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Second-generation Jamaican, Floridian rapper Wahid shares his new EP ‘feast, by ravens’, out now. The EP includes singles “SOLSTICE” and “Mezcal”, both have seen praise from Dazed’s Only Tracks You Need To Hear, COLORSxSTUDIOS, CLASH Magazine’s Astral Realm and Okay player’s Round-Up. Last year’s two-track EP “WILT/CORNERSTONE” was his debut which landed him in Complex-Pigeons and Planes’ highly respected Best New Artists feature for their October edition.
Through Wahid’s sonic storytelling he refuses to submit to negativity and fatalism. His hip-hop collective had just wrapped their first national tour. Their DMs were flooded with A&Rs offering deals and producers looking to collaborate. Then the group split up. It was over before it even began. The ensuing depression was all-consuming. There were days where Wahid didn’t budge from bed, drawing the blinds closed, and numbing the wounds with bottle after bottle of liquor. Despite his best efforts to salvage the wreckage, none of his attempts yielded anything positive. But through the duress, he discovered his inner resilience and perseverance. The results are manifest on his debut Innovative Leisure EP, feast, by ravens – an artful refusal to submit, and a testimonial to the indomitability of the human spirit. The title of the project comes from the parable of Elijah in the Book of Kings.
If you’re looking for comparisons, let’s start with if Black Thought was born two decades later and raised in Central Florida by a Jamaican DJ father who raised his progeny on a booming system of rocksteady, dancehall and reggae dubplates. As a teenager in the late 00s, his older brother exposed him to the classics of hip-hop’s second Golden Age. As Wahid describes it: “Nas made me want to rap, listening to the GZA’s Liquid Swords made me good at it, and Black Thought helped me refine my skills.”
“embodies the living, breathing Brazil of 2023, smolderingly intense, captivated by the bustle of life, and determined to be heard far and wide.” - Bandcamp Daily
"With its assemblage of slouched vocals sparkly electronic flourishes, and breezy guitar, “Ô Lulu” is as laid back as it is endlessly replayable." - The FADER
“at once alien and delightfully inviting” - FLOOD Magazine
"A dazzling collage of baile funk, hip-hop, and jazz that runs on an adrenaline rush fit for a cinematic heist scene as ambient pop songstress Bebé and Alceu come along for the joyride" - Remezcla
“Paying homage to samba and bossa styles, Joãozinho sets modern production elements to his work by sampling the band he assembled, tearing it up, then chopping and flipping the arrangements” - KCRW
Dadá Joãozinho has shared his debut album tds bem Global, an album that unfolds like a genre-agnostic mixtape, shoplifting from dub reggae, hip hop, punk, and samba, all while inventing a few future styles in the process. The recording alias of São Paulo based artist João Rocha, the debut is his first for Los Angeles-based Innovative Leisure, and chronicles his move to the biggest city in South America during a time of intense isolation and toxic politics. “Desire for freedom was the north star of this record,” dadá insists. He explains that he needed to “feel free about artistic decisions - that I didn’t have to play the instruments in a certain way to sound good, I didn’t have to sing in a certain way to sound good, and I didn’t have to write in a certain way to make sense and reach people’s feelings.”
Alongside the album release, dadá Joãozinho is sharing a new video for album highlight “Habitual,” a driving, atmospheric track full of production wizardry and a compelling performance. He explains, “I wanted to raise more questions than give answers about what's going on. On the song I'm singing about a state of habitualness from relationships and crisis within it. The video takes from there and expands its meanings, contextualizing infinite possibilities of narrative, relationships dynamics and fantasy.”
After breaking ground in Brazil’s music scene as a member of ROSABEGE, an electronic music collective that fuses the sounds of bossa nova with sprawling synth pop, dadá Joãozinho puts Rocha’s star potential on full display, flexing his experimental muscles and showcasing the breadth of his talent. Lead single “Cuidado!” is tour de force of bombastic MC energy, while “Pai e Mãe” is a reimagined take on traditional Brazilian samba, and “Ô Lulu” infuses classic Música Popular Brasileira with experimental flourishes. Watch the videos below, and listen to tds bem Global HERE.
London-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Marc has shared a new song “This Time Next Year,” the latest advance track from his forthcoming Glass Effect album (out April 22 from Innovative Leisure). The heady track digs into Marc’s talents as a producer and arranger, meticulously layering looped snippets of acoustic guitar melodies amidst pulsing synth pads and a swaggering beat. The song’s profusion of influences is illustrative of Marc’s singular vision - one that charts his own musical journey from studying classical music, to becoming a key collaborator in the burgeoning London jazz scene, to learning dance and hip hop production techniques, and on.
For a pre-order of Glass Effect, visit Ben Marc's Bancamp page here.
JIMMY EDGAR releases his first solo album in 9 years, CHEETAH BEND. The album includes features from Danny Brown, Hudson Mohawke, SOPHIE, Millie Go Lightly, 24HRS, Rochelle Jordan, Matt Ox & more.
“Detroit experimentalist and texture king Jimmy Edgar is the kind of producer that opens a doorway in your mind.” - BILLBOARD
"A full-dive into his hybridised vision of modern hip-hop — a world where shape-shifting, liquid-metal Cyberdyne Systems beats are clothed in the fur coat of virtuoso West Coast funk." - DJ MAG (named CHEETAH BEND Album of the Month)
“Assisted by like-minded electronic vanguards like Hudson Mohawke and the late, great visionary SOPHIE, Edgar expands on the sound he’s established while working in the hip-hop world over the last several years.” - BANDCAMP
“Confident, bold and head-turning music” - CRACK
“No one does music like JIMMY EDGAR. He’s constantly explore new sounds and throwing everything we thought we knew about music into the wind, and we absolutely love it. We’ve been tracking this forward-thinking wizard as he’s steadily rolled out single after single, and today that work comes to a head with the release of his new album, CHEETAH BEND.” - THIS SONG IS SICK
