Hopefully this month’s roundup finds you well-rested (probably not), well-nourished (maybe if you’re lucky) and in your bag (in this economy?). With 2021 and the holiday season looming like a turkey vulture on a hot day, I believe we all may need a little reprieve from 2020’s dark realities. I come to you bearing gifts and a feast of a different sort– a feast for your ears. If you’re hungry for a little appe-teaser, check out my autumn playlist, updated daily. Tuck your napkins in, say grace and prepare to eat.
“Notice Me” – Fana Hues
25-year old singer-songwriter, Fana Hues pays homage to her roots with her latest single’s music video, which stars all 8 of her siblings and both of her parents, augmenting the song’s true meaning to Hues. Drawing from an arsenal of inspiration from the likes of Beyoncé and Anita Baker, “Notice Me” serves as a profound tribute to the artist’s upbringing.
Hues reflected on the song in a press release: “…I had found a sound that truly felt like me, so I was extra hyped about everything. I was rooted and reminded that all the things I doubted myself about, all my fears were ‘just an unpleasant dream.’ Just like my mom had said. At every turn of my life that I find clarity and meaning, I go back to the truest form of faith that I know, which is my Family. So when I shot the video, I just had to have that moment with my people.” The video, directed by Amira Hadiya, closes with an aerial shot of Hues enveloped by the arms of her family.
“Be With Me” – Miki Fiki
You might listen to Miki Fiki and wonder exactly what it is that sets them apart from your typical alt-rock indie band– one of those can’t-quite-put-my-finger-on-it ordeals. Hint: it’s the lack of guitar. The Nashville-based quartet consists of lead singer and keyboardist Ted Hartog, Julia Meredith providing all that sweet, sweet wind and brass, Alex Clayton on percussion and Hunter Mulkey on bass. Ted describes Miki Fiki’s sound as playful, saying, “I’ve been a bit sensitive my whole life, and time always seems to reveal an element of drama in those emotionally-charged experiences. [The emotions] are valid and what you feel is what you feel. But this band is a place to look at those emotions, those real, lived-experiences, and throw a soft smile on the whole thing.”
The band’s latest single, “Be With Me” is a declaration of ultimatums and boundaries in what one might call a “situationship.” The context of the song would be painfully transparent if it wasn’t so elegantly draped in those hopeful instrumentals Miki Fiki executes so well, softening the blow. The words “I don’t need to make you love me” never sounded so sweet.
England. – Gus Harvey
UK-based alternative R&B artist Gus Harvey released her 4-track EP, England., back in May. With a sound self-described as “UK street soul with grimy basslines,” Harvey takes us on a bit of a wild ride with this 14-minute EP. The artist gets in touch with her roots, literally, on the first track, “Garden,” which is written from the perspective of the earth. The second track, “The Frangipani Fellowship” goes deeper and darker as a diss track with experimental sampling of once-romantic-turned-ominous Cambodian music. Harvey slows things down with the last two tracks on the EP, allowing a brief but plaintive peek at unabashed vulnerability, specifically with the EP’s stripped-down standout, “Albion.”
there goes the neighborhood. – grouptherapy.
Fresh-faced LA hip-hop collective groupthrapy. released their debut album, there goes the neighborhood. in late October. Consisting of Jadagrace, KOI, and TJW, grouptherapy. brings a three-course meal to the table with their latest project. The group released an EP earlier this year titled this is not the album. which prepared us for the heat to come on there goes the neighborhood. With a trio as talented and versatile as this, we’re given a different flavor with each track on the album.
In the project’s intro, “yessir,” we enter the group session with confident words of affirmation: “Look like diamonds when I glow / Turn my trauma into commas / Take my time before I go.” Further along in the project, we have Jadagrace providing untamed and well-timed idiomatic bars over a Dee Lilly beat on the project’s first single, “raise it up!” which was released with a nostalgic music video paying homage to an early 2000’s classic, Bring It On. Things slow down with the project’s latest single, “watercolor,” a melodic track clothed in R&B. The project’s striking and abstract artwork is brought to us by ASLUR, which sees the three members distortedly and pleasantly portrayed in blue, orange and purple.
