be unapologetically yourself with neo-soul songstress mereba’s vibey “black truck”
Marian Mereba, known simply as Mereba, is liberating in the Erykah Badu-tinged soul-stirrer, “Black Truck.”
Black Truck by Mereba on VEVO.
meakoom takes you on a neo-soul journey of self-care on the captivating ‘me’ ep
Backed by lo-fi and winding beats courtesy of Bare Beats, neo-soul singer MeaKoom’s latest EP is a journey of self-care. Appropriately titled ME, the singer’s lyrics were largely improvised over Bare Beats lush production, giving the EP a sort of stream of consciousness journal vibe. Over 3 tracks (and instrumentals of the same), MeaKoom re-learns to love herself in the wake of a breakup.. “I don’t miss you today,” she sings over the hauntingly spare “IDMY.” The highlight is the EP’s centerpiece, “Move,” where MeaKoom’s strongest songwriting meets deft and focused production. A sample of MLK’s 1967 speech to Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia anchors it. “Don’t allow anybody to make you fell that you’re nobody.” Truer words…
Pick up the EP and instrumentals below.
ME by Meakoom + Bare Beats
premiere: find yourself in neo-soul singer lyssa’s liberation anthem “who i be”
A timeless coming-of-age anthem about losing one’s self on the journey to find someone else, Lyssa’s most recent effort “Who I Be” is a beautiful departure from broken-hearted longing and a retrospective on being whole and fully you, by yourself, for yourself. Breaking free of naiveté, in its many forms, and testing out one’s wing-span.
This song is a coming- of- self-anthem I wrote as I was graduating from USC (BA Theatre ’16) and about to embark on the “real world,” Lyssa tells AFROPUNK. “I wanted to start fresh, letting go of anybody and anything that did not align with who I had found myself to be. The scenes in this video are all reminiscent of what that means, with proud montages of Houston landmarks, the city that helped make me. This song and visual mean so much to me for not only my relationship with the lyrics and what they mean on my journey to liberation but also because I produced and directed the video myself.”
sweet nostalgia is at the forefront of aaron taylor’s vintage-funk soul single “saw you in my dreams”
A classic in the making, London-based singer Aaron Taylor is an up-and-coming neo-soul artist who is giving life to vintage soul and R&B in a delightfully eclectic way. ‘Saw You In My Dreams’ is a, well, dreamy and introspective letter to one’s former self. A retrospective look back at the boy from back then, from the perspective of the man. From the gate, there is warmth and harmony that embraces you like a warm blanket before taking flight into a funk-infused soul groove.
“Saw You in My Dreams is me reminiscing on a former version of myself: how I used to live, love and hope. It’s a message to the boy I once was, that simply states I haven’t forgotten you,” the artist tells AFROPUNK.
premiere: neo-ragtime duo parlor social casts a spell with spooky rendition of ‘i put a spell on you’
Dessy Di Lauro and Ric’key Pageot- aka Parlor Social- are bursting back on the scene and staking their claim with the premiere of their take on an old classic.
Just in time for the holidays, the duo’s much-loved genre of speakeasy-soul is thrown for a loop in their latest cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkin’s “I Put a Spell on You”. Made infamous by Queen Nina Simone, and tackled by greats like Annie Lennox and Buddy Guy, Parlor Social is adding themselves to the ranks as the infamous “bluesy-waltz” track meets a hip-hop fusion in this boundary-defying offering.
The track, complete with distorted vocals and dynamic progressions, features a 20-piece orchestra lead by Benjamin Wright- the man behind the arrangements of MJ’s “Don’t stop til you get enough” and Frank Ocean’s “Pink & White”, just to name a few- along with the spell-inducing vocals of Di Lauro, listeners are entranced and lost in the mood.
Ric’key Pageot tells AFROPUNK:
“The first time we played this song was for our Las Vegas production show residency called ‘Dessy Di Lauro’s Jamboree’ at The Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino back in 2014. It has been part of our set ever since as the bluesy/waltz groove of the original fits our neo-ragtime, speakeasy/soul style very well. But we made it our own by adding a thumping kick, a fat bass, and lush keyboard pads while still keeping it vintage with some accordion and banjo. It’s become a fan favorite at our shows to the point where they were pleading us to release it as a single. So I brought the band in studio to record it, and just when I thought we were close to releasing the song, I thought of asking my mentor, Benjamin Wright, if he would like to write a string arrangement to it, and he said yes. The next step was figuring out how we would pay for him and his orchestra and the only way we could, in very little time, was crowdfunding. Our family, friends, and fans have come through.”
As haunting as it is riveting, this cover was supported almost solely on crowdfunding, while simultaneously paying homage to its prior forms.
It is layered, and it is wild- not truly over until the last riff, audiences are granted a truly activated listening experience.
Re-introduce yourselves to Parlor Social, and listen to an old track made new in their premier of “I Put a Spell on You”!
