Enter the Soul Series. Launched in Toronto in 2022 by Adriel Smiley and Brigette Piazza, the Soul Series is a captivating, ongoing series of live concerts, showcasing R&B and soul singers of colour. Since its inception, the Soul Series has gained in popularity due to its commitment to an intimate and engaging atmosphere with a curated lineup of artists and bands bringing their unique styles to the stage. 

Through the Soul Series, Adriel and Brigette hope to foster a sense of community where fans of R&B and soul – whether on the stage or in the audience – can connect and immerse themselves in the music made for lovers. And while the Soul Series is only two years old, it is already leaving an indelible mark on Toronto’s music scene. 

Jade Newton: Please, tell me the story behind the Soul Series; what inspired this project? 

Adriel Smiley: I wanna give the credit to Brigette [Piazza] because we had been friends for a few years, and she had the idea that we should go into business together. And, we hadn’t said what we were gonna do, business-wise, but she said we should go into business together. We always had a love for R&B mutually, so organically, we thought “Let’s do something like this”. I have a background in the music industry and she has a background in corporate project management, so we thought it would be a good match. Once we decided on the name [Soul Series], from there, it was just grabbing artists who I felt fit the vibe we were going for and artists that I could trust, who I knew would set the tone for the first Soul Series. 

JN: The purpose of the Soul Series is to highlight R&B and soul artists who identify as Black, Indigenous and/or persons of colour. What else goes into the artist selection process? 

AS: We try to find artists who we know are great [live] performers – people I’ve seen myself or people that have been vetted by people I trust in the industry. I personally think that’s the way that you can grow your fanbase; if you see someone kill it live, you’re never gonna forget that. And that’s probably top of the list. 

JN: I appreciate that you take time to carefully choose and aren’t just putting performers on the bill for the sake of having them on the bill. Are most of these artists independent or are they signed to labels?

AS: I’ll say most are independent, but it is a bit of a mix. It’s a mix of some independent artists and new artists. And then some artists were established and kind of been doing this for a little bit.

JN: Producing events, such as the Soul Series, is not a miniscule undertaking; what were some of the challenges you faced getting this off the ground? 

AS: In terms of getting it off the ground, I would say it was finding the first venue and then kind of deciding how we wanted to promote it. This is one of those shows that’s word-of-mouth and in a way that’s unique – because we are known for R&B and soul. For the first [show] we didn’t know who was going to show up, what size venue to go with, or what kind of crowd we were going to attract…the unknown. And, how do we prepare for this? 

JN: And what are some of the challenges you encounter presently?  

AS: That’s a good question. I would say the challenges that we face are just dealing with artists in general. And this is not a shot to anyone in particular, but anyone who’s been in the music industry long enough knows what it’s like dealing with artists. Whether it’s them changing their mind, or showing up late, or being really intense. I think with every booking and dealing with artists…it’s almost like you need a contingency for the contingency. 

JN: You said that one of the things that makes you all unique is that all of the promotion and advertising is word of mouth. What other things about the Soul Series, in your opinion, make it unique, what about it makes people say, “I gotta be there”?

AS: I think one thing that we’ve done a great job of is getting to the theme of being fully R&B; that was part of why we started this series. We would go to R&B events and R&B parties, and you might get forty-five minutes of dancehall. 

JN: I love dancehall, but I kid you not, I have been to R&B-themed events and there is minimal R&B being played. 

AS: Exactly. And, that was something where we went, “There’s a market for this that’s missing”. Where, if you really want to have a night where you don’t want to hear hip hop, you want to hear Sade, the Isley Brothers…and I think that is where we set ourselves apart. It’s not just the new R&B or the nineties R&B, you’re gonna hear some classics as well, and I almost guarantee you will be put onto a new song. We have mixed crowds [in terms of age], so I think it’s [the Soul Series]  really unique, especially in Toronto where dancehall reigns supreme. 

JN: What have been some of your favorite Soul Series moments? 

AS: One of my favorite moments was when Geneva Lei & TRYZTN had just released a song, “Forbidden Fruit,” together and performed it on-stage together; and, I just love that song. So, that was a cool moment because I think they released it that night. 

JN: That’s dope. 

AS: And then, we had an actual full series the week of Valentine’s Day one year and we had a lot of engaged people in the crowd. We had brought the lovers out that night. 

JN: What is the most important thing that you want the artists and the audience to take away from attending a Soul Series session?

AS: I think, for me, what Soul Series is about is self-love. And obviously, a lot of R&B music is about romantic love. But I think that a lot of soul music, music to me, is about self-love and inherent individuality. You know, there is an energy that you leave certain nightlife events with; I would want the energy of the Soul Series to make you feel like you’re at a higher vibration. You feel better about yourself as a person – you feel more confident and you love yourself a little bit more. So that’s the energy I want us to have in the room and what I want to leave with the artists,  the staff, the guests…because to me, it really is about self-love. 

JN: What does the future of the Soul Series look like? What is on the roadmap? 

AS: We do want to expand and we’ve talked about this being something we could take on the road and making it bigger than it [currently] is. Growing the following that we already have and dabble in doing some other events like Soul Series karaoke or a Soul Series festival. I think the main reason why this actually happened in Toronto for us is because Toronto has so many great R&B artists and we would love to highlight these phenomenal artists elsewhere.

* * *

The next event is May 25, 2024, 10 PM EST at The Drake Underground
Get tickets to Soul Series VIII: Meagan De Lima on EventBrite.

All images courtesy of Soul Series.

The post The Soul Series is feeding Toronto’s hankering for live R&B and soul music appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Cyanca, the R&B singer/songwriter and producer from Charlotte, North Carolina, has a smooth sound that will catch your attention in an instant. After releasing her EP The Aisle of Queens back in 2017, she decided to drop a Deluxe version ofrecord in 2020. Having decided to remix two of her songs, she collaborated with a longtime friend Elevator Jay on the track “EAT” and Durand Bernarr on the remix of “New Phone, Who Dis.”

