s Bandcamp writeup (where he also describes his music as what “Gerald from Hey Arnold would listen to”). Released two days before Mother’s Day, this album is a tribute to Dixon’s mother and what she represents about the black experience. “I’ve always had this community of beautiful Black people around me and this album is an ode to them and what we go through. People that look like my mama can be Black women, Black trans people, Black queer folks, my Mom is this very universal thing in that regard,” Dixon said in his Fader interview. While this is a rap album, the production is wide ranging, pulling from influences like jazz and gospel. Dixon has always been one to learn from self-reflection and channel that into his work, his two other albums are titled Who Taught You to Hate Yourself and The Importance of Self Belief. Though he did previously release those projects independently, he’s calling this album his debut as it’s the first released on Spacebomb Records.
Standout Track: Swangin’
Chocolate Cake - Ali Barter
4 tracks, 12 minutes
Released: April 30th, 2021
From: Melbourne, Australia
Genres: Alternative, Indie Pop
Recommended For Fans Of: Courtney Barnett, Alex Lahey
Melbourne artist Ali Barter follows up 2019’s Hello, I’m Doing My Best with her latest EP Chocolate Cake. The project was lead with single You Get In My Way which has a Courtney Barnett like conversational tone to the verses before popping off with a fuzzy sing-songy hook. The songs on this EP were originally meant for Barter’s third album until the pandemic forced her to change plans. Aside from that change of plans though, Barter handled quarantine about as well as any artist could, by going on a 10 day tour of her own house. Across the ten days, she live-streamed a song from ten different locations in her home. That attitude speaks to the playfully disaffected “making the best of difficult situations” mentality that comes across in her music.
Standout Track: Twisted Up
somehow it makes sense - oogie
12 tracks, 30 minutes
Released: April 30th, 2021
From: London, UK
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap
Recommended For Fans Of: Smino, Giggs, Isaiah Rashad
With a unique voice, oogie takes his debut album somehow it makes sense as an opportunity to carve out a lane for his one of a kind sound. Influenced by King Krule as much as he is by Fela Kuti, oogie has never been one to box himself in. Which is how you end up with this album of raps over smooth soulful beats. Though he only recently began releasing his music, he’s been working at it for years, which he credits to the culture of growing up in South London. “London, wherever you go, if there’s a crowd, at least three or four people will be musically oriented. It’s not hard getting practice [making music]. I didn’t step into a studio for a long time, but I already felt like I had a lot of practice from being on the block,” oogie told Audiomack. This album follows up Oogie’s first official release, the Big Beans EP, that dropped in 2020.
Standout Track: try
ExNovo - BFlecha
12 tracks, 38 minutes
Released: April 23rd, 2021
From: Vigo, Spain
Genres: Electronic, R&B, Synth Pop
Recommended For Fans Of: Arca, Odunsi (The Engine), RRUCCULLA
On Bandcamp, BFlecha describes the title ExNovo as follows:
“a process that has to be resumed from the beginning, a prismatic device, an emergency zone, a utopian space in the intersection between philosophy, science and poetry. An assemblage of organic timbres, digital textures and deconstructed pop in search of the limits between physical and virtual personas in hyperconnected times; far from constituting a flight from reality, comes face to face with the asymmetries of our era to reinvent the future.”
I doubt you’ll find another album to fit that description anytime soon. The production on here is great, and kept fairly minimal, but BFlecha always throws in enough curveballs to keep you captivated. As soon as you think you know where a song is going, they’ll switch it up on you. Sometimes it’ll feel smooth enough to be on a Kaytranada-like playlist, while at other moments it feels experimental enough to pass as PC Music.
Standout Track: Potentia
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No One Asked - quami.xyz
10 tracks, 23 minutes
Released: April 29th, 2021
From: Toronto, CA
Genres: R&B
Recommended For Fans Of: Daniel Caesar, River Tiber, Blood Orange
Quami.xyz has been musically inclined nearly since birth, playing drums throughout his elementary school years with guitar following shortly after. “My mom didn’t have the money to buy full on drum kits nor did she want to deal with the noise, so she thought guitar would be a safer bet,” quami told Earmilk. The bet paid off as knowing multiple instruments helped quami when it came time to start producing his own music. Though now he most often works with his friend and producer dru.xyz. The vision and attention to detail can be heard throughout the delicately intricate soundscapes, and it can also be seen in the music videos that quami most often directs himself. No One Asked follows up his debut project et cetera from 2018.
Standout Track: Luh Me Weak
Phoneboy - Phoneboy
10 tracks, 32 minutes
Released: April 23rd, 2021
From: Hoboken, NJ
Genres: Indie Pop
Recommended For Fans Of: Wallows, HUNNY, Hippo Campus
Phoneboy [fohn • boi] noun: someone consumed with their phone, unable to tear themselves away from distraction - the Phoneboy Spotify bio.
Other definitions include, an indie pop band from New Jersey, and the name of their self-titled 2021 debut album. Though songs on the back half like Acid Girl date as far back as late 2018, this album collects all of their singles from then to now (with a few new tracks) to form the full album. The group is composed of Wyn “the king of hooks,” Ricky, who can write “all the long verses [Wyn doesn’t] have the patience for,” and James, who writes the “best bass lines.” The hooks will be stuck in your head for a while, as this album is filled with killer pop songs that have the fun carefree energy of a summer day.
Standout Track: Hey, Kid!
Full Plate - Lonny X
10 tracks, 18 minutes
Released: April 16th, 2021
From: Hartford, CT
Genres: Hip-Hop/Rap
Recommended For Fans Of: Cousin Stizz, Michael Christmas
This is Lonny’s first full length project since the album Full Court Press in 2018, and follows up his EP Dog Days from 2020. Lonny doesn’t need to do much to put his talent on display. Working with a wide range of producers (11 different producers across 10 tracks), we see the versatility in his work, while also keeping a calm and consistent tone throughout. So much so that he makes it seem easy, but it’s a style he’s been perfecting for years. He also doesn’t need much time with this one either, as these 10 tracks clock in at just under 20 minutes. Lonny X also featured on track 11 of the Van Buren Records album that was a part of my last WIBLT post, so if you enjoyed that project, be sure to check this one out.
Standout Track: Glossier
Forever Green - King Azaz
10 tracks, 28 minutes
Released: April 23rd, 2021
From: Philadelphia, PA
Genres: Punk, Garage
Recommended For Fans Of: Mannequin Pussy, Nirvana, Calyx
King Azaz makes music for “a generation that had to raise itself on mall emo and Avril Lavigne mp3s” (per their Spotify profile). Named after a character from The Phantom Tollbooth, the two piece of Christo Johnson on guitar/bass/vocals and Sarah Schardt on drums describe themselves as “anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-fascist queer people making music to fuel and feed themselves.” Forever Green is heavy from the opening seconds of In June down to the closer For Evergreen, with a much fuller sound than you’d expect from just two people. That sound is a result of the duo using their music to unleash some rage. Johnson told MyCityPaper, “both of us are pretty introverted, quiet people but we often need to let some shit out.”
Standout Track: The Storm
A Song
easside - Danny Cisco
This song just feels like a classic. And Cisco has a voice I could listen to all day.
A Video
Next 2 You - Rochelle Jordan
Was pleasantly surprised with Rochelle Jordan’s newest project. Didn’t really have a ton of expectations for her first album in seven years, but the whole thing is a great blend of R&B and house music. And yes that is my roommate Arshum on the DP/Edit for this video.
Grazie