Jazz Fusion Hip Hop Archives

Lewis Daniel asks what we’ve all been thinking – ‘Why Me’?

Posted on 26 April 2021

The debut single from your debut EP can always be a nerve-wracking time, even for a performer as highly sought after as Lewis Daniel. Playing across venues as wide-ranging as the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival, and Ibiza Rocks, and composing for and performing with artists as diverse as MOBO-winner Rachel Kerr, Boadi, The Last Dinosaur, The House Gospel Choir, and his own horn section The Biscuit Horns, BRIT School and Guildhall School of Music alumnus Daniel’s debut, ‘States Of Being’, is a concept piece which melds his British and Caribbean influences; ‘Why Me’, as the title suggests, talks about that peculiar introspective place between anger and meditativeness, an internal questioning of why the world is the way it is.

A mostly instrumental piece, save for some deliciously evocative French-language spoken word sections, ‘Why Me’ mixes Daniel’s trademark saxophone with dance beats, synth bass, Caribbean steel drums, and electronics, melding jazz, hip-hop, and garage into an auditory experience that’s at times dazzling in its complexity, surprising, uplifting, and toe-tappingly good.

You can hear ‘Why Me’ on Spotify now. Lewis Daniel’s ‘States Of Being’ EP is out on the 30^th April; in the meantime, you can follow on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Basil Panagop – Topaz featuring Fuaves: Downtempo-Jazz-Soaked Electronic Hip Hop

Posted on 6 March 2020

For their latest release, Basil Panagop teamed up with Fuaves to create a hazy, mellow work of Ambient EDM Hip Hop. Topaz may be a short and sweet track, but your mind will be suitably altered in the space of 2:22-minutes.

Topaz is definitely on the more alternative side of Hip Hop. Yet, there’s still plenty of mainstream appeal thanks to the undeniably indulgent resonance which is waiting to grip you once you hit play.

With layers of downtempo Jazz weaved into the soft and smooth EDM Hip Hop beats, it’s all too easy to lose yourself amongst the textures of the track. There’s plenty of mesmerism to be found between the long and tensile orchestral notes and the rattle of the Trap beats. That’s without mentioning the vocal experimentalism which spilt into the mix on the outro.

You can check out Topaz for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Follow Basil Panagop on Facebook and keep up to date with their future releases and tour info. You’re definitely going to want this artist on your radars.

Review by Amelia Vandergast