Like most artists during the pandemic, Cyanca took the time to step back and reevaluate her mental health. Now a year into the “new normal” this neo-Soul artist is primarily focusing on what brings her joy while blocking out negative energy she no longer wants around her.

These days R&B can be a hot topic: Some will share their critique of having a disinterest in today’s R&B; others may favor R&B of the 90s and early 2000s. And then, you have those who believe current R&B artists are lacking what made 90s R&B what it was. Now and again, conversations come up comparing newer artists with the R&B artists of the golden era, you can hear debates over which artist lacks something or could be the next D’Angelo or Jill Scott. However, Cyanca wants you to stop looking for the next D’Angelo and let today’s R&B artists add their own unique flavor to the perpetually evolving genre.

Christopher K: How have you been doing, as not only an artist but an individual dealing with the pandemic?

Cyanca: I’ve been doing well, I think the beginning of the pandemic I definitely took a step back. I feel like we all were forced to do that honestly and reevaluate some things. I decided to spend more time with family and work on my mental health. I also started going to therapy… I haven’t gone to therapy in years. There have been rough days when we were first locked down, it was different not being able to go to the studio. I think I’ve handled the pandemic pretty well. I had to create my own space, I had to create a studio in my house so I can keep going. At the end of the day, I still have a purpose, I have a job that I love to do in the mists of all of this. 

CK: We rarely get to know the culture of Charlotte, North Carolina, or even North Carolina altogether. We know some of the artists out of NC such as Rapsody, Little Brother, DaBaby, and of course J. Cole but what would you personally say defines Charlotte, North Carolina culture?

C: I think it’s a melting pot. There are so many different sounds coming out of Charlotte. Even from the artists, you mentioned there’s nobody sounding like them. They’re all in their own specific lane. You have Rapsody, she’s a super lyricist, my big sis for sure. Deniro Farrar, he’s in his own lane; he’s got that dark, grungy voice to him. We also got Dreamville’s Lute West he’s representing from the Westside. I honestly feel like it’s just a melting pot. 

I feel like the culture here is strong. I think it’s developing. A lot of people are asking, “what else do we need to do to push it?” I think there’s nothing else for us to do but keep working hard and keep the exposure and the visibility of the city going.   

CK: You recently dropped the Deluxe version of The Aisle of Queens featuring two collaborative remixes with Elevator Jay and Durand Berrnar, what it was like working with them?

C: Elevator Jay and I have always had a dope relationship and we support each other. I’m not originally from Charlotte, I’m from the (919) area but I’ve known him for a lot of years. The “EAT” remix we did that a long time ago. As for Durand Bernarr, it worked out perfect because I was just only gonna just drop the [“EAT”] remix. Until somebody tagged me one day and said they saw Durand singing “New Phone, Who Dis” on his Instagram story. I had already followed Durand on social media, so I reached out and asked if he was trying to get on the remix. He’s a great artist; I’ve followed his journey for so long. He went from making YouTube videos of him singing in his room. To now on big stages with Erykah Badu. It was a fulfilling moment, and both Elevator Jay and Durand Bernarr I can really call them my friends.

CK: You got a chance to do a virtual performance at the Neighborhood Theatre in your own town and you shared in an Instagram post that “it was a dream of yours.” How was that experience?

C: It’s been many obstacles for Charlotte artists to shine with specific venues out here. They don’t show a lot of love… well, some of them don’t offer a lot of love to the hip-hop community. I’ve heard from many artists they’ve been trying to get on the Neighborhood Theatre for so long. It’s a defined feeling for me to conquer these places that don’t want to show my people some love. Rally on some Beyoncé when she performed at Coachella, she was the first Black woman to ever headline Coachella, and she said, “Ain’t that ’bout a bitch?”  I look at myself as a leader, and I gotta show the artist behind me that you can do whatever you want. You can’t let nobody be in your way.

CK: I have to ask, what do you think of these virtual performances from an artist’s and fan’s perspective?

C: It has its pros and cons. I think the pros for me is I don’t be nervous when I’m doing these live streams because of course there’s nobody in front of me. You get to create all types of props, you can put a green screen, you can really just have fun with the technology of live streaming. It’s different. It’s a huge adjustment. What I do miss I think the cons of it is I do miss the people. I feed off of the crowds, their energy I feed off of their vibe. I haven’t been able to go off of that. I really am the only one that’s keeping me motivated on stage. That’s a little different for me. 

CK: When you hear people drag today’s R&B and they make comments like “You guys aren’t doing this enough, you guys aren’t exuding superstardom like D’Angelo” or “lack the sound like Ms. Lauryn Hill ” and so on – can I get your perspective on today’s R&B and what you want to say to those who don’t think today’s R&B isn’t as great as the 90s or 2000s R&B?

C: I think R&B is in an excellent place right now. I don’t see how people can say stuff like that when you got artists like Steve Lacy. He can play and produce his whole project on his phone. We have Tyler, The Creator who just put out this fantastic album that he produced from top to bottom. There are so many incredible artists out there people just don’t want to accept it. When I see people like Victoria Monet, she’s awesome, her pen game goes hard. Not too many people know she writes for Ariana Grande. I can name artists like SZA, Ari Lennox, Lucky daye, you even got Smino. I saw Smino live, and it blew my mind. I just think people are stuck in their ways. Honestly, I don’t want another D’Angelo because there will never be another D’Angelo. I just want somebody to be who they are and put their own flavor onto their own sound.

CK: Do you think you’ll be dropping any new music soon?

