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A surrealist blues poet, storyteller, and organizer born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, aja won the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe Grand Slam poetry award title in 2007. In 2018, she was nominated for a NAACP Literary Award for Poetry and in 2019 was awarded the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award for Poetry for her cultural organizing work in South Florida. Her work moves, constantly, between origin and outcome, allowing them to exist in converse. In her debut album \u003cem\u003ewhen the poems do what they do\u003c\/em\u003e, releasing June 9 via drink sum wtr, we glimpse her indefatigable commitment to speak. 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I’ve lived in six different places in two different countries during that time, but through it all, I always kept coming back to these songs.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eIt should come as little surprise, then, that Donkin has named his extraordinary debut \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWelcome Home\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e. Written and recorded in a series of bedroom studios in England and\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eFrance, the album showcases the London-based 23-year-old’s stunning mix of instrumental virtuosity and emotional intuition, blending highly sophisticated melodic and harmonic craftsmanship with deeply moving lyrical explorations of longing, desire, and determination. The songs here draw on soul, funk, pop, yacht rock, hip-hop, jazz, and even bossa nova, hinting at times to everything from Michael Jackson and Bill Evans to George Benson and Jamiroquai, and Donkin’s performances are nothing short of mesmerizing, layering up instrument after instrument in the best one-man-band tradition of Prince or Stevie Wonder. The result is a moving work that’s equal parts brain and brawn, a masterful coming-of-age self-portrait from a young artist discovering himself—and his sound—one song at a time.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“When I listen back to this album, I can hear how much I’ve grown and developed through the making of it,” says Donkin. “Each of these tracks is a snapshot of a moment in my evolution.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eDonkin was surrounded by music from an early age as he split his childhood between England and France. His parents discovered he had perfect pitch before he even began school, and by the time he was eleven, Donkin was studying both jazz piano and drums with a fanatical obsession.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“I just knew I had to perform no matter what,” he recalls. “I loved film and I acted in a lot of theater when I was younger, too, but music always had a special hold on me.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eIn high school, Donkin began DJing and teaching himself to record and sample using Ableton, and by the time he headed to the Leeds College of Music to pursue a degree in production, he was already writing and recording his own material at home. His first single, “Catharsis,” would go on to rack up more than a million streams on Spotify, and a series of subsequent tracks would find similarly organic success and help bring Donkin to the attention of the burgeoning drink sum wtr label.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“I got really quiet when I started this project and just completely immersed myself in the work,” Donkin explains. “After putting out a bunch of singles, I wanted this album to be my first big, cohesive statement as an artist. I wanted it to introduce people to who I really am.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eFor Donkin, that meant nearly four years of nonstop writing and recording everywhere and anywhere he could. He converted a series of university bedrooms around Leeds into makeshift studios and took over the basement for marathon recording sessions while returning home to visit his family. If he couldn’t sit down with an instrument, Donkin would compose parts in his head and draw them out one note at a time using MIDI software while on the train or in the car.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWith \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWelcome Home\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, we get a glimpse of just what a dazzling place that is. Album opener “Till The End Of Time (Night Sky)” sets the stage, with lush, dreamy synthesizers and jazzy woodwind flourishes floating out above a muscular drum and conga groove. Donkin’s vocals are stacked in layers of dense harmony here as he meditates on the meaning of forever, and the combination of his airtight playing and unique falsetto is nothing short of intoxicating.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“There’s a lot of love in these songs,” says Donkin, who finds himself at the forefront of a new wave of funk and soul. “You can kind of chart the entire course of a relationship in the music, from the initial spark of infatuation to really falling for someone and surrendering yourself to them completely.