Song of the Day: Who Don’t Love Me – Skripture

SKRIPTURE is a modern renaissance man of sorts: morphing his artistry at will — actively switching between emceeing, singing and beat-making. Embodying all of his signature traits in one tight-knit package — the West London rhymer has returned with his long-awaited grime-laced gem ‘Who Don’t Love Me’.

Slated as the lead single from the rapper’s upcoming album ‘One Accord’, ‘Who Don’t Love Me’ is constructed with Black Belt-adjacent lyrical acrobatics throughout. Skripture’s wordplay is boundless as ever on ‘Who Don’t Love Me’ — and it’s only getting better with time.

Residing in a realm between trap, drill and grime, Skripture unleashes a melody-driven refrain before the track erupts into a cavalcade of molten bars: effortlessly complemented by the skippy, self-produced instrumental.

Outside of being an active rapper, vocalist and producer: Skripture is a one-man studio, regularly mixing, mastering his own tunes and penning tracks for other artists.

Skripture was a founding member of the collective The Truth Movement. The group had the likes of Michael Kiwanuka, Prgrshn & Dornik as active members of the crew. The Truth Movement both produced tracks and performed as a live band, supporting many throughout the UK scene.

Additionally, the rapper was also a member of the trans-Atlantic urban rock group The Score. The Score boasted members including GRAMMY Award-winning producer Taylor Graves [Thundercat, Kimbra] and his brother Cameron Graves [Kamasi Washington, Jada Pinkett]. They recorded material with starts like will.i.am and a laundry list of other household names.

As a solo beatmaker, Skripture has produced records for Bashy, Tinchy Stryder, Dappy and many more. Skripture has also had a considerable amount of sync success with his music used by brands and networks such as Adidas, F1, MTV, CNN and Netflix.

With a steady influx of singles released throughout 2022, Skripture is showing no signs of slowing down. His latest body of work, ‘One Accord’, is shaping up to be the crystallisation of his work ethic — and ‘Who Don’t Love Me’ is just the beginning. Check him out below…

Alt-Pop Duo Palmaria Shares Single, ‘Sunflower’.

Self-produced in their dreamy home studio, London-based Alt-Pop duo PALMARIA‘s latest single ‘Sunflower’ was inspired by the beauty of our very own planet. The duo’s lyrical bliss flows between the mix of their two main languages, offering a metaphorical interpretation of their lives between countries.

They explain, “We’re always inspired by natural elements, in this case specifically we focused on the sun and the sunflower. We connect to natural elements and how they move and evolve with our experience. ‘Sunflower’ is about always looking for the positive side of things and following the sun as a source of energy.”

Taking inspiration from acts like N.E.R.D., Little Dragon, Hiatus Kaiyote, the dynamic duo, who originally hails from Italy, continue to be their very own trend-setters, differing from the norm and surprising with each and every release. With support from Jamz Supernova, COLORS Berlin and BBC airplay, Palmaria are proving to be a force to be reckoned with. Have a listen to their track below…

Deego Drops Debut Mixtape, ‘Layers’

‘Layers’, the debut mixtape from South London’s Deego, is a refreshing and timeless project packed with an exciting “mix and blend” of different vibes and flavours to create one succinct and infectious project.

Tracks ‘Jiggy’, ‘Skin Deep’ and ‘Rum & Weed’ are all perfect additions to add to radio playlists and DJ sets, with Deego injecting his signature artist flair into each one.

Notably recorded between Miloco Studios and Deego’s home studio, ‘Layers’ was also mixed and mastered by none other than Darren Jones, who bears impressive credits such as artists Harry Styles, Skepta, Stormzy, Kojo Funds, J Hus, Florence and the Machine, Major Lazor and more.

Camberwell raised and of Nigerian descent, Deego is a UK artist bearing a unique and eclectic range of sounds and influences including Rap & Hip Hop, Garage, Neo-Soul, R&B, G-Funk, Afrobeats and Drill.

When Deego lost his close friend and fellow rapper Temidayo in 2011 to knife crime, it sparked him to take music more seriously in order to break free of London gang culture. Fast forward to 2021, he released a string of singles that gained an impressive amount of traction in the underground scene, most notably the single ‘Brilliant Wave’.

Deego has been steadily gearing up to drop his debut body of work ‘Layers’ – available now on all streaming platforms. Check it out below…

OUT TODAY: Karen Harding Shares Title Track From Upcoming EP, ‘I’ve Got A Secret’

Following the release of her first six singles, KAREN HARDING returns with the first single release and title track from her Upcoming EP, ‘I’ve Got A Secret’. Written during the Melbourne, Australia Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, dramatic singer-songwriter single, ‘I’ve Got A Secret’ dives straight into the heart of fear and anxiety, when sharing a less than perfect side, that you know leaves you open to judgement from others.

Karen says of the single: “We live in a world that is filled with images of perfection.. Where we believe that to be good enough, we must line up with the messages that essentially only show the highlight reels of a life. This leads us to locking away our own vulnerabilities.. That is, until you reach a point, where you realise that your struggles are a secret that no one knows about. The idea of sharing these fills us with fear, questioning and mistrust, and this is the message within ‘I’ve Got A Secret’.”

Hailing from Melbourne, Karen has been steadily growing her following and name, having won the November 2021 Bendigo Bank sponsored Independent Songwriter Talent Show on Radio Eastern FM in Melbourne, Australia, for her single, ‘Anxiety’, Top 10 winner for the World Songwriting Awards, for her single, ‘Something Special’ and a nominee for Best International Artist on Crags Radio Independent Artist Awards in February 2022.

Karen Harding’s music has also had recent attention and plays on Bree Noble’s ‘Women of Substance’ podcast, online radio shows including ‘Good Music Radio’, ‘DTong Radio’, ‘382 Radio’, ‘Eagles Nest Radio’ and ‘Oz Now Radio’ and has been gaining attention through her plays on local Australian community radio.

‘I’ve Got A Secret’ is taken from Karen’s upcoming EP. The four track EP, ‘I’ve Got A Secret’ is being released one single at a time, each month, and will be available in its entirety by October 2022. The EP is available for purchase at Bandcamp in digital download and CD formats.

Listen to ‘I’ve Got A Secret’ below…

Song of the Day: Pin Me Down – FRANSIS

Reminiscent of Wolf Alice and Florence + The Machine, London based alt/indie band FRANSIS‘ single, ‘Pin Me Down,’ was spurred by the tragic murder of Sarah Everard. It tackles a subject which is often difficult to talk about but shared by so many women, that of sexual assault, candidly focusing on the mental strain particularly in the aftermath, and the struggle behind closed doors.

Described as a therapeutic exorcism, Frontman Emma Withers shares, “This song is vulnerable and real, I wanted to focus on the self destruction, the brokenness, the confusion, the anger, and then finally the release which is supported by the music constantly, and as the song intensifies we hit an explosive finale, and an emotional release which was incredibly satisfying to perform in the studio, I did like 8 takes of this to get the raw emotion out of me, this is bonded with the mammoth eruption of epic guitar lines and pure power from the band.”

Despite the serious nature of “Pin Me Down” there is a positive outline, of admittance and then at the end, a collective sense of women standing together. A strong message that no-one should feel alone in their struggle, to let shame keep their burdens as skeletons or be fearful of walking down the street alone at night.

‘Pin Me Down’ is from their new EP, released last Friday (1st July). Listen to ‘Pin Me Down’ below…