* Facebook.com/parlorsocial
Twitter.com/parlorsocial
instagram.com/parlorsocial
youtube.com/lauropageot
* Crowdfunding campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/PutASpell
* Photo credit: Maria Parisella, artwork by FunkyB design
escape the chaos with neo-soul/indie hip-hop collective hardwork movement’s joyous ep ‘for the people“
The Book of Hip-Hop is filled with stories of acts with legendary live shows who can’t recreate the magic on record. And vice versa. Philly’s Hardwork Movement has been getting a lot of attention for their explosive four MC attack live, but on For The People, their first record as a 9 piece, they pack all that energy into 8 songs of concentrated dopeness.
For The People by Hardwork Movement
Photo by Danny Gevirtz
Cuts like “Dance With Me,” “Spun,” and “Like This” are clear live-set killers. Lyrics range from songs of determination and struggle to lost love to racial justice, deft lines zoom from the bigger picture back down to the daily. But surprisingly, the highlights are often when the band indulges themselves and pulls off tracks that force you to lean in and listen. The round “Don’t Block the Sun” and its counterpart in the interlude “Thousand Lights of Sun” showcase a rare musicality and willingness to experiment. Both sides of the band are in full display on the closing track “Becca’s Jam.” It’s a breakup song that gives each vocalist a chance to bear their soul, with just enough twists and turns to keep you hooked.
For The People is available from Hardwork Movement’s Bandcamp now. Name your price.
watch the mesmerizing visuals for neo-soul artist xamvolo’s vintage jazz jam “feels good”
You gotta have something going on if you’re going to sample the great Thelonious Monk. But songwriter and producer XamVolo backs it up with some serious songwriting and producing chops on his surprising and inventive new single “Feels Good.” With a laid back vibe and celebratory horns, the song marries a vintage feel with a modern aesthetic. This is an essential fall jam from an artist that demands attention. Check out the visuals below:
come get your entire life with kamau’s new future-funk album ‘thekamau-cassette: ŭrth gōld’
AFROPUNK vet KAMAU’s latest release is “TheKAMAU-CASSETTE: ŭRTH GōLD” the second installation in his CASSETTE series. A mythological study of the existential riddles of the human condition and a peculiar kaleidoscope of imagery and soundscapes both old and new. ‘ŭRTH GōLD’ is just a dope mix of funk-n-soul tracks that will force your body to groove to it. When not in pop-it-two-times mood, KAMAU takes you on a dreamy ride of cosmic soul and dirty jazz through songs about love and silver linings. It’s so, so good.
indie r&b icon van hunt’s lost album ‘popular’ is released after 10 years
Unreleased albums create an alternate universe of what-ifs. What would have happened if Hendrix had ever gotten to release Black Gold, or Prince’s Camille (or Dream Factory or or or or), or Zach de la Rocha’s solo album? The list is long and tied to complex webs of intellectual property law, estate control, and arcane label contracts. Some of these what-ifs were answered decades too late, like The Beach Boys’ Smile, and Death’s …For The Whole World To See…, but Van Hunt’s latest, Popular occupies a strange place in that land of alternate realities by being a decade late but sounding like it was recorded last week. Maybe in this case, it took the world a decade to catch up.
Van Hunt recorded Popular in 2007, but because of various label ownership drama, was shelved by Blue Note’s then parent company EMI. Hunt went on to release What Were You Hoping For and The Fun Rises, the Fun Sets, on his own label, but Popular sat tantalizingly unreleased in Blue Note’s vault. Hunt had declare the album his most personal and was reportedly devastated by the decision to shelve it. Fast forward a decade, and Blue Note is under new ownership. Recognizing that the sounds Van Hunt was pioneering 10 years ago are suddenly everywhere, the world was finally ready for Popular.
The album is definitely a document of a tumultuous period in Van Hunt’s life. The songs veer wildly between post-punk breakup anthems, folky reminiscence, and R&B seduction. It’s easy to hear the turmoil in his life, particularly on cuts like “Ur A Monster,” plays like a mini-opera.
Echoes of Prince abound, with “The Lowest 1 Of My Desires” mutating the future funk into an industrial-tinged fulfillment of Trent Reznor’s famous declaration that he was just trying to make a Prince album with Pretty Hate Machine. The come-ons aren’t just come-ons, there’s an acknowledgment of the hollowness of the whole thing. “Jump on the ground and wrestle with my shame / Because I don’t want to hide behind anything.”
When the weary optimism of “Finale (It All Ends In Tears)” rolls, it’s hard not to hear a metaphor for the album itself. It’s a love song that acknowledges that it’s all going to end in tears. Heartache is inevitable, but it’s worth the pain. The process of bringing Popular out of the shadows has been full of heartache too for Van Hunt, but hearing it after such a long wait, there’s no question it was worth the pain.
neo-soul group nicotine’s famous honey’s “the first time” will make you feel nostalgic for romance you’ve never even had
Saturated in classic R&B/soul melodies, Nicotine’s Famous Honey’s ‘The First Time’ is an old school vibin’ love song about those magical first times and the spell lovers cast over each other. Written by Nicotine and produced by Herrick & Hooley, ‘The First Time’ is the first single from NFH’s ‘No You Hang Up: A Series’, debuting in four season parts: it will have you feeling nostalgic for times you never even had.