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe buoyant “Whenever” tips its cap to Quincy Jones as it revels in the possibility of a blossoming romance, while the slow and soulful “Nothing We Can’t Get Through” calls to mind Erykah Badu as it finds strength in commitment, and the effervescent “Falling For You” offers shades of Earth Wind \u0026amp; Fire in its embrace of ecstasy and total devotion. While the album’s not all so explicit in its lyrical meditations, even more abstract tunes like the hypnotic “Tell Me Something” and samba-inspired “De La Soul” manage to conjure up their own cinematic worlds full of physical sensuality and spiritual transcendence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“I felt such a pure sense of joy and release in making this record,” Donkin reflects. “No matter how much I moved around, no matter how much the world changed around me, I could always come back to this music and just completely lose myself in it.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eWelcome home, indeed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gareth Donkin","offers":[{"title":"Transparent Emerald Green Vinyl + MP3 Download","offer_id":44982384820515,"sku":"617308054729","price":24.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + MP3 Download","offer_id":46604656509219,"sku":"6173088057775","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 Album Download","offer_id":44982384853283,"sku":"617308054545","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"WAV Album Download","offer_id":44982384886051,"sku":"617308054545W","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Till The End of Time (Night Sky)","offer_id":44982384918819,"sku":"QMB622300555","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Something Different","offer_id":44982384951587,"sku":"QMB622300556","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Whenever","offer_id":44982384984355,"sku":"QMB622300553","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Nothing We Can't Get Through","offer_id":44982385017123,"sku":"QMB622300557","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"By Your Side","offer_id":44982385049891,"sku":"QMB622300558","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Falling For You","offer_id":44982385082659,"sku":"QMB622300559","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Don't Turn the Music Down","offer_id":44982385115427,"sku":"QMB622300560","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Tell Me Something","offer_id":44982385148195,"sku":"QMB622300561","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Looking For Me","offer_id":44982385180963,"sku":"QMB622300562","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"De La Soul","offer_id":44982385213731,"sku":"QMB622300563","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/WelcomeHome_Vinyl_MOCK.jpg?v=1684939318"},{"product_id":"afros-in-the-wind","title":"Afros In The Wind","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ePurchase includes instant download of \u003c\/em\u003e\"'86 Carolina West.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAsk Seafood Sam what kind of music he makes, and the Long Beach, California rapper might respond with one of his rhymes: “A little something for the sunrise, a little something for the sunset\/ A little something for you to move to, cruise to.” But if he feels like being concise, he’ll simply tell you it’s “some \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efly\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e shit.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“Fly” not only in the sense of being stylish or swaggering but also elevated and ascendant— qualities the 30-year-old Sam embodies himself. Exuding a calm, collected – and eclectic vibe –  his music matches his persona. It’s organic hip-hop with a street edge and a sophisticated palate infused with elements of jazz and R\u0026amp;B.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eIt’s also music that complements motion, whether that’s cruising in a Chevy lowrider on a sunny day or expertly skating backward at the roller rink by night. Sometimes it’s the soundtrack to a cathartic session at the skatepark; other times, it sounds like looking out the window of a first-class flight to paradise— you know, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efly shit\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eA product of Long Beach, the place that gave us artists as varied as Snoop Dogg and Sublime or War and Warren G, Sam’s sophistication reflects the diversity of his hometown. “The city …  it's the root. It’s what all got my mind how it is because it's so diverse out here. We got a little bit of everything. We got a big skateboard culture, a big LGBTQ community… Long Beach is a melting pot of everything. So when you grow up over here, you’re tapped into everything all at once.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eNow, after releasing a steady stream of projects to feed those fans over the years, Seafood Sam is ready to introduce listeners to the next steps in his evolution as an artist and man with his upcoming EP \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAfro’s In The Wind\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“Afros in the Wind \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eis coming after I had my son,\" Sam explains. “So I'm a little more conscious of what I'm talking about, trying to leave easter egg clues in there for him to catch when he’s older.” On the EP, alongside his usual bravado, he imparts gems of wisdom and invokes ancestors in song titles. Take the smooth track “Eleanor's Cafe,” for instance: “Eleanor is my grandmother's big sister,” he explains. “At a family reunion, I just found out that my grandmother and all of them [her siblings] were in foster care, but then my grandmother's big sister broke them all out and raised them all. So she was the glue that kept the whole family together.