C: I’m dropping a four to five-song EP pretty soon. I’ll be dropping my album after that. I’ve been working on this album for three years. It’s all about timing first. This is my baby, so for the album, I want to drop it when the time is right. So, I’m dropping the EP for sure 4-5 songs. I’m going to continue to work on his album because this album is huge to me.

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Growing up in a small Finnish village was a challenge but Jesse found an escape in American hip-hop, television, and movies. This stream of English-speaking culture felt like a more welcoming place and inspiration for his music career today.

In 2010 Jesse joined The Megaphone State, a rap duo that put a solid effort into breaking down the whitewashed barriers of the Finnish hip-hop scene. After a brief moment of fame, the scene bounced back to its origin like an elastic band but The Megaphone State built up a small cult following. The duo still works together on occasion but Markin began a solo career in parallel releasing a wide range of strong and cohesive tracks for a few years now.

Last year Markin shared FOLK, a 13-track album showcasing his repertoire of influences and musical skills – an album that begun my relationship with this artist, particularly the song titled “Treat,” which to this day brings me immense joy and positive energy no matter the weather.

Last month Jesse released “Stars In Your Eyes,” a track by which he urges us to “destroy systemic racism and rebuild everything.” Markin shared a statement with the song release, reflecting on how “the past year has been a struggle. At times it felt like fear, hate, and prejudices are the only thing surrounding us,” he continued, “but at the same time we’ve been able to witness unprecedented strength and compassion as we’ve been tearing down our old monuments and building.” This compassion is a subtle theme in his music which is something we could all use right now.

Kateryna Topol: Hello Jesse! It has been a challenging year, but how is your fall going so far?

Jesse Markin: It’s been great! Just creating new music. Trying to get enough sleep but y’all know how it is. First in last out.

KT: True true. All right let’s start with you: Your mom is a pianist, what was it like growing up, was there always music in the house?

JM: There wasn’t as much music in the house as you would expect. That’s because my mother was a pianist and she had to travel a lot. But I was introduced to different types of classical music through her and my sister who played the violin. My musical journey started from a very different place.

KT: That’s right, growing up you found escape and American hip-hop & pop culture, who were some of your favorite artists?

JM: Mos Def definitely, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common, and Pharoahe Monch just to name a few.

KT: Solid list! Was it challenging to find a variety of music that satisfied your appetite?

JM: It was very hard. The only place you could get some internet access was at the library and it was always booked. I used to travel 40km up to Tampere to browse through record shops. Eventually, something would catch my eye.

KT: You are a group, The Megaphone State, for 12 years now – what made you go solo?

JM: Nothing really made me go solo. It just happened that way. While in a band I was writing constantly. Some of those made it on The Megaphone projects, others didn’t. Four years later…

KT: Your most recent track, “Star in Your Eyes” is in many ways about overcoming adversity and coming together – is this a theme we can expect from the new album?

JM: It is a part of a deeper theme. Self-exploration so to speak.

KT: Speaking of the new album, how is it coming along?

JM: The album is coming along great but I’m aiming beyond that. I want people to have an experience that’s worth waiting for.

KT: Oh can’t wait to see how it comes together! I read that this particular song is inspired by Bossa Nova rhythms – how did that influence come about?

JM: I was going through my records and stumbled upon this old record with a Bossa Nova type of vibe to it. I just wrote the lyrics to it on the spot. Took that to the studio and worked from there.

KT: What is your creative process like?

JM: It doesn’t really matter to me which comes first [music or lyrics] as long as I get a song out of it. The more boundaries I have the harder it is for me to create. So I don’t approach music only one way but I try to stay open to different ways too. Keeps things fresh and interesting.

KT: Makes sense; what comes easier to you: writing lyrics or music?

JM: Lyrics, no doubt. That’s where I started from.

KT: All right, a few quick-fire questions: What are you listening to these days?

JM: Currency & Harry Fraud The Out Runners

KT: Favorite show you ever performed?

JM: Flow Festival Helsinki, I dreamt about it five years prior so that makes it pretty special to me.

KT: Amazing! And a dream show or venue you’d like to perform at?

JM: Red Rock Amphitheater in Colorado. Never been but one day.

The post Interview: Jesse Markin on his past, present, and the future appeared first on Quip Magazine.

Chicago is known for birthing some of music’s biggest names and movements. From Chance the Rapper to Kanye West, to being the birthplace of house music, this city is where music lives. It comes as no surprise that Chicago should also be home to Ifeanyi Elswith.

Elswith is a contemporary R&B/hip-hop vocalist from Avalon Park. Her new album, Everything Fefestyle (released on July 24th) is filled with her soothing voice and witticisms. With things currently in a state of disarray due to the global pandemic, Elswith provides a momentary escape in the form of her incredible voice and effortless style.

R&B has evolved over the years. What was once a genre ruled by the bleeding heart aesthetics of the early 2000s, (think singing passionately in the rain), is now a multifaceted juggernaut. New artists like Elswith are paying their respect to the genre, all while keeping it fresh with pop-like samples and slinky vocals.

The album’s first track, “Who are you” layers soulful, twangy guitars with classic R&B sampling like slow, rhythmic snapping. Straying from the long-suffering narrative of early R&B, Elswith croons: ‘Don’t think you’ll play the part just because you’re cute’. While it can be seen as a celebration of sexuality, especially for Black women, many lyrics often celebrated the “ride or die” chick, the one that was willing to put up with various hardships through a relationship including infidelity.  She continues with, ‘Do you value loyalty or will you stab me in the back,’ solidifying that this isn’t your average R&B bop.

Skip one song over to track 3, “Fefestyle”. This song is fun, fresh, and packed full of pop culture easter eggs like “Avatar the Last AirBender”. Elswith rattles off a list of positive affirmations for the listener in her springy soprano voice, all while utilizing numerous pop culture references. At just 1 minute and 44 seconds, this track is a little pick-me-up in song form. 

