By Evelyn Lopez
Music Journalist
Since spring has started, I have actively been curating my rotation with exciting new releases and a few tracks from the past that I may have slept on. This eclectic mix pulls me out of my seasonal depression, headlining April showers and my days at Sewell. Here is a sneak peek of my soundtrack for Spring 23’.
“In the nick of time, that’s when you appeared,” an opening line that encapsulates my feeling towards this song and the rest of this project. I’m starting off with the first track of Daniel Caesar’s third album, NEVER ENOUGH, to pave the way for spring. This track was the first snippet we got of Daniel Caesar’s return. This time, we get to see more of Daniel in a producer role. With his angelic vocals over heavy strung guitars and BADBADNOTGOOD on the drums, what more can I romanticize life with? I really enjoyed the album overall, especially the more lovey songs. My other favorite tracks include “Valentina” and “Cool.”
The Estate Sale! This is probably one of my favorite songs from the estate sale deluxe releases for Tyler, the Creator’s 2021 album Call Me If You Get Lost. Before I heard it, I was told there was a song with Kanye on the production and writing credits. It was not hard to guess this was it after the first three seconds. Tyler brings in his own Sir Baudelaire flair to the sample “Heaven,” a Kanye West-produced track for John Legend. This estate sale rollout has brought back familiar good-feels from the spring of 21’. It reminds me of summer car rides with my brothers before I moved to San Marcos. This track brings synergy to the collective. Thank you, Tyler, the Creator, for yet another banger.
Lately, I have been diving into remixes and more electronic-constructed tracks. I first heard this song on the Spotify radio for Dean Blunt. Louke Man is still pretty low-key. With under six thousand followers on Instagram, and a few of them being some pretty cool artists such as Dijon, Mk.Gee, and Aminé, there is not much to digest from this artist. “Toes Down” is a remix of a Musical.ly classic, “All The Time” by Jeremiah. It seems familiarity is a common factor in this mix for me. This remix makes me feel like a fashion baddie while reminding me of my digital footprint from 2015. In fact, this track gets the most plays when I’m getting ready to go out with the girls. I was the pre-game DJ one night, and this track caught my friends attention. All I needed as confirmation for making the right song choice was, “Yo, this is a vibe,” followed by a slow and questionable hip roll.
It has been a little over a month since the great return of De La Soul’s catalog to streaming. I hope you all have given yourself time to explore their discography since my last heads-up. Buhloone Mindstate is their third studio album and also one of my favorite De La Soul albums. The catchy repetition of the title, sick drum patterns, and array of samples in this track capture everything I love about this group. “Breakadawn” has been on repeat since the beginning of March, serving as a consistent energy boost and satisfying my everlasting 90s hip-hop kick. This song just makes me feel better!
This is where the soul of my rotation lives. I had not been introduced to Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings discography until this song came up in one of my soul mixes. I was convinced this was an oldie, dating somewhere around the 60s because of its timeless lead vocals from the late Sharon Jones carried on a blend of funky instrumentals. I always have to carry some soul in my rotation to remind me of the simple pleasures of life. Soul music feels like a really good bowl of soup and a hug from your lover. This song is from their 2017 album, Soul of a Woman. It’s nice to cycle through songs that are not always new, giving me the opportunity to give some love to some tracks I may have missed.
These tracks only show a glimpse of my current rotation. If you wish to follow along with whatever I’m going through, feel free to keep up with my playlist.
By Adrianna Elias Music Journalist Producer Kaytranada and rapper Aminé are teaming up as duo KaytrAminé to release a collaboration album this summer. While it's exciting that we're getting an official collaboration project from these two, this is not the pairing's first time working together. The two artists have been connected since 2013, when Aminé remixed Kay’s single "At All" into the bootleg "Not at All." This led to […]
1
2
3
4
5
Post comments (0)