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“an afrodisiac-filled, G-Funk house amalgam” - CLASH
Southern California producer-singer duo, comprised of songwriter tomee zero and producer JVMES JET, Charlie Vettuno have shared their debut EP Lime Juice. Supported by Wonderland, CLASH and BBC Radio 1Xtra, the duo have built a devoted fanbase for their unique sonic tapestry not only in their hometown of Los Angeles but further beyond. EP highlights include the high-energy house-induced “Triggered” and vibrantly brilliant “Fre nch Toast Pt 2”.
The duo bring a dynamic blend of musicality and innovation to their craft. Their sleek club-rap tracks draw comparison to producers-artists like Cakes Da Killa, Channel Tres, Azealia Banks and Kaytranada. Charlie Vettuno's signature style has caught the attention of music critics and fans alike, earning them praise from notable publications such as Rolling Stone Magazine and leading them to work with the likes of Ari Lennox.
“Our EP Lime Juice is a narrative on fame.” says the duo on their debut project. “It’s told through the eyes of a lost but ambitious person who believes fame will solve their problems and through the journey they discover fame is not the answer. Each song dives into the spoils of fame, Ego, Luxury, Sex, Drugs & Rock n’ Roll but with our own twist. Ending with the realization they need to get back to who they truly are despite the new circumstances of their life.”
"Shades of Green started off as a simple acoustic tune that was experimented into something more with synths and string arrangements to create a painting of emotion. It’s a song of how loss can change the lives around us, and, despite past failures and shortcomings, be transformative in becoming a stronger person for the ones we love." - Tim Hill
“...while the group make much of this being a 'new era' there are still plenty of moments that conjure nostalgic, dreamy biss.” - MOJO
"The album brings us back to their sun-kissed California psych sounds once again, but this time with equal twists of clipped electronica and field recordings" - LOUDER THAN WAR
"embraces the pugnacious monotony of late ‘80s Lou Reed ... and reassures that they have not altogether lost interest in sun-splashed psychedelia" - UNCUT
“Surreal” - MXDWN
Los Angeles-based Allah-Las have dropped “Dust,” the latest single off their much-anticipated album, Zuma 85, being released on October 13. With an ear-worm fusion of psychedelic rock, jangly guitars, and progressive rock, “Dust” exemplifies the new direction the band have taking on the LP as they depart the familiar beachy territory for off the map expanses, embracing the influence of late-era Lou Reed and John Cale, ‘70s mutant pop, and textures borrowed from Japanese pop and loner-folk obscurities. Allah-las tapped frequent collaborator Bailey Elder to craft her visual interpretation of the song. With her signature animation style, she captures the cosmic and transitory nature of the track with a mesmerizing procession of patterns, shapes and designs that morph and melt into one another in a choreographed dance through space and time. Of “Dust’ the band say, ‘the song turns the lens onto the past and the path that must be taken to achieve a desired outcome. A crisp high hat clicks along in perfect time, driving a soft but certain vocal atop a bed of undulating synthesizers, leading us comfortably along before the chorus hits, punctuated by harpsichord hits and tambourines that crash against the otherwise soothing soundscape. A fuzzed and bowed guitar solo leads us out into the place we had hoped to be.”
"Dreams 1000000 (angelfire remix) "infuses pulsating techno energy into the divine melancholy of the original. It highlights the natural progression of growth: pain < acceptance < strength.
"Dreams 1000000" is from JIMMY EDGAR's acclaimed 2022 release, LIQUIDS HEAVEN.
Second-generation Jamaican, Floridian rapper Wahid shares his new single “WILT” (Feat. Kaelin Ellis). “WILT” is a monstrous boom bap jaunt with a dexterous and poignant flow documenting a tough period in the rapper's life.
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. One major label president – who had signed some of the biggest artists of the last quarter-century – told them that they were on the path to becoming global superstars. 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.
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.”
But what makes Wahid sui generis is his gift for merging classic MC traditions with forward-thinking cadences and melodies. In his double-time acrobatic flows, he’s distinctly post-Kendrick Lamar, and Lil Wayne – blessed with a novelist’s eye for minor detail and a virtuoso’s gift for ransacking hidden pockets of a beat. He can turn a warped post-Dilla instrumental to ashes with 16 bars and croon a plaintive falsetto wail on the hook that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Jeremih album or sounding like a lost fifth member of TDE’s Black Hippy Crew which is no coincidence as 'WILT' was inspired by the flows Wahid heard on Isaiah Rashad’s ‘House is Burning’ album as he wanted to emulate those cadences plus the carefree vibe.