The 4th track, “Don’t Call Me Your Baby Girl” changes the vibe of the album. Instead of the sultry sound of some of the earlier tracks, this song is jazzy with a capital “J”. Evocative of Left eye’s style of rapping, Elswith’s voice is snappy and demands attention to her witty lyrics. The guitar reverbs alongside keys sound like they could belong in any modern jazz club.

Elswith’s powerful voice especially shines in the 7th track, “XO”. Filled with feelings of longing, its repetitive lyrics make for a perfect end-of-summer jam. The vocals layer over each other, creating a multi-layered song that drips with the bittersweetness of summer love. Combined with thoughtful lo-fi sampling and ending with a hallmark of R&B, a string of bar chimes.

Elswith is one to watch. Her style fits in perfectly for those looking for a very, “right now” sound and the old R&B fans at the same time. Keep up with her music on Spotify for that cool girl sound you have been missing in your life.

Photo Credit: Artist photos by James Washington Jr. Below album artwork is by Queen Hibbler.

The post It’s a “Fefestyle” Thing: Chicago’s Ifeanyi Elswith’s debut album is as smooth as it gets appeared first on Quip Magazine.

SLMN (born Mohamed Sulaman) has been playing a wide variety of instruments since an early age and on this new track he showcases his guitar and piano skills. The combination of instruments is slowly building up a melody that caries the listener along a lyrical story about the euphoric days of lost adolescence. When sharing his thoughts behind the track SLMN commented that “feeling like we’ve grown up too quick is something that I think many of us can relate to”.

SLMN’s family didn’t want him to pursue a career in music but by the time he was 24 the artist came to the crossroads with his career and future, realizing that he “had been neglecting music” and it was time to pursue his passion. Since than the SLMN became a go-to producer for a variety of musicians including Tory Lanez, Lil’ Yachty, Anders, Amir Obe and many more. His production credit can even be found on Mariah Carey’s chart topping track “Caution”.

Needless to say the upcoming debut EP Late Bloomer is highly anticipated among the fans. Set to release on April 24th the record promises “a multi-genre project that blends R&B, alternative rock, hip hop, funk and soul to create a hybrid that is held together by my own musical style,” SLMN shared with us.

In the meanwhile, please enjoy “Late Bloomer”.

The post Exclusive premiere: SLMN shares new single “Late Bloomer” appeared first on Quip Magazine.

If you have yet to indulge, it takes but one verse to fall for the mellow soulfulness of her vocals and the pop catchiness in her songs. Though she was set to play this month in her native NYC, she is taking time now to enjoy these slower days (while we continue to soak in “Gentle,” her most recent March release and await the upcoming drops).

Both from our prospective home bases in Brooklyn on a gray Friday morning, there was something funny about being just neighborhoods away, yet worlds apart in this dystopian time. Nonetheless, it was an inspiring treat to connect with Hale’s down to earth ease and creative-to-the-bone drive. Even her dog, Carl, joined in, seated in his seemingly favorite place, right next to Hale.

“He’s like an old man,” she shares, endearingly shaking her head at him. “The best part of my morning was taking my dog for a walk. Lately, I’ve been sleeping in and usually, my partner will take him, but today I got to get up, let my partner sleep in and get out,” a reminder that it’s all about the simple pleasures. Perhaps, that is why, for someone at the ripe age of twenty, Hale has been able to more or less organically grow from singing/songwriting on guitar to home-recording as a tween, then outgrowing those walls to instead to opt for generating tracks in more established studios. A journey far from easy— she paints the not-so-distant scene of hardworking years freelancing and picking up as much work as possible to afford studio time. “Back when I was in college and in high school, I worked a lot in order to make music,” she reminisces with a sighing laugh. “I would model and go to school and try to find work that would afford me the time to record”— but nevertheless a journey that is admirably simple in its steadfast evolution and honest at its roots.

At her musical roots, her process started just as matter-of-factly and celebrated the true perfection that comes from creating spontaneously. “When I started,” she tells me, “I’d just play. I’d record a seven-minute song in one take and upload it to Soundcloud [….] The lyrics were what they were. I didn’t edit them and I liked that they were just that.” Of a generation with almost imposing access to media platforms on which to share one’s work and technology built into its fingertips, “I was late in the game, meaning I wasn’t really doing this until I was 14 or so, but that was the time I learned how to set myself up and use Soundcloud and these outlets.” It wasn’t long after her parents gifted her “a really nice, higher-quality mic,” that she realized she had reached her “pinnacle of home production, which,” as she says, “isn’t as true now but was more so back when [she] was 17.”

That was three years ago’s time. Back in those days of 2017, Hale was making work under her earlier moniker Easy Socks, a project name that stuck after a friend who was helping her find a fresh Instagram handle offered it up from a random word generator. “It fits me well and at the time I got excited about rebranding everything.” The wave of flavor that seeped into all parts of her persona of Easy Socks, speaks to Hale’s view of the bigger picture, and especially now that she has shed that skin and enthusiastically stepped into Elah Hale (“It’s a palindrome, so it’s just my name backward and forwards,” she shares, which feels like a worthy celebration of where she’s arrived). She’s not simply putting out music, but rather, seeing things from beginning to end and all around, proudly taking on more “creative direction. What the artwork will look like, what a video might feel like,” for example.

It’s her full-time job now, which has come as a pleasant shift for the go-getting artist who, in the deep trenches of college finals managed to release her first official single with Interscope, “ITPA (In the Party Alone).” “There was a difference between being a freelancer and doing my job [of making music]. Now I make music all the time. It’s now the thing that affords me to live and get by, so now making music is my work,” she confesses relatably, “I used to pride myself on being as productive as possible, to make as much as I could out of that time, but now I can take the time to work through ideas [….] When you’re [personally] paying for those 5 hours [in a studio],” for example, “if I could get in there and make two tracks instead of one, that was ideal.”

