Category: New Music

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New Music

Dizzy Fae – NO GMO Mixtape

Hailing from the mean streets of Minneapolis, Dizzy Fae has released her second project titled, NO GMO Mixtape. Fae brands herself as a “pop” artist, but this album combines elements of R&B and electronic music to form tracks that could populate a genre of their own. Wonky, dark, heavily-processed production on songs like Company, Huu R Uu, Solo, and Now N’ Later is contrasted by light and airy tracks with dreamy vocal chops and synths, like in Lifestyle and Gut Talk. At points, the album has a nostalgic and retro feel, with 80’s-style synthesizers populating much of the instrumentation. The album doesn’t shy away from an analog sound, however, with beautiful acoustic sounds making up the roster on tracks like Pink. Every track is a surprise, and no two songs sound similar. If broken down, this album’s contents would be just as comfortable in a DJ’s set at an underground club as they would in a coffe-house R&B performance. This might be my only “complaint” with this album – the fact that there isn’t much cohesiveness with the project & it seems disjointed at times. Still a good album nonetheless, and I look forward to more from Dizzy Fae.




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New Music

Chinatown Slalom – Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Liverpool’s own, Chinatown Slalom, have released their incredibly diverse and eclectic debut album, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? To say the least, it is next to impossible to nail down this band’s “genre”. The project features sample-heavy boom bap beats on songs like Where U At? and Dr Marvelo & His Best Friend Corkie, while also including crooning, guitar-laden ballads like Just Love, and more synthesizer-driven electronic tracks like Ricky’s Song. Vocally, the band adopts an incredibly unique style, alternating between heavily filtered and processed verses, layered vocals, and certain tracks, most significantly 8:30 and Dreams, that sound more like Paul McCartney and Jai Paul took hallucinogens together and recorded an entire album in the desert (but in the best way, of course). If there could be one track to sum up their sound, it would be one that bears this project’s title, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It incorporates all of these distinctive aspects of their music in a way that comes together to form one of the most refreshing and progressive pieces of music in recent years. All things considered, more people need to be listening to Chinatown Slalom.


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New Music

Lil Keed – Long Live Mexico

After nearly a year of teasing the project on social media, Atlanta’s newest rising star, Lil Keed, has released his debut album, Long Live Mexico. While he doesn’t stray too far from his Young Thug-esque sound that has drawn criticism, Keed manages to distinguish himself and carve out his own corner in the ever-growing Atlanta rap scene. The album is bursting at the seams with star-studded features from artists that complement Keed incredibly well, with the exception of NAV. Despite the lengthy 20-song track list and hour runtime, the album does not seem nearly as long. With a majority of the album’s tracks flowing seamlessly into each other, the album feels like one cohesive unit that doesn’t burn out the listener with identical and repetitive songs, as many recent rap albums seem to do (looking at you, Migos). This is due, in part, to the robust roster of producers that had a hand in the album’s creation and kept the project interesting, including Pi’erre Bourne, JetsonMade, and, of course, ATL’s own MetroBoomin. This album by no means a 10/10, but still a strong studio debut nonetheless, adding Keed to the long list of Atlanta rap icons. 


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New Music

Crumb – Jinx

New York-based psych-rock quartet Crumb has independently released their first full-length album titled Jinx. This project is equal parts jazzy as it is psychedelic, with ethereal, spacey synths accompanying reverb-saturated guitar chords and vocals, over jazz-infused drums. Tracks like M.R. have a slow, trippy feel to them, leading the listener down an audio-hallucinatory rabbit-hole, with others like Nina and Part III taking a more upbeat route while still maintaining the psychedelic feel.  The band has absolutely found its sound, with Lila Ramani’s intimate vocal performance giving the album a nostalgic and comforting aura. Ramani’s voice combined with noteworthy instrumental performances from bandmates Brian Aronow (keys & saxophone), Jonathan Gilad (drums), and Jesse Brotter (bass), creates a vibrant and warm soundscape that makes the listener feel at home despite the anxiety-ridden subject matter of much of the tracklist. The guitar solo on Fall Down is perhaps one of my favorite moments on the album, rivaled only by the solos on Nina and the molasses-like breakdown on And It Never Ends. This was a fantastic follow-up to the band’s 2017 EP, Locket, and I expect that this is only the beginning for Crumb. 


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New Music

GoldLink – Diaspora

GoldLink, the artist behind one of the most recognizable flows in hip-hop, has returned with his new project, Diaspora. The otherwise well-made album starts off on a low note, with Ari Pen-Smith’s comically bad hook on Joke Ting. However, the star-studded roster of other featured artists makes up for this lapse in artistic judgment, with A-list talent like Khalid, Pusha T, Tyler, The Creator, and Wiz Kid delivering fantastic verses that do nothing but add value to their respective tracks. As evidenced by his previous discography, GoldLink is at home on up-tempo four-on-the-floor beats like in U Say, but he shows his versatility by flowing over a plethora of beat styles throughout the album. These beats borrow from several cultural inspirations, with American-style trap bangers like Rumble following tracks reminiscent of afro-Caribbean dancehall like Yard, and others like Zulu Screams and Spanish Song drawing from African and Latin music, respectively. The refrain “no bad vibes gonna enter my yard” perfectly sums up the overall feel of the album, with this project’s release coming just in time for summer. These tracks will be played at cookouts and pool parties alike, and should absolutely have a spot somewhere on your summer playlist. 


