I split my time between Denver and Washington. I communicate best through writing.
sounds of December
December is most commonly a month of reflection on the previous 11 months. It’s a time to try and remember last December’s resolutions and formulate new ones. It’s a time to see how far you have come and bask in the year’s accomplishments. My 2015 was mostly positive. In the words of Big Sean (on song #31 in the playlist), “[I] counted a lot more wins than losses… and to me, that’s worth more than damn near everything.” I started my monthly ‘sounds of’ blog posts and I made several other steps into the world of modern journalism. My resolution for 2016: write more (and get better at French).
In this vein, most music journalists post year-end compilations of their favorite music throughout the year. However, I’m more of a present and future oriented person than one who dwells on the past. I’m also not exactly a full-fledged music journalist, so instead, I stuck with my routine and found the best 31 songs that came out this past month.
December’s list includes music from Bryson Tiller (who I did not realize was quickly blowing up until a few weeks after he made it onto the playlist), Radiohead, A$AP Ferg, Metro Boomin and a slew of other artists you may or may not have heard of. I typically lean towards electronic music on the sounds of, but this month brought out my inner hip-hop head.
[Sorry I didn’t post sounds of November, but it was around finals time and honestly I don’t really like November that much: “The quiet of October is refreshing; the quiet of November, oppressing.” I still made the playlist though, here it is.]
Listen to the full playlist: (or here)
Listen to my top five songs of December:
This month’s up and coming artist to watch out for carries a greater weight than those previously chosen. As December’s up and coming artist to watch out for, I’m basically saying Lola Coca is an up and coming artist to watch out for in the whole of 2016. She would slot right into my “Musicians that are not very well known but are going to keep making great music in 2016” list. Maybe another resolution for myself could be writing shorter titles but I hope Lola’s resolution is to, well, keep making great music. In 2015, Lola decided to leave behind her career in modeling and pursue music full time, saying “I’m too short… and I like donuts too much.” In “Bad Girlfriend” she sings/raps flippantly about her relationship with an overly enthusiastic boyfriend. The thing is, she just isn’t that into him and doesn’t really care how much he likes her. For an up and coming artist, Lola is working with the right people; see Tony Maserati, who has sold over in excess of 100m records and worked with the music industries elite, including; Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Tupac.
“Echo” is the first single released from Kevin Abstract’s sophomore album, They Shoot Horses; and it has rightfully made his fans excited about the new project. Kevin Abstract is a paragon of contemporary creative youth. He consistently talks about his creative inspirations ranging from Tarantino and Cudi. On this track, influences from The Goo Goo Dolls and Kanye West are apparent (in that order). The 19 year-old rapper lays out some of his most difficult struggles and deepest fears in a deviation in style from his debut album, MTV 1987. This past year has seen Kevin Abstract release relatively little music, however it is clear he is building a team of creatives for the long term. “Echo” is a joint effort of Kevin Abstract, other members of Brockhampton (produced by Romil) and roy (sounds of September).
It’s official. Anderson .Paak can groove. The word ‘wavy’ gets thrown around a lot these days, but it most certainly applies to this song. The production is really simple, relying on only 4(?) sounds for the majority of the song and compliments the lyrics perfectly. “Room in Here” is a love song wavering between sensual and kawaii romance. Both featured artists on the song carry their weight, Sonyae Elise adds a nice touch to the hook and The Game contributes my favorite verse from him ever: “Take a minute, walk her to her uber. There’s a bullet in my heart and she’s the shooter.” Anderson .Paak has also had an incredible year. He was involved with six songs on the “Compton” soundtrack. From working with independent artists from Northern California to working with Dr. Dre, Anderson .Paak has undoubtedly moved up in the world of music.
Apparently, Sam Smith wasn’t the only artist asked to make a theme song for the new James Bond film that came out earlier this year. Radiohead made their version of the “Spectre” theme, and in my opinion, it’s much better than the one in the film. I wrote a review of Spectre when it came out, and I made it clear I was not a fan of Sam Smith’s song. While it doesn’t quite match Adele’s “Skyfall”, Radiohead’s “Spectre” is a song fit for 007 and holds its own as more than a theme song.
After the first 40 seconds of this song, I was wondering why MXXWLL tagged this track with #FutureFunk and starting to question the legitimacy of any made-up genre using ‘nu-’ or ‘future -’ as a prefix. These musings were soon put to rest when the funk kicked in. Aside from altering the vocals slightly, this remix mostly left alone the intro to Rationale’s “Fast Lane.” After the intro however, the remix takes off into the world of #FutureFunk. After listening to the remix, the original song seems to crawl by at a snail’s pace without any zest. One SoundCloud user sums the song up perfectly: “come on if you driving in the sports car over 60 miles an hour this is the kind of music you going to listen to listen to.”