Much of Hale’s lyrics mark the unfolding of an interaction, a scenario, a simple event that ends up feeling… oh-so-familiar. Storytelling and curating a scene or idea to an audience is not a foreign concept to the former theater major. It was not long ago that she was a full-time student at Bard College, deeply entwined with her tribe there. When I ask if being involved in theater has influenced her craft of building a song or writing lyrics, she tells me definitively, “Yes. When I was at Bard, I actually really wanted to be a playwright.”

After coast-hopping between school in NY and writing and recording in LA, the time came to jump head-in to her music career as Elah Hale. “I was so ready to move and I knew I was going to. I called my mom and told her, ‘I’m going to move to LA’ and she was like ‘you don’t know anyone there. How are you going to move?’” When it comes to being in LA, “The weather there is not beatable. The sun – it just can’t compare,” she glows with a sense of nostalgia. Perhaps it was the right place, but the wrong time, as a young woman in her early college years leaving a freshly established cohort and life behind. After a short stint in perfect weather, “it [became] tough. I had a community at Bard. My peers and people were all there, so it was difficult to give up.” Upon returning to the East Coast, Hale Sheffield, the young woman, and creator is still close to her network of peers and the community she cultivated there.

Back in Brooklyn today, continuing the pleasurable stroll through Hale’s memory lane, I had to ask the born and raised city kid, what is your favorite venue to see a show? With some thought, but no hesitation came, “I have to say Rough Trade. It’s— I don’t know what it is exactly. It’s a great space. And I have spent countless nights seeing shows there with friends— just so many good memories associated with it.” I can almost feel the scene, a fan of Rough Trade myself.  As for favorite spots to perform so far, “When I started to do my more big boy shows, I was playing Ludlow House and Soho House. When I began performing more officially as Elah Hale, those were the spots where I was playing, so that will have a special feeling to me.”

We can only hope for a safe end to our quarantining so that we can get back out there and see Elah Hale in person, visit our favorite memory-making venues, but for now, we’ll be responsibly social-distancing, basking in her latest singles through our earbuds and home speakers, and maybe even taking a self-care cue from the Queen of Face Masks herself (as evident through her instagram page). She’s been keeping busy as of late with a bit of Animal Crossing and sprinkling rituals into the everyday. “It’s definitely gotten to the point where, if I’m about to take a shower, I’ll do a brush or scrub of my body first. Just taking the time to take a little extra care.”

The post Elah Hale gets “Gentle” in a time of social distancing appeared first on Quip Magazine.

SoundCloud Creator Forum, in collaboration with The Remix Project, took over a vacant storefront in Toronto’s West End for three days packed with workshops and panels led by industry experts. Attendees spent time learning DJ skills from Chippy Nonstop, shared their sound with fellow creators, and set in on engaging panel discussions focused on building a career in and out of Canada. Among the artists participating in the panel were Just John and Adrian X, 8 Til Faint management, and Jessie Reyez‘s manager Mauricio Ruiz, among many others.

Once the chairs were cleared out, the two solid days of learning came to an end with a wild party. The doors to the first half of the evening programming opened at 7 pm but the lineup of wishful guests stretched down the street for most of the night, hoping to see their local fellow artists, promote their music, and mingle with the industry insiders.

The evening’s lineup featured Jayd Ink, Amaal Nuux, TOBi, and a headline performance by Anders. Jayd Ink, a Toronto-born R&B singer-songwriter, was first up. Jayd has been releasing music since 2013 and is known for her well-written lyrical stories packaged into silky R&B tracks. Jayd has a wonderfully calm stage presence, completely unaffected by the packed crowd, she worked her way through a variety of original tracks like “So Many Ways” and “Privately”.  Next up was Amaal Nuux, a Somali-Canadian R&B artist, one of ten children raised in a conservative Muslim household, she was a late bloomer when it comes to music but today Amaal is signed to Universal Music Canada/Public Records (think: The Weeknd, Shawn Mendes, etc). Amaal has an engaged and established following and some of them were here to sing along.

After a brief break, hosted by DJ Rosegold, TOBi took the stage. The Nigerian-Canadian rapper and singer is frequently spotted at various events around the city. TOBi has a unique voice and a hard-to-miss look topped with a signature fedora. In his own words, TOBi is “a child of African American music, Yoruba culture, Western education, and Eastern philosophy,” he told Ones to Watch. The man is also very at home on stage, at one point the room got so loud TOBi stopped all music and raised his arm in the air, demanding quiet and respect from the room before proceeding into “Ride” (originally produced with Clayjay).

Closing out the night was Anders and at this point, the room was hot, briefly out of beer, and packed to the brim. With tracks like “Bad Habits” and “Bad Guy” Anders created a cult following around his music. Back in 2018, Noisey called him an artist who is “secretly ahead of Toronto’s R&B world” but I would argue that Anders is a Toronto signature sound. Influenced by the likes of Drake, coming up at the same time as Majid Jordan, Anders is at home, making the music for The Six. This was the crowd at their most comfortable and most wild, cheering, singing along, throwing their hands up in the air, trying to sneak into the green room to shrug shoulders with the performers.

After 11 pm the room turned over for a late-night set with Undisposable taking the city into the morning light.

Having never attended a SoundCloud showcase I wasn’t sure what to expect but what I got was undoubtedly a fun surprise. What was truly special, however, is seeing the local music community come together in one room for a night of messy shenanigans, supporting and learning from one another.

