Last time we covered the work of Daniel Goldstein, your ninja team was in the building as he delivered a previously-unreleased track “Midnight” during his 12:00 New Year’s set at Snowglobe. Despite the lack of coverage recently, make no mistake Lane 8 has been busy churning out contemporary hits with regularity. Over the past few months our favorite French Express / Anjunadeep collaborator has released a dual EP release in Crush/Divina, a summer mixtape, and a long awaited remix of deadmau5’s all-time classic “Strobe”. This week, he’s given us two surprises: a new release as well as details regarding a nationwide winter tour.
Fresh on the scene and coming off of a successful album debut earlier this month, Los Angeles lyricist Phero Hill has been turning heads with his smooth sound. Gaining some buzz on the strength of Ronin, he shows off an impressive range that touts a wide variety of flows. While justifying his place among up-and-coming contemporaries and talented vocalists like Matthew Chaim and Ben Beal, Phero Hill allows listeners to join along for the journey as he crafts a signature sound.
As the intro track to Ronin, “Who Is It” laces a fast-spitting cadence around a trumpeting, catchy beat pattern. Ronin showcases charismatic sounds, relatable themes, and an all-inclusive aspect, meaning listeners will have no trouble finding something that is their own speed. Fans can follow Phero Hill and stream the project in full on Soundcloud here.
As music enthusiasts first and foremost, one question in particular always makes the cut when we at The Music Ninja interview artists: “Which musicians are you into lately?”
In creating his widely-praised dark comedy Atlanta, Donald Glover eagerly gives us the answers by injecting tunes of his choosing throughout the first season. Case in point, the soundtrack to Atlanta is so well-regarded that multiple articles have been written praising its eclectic nature and quality, and a highly circulated Spotify playlist updates each week with new songs from the show. For one artist in particular, making the cut on Atlanta may bring about an infusion of mainstream recognition to propel his career even further.
Grand Rapids repping rapper Waldo, one of the most talented and underrated lyricists in the genre, has been releasing notable projects for years. Since making waves as early as 2013 with “Kobe’s Room” – to a pair of major declarations of his arrival with EP releases Tuebor and Until Then – we have kept close tabs on his journey. Partnered with fellow Michigan natives and longtime friends SAVON and Sango, Waldo released his latest hit this past week, titled “Closer”.
With a hauntingly bass-heavy rhythm throughout, the lyrics and instrumentals form a symbiotic bond, painting the gritty picture depicted in his up-tempo cadence. Beyond the prodigal beat-making talents of Sango and Savon, and beyond the vocal characterization of Waldo, the biggest draw to his sound lies in its pure authenticity.
Fans in California will have a few chances to see him live this month: he’ll be in San Diego at the Soda Bar with Jimmy Javier on October 25th and in Oakland at The New Parish with Sango on October 27th. Listeners can join the AGO movement by following along with the Soundcloud pages of both the collective and Waldo for all releases.
Frequently, artists release polished works of art to minimal fanfare or perhaps a brief smattering of praise. Occasionally, those same overlooked artists are fortunate enough to inspire producers to build on their original pieces, thus propelling them to a wider audience and greater acclaim. The latter scenario may very well be the case in the coming weeks regarding Moonzz.
Electronic songstress Molly Williams a.k.a. .MOONZz. – who gained a fair amount of notoriety for her rendition of Kanye West’s “Wolves” in tandem with KRNE – released her debut EP last week.
While Trust Cycles has yet to made its rounds through the blogosphere, the first hit remix surfaced this week to make a cycle of its own. Whereas the original is an enchanting soundscape, Jeffrey Melvin’s remix follows a grittier electronic melody, heavy on vocal loops, electronic bass, and a signature abstract effect found in other popular tracks like Ganz’ remix of “Man x Woman”.
While Williams’ fanbase will be finding delight in Trust Cycles – which is available on Spotify and Apple Music – fans of Melvv can catch the young producer as he churns out bass-heavy remixes all summer.
