The Next 12 Songs You Need To Hear

CHIKA - "Can't Explain It"

Chika was born in Montgomery, Alabama. She's long had a deep interest in music and slam poetry and explored both while attending Booker T. Washington Magnet High School. Her talent garnered her an acceptance letter to the prestigious Berklee College of Music, but due to tuition costs, she enrolled at the University of South Alabama instead only to drop out after her first year to focus on a music career.

On her track "Can't Explain It" her virtuosic talent is on full display flowing seamlessly between intricate rap hooks and suave R&B.

Just based on the emotional response my listeners give me and the way they reach out and tell me what I’m doing is appreciated, it’s hard to not know there’s an impact there. What I’m doing matters to someone.

Jake Blount - "Roustabout"

Born in raised in Washington D.C. within an interracial family he attended Georgetown Day School. He began playing electric guitar at the age of 12, but after a chance meeting with the husband and wife band Megan Jean and the KFB he delved into acoustic music. During his time at Hamilton College he studied early African-American folk music. He received his first banjo lessons from Lydia Hamessley, who would become his advisor, and delved into old-time music.

His latest release Spider Tales draws upon his studies to present fourteen drawn from Black and Indigenous mountain music. It is a beautiful work of art aimed at revealing the many ways in which the music of Black Americans has been co-opted, defanged, and sold as the creation of their oppressors.

When we listen to these old spirituals, not only do we need to listen to the lyrics because they tell you a story. But you also have to consider the subtext. This song is very much about somebody who has been unjustly killed. It creates a cause-and-effect between the death of the innocent and the purging of the earth.

Men I Trust - Tides

Men I Trust was founded in Montreal, Quebec by high school friends Jessy Caron and Dragos Chiriac. They released their self titled debut EP in 2014 which allowed them to play at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Quebec City Summer Festival, and M for Montreal. Then leaving their home land the band toured in China, playing shows in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Shanghai. Their latest single "Tides" is a slow bass driven jam about the need to question everything including ones own faith.

And, I would say, another aspect of longevity would be, don’t think you ought to have a following or a crowd that is made of young people. Often, at our shows, there’s also, like, older adults, you know? Like fathers and mothers, even grandfathers, and much younger people too, at the shows that are open to all the public… that’s something that we’re very proud of, and we’re very happy to have, you know?

Miloe - Winona

Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo Bobby Kabeya, or Miloe, settled with his parents in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This 19 year old recent graduate of Edison High School is creating dreamy, pop-rock love songs breathing new life into the genre. A firm believer in the power of family his parents directed the video for his single "Winona." The song explores mistakes you've made, and having the courage to circle back around to apologize.

I grew up playing piano. But in seventh grade I started playing drums a little bit, and my friend Anton asked me to join his band, and he wanted to cover “It’s Time” by Imagine Dragons. So, my induction into rock music was Imagine Dragons, basically. We studied every song on Night Visions, their first album.

Heilung - Norupo

Heilung, German for healing, is an experimental folk music band made up of members from Denmark, Norway, and Germany whose music is based on texts and runic inscriptions from Germanic peoples of the Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Viking Age. They describe their music as "amplified history from early medieval northern Europe". "Norupo" is composed around the ancient runic poem with the name 'The Norwegian Rune Poem.' It explores all nature of ancient wisdom from the discord wealth can sow to which tree is greenest in winter.

One of the theories we found inspiration in, is that 'Futha' holds the meaning of fertility and female gender. As 'Ofnir' focused on war and masculine notions, the great healing power of female wild strength is evoked in Futha. Those who have been present at a birth or have seen lionesses hunting know the spirit, and we welcome and embrace it in the sounds that were born during the creation of 'Futha'.

Bakermat & Nic Hanson - "Walk That Walk"

Lodewijk Fluttert, or Bakermat, is a Dutch DJ who began his music career while studying psychology at Utrecht University and moonlighting as a DJ in his spare time. The title track of his 2012 EP Vandaag featured sample from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and brought him to the spotlight in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. Bakermat distinguishes himself in his performances by combining his music with live artists on stage (saxophonists, singers, violinists and percussionists).

His latest single "Walk That Walk" features the lush vocals of Nic Hanson fusing dance, soul & jazz.

UMI - Picture Perfect

Tierra Umi Wilson, or UMI, was born in Seattle in 1999 to an African-American father and a Japanese mother. Her mother taught her to read, write, and speech Japanese. She also learned to play piano from her mother and her father taught her drums. At the age of 5 she started writing songs in her journal. In high school she discovered Youtube beats and started recording on a USB mic and uploading songs to Youtube and Soundcloud. She began studying at University of Southern California before dropping out in 2019 to pursue music.

On her release "Picture Perfect" she lends airy, floating vocals to a hypnotic beat reflecting on the inability to live up the picture of her in another's mind.

I would say, I’m realizing as I create more and more music that I don’t put myself in one category, one type of music, or one demographic of people that I try to sing to. Now is like the time where there are no genres like people don’t want you to be in a box and I should take this opportunity to express all parts of myself.

Farruko ft. Onell Diaz - "Incompleto"

Farruko began his career in 2009 crediting Myspace with helping him create a fan base that would eventually result in him becoming a popular singer. As his internet fame rose Puerto Rican radio stations picked up on his talent and began broadcasting him to a wider audience, solidifying his presence in the Reggaeton scene. He's since collaborated with a long list of musical heavyweights including Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Don Omar and J Álvarez.

On his latest single with Onell Diaz "Incompleto" the two examine how their lives have felt hollow when they weren't connected to their higher power.

Empty, who hasn't felt like this? I think everyone some moments of our lives. Sometimes we have everything materially speaking, money, work, success, maybe fame and everything is going well, but you feel like you are missing something. Reality is that something is not missing, the truth is that someone is missing. And it is God.

Nelly Furtado - "I'm Like A Bird"

António José Furtado and Maria Manuela Furtado immigrated to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada from Portugal in the late 1960s and gave birth to their daughter, Nelly Kim Furtado, in 1978. She began experimenting with music age an early age learning trombone, ukulele, the guitar and keyboards which lead her to begin writing songs at the age of 12.

While performing at the Honey Jam talent show she drew the attention of two members of the Philosopher Kings who helped her produce a demo, and eventually helped produce her debut album Whoa Nelly! Her debut single "I'm Like A Bird" explores the necessity of feeling free, and won her a Grammy award for best female pop performance.

That’s part of the love of it, the challenge of making pop music,” Furtado said. “To be musical and original in that format is extremely challenging. Everything I did before was like boot camp for this record: trip-hop, electronic music, drum ‘n’ bass, hip-hop. I’m lucky because I have two sides to me. One side is the formally trained musician, and the other side just loves expression.

Flamingosis - Cosmic Feeling

Flamingosis (the name comes from a free- style Frisbee move that his father invented) is a New Jersey-based electronic music producer and beatboxer. Drawing on influences from other producers such as Flying Lotus and J Dilla as well as vintage funk and disco music, Flamingosis creates engaging and soulful tracks and puts on an infectiously energetic live show.

"Cosmic Feeling" is an irresistibly fun groove sampling the 1979 classic “If You Want It” by Niteflyte.

Whenever I travel, I listen to a lot of music that originated in the place I’m visiting. When I went to Japan, I listened to the city pop style of music there from artists like Tatsuro Yamashita and Mariya Takeuchi. And when I was in Brazil, I listened to artists like Tim Maia , Marcos Valle and Gal Costa who make stuff like bossa nova and samba rock. Even though city pop and bossa nova are completely different styles, what they have in common is the funk and soul that I can hear and feel within the music. Funk and soul is universal, no matter where you are in the world. I take these forms of music and sample them in my own compositions.

Dust In Mind - "Lost Control"

Dust In Mind one of the most innovative Industrial and Modern Metal bands in the scene. Hailing from France, this quintet has gained international acclaim by touring Europe, supporting international headliners like MACHINE HEAD, ARCH ENEMY and PAIN on their concerts.

Electronic sounds and industrial influences, infiltrate their single "Lost Control" allowing the comparison to pain, going deep under the skin and combining with sharp guitars to a groovy cocktail, that explode with energy and dynamics.

In the beginning, I wanted to do some Industrial Metal. But I quickly changed back to the more aggressive Metal that I usually play. So in the final result is something very well balanced between some aggressively and effective. The music is not too technical because we wanted to introduce some samples and industrial ambiences in it. And finally, there’s some softness with Jen’s voice. So, to be honest, it’s difficult to put an etiquette on our music. So I let the press do that for us.

Archie Shepp & Jason Moran - Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

Archie Schepp was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he studied piano, clarinet, and alto saxophone before focusing on tenor saxophone. Since the 1960's, when he joined pianist Cecil Taylor's band, he's been an integral part of the avant garde. He's known for helping develop political consciousness and his increasingly Afrocentric orientation within jazz.

On “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child” he joins pianist Jason Moran to deliver a tender song about heartbreak along the journey to find home.

Even though I might not have done that consciously, I see all my recordings having some theatrical connection, so it might have been that. I not only thought of Attica Blues as a piece of music, but at that time there were a lot of terrible things going on in the prisons—and still are—but it was around the time of the assassination of [Soledad State Prison activist] George Jackson and the Attica [State Prison] uprising, so I suppose I put all that together [as] being representative of the black community itself, and the enormous tragedies that we suffer as far as housing, education, and violence.

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Or, you simply scrolled down here...doesn't matter because here we are with 24 songs you need to hear this week!

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And this concludes Free Form Telephony on Vocal.Media. May your heart guide you and your feet take you where you need to be, at all time always.

Namaste,

Charlie Le Fol