This week’s 5 for Friday comes in good time and is a pick me up of some sort, which provides a mixture of upbeat medleys and introspective cuts. Mahalia returns with a visual for her sunny single ‘Simmer’, Tom Tripp delivers his dose of dark R&B and electro-funk in his debut music video and Kano emerges from the dark with a short film around two singles from his upcoming album. Go ahead and delve into the mix, it’s only right you take them in.
Mahalia – Simmer feat. Burna Boy
Mahalia is bringing back the vibes, following her release of ‘Simmer’ featuring Burna Boy, she drops the music video in good time. On the single, Mahalia and Burna Boy double up on their sexy summer cut.
Mahalia dances around the fine lines of pop and stuns us with tropical elements meshing distorted drum patterns across an elastic bassline. Sonically ‘Simmer’ picks up on the vibrant tones of summer and is engulfed in modern R&B quirks. The duo are cloaked in contrasting hues which find Mahalia delivering an alluring performance under red beams, while Burna Boy casually cuts through and injects his signature afro-fusion style into the fray.
Tom Tripp – TAM
Hailing from North London Tom Tripp is offsetting the balance with his stark blend of funk and electro. ‘TAM’ is a fiery cut driving tingling sensations to the brain in a snapshot.
Obscure words transform into intricate sound bites and thumping drums evoke body jerks with ‘TAM’. It’s far from delicate, but it’s an open, raw sonic which props the dark core of R&B and intertwines it into mildly upbeat drum beats. Tom Tripp finds a new rhythm and conveys his raging emotions under red-laced lighting. ‘TAM’ is rooted in liberation and he makes that clear in what is his debut music video.
Brent Faiyaz – Fuck The World
Brent Faiyaz shares a new track titled ‘Fuck The World’, a heavy, screwed not chopped offering inviting listeners into his world. ‘Fuck The World’ unearths blunt truths over deep, eerie vocals.
Listening to ‘Fuck The World’ feels like a dark trip into the human psyche, as Brent Faiyaz fires off dark lines on the tail-end. “Just cause I haunt you, don’t mean I want you,” he bitterly croons. The production is an open canvas housing mild echoing warbles and pulsing percussion. It’s a track that finds the singer chart the gloomy depths of his musical journey, which continues to take new shape each time.
Kano – Trouble / Class of Deja feat. D Double E & Ghetts
Kano gears towards his next full-length album ‘Hoodies All Summer’ and shares two brand new tracks through a poignant short film. Rolling out a solo-offering with ‘Trouble’ and a collaborative effort ‘Class of Deja’ featuring forerunners D Double E & Ghetts.
Kano brings an often misconstrued narrative on violence in London through his short and delivers a raw, powerful message. In his short, ‘Trouble,’ the camera lens offers a fly-on-the-wall perspective on how knife violence transpires, but aims to cut the cycle in the process. ‘Trouble’ carries with it a Sunday morning aesthetic cultivated by gospel filled chords. However, ‘Class of Deja’ is much more upbeat than the latter and features skippy rhythms, ethereal chimes lined with bouncy bass. D Double E kicks up the frenzy with his catchy interpolations, leaving Kano and Ghetts to go back-to-back effortlessly on the instrumental.
Louis Mattrs – Midnight
Louis Mattrs returns with a new offering for us to kick back to with ‘Midnight’. It’s an absolute sonic delight, which finds the singer-producer flex his vocal prowess over an ever-shifting production.
‘Midnight’ is sonically electronic, but lyrically embedded into R&B music. It combines the upbeat, buoyant vibes of electronic music with softly-sung vocals which’ll take your mind to a otherworldly paradise. Louis Mattrs colourful offering melds sugar-coated synths into a golden pool of sonics fluttering with sharp percussive blasts and crisp piano chords, which translate the euphoric peak of love at midnight.