International fame and critical acclaim have attached themselves to everything Ta-Ku has released for an unprecedented amount of time. With a stacked resume of late containing the release of Songs to Break Up To in late 2013, the foundation of Create & Explore, releases under the moniker HWLS, collaborative efforts with HW&W and Street Dreams Magazine, while also having a hand in the success of Australia-based Weston’s Barbershop, the Perth trendsetter has been hard at work creating a multimedia empire off of his many talents. Your favorite Music Ninja writers has covered multiple Ta-ku releases over the years: Frogs, I Miss You, Down For You, Long Time No See, Love Again, No Reason, and Help Me Lose My Mind. His June 2015 release – appropriately titled Songs To Make Up To – exceeded all expectations in its depth and composition. As impressive as his catalog has been up to this point however, the recently released EP may overshadow them all in complexity – thanks to the lyrical infusion.
Median, stylized as (m)edian, is a concept album in the form of an EP; it’s short, succinct and tell a formative story of the dual protagonists Ta-ku and Wafia. Starting in 2015 and after much collaboration, the duo, Regan Matthews and Wafia Al-Rikabi, released their breakout take on Estelle’s “American Boy” with their aptly titled “American Girl, along with a collaboration with Charles Murdoch on “Frongs”. Shortly after, they debuted their joint live act during Ta-ku’s MoMA PS1 show. This spawned the duo’s (m)edian EP sessions in early 2016 that also included Wafia’s trusted collaborators Thomston and Ben Abraham. After solidifying a bond around their experiences with their fathers, they poured those feelings into (m)edian, which resulted in a raw confessional that unearthed a bedrock of complicated emotions.
Lyrically, the album focuses on several themes: strength in the face of adversity, maintaining a balance emotionally, and the space between familial love and forgiveness. As one of our first glimpses at Ta-ku the vocalist, the dynamic range of his singing is a welcome addition to the repertoire. While listeners are processing the limitless talents of Ta-Ku, Wafia comes into the fold, seductively harmonizing her lines intermittently throughout Median. On the introductory track, “Treading Water” a sparingly light sequence of piano keys sets the scene, before a dynamic lyric-infused ballad takes hold and finishes painting this masterpiece. Tracks two and four act as instrumental bridges between one, three, and five – accentuating the storytelling vibe of the album. Taku and Wafia sat down with TMN to discuss their experiences putting the album together, as well as inspirations behind the project, in great detail: Continue reading →
Here at The Music Ninja, we take pride in being solely focused on the musicians we love and the works they create. This mindset has allowed us to bypass the pop culture aspects that many others focus on, bringing our Ninja following the freshest faces and best yet-undiscovered acts as they appear across the web. This massively time consuming pursuit has introduced us to many a fledgling band as they try to find their ways early in their careers. Back in mid-2013, that hunt led us to a diamond in the rough.
Marian Hill, a band who rose to fame on the back of their debut song, “Whisky” is a Philly-raised, Brooklyn-based duo consisting of Jeremy Lloyd and Samantha Gongol. As early fans of their work, it has been exciting watching the band take off and become a successful name in music behind their jazzy-electronic style. While making their second appearance at Outside Lands Music Festival a few weeks ago, Jeremy & Sam were gracious enough to meet up with us while taking in St. Lucia’s performance to talk touring, inspiration, and the road to success.
In continuing to build on the foundation laid nine years ago, Another Planet Entertainment has once again outdone themselves; the final product being yet another successfully executed Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. The 2016 version – keen on replicating the successes of previous iterations – was calculated in its approach, careful not to break the trends and quirks that have made it such a mainstay to the community.
Instead, APE kept what has worked and improved upon it; meaning deeper lineups, aesthetically more impressive sound and lighting productions, finally allowing payment via RFID-enabled festival wristbands, and a fair amount of side stages to keep all wandering pseudo-bohemians well occupied. Unfortunately, along with the quality improvements also came a pretty substantial price adjustment – putting on a nationally recognized festival is big business, after all.
Those willing to stomach the uptick were treated to an especially diverse lineup ranging from saxophone playing acts like Kamasi Washington and GRiZ, nostalgia-inducing pop rock outfit Third Eye Blind, platinum (and featureless) hip hop artist J.Cole, EDM prodigy Zedd, the Jack-of-all-trades Garratt, and rags to riches rapper Anderson .Paak.