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This is a big year for the ADE and Deezer partnership – earlier in the month they launched a dedicated ADE channel for electronic fans. In your preparation for the festival, or to keep the party going in post, Robin tirelessly worked with artists and labels on creating 70 specialty playlists with performing artists like Floating Points, Ellen Allien, Martin Garrix, Paula Temple, Modeselektor, Joris Voorn, among many others. As someone who has also been coming to ADE for 10 years, Robin has a special insight into this world. “What’s interesting is pop music is now drawing on EDM as well and that’s quite exciting,” he points out when reflecting on the state of the genre today, “over the last three years especially, EDM has been a gateway for a lot of people to discover house and techno,” and while the underground scene might not be the biggest percentage of the EDM consumers, those who “actually go down the funnel and go deeper into the sounds, see the history of house and actually discover new music, it is possible,” because many of today’s EDM superstars come from an underground scene themselves.

ADE hosts quite a few smaller, underground-type parties, and the subgenres the festival spans go far beyond what a typical music listener would define as electronic music. Among our own friendly encounters is a meeting with the folks from World A Reggae, a platform for reggae music and Jamaican culture, whom I met at Jamaica’s Reggae Sumfest festival earlier this year. The small group of us decided to take it easy and explore showcases which cross our genre preferences: Chicago house, R&B, soul, and of course – dancehall.

Gathering in a small and slightly divey 50:HERTZ House Café (which the internet generously refers to as a nightclub) we joined a group of relaxed people jamming to the Chicago Beatdown, a showcase designed to shine spotlight on “togetherness, inspiration, and to salute the accomplishments of Chicago producers, artists, and DJs.” Spinning to the most multicultural crowd we’ve seen all week is Lee Farmer, who has been entrenched deep in the Chicago music scene since the ’80s (cover photo). For a solid hour, Lee Farmer brings joy to the dance floor with new renditions of classic dance songs like Atlantic Starr’s hit single “Circles” and MC support by RUSSOUL, another multi-talented Chicago native. Farmer gave way to KOKO, who played a mix of soulful house and some heavier tracks like Emanuele DJ’s “Grounge” – a remix of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

A few canals over through the crowded Amsterdam center is Akhnaton, a club and event space, where a very niche group of people are gathering for the Dancehall Episode, a monthly event (this time a part of the ADE agenda). The room is buzzing with upbeat energy as a handful of dancers from the UK and Netherlands are hyping up the crowd with a mini-battle slash dance along to hip hop and R&B favorites. Across from the DJ booth is a small corner stage, framed by a shiny tinsel wall wrapping around the corner. As the DJs are starting to take turns in the DJ booth – DJ Jah first – mixing in old and new reggae, dancehall, and soca this small stage becomes a platform for all of those looking to show off their dance moves. Admittedly a Dutch dancehall party doesn’t compare to the island one but it sure is a nice change of pace.

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Rakei’s live shows are treated as a production that materializes differently from his studio work. Hours are put in working with the band thinking through the live executions and changing up the arrangements. Now with the new album flowering its way through people’s favorites, Jordan Rakei is on tour.

Kateryna Topol: You’ve been on the road since May, how is it going so far?

Jordan Rakei: Being on the road has been so much fun. The album is meant to be played live because it’s made much more colorful, much more vibrant. So touring, particularly in Asia [so far] and really honing the set, playing at the Cotton Club in Japan, was really exciting. We played six sets in three days and were able to improvise most nights, change up the set, really develop our sound as a band. So that’s probably the biggest highlight so far.

KT: That’s awesome, can’t wait to see it live. So about the inspiration behind Origin, that’s a pretty heavy topic, what lead you to go this route?

JR: What led me to write in the album about dystopian futures was my interest at the time in singularity and simulation. I was watching lots of discussions and debates about the future of our humanity and civilization, with like, the tech-heads in America, and it was fascinating and I just thought this would be an interesting topic. As you know, I’ve always considered my future in this world and how I can coexist with future generations of technology. So that’s mainly the inspiration behind the whole album.

KT: Musically speaking, it’s a bit of a departure from your older works, the album seems a lot more dance floor friendly – was that intentional?

JR: Yeah, it’s definitely intentional to make the album more colorful and vibrant because I wanted to offset the negative and pessimistic lyrical content with more positive musical content so that they could juxtapose each other.

KT: Makes sense. You’ve established yourself as a strong artist and strong performer since signing to Ninja Tune, how has it been working with them?

JR: It’s amazing! I think they offer such a great perspective on visuals and music for me to have, you know, back in the past everything was in my head, all the ideas came from my head. And there was no sort of … like, sounding board. But Ninja Tune are able to accept my ideas and then offer either criticism or advice, or anything like that. And it’s helped shape me into more of a …. I guess conceptual and consistent artist. So they add a lot of value creatively.

KT: How does this album translate into a live show for you?

JR: With the live band, [it] consists of five of us: a drummer, percussionist, guitarist, bass player, and me on keyboard and guitar. We try to recreate everything live. So we’ve got no track, and try to make [sound] as full as possible. But again, our focus is to make it all dancefloor-friendly and make sure that people are, you know, fully into it the whole time, taking them on, like, a narrative from the beginning of the show, to the peaks and the troughs and then to the final peak at the end.

KT: Sounds really cool! I’ve read that completing this album was like finishing a job for you – now that it’s out and has gotten quite wonderful feedback are you starting to think about what’s next and how you will approach that?

JR: [chuckles a little] Yeah, I’ve definitely started thinking about what’s next for my career. I think I’m definitely always up for changing my sound, and always up for … creating something, sonically totally different, lyrically totally different. So I’ve started writing again, and looking forward to finishing that, maybe end of this year, early next year, but I’ve got 12 tracks already, [working on writing more], just to get more stuff out as my year, my life goes on. Just no filter, just keep getting stuff out. That’s my goal.

KT: In the past, you also mentioned having a checklist when working on Origin, is that something you do a lot, is there one for the tour?

