After a 4-year hiatus, Cape Town-based neo-soul singer and songwriter, Amarafleur returns with her new electronic soul single, “DontLetGo”. Recorded in Johannesburg and produced by Aule Whan, writing the track was Amarafleur’s way of processing a traumatic relationship. Having grown up in Tanzania, India and New Zealand, Amarafleur has been making music as a solo…
Zara Julius is a graduate of social anthropology, religious studies and photography. She’s gone on to become a multidisciplinary artist who produces visual art in the form of photography and film in detail-oriented ways that are specific to her focus on creatively presenting her findings on post-apartheid and diasporic identity. In a chat about her…
The universe, in its entirety and all its glory, truly gained star when all-round saint, River Moon first decided to post her plush music remixes online. The popularity of her music production spread like wildfire and has seen her share credits with names like Queezy, dJinns, Angel-Ho, FAKA and Lizzo’s Truth Hurts producer, Jesse Saint…
With the release of their debut single “Wasa Bibi”, the Montréal-based duo Boogieman & Samito are introducing the world to their new fusion genre they describe as ‘Kussom’. It is comprised of thick and gritty, analog dance elements mixed with Portuguese vocals and rhythms reminiscent of kuduro. Samito explains, “the word Kussom itself is a…
Consistency is key to the success of most artists. I don’t mean doing the same thing over and over (although it’s a strategy that works for some) but rather regularly putting out engaging work that builds on what you’ve done before and shows your growth as an artist. Sure, there are one-hit wonders, but unless…
Baltimore rapper JPEGMAFIA or Peggy for short, is back with a new studio album that is despondent, self-aware, darkly humorous, all while showcasing the off the wall, glitchy and hard-hitting production fans adored on Peggy’s sophomore project ‘Veteran’. Although ‘Veteran’ received widespread critical acclaim and boosted the MC from relatively unknown underground industrial hip-hop obscurity,…
It might be counterintuitive, but I think you have to be pretty damn confident to call yourself Theleastimportant. Most rappers’ egos wouldn’t let them dare undersell themselves right up front like that. Bravado and being braggadocious are pivotal characteristics of most create-a-character rappers so just by his name alone, Theleastimportant is telling you that he’s…
Singing and writing have always been a part of Witney Stander’s life, but it wasn’t until 2018, her last year at university, that she decided to take music seriously and began releasing music as Witney. “Once I left high school I couldn’t write. In my last year of varsity, I started writing again but I…
September 7th marked the one-year anniversary of rapper and producer Mac Miller’s passing. Miller’s death, due to drug overdose, stirred up the emotions of hip-hop fans across the spectrum. For those who listened to him, his death was both unexpected and felt too close to home. Since his tragic passing, music listeners have been largely unable…
EPs have become the standard way for musicians to get their music out there these days. Some might decry it because it appeals to our ever-decreasing attention spans, but I think it allows great artists to cut the fat attached to many albums and rather just give us their best work with no filler. Dua…
African music has come out on top in 2019. Afrobeats has become one of the defining genres of the year, with Burna Boys “African Giant” leaping up charts across the globe. The AfroNation festival, held in Lisbon this year, achieved what other fraud-ridden, Netflix-documented destination festivals couldn’t. Beyoncé’s seminal ‘Homecoming’ performance paid homage to the…
Hailing from Durban but based in Cape Town, Aryu Jassika is a producer with a deep house background that, more recently, has found sonic freedom and is pushing himself and his sound beyond established genres and into a space of self-expression, creating what he feels sounds good. Getting his start in the early 2000s, it…