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New Music

Jai Paul – Leak 04-13 (Bait Ones)

Elusive and influential producer Jai Paul has returned following a lengthy absence from the spotlight. His hiatus came after the 2013 leaking of his debut album that was to follow his breakout demos titled BTSTU and Jasmine, which received widespread acclaim and praise. On this formerly leaked, newly released album, Paul gives listeners a glimpse into the bright future of “pop” music. Combining elements of numerous genres into his production, including electronic, R&B, hip-hop, jazz, and funk, Paul weaves unique webs of sound unlike anything in existence. He is a sidechain aficionado with a powerful kick cutting through most layers of each track and driving the beat and rhythm of each song. Synth breakdowns, stuttering plucks, and harmonious layered vocals like those included in 100,000, Baby Beat, Desert River, BTSTU, and others define the sound of the album and are likely to shape a generation of pop music that follows. The fact that a majority of the tracks on this project are considered “Unfinished” or a “Demo” in the eyes of Paul speaks to his raw talent and songwriting/producing ability. Jai Paul is absolutely a force to be reckoned with and I, for one, am ecstatic he’s back.


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New Music

Raveena – Lucid

Indian-American songstress Raveena has released her debut album Lucid. This soulful record is a fantastic follow-up to the singer’s well-received 2017 EP, Shanti. Raveena has shown incredible potential on this project with a near-flawless vocal performance across all 12 tracks. She flows smoothly over instrumentals full of warm synths, mellow drum beats, and the occasional psychedelic guitar chord. Each song immerses the listener in a location crafted by Raveena herself, with tracks like Stone setting the scene of a rainy Sunday morning, and others like Bloom eliciting feelings of walking through a park on a Summer day. On Mama, the songwriter contemplates about her mother’s life before giving birth to her in a unique and touching track released before the album on Mother’s Day. The sole feature of the album comes from Hope Tala on Floating, her voice complimenting Raveena’s incredibly well to form one of the most enjoyable tracks on the album. The album ends on a high note with Petal, where the beat consists solely of an ethereal vocal loop, a synth, and an intermittent reese bass. The vocal loop repeats the word “high”, creating a mesmerizing refrain that drives the song and closes out the project.


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New Music

Mac Demarco – Here Comes The Cowboy

As much as I hate to say it, the new Mac Demarco project is a dud. As a Mac fan of many years, and a massive fan of his previous album, This Old Dog, I had high expectations going into Here Comes the Cowboy, but was definitely let down. To put it lightly, if the album art was alive and listened to this album, it would not be smiling for long. The album begins with a three-minute track of Mac repeating the phrase, “here comes the cowboy” over and over again, which speaks to the level of excitement the listener feels throughout much of the album. Don’t get me wrong, the album definitely has standout tracks with Nodody, On the Square, and All of Our Yesterdays containing elements of a great project, but unfortunately, every other song is either mind-numbingly boring or lacks that signature Mac Demarco flare that his fans know and love. The most egregious sin of the album, in my opinion, comes on the final track, where Mac and a chorus sing “bye bye, baby bye bye” incredibly poorly over a cacophonous mess of twangy instruments. This was a perfectly terrible ending to a perfectly terrible album. 

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New Music

DUCKWRTH – THE FALLING MAN

Artist of multiple mediums and LA native DUCKWRTH has released his second studio album, THE FALLING MAN. The eight-song project begins with a sultry track with passionate vocals quickly turning into a rap verse that sets the tone for the rest of the album. FALL BACK wastes no time in picking up the energy with distorted 808’s and a fiery verse that fades into a Frank Ocean-esque refrain calling on the listener to “settle down”. NOBODY FALLS is a fantastically produced song alternating between a bouncy bassline and an ethereal vocal performance from Kiana Ledé. This is the first of two tracks produced by electronic musician Medasin, the second being the next song, LOVE IS LIKE A MOSHPIT, a song with a self-explanatory refrain and a feature from Rico Nasty that is far more melodic than her typical abrasive sound. SOPRANO follow suit with most songs on the album by surprising the listener. Starting off light and airy, the track suddenly shifts into an upbeat, mosh-pit worthy rap song. Legendary producer Mr. Carmack also graces the album on a penultimate track full of rock star vocals and fuzzy guitars. Overall a fantastic and diverse sophomore project for the rising star.

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New Music

Faye Webster – Atlanta Millionaires Club

Faye Webster has released her sophomore album, bending genres and creating a project with a unique blend of folk, R&B, and everything in between. The album opens with a twangy track titled Room Temperature, where Webster states constantly, “I should get out more”. This pseudo-folk sound carries into the rest of the album, giving one the impression that if Stevie Knicks were to make music in 2019, it would sound similar to Atlanta Millionaires Club. Pigeon has vocals and a bassline that truly show the R&B influence that Webster has so often cited, accompanied, of course, by twangy guitars and melodic keys. This is a deeply personal album, with Webster covering topics ranging from breakups, seeing her dad cry, and longing for a lover that’s miles away. No song embodies this as much as Jonny, where she discusses how she’s lonely, her dog is her best friend, and how she questions if her ex ever really loved her. Flowers features ethereal vocals from Webster, and an oddly placed feature from the founder of Awful Records, and fellow Atlanta native, Father. This album is beautiful, emotional, and perfect for a rainy day or getting through a breakup.