JR: There’s not really a checklist for touring since I’ve got a routine, but I like to take touring pretty easy. You know, we get into the venue. I’ll have my sandwich. I’ll set up my stuff. I’ll come back. I’ll probably play some Mario Kart. I’ll do my vocal warm-ups. I’ll do my back rolling. Then I’ll do my last vocal warm-ups. I’ll go on stage. I’ll come off stage, do my vocal warm-ups. Maybe pack down and then head straight to the tour bus to make sure I get enough sleep for my voice. So I’m not a big rockstar celebrity that goes out and parties every night [laughs].

KT: Haha, Ok. Traveling can also get quite taxing, do you do anything to stay overall healthy?

JR: I guess the only thing healthy that I do on the road is I try and eat a normal-sized amount of food. When you tour the temptation is very easy to just binge food because there’s food everywhere you go: backstage, after the gig at the hotel, stuff like that. So trying to maintain meal sizes [laughs]. And also meditation is amazing, helps me like, center and makes me relaxed.

KT: What do you like to do in the cities you visit before or after the shows?

JR: A lot of the cities I’m visiting, I’ve never actually been to in America. So this is like an exciting little half-holiday, you know, half what’s it called? Work/business. So we always get coffee and breakfast because the two of us will arrive in the morning, go out explore the city as much as we can, get breakfast, walk around, maybe go to some vintage shops. And then after the show, I don’t really ever go out because I have to maintain my voice so the band will get to explore the town and then I will be asleep in my bunk [chuckles again].

* * *

We will be seeing Jordan Rakei in Toronto on October 6th at the Opera House, and there still might be a show near you:

Nov 04 Detroit, MI – El Club
Nov 06 Toronto, ON – The Opera House
Nov 08 Montreal, QC – Le Belmont
Nov 09 Washington, DC – Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Nov 10 New York, NY – The Bowery Ballroom
Nov 12 Philadelphia, PA – The Foundry at the Fillmore
Nov 13 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall
Nov 14 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg

Photo by Dan Medhurs

The post An interview with Jordan Rakei on his latest album “Origin” and life on the road appeared first on Quip Magazine.

A truly authentic artist who sings from the gut, Reyez stunned the crowd to silence many times with her hauntingly beautiful vocals and emotionally-wrought performance. A fusion of hip hop, reggae, R&B, soul, and Latin flavors, the night went from reverberating and syncopated basslines to touchingly personal, stage-side moments.

She kicked off the night with the aggressive, carnivalesque “Shutter Island” and sang the lyrics ‘my straightjacket’s custom made, though!’ with a thunderous intensity that carried into the rest of the night. Dressed mainly in an oversized t-shirt, shorts and sneakers with her signature half-up hairdo, she stomped across the stage with a playful authority that told the audience that, while her music can be deeply personal and hold a weighted message, she’s here to have a ton of fun!

She continued to rev up the crowd with explosive renditions of more tunes from her two EPs Being Human in Public and Kiddo, like “Gatekeeper,” “Fuck It,” and “Dear Yessie.”

But amidst all of this in-your-face intensity, Jessie didn’t shy away from sentimental, personal moments. Revealing a more vulnerable side, she gazed upon an ex-lover embracing another woman while singing the mournful “Cotton Candy,” and sits at the lip of the stage to sing a tender acoustic version of “Sola,” the only song of hers written in Spanish. I was even brought to the brink of tears when, as part of one of the dramatizations, a young mother screamed as three members of ICE ripped her child from her arms, leading into the heartbreaking R&B track with a political message, “Far Away.”

Jessie Reyez is an honest musician who knows how to create emotional levels through her live performance and delivered a truly special show This concert took me from extreme, adrenaline-pumping highs to touching, contemplative lows. Her full-length debut album is dropping in 2020, and I predict incredible things! A gifted songwriter and intuitive musician with a piercingly expressive voice that will wrench your soul, she is destined for greatness. I can’t wait to tell people, in five years when she blows up (if it takes that long), that I saw her in this cozy 1500-seat theatre, “way back when.”

Images by Drew Yorke for Red Bull Music Festival

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Dominique Fils-Aimé is a singer-songwriter from Haiti, currently living in Montreal. Not too long after her performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival Dominique and I met for a chat in Rouyn-Noranda, prior to the above-mentioned performance at FME. The theatre was still closed, we sat in one of the booths at the front of the theatre, a room that would soon fill with diners and anxious concert attendees. Wearing all black with subtle silver accents, Fils-Aimé is friendly and well-composed, radiating joy, and positivity.

“I was not in music at first, I was working in psychological support for employees and autistic kids two to four. And, I burnt out,” she admits. Music became her therapy, a meditating escape during which she could slowly create. “I realized that if it can heal me and make me feel better, it possibly can do the same for others. And I guess the turning point was when I did The Voice and realized that there was actually an interest from people.” Knowing that putting herself out there could bring back positivity, that people out there, including The Voice, found and appreciated her music was a motivation to keep going and pursue the life of an artist.

Fils-Aimé did not win The Voice, but as we approached that part of the conversation, she leaned over and whispered: “Not winning is winning” and smiled. “Because the contract is intense, but at the same time you get to take all the experience without the implications of what comes next, it’s a lot of attention, it’s very intense and I don’t think I would have been able to sustain that kind of attention right off. It’s too much pressure, too many eyes looking at you at once when you just discovered a new world. So, I was happy to dabble into it, learn a few things and then get to reflect and meditate at home for two years over what I really wanted to do, build my team, create a concept for my album and now I feel more comfortable in what I’m doing and ready for it, you know. Like I chose the timing for things rather than things just happened.” Having the time gave Dominique room to choose her own direction and create her own lane in a healthy way. “It’s exactly what I needed,” she continues, “It also allowed me to have a team that has the same vision as me when it comes to music. The goal is not to make a one-hit-wonder, for example, it’s really about building slowly but in a healthy way, all together and make the journey worth it.”

