WXNDCHIME is a British-Jamaican artist from South London who much like the musicians who influence her, utilises her music as a tool of expression against injustice. Having lived in both England and Jamaica, her sound which creates allegorical reggae/neo-soul infused melodies, overtly reflects on the Black/Caribbean influence on British society and the reverberations of this.
She explains her name as the symbolism of making peaceful noise from collisions. She removes the ‘I’, replacing this with the militancy of ‘X’.
‘IG’ is the first single from Wxndchime’s EP ‘IOUSZ’ which features eclectic sounds heavily influenced by the reggae, hip hop and neo soul/jazz she grew up on.
The song is an introduction to the complexity and dynamism that is Wxndchime, with distinctive lyrical verses and R&B hooks inspired by the harmonic arrangements of her gospel choir days. Through upbeat, playful melodies the song explores deeper realities of chauvinism, mental health, and a world heavily focused on image and surveillance.
The song features North London’s afro swing artist Tape, and the music from Alabama producer Yunnie is a collaboration which can be heard throughout her EP along with tracks produced by SpaceAgeRasta and Sena Beats. Have a listen below…
Revealing her highly-anticipated fourth album, the self-confessed food-lover (a semi-finalist on Celebrity Masterchef, cookbook writer, and podcaster) SPEECH DEBELLE has been influenced by the connection, comfort and culture that food allows us to explore.
The South London lyricist says of the title: “On a Monday, the Sunday dinner just tastes sweeter; everything has time to marinate and settle.”
Featuring the singles ‘Come Your Way’, ‘101010’, ‘Atlantis’, ‘Away from Here’ and ‘Wayward’, ‘Sunday Dinner On A Monday’ examines family, friends, lineage, and ancestral DNA through the lens of afro-futurism.
“It’s about how we imagine and then create our own futures”, says Speech. “The album is about our journey through life as we learn from experiences that expand our senses. We learn internal management and get closer to ease. Some of us even become nourished, like a good meal. This is THAT album.”
‘Sunday Dinner On A Monday’ has been mixed and mastered by Grammy-nominated and MOBO award-winning mixer and engineer Clinton McCreery (Enny, Kofi Stone, Manik MC), with writing and production from Skripture (Will.i.am, Gregory Porter, Basement Jaxx), and collaborations with Dem Drums, Jamaican production team Island Wav, Kensaye, and Mark Cake. It includes features from English contemporary pianist and composer Neil Cowley (Adele, Emeli Sande, Maribou State), Miss Baby Sol, Dylema, Alyesha Lei and Ruth Sax.
Speech Debelle – whose real name is Corynne Elliot – kicked in the music industry’s backdoor in 2009, waving her sensitive, introspective Mercury Prize ‘British Album of the Year’ and debut album ‘Speech Therapy’, beating the likes of Florence and the Machine, Kasabian and La Roux. Her 2012 Kwes-produced sophomore album ‘Freedom Of Speech’ commanded further critical acclaim expanding Speech’s captivating flair for poetic testimonies, playful narratives and dynamic rumination on power, politics and pleasure.
She later stepped away from music for a few years to develop her other passions; her zeal for cooking tantalised the nation with her inventive recipes as a semi-finalist on Celebrity MasterChef, while in 2013, her socially conscious drive saw her curating a moving exhibition of art by prisoners for the Koestler Trust’s ‘The Strength and Vulnerability Bunker’ at the Southbank Centre.
Speech combined her love for music and food in her weekly podcast ‘The Work Brunch’, where she cooked and discussed music, life and inspiration with a range of esteemed guests, such as Lianne La Havas, Nitin Sawhney, Shabaka Hutchings and Mikill Pane.
She accompanied her third album ‘Tantil before I breathe’ with her own cookbook and memoir expressing that ‘music and food are art – they heal and inspire’. The nine songs spanning all three of her albums tell a story of abandonment, the artistic process, critical acclaim, record label mistakes and healing, with a delicious, inspired recipe for each.
Speech has spent three years working as a Relationship Manager in the music team at Arts Council England. She has supported artists and organisations in receiving funding and spearheaded the ‘Black Influencers Masterclass and Programme’, which provides the toolkit for funding projects, specifically for Black and Brown people in the UK.
‘Sunday Dinner On A Monday was released today (9th June) on all music platforms. Have a listen below…
Hong Kong raised, Los Angeles-based artist/producer DEB FAN releases her highly anticipated debut EP ‘Gemini Moon’.
The haunting six-track offering is centralized around duality in two parts; first being the search for control both internally and externally while grieving a heart-wrenching breakup, and second being the duality of Fan from a cultural perspective, as she continues to embrace expressivity while unlearning the social standards that were ingrained deep in her mind as a young girl in Hong Kong.
Written in the solace of her Los Angeles bedroom, the 24-year-old’s lush, ethereal vocals juxtaposed against brash, grungy production intentionally paint the polarity of her natural being, furthering the narrative of the vulnerable experience of searching for oneself post-breakup. In Asian culture, the moon serves as a symbol of feminine power, and Fan’s striking debut EP is a nod to this new chapter.
