Browsing Tag

Alt RnB

MIXED COMPANY have released their bite-worthy RnB debut, SOUL FOOD

Posted on 28 March 2022

The freshly formed duo, MIXED COMPANY, put their own distinctively introspective spin on RnB with their debut single SOUL FOOD.

While the jazzy, hazy, and tonally bright instrumentals bring the soul you’re accustomed to, MIXED COMPANY took a mindful hip hop-ESQUE approach to their lyrics. As the lyrics breeze through their easy and mellow canter in the two-minute earworm, you’ll pick up on the pioneer’s ability to perfectly balance high vibes with wisdom bombs that were constructed to help the listener navigate their way through our torrid times that deprive the soul of its essence. We can’t wait to hear what follows.

SOUL FOOD is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

[Spotlight Feature] Ethan Mark delivered honeyed euphonic bliss in his indie psych soul single, The Concept of You

Posted on 17 March 2022

There is nothing hallmark about the rich and vibrant sentimentality of Ethan Mark’s latest single, The Concept of You. With the straight-from-the-soul vocal passion as a paramour of the sultry Flamenco guitars, the RnB track is the epitome of affectionate sincerity.

His mellifluous harmonised vocals become the central gravity of the title single from his upcoming album, which will release in June 2022. As the world music flair gently wrestles with the psychedelic indie vibes, it is impossible not to get caught up in the sun-bleached bliss of the exotically euphonic single that stands as a testament to Ethan Mark’s organically distinctive production style. Despite the tonal eclecticism that encompasses the soul of old school hip hop, the evocative capacity of alt-RnB and the grooves in non-westernised music, every element gels cohesively together under Mark’s sporadically off-kilter production style.

After getting a sneak peek of the upcoming album, it is easy to anticipate massive strides in the Toronto-residing artist’s music career.

Here’s what Ethan Mark had to say about his latest release:

“The Concept of You, and the upcoming album, came about from a challenge from my partner. She, a listener of neo-soul and jazz, challenged me to pare my usually elaborate and busy musical style down to something more organic, soulful, and pretty.

The result was a series of love songs encompassing many different facets of love. The single refers to her, the sepia-toned memories of summers, the roots we have put down together, and the love for home.

These themes felt especially important after a long period punctuated by isolations, introversion, and cabin fever. It’s accentuated by nylon guitar strings, cascading violins, gentle pianos, and the frailties and soul of harmonised vocals. In supporting the themes of roots, home, and love, the album is paired with visuals romanticizing wintertime in Toronto.”

The title track from Ethan Mark’s upcoming album, The Concept of You, is now available to stream on Spotify.

You can keep up to date with all of the artist’s latest releases via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Drop Etan Sutef’s latest trip of an alt-RnB meets underground hip hop track, Acid

Posted on 16 March 2022

Etan Sutef’s latest single, Acid, is well on its way to going viral after the premiere of the music video on February 22nd. The hazy, mellow track, produced by H.Gold, is sentiment-heavy and soulfully smooth as Etan Sutef lets the lyrics flow as a candid stream of consciousness; making it easy for the listener to find themselves in the apathy, resilience, regret and empathy.

You’d be hard-pressed finding another artist with such maturity and wit in their rap bars and tranquil catharsis in his melodies. The 25-year-old Brooklyn born artist has been finetuning his sonic signature that melds alt RnB with underground hip hop since the age of 13. That discernibly shows with Acid. The magnetic tone of the spoken-word vocals effortlessly gel with the instrumentals that have been saturated in pools of tape delay and reverb.

Check out Acid for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

London alt-RnB artist Sean Murefu rolls the windows down one new single ‘Gucci Sneakers’

Posted on 14 March 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wis6-uAHPWI

Lighting up and sending the car into a smoke-filled state that has others looking inside from a distance, Sean Murefu laces up and looks into the eye of his lover and wants them to be united as one with ‘Gucci Sneakers‘.

Sean Murefu is a 19-year-old indie alt-RnB/pop solo artist who is based in London, UK and makes a fresh blend of likeable music that sends you into a reflective place.

Sending us a single that will have you in a dreamy mood and admiring the crisp vocals with a tender beat that has you nodding your tired head, Sean Murefu is the young kid on the block who is making impressive moves. He sings with confident freedom that is never too much to stomach, on a track that might send shivers roaming briskly all over your spine.

‘Gucci Sneakers‘ from the London, UK-based indie alt-RnB/pop solo artist Sean Murefu, is a promising track that has your mind into a blaze-loaded state of affairs that has you flaring another one up. Being with that right person is so important and we feel the connection here, from a young artist that has found his gem amongst the rubble of the world.

Sung with a smooth and unrushed atmosphere, this is the kind of track you play when you are with someone who you feel you can trust with all your secrets.