The goal has always been to make music that matters by taking the time to “meditate upon a message.” So far, Fils-Aimé is two releases deep: Nameless (2018) and Stay Tuned! (2019), both intentionally released in February, during Black History month, and as a way to break up the winter. Stay Tuned! gained her a Short List nomination for the prestigious Polaris Prize.

The themes in her music are not of a light, gentle nature, despite the smooth sound: “We try to tackle things that need to be addressed, you know, to talk about the things that really stood out to me when I started looking at the world we live in and the music – the kind of legacy it gives us. Black music has so many messages and so many underlying themes that are still current. Bringing them back to today’s reality felt like the right place for me to stand up for what I believe in without being too aggressive.”

“When I started looking into black history [I realized] that there’s a lot I didn’t learn in school, but whatever I didn’t know from school I had learned from the music.” During this discovery, Dominique saw a clear vision for a three-pillar album trilogy: “Each are linked to primary colors and to specific emotions, musical movements and historical times,” she explained. “You have the blues that is heavy, that is water, that is nighttime, that is slavery (Nameless). Then you had the red of jazz that came with the women, the blood, the fire that was inside the people craving change and setting fire – people were actually setting cities on fire,” she points out (Stay Tuned!). “And then once a few freedoms were acquired, you fell into a lighter type of music that was more generalized, like funk – they would talk about falling in love and partying, you know all these things that are more universal in a way. Just because they had a few freedoms and it was enough to celebrate even though we’re not done. So discovering that gave me a plan – it felt all laid out already. I was like, well there it is, those are the things I would like to explore and I would like to have as much time as possible to explore each of them because they’re all very heavy and complete in their history and they are my roots. This allowed me to dabble into all the different musical genres that raised me and make sure that I understood what I liked in each so I can create my own musical sound, influenced by each of them.”

Two out of the three releases are out and we are now waiting for the warmth. I asked if the next release is going to be yellow, and as her eyes lit up she responded with an excited and protracted yes: “It is going to be the sun… the joyful side of glittery disco and soul. I like the element of how deep soul music can connect and even when it’s talking about things like falling in love, it really goes to a deep place that kind of rings with the blues, in a way, so connecting all of them is going to be a perfect [end to the trilogy on] a happy note.”

Dominique grew up in a home filled with music, and even though her sister was a performer, she didn’t see it as a potential career. Now, having dove into it, gently but head first, Fils-Aimé is enjoying the slow and steady discovery of her musical self. “It’s a lot of training…a lot of hours going Oooa oooa, oooa oooa at home,” she laughs again, “it’s like meditation.” After sunset is clearly her favorite time to create, “The whole city is sleeping, everything’s quiet, so it’s perfect time to record your ideas and it’s also a perfect time to take it wherever you want not being worried someone can hear me going in my random places, you know? ‘Cause you can feel a bit shy sometimes, in the creative process. So nighttime is the right time.” She laughed at her own pun.

That shyness she speaks off has also been something to breakthrough when it comes to performing live: “I learned to love playing live,” Dominique reflected slightly whispering: “I’m not a big fan of shows but I’m learning to create a show that I like. So now I’m becoming a fan because I allowed myself to create a space that I felt comfortable in. At first, I didn’t like doing shows [but that’s because] I don’t like doing shows like everyone else does… So we created a safe space in a way whereas the people enter the bubble we ask them to hold the applause until the end so they can really sink in the music. Doesn’t always work but it’s okay,” she smiled.

She began her FME performance just the same – asking the people to hold the applause till the end of the show, to which the crowd immediately responded with applause. But as the show went on, the audience learned to stay still and quiet, letting the music wash over them. “Having people think about the preconceived notions that we establish socially to me as a win already and doing it in the show in such a gentle way, it’s not aggressive, it’s pretty peaceful, but it still put a little seed to grow. Like food for thought really, for after they leave the show,” she commented on breaking the traditional concert-watching behavior.

In the past, Dominique spoke about the lack of women in the music industry, within bands in particular, and how it has been a challenge to add more women to her band so we circled back to that topic. “When I look around in all the bands, it’s still a struggle, but at least it’s a struggle we talk about now and that people are actually doing active steps, even I had to do the actual step of being like, ‘Hey, wait a second, let me look around. Maybe I could make a few changes,’ you know. It’s hard and it hurts a few people along the way, but for a good cause, and eventually, everybody gets over it and realizes that it was not about them as a person. It was about respecting the integrity of your artistic thought and process and the things we want to change.” Commenting on the “boys-club” reality of the music industry she insisted that like all change it needs to be done one step at a time, for example by “getting people to not be scared to enter a room that is not necessarily welcoming to them, [because] eventually by being there it will make it less strange for people to see them there.”

In some way, making the room has been her own personal struggle: “Learning to… trust myself and to believe in myself,” she admits, “without thinking that it [could be seen as] cocky….Sometimes you feel like [that] doesn’t even exist: you’re either cocky or you’re humble, but you can be confident and just know what you stand for and feel comfortable in your skin. And that’s something that transpires, I think, something people can connect with. The struggle is not over and let’s face it, it’s probably going to be a lifetime struggle, but realizing that having that moment where you realize, Okay, yes I’m different. Yes, I am not necessarily what people are used to seeing or hearing but I am allowed to do this and I’m allowed to feel welcome.” Admittedly like many women I could relate to the feeling, we both pondered about it, that feeling of self-doubt, and how it seems to be a girl thing.

At the end of the day, however, for Dominique Fils-Aimé every day is a highlight that presents a new challenge, “this whole year was nothing but highlights and people have been supporting and encouraging.” That upbeat, positive attitude, immense natural talent, and lady-like conduct makes her an artist to watch. Stay tuned for the closing album coming next year.

The post Dominique Fils-Aimé on meditating her musical journey and the three pillars that make up her album trilogy appeared first on Quip Magazine.