Therapy Through an LP – Nocturnal
From Connecticut-based hip-hop artist Nocturnal, conceptual album Therapy Through an LP has found a home in my library, and here’s hoping this project couch-surfs its way over to yours as well. The 15-track project cleverly begins with the outro which then leads into the spoken intro– a dialogue between the artist and a therapist over distorted dial tones and rising strings, preparing us for the voyage ahead. Nocturnal lays it all to bear throughout the project, staying true to the theme. Nostalgic, hungry production is a puzzle-piece perfect fit with Nocturnal’s classic cadence and merciless lyricism; Therapy Through an LP is a bloodthirsty and poignant exposition of what it means to feel without inhibition and leave it all on the page– or the mic.
“Broke Times” – Huckleberry Funk
Bringing in some hometown pride, we have Indiana-based Huckleberry Funk entering the ring with “Broke Times,” which hits a little too close to home. The best way to describe Huckleberry Funk is as a melting pot of sound– a sprinkle of hip-hop, a pinch of R&B, dash of soul and a whole lot of funk, of course.
In an email to TGG, Huck Funk’s lead singer Dexter Clardy details his hopes for how “Broke Times” may serve those who listen, saying the track “speaks a firm message that as people listen, it more hopefully can turn into more of an affirmation for folks to no longer allow themselves to be broken. Broken whether that be financially, in spirit or in faith in oneself.” Clardy continues with a concept I’m sure we’re all very familiar with, saying, “It’s very easy in this world we live in to get caught up in the day to day rat race of life, and follow the path we’ve been told all our lives. ‘Go to school, graduate, get a good job and you’ll be happy.’ We’re always told that we should follow dreams, but oftentimes aren’t encouraged, nor do we allow ourselves to do so once the time to actually grab life for ourselves comes.” Clardy closes with some final keys of wisdom: “We all have the same 24 hours, but what we do or don’t do with that time is up to us.”
“If I Gotta Run” – Tim Chadwick
Irish pop artist, Tim Chadwick is no stranger to identity confusion; in an interview with Gay Times, the artist spoke on his struggles with coming out, saying, “…when I came out I was actually struck with a lot more anxiety than I had before, because now there was this expectation that I would be my true and authentic self – but if you’ve never been that, how do you know what that is? I came out when I was 21, and it’s taken me until now – and you can see it in the music – to own my sexuality and finally be comfortable in a setting where everyone else is so proud and just being themselves. I tried to fit in to be straight and that didn’t work, so I was like, obviously I need to come out, but then it was like, ‘I don’t know how to act now’. It wasn’t that big euphoric coming out that I thought it would be. It was very much like, ‘Oh well now I have even more soul-searching and growing up to do’.”
Since 2019’s “I Need To Know,” the artist’s career has seen a steady incline and Chadwick is leaning into his booming emo-pop sound with his latest, “If I Gotta Run.” The single’s predecessor “Only Me” personally read me for filth so you could imagine my excitement at a new release from this one-of-a-kind artist– thankfully, I was not disappointed. “If I Gotta Run” couldn’t have come at a more perfect time for my fellow singletons during the most confusing time of the year: cuffing season. Chadwick is set to release a 5-track EP in January of 2021, so for now, we’ll be dancing in our bedrooms alone, eating the crumbs he’s so graciously left for us.
“Terry Crews” – Lo Village
TGG favorite Lo Village released an open letter in the form of “Terry Crews” to the actor back in October. In case you missed it, the actor has been in the hot seat for quite some time for his controversial takes on the BLM movement via Twitter. Lo Village’s discordant single, produced by Frankie Scoca features pensive verses from group members Ama, Kane and Tyler. The track is not only a letter to Crews but is addressed to others whose perspective might have become blurred by their own celebrity and status, as the melodic phrase “the money not gon’ save you” is sprinkled throughout. With the single comes a can’t-look-away visual from 3D artist, Daun, where Crews’s warped and lifeless floating head rolls to and fro.
If after this feast, you’re still hungry, listen to the roundup playlist, updated every month:
