People, we’re fully into release season and it feels so good!
There’s honestly so much good music out right now, it’s almost been overwhelming keeping up. Just a stream of consciousness of the new projects you MUST check out…
Lylo Gold – HeartAche & Wray, Jarreau Vandal – Anthology, Blood Orange – Negro Swan, Barney Artist – Home Is Where The Art Is, Seinabo Sey – I’m A Dream, Masego – Lady Lady, JMSN – Velvet, 6LACK – East Atlanta Love Letter…
And there’s more coming from some (UK) RnB modern legends – Ray BLK, Nao and Ella Mai all have projects coming this month. Summer might have left without saying goodbye but we’ve at least got a well of stellar music to find solace in.
Year of the Producer
Jarreau Vandal returned with a standout project with Anthology and his track Moonlight, serves that last slice of that summery goodness. Generally, music producers represent strong this month, solidifying 2018 as the Year of the Producer with a strong VanJess /Freddie Gibbs/Nick Grant collab return from IAMNOBODI and features from Masego, JMSN and Silk City.
Newcomers you need to watch
Also featured on this month’s playlist update are super promising newcomers. JDA is a truly DIY singer, with her self-produced melancholy minimalist RnB single, Sublime. The track’s low-fi production with JDA’s full-bodied vocals make the perfect autumnal listen. For fans of more bluesy Soul music, Stella Talpo is back with Leave, a tender, but delightful love ballad.
Best of 2018: The 14 Most Underrated Albums of the Year
For the third year in a row, we write this piece with a better story to tell about the ‘State of R&B music’ than the year before. Last year, we gushed about the unexpected (commercial) success of Sza’s CTRL, in spite of her feature on our ones to watch list. This year has seen more names from R&B / Soul music get their big breaks.
We first wrote about Ella Mai back in November 2016 and it was incredible watching her score a top 10 hit with Boo’d Up and follow with her self-titled album debuting at number 5 of the Billboard 200 chart. Anderson .Paak’s Oxnard also claimed a #11 spot on the Billboard charts. Both artists have racked up an impressive amount of 2019 Grammy nods and contemporary R&B luminary, H.E.R. received a stunning 5 nominations prior to releasing a debut commercial album.
Clearly, commercial and critical success doesn’t make good music, but brilliant artists receiving recognition and success for making great music keeps good music alive. And it’s why we exist.
Still, great R&B music is still too often sidelined, especially this side of the pond. All of the artists mentioned above have seen their success stateside. Most of our list therefore features UK-based singers whose albums didn’t quite receive the shine their musical efforts deserved. So without further ado, here are the 14 albums (and EPs) you probably haven’t heard but should be spinning all 2019.
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