Check out the YouTube video and see more via the IG music page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

The RnB soul singer, Tarnisha Bruce is sensational once more in ‘Keep the Love We Make’

Posted on 6 March 2022

After Tarnisha Bruce wowed us with her alternatively old school take on RnB with her single, Love Therapy, she’s back on soulful form in her seminal ballad, Keep the Love We Make, which finds an impassioned way to pay homage to the beauty in perpetual love.

Scroobius Pip may have said that the idea of unconditional love is simply being in love with the idea of love, but Tarnisha Bruce proves that there’s plenty more to the desire to find a light that will never go out behind someone else’s eyes.

Once again, it’s a stunningly serene release that doesn’t fail to fill you with a flood of warmth from the first jazzy RnB piano progression. As for the lyrics, you’d be hard-pressed to find a sweeter or more sincere proclamation of affection.

Keep the Love We Make is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The RnB soulstress, Tarnisha Bruce, has reinforced the message that all we need is love in her latest single, Love Therapy

Posted on 28 February 2022

With her latest single, Love Therapy, the up-and-coming artist, Tanisha Bruce, brought a touch of jazzy Avant-Garde finesse to the RnB genre.

The ambient production puts Bruce’s ethereally soft vocals atop of jazzy piano keys, woody organic percussion, and waves of reverb that you can’t help getting swept up in. It may be worlds away from the jazzy RnB that you’d expect to hear in a smoky speakeasy, but Love Therapy carries all the same demure class of the pioneers. If she teamed up with a talented producer that invested in her vision, she’d be unstoppable.

Love Therapy is now available to stream on YouTube and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

QueenK melds RnB with trip-hop in her soberingly evocative release, My Butterfly

Posted on 23 February 2022

RnB and trip-hop collide in QueenK’s latest seductively demure multi-lingual release, My Butterfly, which switches between the independent artist’s mother tongue and English; to mesmerising effect.

My Butterfly falls into the short and sweet trend with a duration of just 1:55 minutes, but QueenK wasted no time in the hypnotic release that mourns the loss of butterflies and questions their existence in her absence. The lyric, “my butterflies don’t fly like they used to”, is particularly striking when versed by QueenK’s vocals that wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch production.

My Butterfly was officially released on January 7th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sun Kovu puts an Afro-futurist twist on RnB in his latest single, Myspace

Posted on 17 February 2022

Sun Kovu’s latest RnB single, Myspace, is an indulgently innovative mash of Y2K vibes, Afro-futurism and hip hop. Sometimes, it can feel like RnB artists are struggling to keep the pace in terms of stylish progression, but paradoxically, Myspace is a brand-new trajectory into futurist genius.

The seductive beats and mellifluous yet trippy all the same melodies, which were produced by Tamira Slade, were orchestrated to take the listener on a trip through time and space. That definitely resonates once you’ve delved into the sexually urgent track that uses the lyricism to yearn for physicality while the vocals bring the soul and the beats bring the trancey and off-kilter textures.

Myspace is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Patrice Hawthorne seeks to quieten frenetic minds with her single, Peace Once More

Posted on 16 February 2022

With the title of “Peace Once More”, the up and coming soul singer, Patrice Hawthorne’s latest single hits hard before you even hit play. Those three simple words allude to how hard-fought-for peace is in our slightly warped modern age, how urgent the search for it can feel and how sweet it is to find that evasive inner catharsis. That sweetness resonates in the timbre in the modern RnB production, which left plenty of room for experimentalism.

After the spoken word verse, energizingly uplifting harmonies and the reverb-laden sun-kissed melodies, you get a taste of the peace that we’ve all been striving for lately. Top tip, turn off the news and tune into the artists worth paying attention to.

In a time when people are more polarized than ever before, Patrice Hawthorne and her matured songwriting, dynamically powerful vocal range and artistic flair can be considered an essential artist. Get her on your radar. For your sanity’s sake not hers.

Peace Once More is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Latino fusionist, ROLF has released his most seductive track to date with OTRA NOCHE DE AMANTES

Posted on 14 February 2022

To follow on from his 2021 debut single, Soltera, the Latino alt-pop artist, ROLF unleashed his vibe-packed 6-track EP, ILUSIONES. For new fans to his seductively soulful style, OTRA NOCHE DE AMANTES is the ultimate introduction.

With the Spanish lyricism, for English monolingual minds, there’s an air of mystery. When the lyrics are translated, ROLF keeps his enigmatic allure which also resonates in his fusion of spacey ambient electronica, Latin pop, and RnB.

To amplify the demure energy, ROLF brought in jazz and rock nuances to ensure that you are well and truly transfixed by the outro. OTRA NOCHE DE AMANTES may be a short and sweet track, but considering that it delivers 2-minutes of aural bliss, it leaves nothing to be desired.

OTRA NOCHE DE AMANTES is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast