Billboard's "best albums of 2023 so far" includes Davido and Spinall.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 15 August 2023 05:22 (ten months ago) link
Enjoying Tom London upthread
― Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Tuesday, 15 August 2023 10:13 (ten months ago) link
2023 has been less insanely good for afropop than 2022 was, but isn't it always like that? You can't have Rema, Burna Boy, Wizkid and Asake all do albums every year - and the two we've got were a bit less good than last year. Highpoints for me were seeing Rema and Burna Boy live at Roskilde, my first afropop shows. They both brought down the house.
I loved In The Garden from the Davido album, which isn't the hit. But it's so good.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFStBh7AMZQ
And I think Adekunle Gold made his best album yet with Tequila Ever After? Opener Chasing Peace of Mind is incredible, combining the naija sound with amapiano rhythm as so many others do, but then getting Habib Koité from Mali to put some desert guitar on top of it, and taking the afrofusion to the next level.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDqaVLUvrvs
― Frederik B, Friday, 25 August 2023 20:15 (nine months ago) link
Lojay is on the new French & Swae - Wish U Well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyuCgK3_W-E
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 25 August 2023 21:24 (nine months ago) link
Ayra Starr coming to DC in September
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 27 August 2023 16:58 (nine months ago) link
Loved that track from Adekunle
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Sunday, 27 August 2023 17:37 (nine months ago) link
Yay! Ruger has a new album out called R U The World
― Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Tuesday, 5 September 2023 11:10 (nine months ago) link
MTV video awards nominees :
Best AfrobeatsAyra Starr – “Rush” – Mavin Global HoldingsBurna Boy – “It’s Plenty” – Atlantic Records / Spaceship Entertainment Ltd.Davido feat. Musa Keys – “UNAVAILABLE” – Sony Music U.K. / RCA RecordsFireboy DML & Asake – ”Bandana” – Empire DistributionLibianca – “People” – Sony Music U.K. / RCA RecordsRema & Selena Gomez – “Calm Down” – Mavin Global Holdings Ltd / Jonzing World Entertainment / SMG Music / Interscope RecordsWizkid ft Ayra Starr– “2 Sugar” – Starboy / RCA Records
MTV winner was Rema and Selena Gomez
― curmudgeon, Friday, 15 September 2023 15:52 (nine months ago) link
The stuff from this summer is very good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvO36ngj2P4Oxlade feat. Dave - Intoxycated
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ1UyrBljgwReekado Banks & Adekunle Gold & Maleek Berry - Feel Different
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7CHVcjwpAgFireboy DML - Yawa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBNKFH7Xj70Qing Madi & BXNX - Ole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2td9-16fscVictony - My Darling
― Nabozo, Sunday, 17 September 2023 08:04 (nine months ago) link
Realizing we haven't posted Stamina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pz7y8Sl0coTiwa Savage, Ayra Starr and Young Jonn - Stamina (produced by Magicsticks)
― Nabozo, Monday, 18 September 2023 09:17 (nine months ago) link
Still Focalistic biggest fan on ILX, such baffling fun music, so creative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g73VxMU8Rp8Focalistic feat. Ch'cco, Mawhoo, Eeque, Thama Tee - Wena my Dali
Ditto Chleyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2byDgJ8AyADiamond Platnumz feat Chley - Shu!
There are loads of piano-adjacent music from Tanzania, also newcomers:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhWQ2SXTO-YAbigail Chams x Marioo - Nani?
― Nabozo, Friday, 22 September 2023 13:31 (eight months ago) link
wish i'd heard tyla's "water" before last week. sounds really really nice during these final days of warm weather in ny
― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Monday, 2 October 2023 21:10 (eight months ago) link
"girl next door" w/ ayra starr from earlier this year is awesome too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7C6FhmE37M
― J0rdan S., Monday, 2 October 2023 22:32 (eight months ago) link
(i would also pay real money for a crazy cousinz remix of this song)
― J0rdan S., Monday, 2 October 2023 22:33 (eight months ago) link
Mnike is the song of the year.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Tuesday, 3 October 2023 07:42 (eight months ago) link
GoodNation Feat Lojay & Joé Dwèt Filé - Routine Loverhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2UZvdg_uH4^Digging this. Especially the bassline.
― daavid, Thursday, 5 October 2023 15:54 (eight months ago) link
Victony is really the revelation of the year for me, though I guess the potential was clear from his first EP. After the tasty production of Juls on My Darling, his latest is produced by Kzito. Adding Babylon because it's also on the playlist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdWlB1A4Ye8Victony feat. Babyboy AV - Jaga Jaga
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cPaiU31AtAPatoranking feat. Victony - Babylon
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 13:52 (eight months ago) link
Jaga Jaga is gorgeous. These subtle percussions are the future.
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 13:59 (eight months ago) link
Water has a video btwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoiOOiuH8iITyla - Water
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 10 October 2023 14:19 (eight months ago) link
I think Asake is only afropop artist on Pitchfork’s best of albums list 2023 so far
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 October 2023 15:39 (eight months ago) link
Amaarae? I don't know what I would add to those two. I can't stop listening to the Burna Boy album, but it's not his best, and who else has really delivered a consistent album?
― Frederik B, Monday, 16 October 2023 17:08 (eight months ago) link
Those Victony tracks are fire
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 16 October 2023 19:03 (eight months ago) link
Rema guested with Ice Spice on Saturday Night Live on her second song
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 04:51 (eight months ago) link
one of my friends is obsessed with "water" so i pointed him to some of her other songs ("getting late" esp.) to make sure he knows she's, you know, developing a catalog and isn't just amounting to one hit song. he seems legit excited abt her. international star tyla incoming!
― dyl, Tuesday, 17 October 2023 14:23 (eight months ago) link
From every video and performance I’ve seen of her, Tyla definitely has that IT factor to make it big with the right push.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 17 October 2023 15:39 (eight months ago) link
I did a "which afropop song will break through next" poll with my students a while back and they all agreed water was irritatingly catchy to the point of being boring. They did vote for it though.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Wednesday, 18 October 2023 09:38 (eight months ago) link
It’s number one now on Billboard US afrobeats chart
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 18 October 2023 19:12 (eight months ago) link
Water doesn't do half as much for me as some of her prior stuff. Not sure I'd describe it as "irritatingly catchy", I'm not hearing much hook here
― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Thursday, 19 October 2023 13:20 (eight months ago) link
It's kind of all hook to me. Just a bit low on fun.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 19 October 2023 16:41 (eight months ago) link
This song from November 2022 just popped up in the YT channel and that definitely should be posted and maybe also on the r&b thread.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I9ufTCxQ20Adanna Duru - Pop!
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 24 October 2023 09:01 (seven months ago) link
Listening to Lady Donli “Pan African Rockstar “ album. Some of it sounds good
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 26 October 2023 14:55 (seven months ago) link
Loving this jazzy SA sensation:
Oscar Mbo & - KG Smallz - Yes God (feat. Dearson) (Mörda, Thakzin, Mhaw Keys Remix):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bFIkEDffuk
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Sunday, 12 November 2023 11:48 (seven months ago) link
Grammys nominees for Feb 2024 awards
Best African Music Performance
AmapianoASAKE & Olamide
City BoysBurna Boy
UNAVAILABLEDavido Featuring Musa Keys
RushAyra Starr
WaterTyla
― curmudgeon, Monday, 13 November 2023 03:37 (seven months ago) link
Good choices.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Tuesday, 14 November 2023 14:38 (seven months ago) link
critic and substacker Brad Luen nitpicking Asake--
Asake: Work of ArtPopularizing amapiano with Afrobeat(s) characteristics, he’s become the hottest hitmaker on the Nigerian charts. At album length, it becomes more apparent that the songwriting per se barely exists (poor Joshua Minsoo Kim, Pitchfork’s best critic this year, was reduced to making claims about Asake’s “intimate storytelling” to justify an 8.0; should’ve reserved that for NewJeans), though his pidgin can sound Biblical to speakers of other dialects: “heavily, we are getting lit”. But he’s a skilled vocalist, handling varied rhythms and code-switching at will, and he has no shortage of newish-to-pop sonics. Standout “2:30” is the start of a run that tunes the donk into funk almost as avant as DJ Black Low’s, a trick hard to overuse, like the all-too-brief snippets of store-brand highlife and unlike the massed chorales. The closing “Yoga” samples Mauritian(-Australian) singer-percussionist Jason Heerah and suggests a way forward for Asake that involves more engagement with African traditions. Honestly, though, there’s still much room, if little incentive, for him to improve on what he does now. Grade: B (“2:30”, “Yoga”, “Great Guy”)
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 26 November 2023 23:46 (six months ago) link
i don’t care what this guy thinks
― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Monday, 27 November 2023 00:32 (six months ago) link
wtfffffff
https://www.instagram.com/p/C0HuZH0P1mL/
i'm gutted. one of the best shows i've seen in years.
― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Monday, 27 November 2023 00:39 (six months ago) link
Thakzin 3-step music bridges afro-tech house and amapiano
https://x.com/misterminsoo/status/1728997781254336783?s=46&t=u2ZSlsY3trRV36IPP6jNDQ
― curmudgeon, Monday, 27 November 2023 04:56 (six months ago) link
https://www.snl24.com/drum/celebs/news/have-you-heard-of-a-new-genre-called-three-step-this-dj-tells-us-where-this-sound-comes-from-20230921
― curmudgeon, Monday, 27 November 2023 04:57 (six months ago) link
Felo Le Tee/Mellow & Sleazy: The III Wise Men (New Money Gang)South African amapiano trio, affiliated somehow with DJ Maphorisa (Themba Sonnyboy Sekowe), although the producer names that appear here areTshelofelo Mokhine, Phemelo Sefanyetse, and Olebogeng Kwanaite (plus Mlotlasi Phoshoko on one track). Beats are inscrutable enough they take quite a while to settle in, and will be hard to distinguish from future efforts. But pretty good for now. *- Writer Tom Hull from his year end list
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 28 November 2023 21:52 (six months ago) link
Jon Pareles , one of The NY Times music critics, has Nkosazana Daughter “Uthingo Le Nkosazana” album in his additional top 20 albums of 2023 he also likes
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 30 November 2023 16:37 (six months ago) link
Jon Caramanica of NY Times has Asake “Work of Art” as his number 1 album
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 30 November 2023 16:41 (six months ago) link
take that brad luen!
― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Thursday, 30 November 2023 17:18 (six months ago) link
ah fuck does this mean that asake is not going to take brad luen's advice to engage more deeply w/ african traditions......
― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 30 November 2023 17:30 (six months ago) link
Lol!
Omah Lay’s Holy Ghost is positively gorgeous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBjHEkLlrEY
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 30 November 2023 20:20 (six months ago) link
And ODUMODUBLVCK’s Blood On The Dancefloor is something too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr5YwkazQbw
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Thursday, 30 November 2023 20:24 (six months ago) link
what albums/tracks have been favourites this year, i've done a terrible job at keeping on top of this thread
Tyla (amapiano crossover)
made a thread for tyla since the album's on its way
― ufo, Saturday, 2 December 2023 03:25 (six months ago) link
Apart from the usual suspects (Co-star, Pretty Girl, the Asake and Burna Boy albums etc) I still listen to Adekunle Gold - Chasing Peace of Mind and Davido - In The Garden. I don't get why Unavailable became the big hit, I love that other song to bits.
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 08:44 (six months ago) link
At this stage, a lot of the less poppy, more instrumental, and dare i say it 'donk-flavoured', amapiano reminds me of the experimentalism of vintage dub
Vibekulture Sa & Mcdeez Fboy - Duck Vibes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CySpcmCx6o
― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 10:17 (six months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ7zd5A6lQIOxlade - Katigori
From the year I'd say:- Anything Victony is on- Ditto Buju / BXNX- Crayon & Ayra Starr - Ngozi- Byron Messia - Talibans- Fireboy DML - Yawa- Omah Lay - Reason- Reekado Banks - Feel Different- Leigh-Anne - My Love- Adanna Duru - Pop!- 2Point1 - Stimela- Abigail Chams & Marioo - Nani?- Sho Madjozi - Chale
That's a start.
― Nabozo, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 11:57 (six months ago) link