“Growing up in a traditional Chinese household, I didn’t know what expressivity meant because of how my culture views my gender,” Fan explains. “Moving to America was a huge step in understanding the essence of being a woman. I’ve learned to embrace the power of being hard and soft at the same time. This is captured in Gemini Moon. Because of my innate duality, this project was written from a place that is half realistic, and half delusion, Gemini Moon taking into account all perspectives.”
‘Gemini Moon’ is constructed around cinematic themes, each track detailing a specific feeling throughout her mourning process while listeners immerse themselves deeper into Fan’s world. From numbness (‘Run My Mind’), to lust and love (‘Rules’), depression (‘Pull My Hair’), delusion (‘Thru & Thru’), anger (‘Three Nights’), and passion (‘Rules – Acoustic Version’), ‘Gemini Moon’ tries to answer the unanswerable questions such as ‘why am I here,’ ‘why do I do this,’ and ‘what is my purpose here.’
In the early stages of her artist career, Fan has been championed by an impressive list of music tastemakers, including Billboard, Lyrical Lemonade, MTV, Earmilk and Early Rising to name a few. She has landed placements on Spotify Editorial Playlists including All New Indie, Ethereal, .ORG, Poses, Fresh Finds, Fresh Finds: R&B, Fresh Finds: Indie, Mood., Radar: Hong Kong, Simmering, +852 Rising as well as over 20 New Music Friday playlists.
Deb Fan’s debut EP Gemini Moon solidifies her position as the must-watch artist of 2023. Have a listen below…
Must Listens: Thru & Thru, Rules, Run My Mind, Three Nights
UK’s rising artist C.T (which stands for Contraversial Tekniche) has been gaining attention and captivating listeners with his distinctive sound. Since bursting on the scene in 2018, he has been featured as artist of the month by BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Radio and has built a fanbase through numerous freestyles, podcasts and live shows, including performing at festivals such as Godiva. Set to continue his momentum and reach new heights in 2023, C.T has just unveiled his latest single, ‘Down For Me’, alongside a music video directed by Peppermint Studios (Byron Ismail), which follows the release of his “Joey Clipstar Freestyle”.
“Down For Me” is a melodic track that showcases C.T’s smooth vocals as he glides effortlessly over a laidback trap beat. Packed with catchy melodies and a huge, anthemic hook that will no doubt have everyone singing along after one listen, ‘Down For Me’ shines the spotlight on a fast-rising talent with undeniable star quality and a bright future ahead.
Speaking further on “Down For Me”, C.T says, “For me, it’s about that question you ask yourself in the early stages of a relationship when you like or love someone, but you don’t quite know what their intentions are, so you stay guarded and reserved, almost unsure but maintaining interest out of curiosity and want for connection.”
‘Down For Me’ is available via various music platforms. Check out the video below…
A household name in the UK jazz world, Canadian-born, UK-based trumpeter, DJ and composer JAY PHELPS teams up with Birmingham MC Simon Jnr ‘Through The Clouds’. It’s the second single from his forthcoming album ‘The Now’, releasing via Platoon in partnership with Black Lives In Music.
With a career spanning 20 years, Phelps has performed as a sideman with some of the world’s top names, including Amy Winehouse, George Benson and Wiz Kid. His work as founding member of award-winning contemporary jazz group Empirical in the late 2000s garnered international acclaim, an early precursor to the explosion of UK jazz that has since followed. As a bandleader, he’s explored multiple styles, threading together the jazz language and tradition with contemporary influences, always with one eye on the future. His status as an innovator and enabler on the UK jazz scene has seen him host regular shows on Jazz FM and Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM, and draw praise from The Guardian, Jazzwise and London Jazz News.
The forthcoming LP ‘The Now’ brings together a cross-generational collective of musicians. It’s a journey from the underground, club-centric UK jazz scene, through to the house-filled streets of Detroit and progressive sonics of LA. Phelps continues on his mission as a connector of dots, bringing together multiple generations of musicians at the forefront of the UK’s jazz scene, including David Mrakpor (Blue Lab Beats), Tom Ford (Chris Dave, Reuben James) and Nicola Guida (Secret Night Gang). The record draws inspiration from hiphop, G-funk and broken beat, with Phelps and co weaving between styles through conversational improvisation, thoughtfully crafted melodies and a combination of vocal and horn-led arrangements. Continuing with the west coast vibe explored on lead single ‘Finding Centaurii’,
‘Through The Clouds’ invokes shades of Anderson Paak’s jazz-fuelled soul-funk. Phelps’ playful muted trumpet is paired with Ruta Sipola’s flute in conversation with Mrakpor’s vibraphone, with the instrumental finely balanced against Simon Jnr’s lyrical flow, setting an inspirational tone of breaking through and looking past adversity.
“I wanted the catchy melody to be traded around the band, as it’s the largest ensemble featured on the entire album. Simon Jnr came through and provided the lyrical masterpiece, which tied in perfectly to the themes I wanted to convey on the instrumental.” -Jay Phelps. Have a listen to
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