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eFatherhood and family are the project’s themes, and so is freedom. The title \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAfro’s In the Wind \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eand the imagery it evokes speak to this. “It's kind of like saying, just let your hair down,” Sam explains. “But Black people, we don't ‘let our hair down,’ when we take our braids or dreads out, we got Afros. Even though I got the dreads, it still was a representation of us as a whole. So that's kind of what it is, just let your hair down and be free. Like, don't care about nothing, just be you. Afros in the wind, just let it out, just rock it.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWhen listening to Sam’s music, you’ll hear that he possesses the rare gift of evoking nostalgic feelings without feeling dated—almost like nostalgia for a fondly remembered past and a vision for a vividly imagined future at the same time. “That’s why I call myself the ‘futuristic artifact,’” he says of his approach to making music. “It’s something from the old soul, always, but it’s up to date and for every age range, every genre, sunrise to sunset.” Yeah, that’s definitely fly.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Seafood Sam","offers":[{"title":"MP3 Album Download","offer_id":46356498415907,"sku":"617308059250","price":7.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"WAV Album Download","offer_id":46356498448675,"sku":"617308059250W","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Luv Baby Soft","offer_id":46356498481443,"sku":"QMB622300902","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"The Spirit of Harold Lilly","offer_id":46356498514211,"sku":"QMB622300903","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"'86 Carolina West","offer_id":46356498546979,"sku":"QMB622300904","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Ethel's Café","offer_id":46356498579747,"sku":"QMB622300905","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Annie-Merl","offer_id":46356498612515,"sku":"QMB622300906","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Rain Boots \u0026 Ponchos","offer_id":46356498645283,"sku":"QMB622300907","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Mattress Backflips","offer_id":46356498678051,"sku":"QMB622300908","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW009_3000x300_922a65f8-d55f-4cdd-a8c3-738b132eb5f7.jpg?v=1694098075"},{"product_id":"this-winter","title":"This Winter","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eLondon-based singer-songwriter and producer Gareth Donkin caps his breakthrough year with a cozy single for the holidays. \"This Winter\" follows the release of his full-length debut, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWelcome Home\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, a coming-of-age collection that drew acclaim from the likes of Billboard and BBC Radio 6 (who invited Donkin for an on-air session in September) along with support from Spotify's New Music Friday, Fresh Finds R\u0026amp;B and POLLEN playlists. The 23-year-old's music pulls from soul, funk, pop, yacht rock, hip-hop, jazz, and bossa nova, channeling everything from Michael Jackson and Bill Evans to George Benson and Jamiroquai. Across it all runs Donkin's sense of melody and his unique falsetto, sincere and smiling, which lends itself naturally to the genre and spirit of the holiday season. Over a rich and resonant mix of synth, electric guitar, percussion, and sleigh bells, nodding to classics like Wham!’s “Last Christmas,” Donkin conjures a sweet scene by the fire with someone special. He adds:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\" data-mce-style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“Writing ‘This Winter’ was a well-needed break from writing love songs and focusing on the release of my debut album. A song has never come to fruition this quickly for me. I wanted to capture the same feeling my favourite Christmas\/winter-themed songs gave me leading up to the holidays; a song with warm and nostalgic sounds tied with rich harmony. After I produced the beat in September (which felt strange), I enlisted the help of my good friend and bandmate Coby Tom who co-wrote the lyrics and played acoustic and electric guitar on the song. I finished it up in October. I've never released anything like this before, but I'm feeling festive and excited to be sharing it in time for the Xmas season!”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gareth Donkin","offers":[{"title":"MP3 Download \/ This Winter \/ _","offer_id":47149360185635,"sku":"617308065954","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"WAV Download \/ This Winter \/ _","offer_id":47149360218403,"sku":"617308065954W","price":2.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"MP3 \/ This Winter \/ _","offer_id":47149360251171,"sku":"QMB622301201","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW012_3000x300_9038af3d-3ab2-404a-890b-07148a949571.jpg?v=1701793746"},{"product_id":"standing-on-giant-shoulders","title":"Standing On Giant Shoulders","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSeafood Sam is a futuristic artifact. If that description might sound confusing at first, it matches the eclectic dualities found in true originals. With his effortless cool and timeless style, the North Long Beach native defies convention and exact comparison. He’s a virtuosic rapper and a symphonic producer. Welcome to the lavish life of a laid-back transcontinental man of mystery, rolling in old school Cadillacs, eating caviar with a blade in his pocket, and making plays in vintage Pelle Pelle gear. A blaxploitation icon for the Instagram age, blessed with the bars of a ‘90s legend and 23\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003erd\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e century swagger. Seafood Sam is a true hero of modernity. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eOn his full-length album debut for up-and-coming label drink sum wtr (Kari Faux,Deem Spencer, Aja Monet), \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eStanding on Giant Shoulders\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, Sam splits the difference between Snoop Dogg and D’ Angelo, Curren$y and David Ruffin. The songs reveal a forward-thinking sensibility rooted in ancestral soul. He creates spiritual hymns for the streets that tap into universal ideals and irrepressible groove. In an era plagued by short-term thinking, his ambitions reveal a crate-digging depth of music history and a meticulous ear for detail. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe giant shoulders in the album’s title refer to James Brown, Bobby Brown, and Miles Davis – the holy trinity who inspired Sam’s process. From the Godfather of Soul, Sam took a perfectionist’s rigor and focus. The example of Bobby Brown lent an unshakeable confidence and self-belief. While the constant artistic left turns of the trumpeter that birthed Cool offered an aspirational archetype. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe story starts in the glory days of Long Beach hip-hop. As a young child, the G-Funk era soundtracked rides in Sam’s father’s car. Some of his earliest memories are trying to memorize Snoop’s verse on “Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang.” Beyond gangsta rap, the LBC has historically doubled as a capital of lowrider soul and carwash oldies. At any intersection, you could hear \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eDogg Food \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eor Brenton Wood, Warren G or Barbara Lynn. This too was absorbed via osmosis. It also just so happened that the art of performance was always in Sam’s blood. So at family functions, he and his sister supplied entertainment by singing karaoke renditions of The Isley Brothers. While his Harlem Shake remains a thing of local lore. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eLong Beach is a culturally diverse mecca of skate parks and gang life, street fashion and tricky dance moves. This is the place that raised Sam on a diet of Wu-Tang and Nelly Furtado, Lil Bow Wow and Allen Iverson. He was the middle ground between his two older brothers: one who gangbanged, the other who graduated with a master’s degree from UC-Santa Barbara.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eBut it wasn’t until the end of high school that Sam started to take rap seriously. Alongside long-time collaborators like Huey Briss and Reaper Mook, Sam’s name began to make waves on the northside of the city, but he was partially distracted by a modeling career that paid the bills and took him all to way to walk in Paris’ fashion week. The first turning point arrived with 2018’s “Ramsey,” a self-produced, slick-talk anthem with over 10,000,000 streams across all platforms. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWith each subsequent release, Sam showcased his peerless consistency, building buzz both online and in the city streets. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSpin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e hailed his “smooth and unhurried cadences and understated lyricism…that sounds like nothing else in Long Beach.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eClash\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e raved about Sam’s “evolution as an artist, cruising through nostalgic production with slick, witty rhymes.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe culmination arrives with \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eStanding on Giant Shoulders. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eIt’s the evidence of a master, a young sensei in the model of Quincy Jones. All of the rhymes, singing, production, and arrangements envisioned by Sam were created in collaboration with his kinsman Tom Kendall from the Soular System group. It’s the rare modern hip-hop album that demands to be heard on vinyl, an arsenal of sample-free soul-funk without skips. It’s hard-edged and lyrical enough for disciples of Larry June and Roc Marciano, but orchestral and melodic enough for fans of Anderson .Paak and H.E.R. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe album opens with the “Saylo,” a sunshine and palm trees Sunday cruise on the avenues. Sam crafts a temporary utopia of infectious rhythms and buttery cadences, casting himself in the role of the 2023 West Coast Mase: Harlem World harmoniously meeting the LBC. “Can’t Take The Hood To Heaven” is a spiritual drive-bye. A poignant remembrance of the times where Sam’s grandmother would call him to ask if he believed in God. Sink into this flashback of pre-adolescent memories when Sam’s parents bumped Kirk Franklin and gospel. But there are easter eggs embedded to satisfy those non-believers seeking terrestrial grounding. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eOn “Cowboy Leather,” Sam teams with Pink Siifu to drop a modern hood western. A shootout in the desert, where the gunmen wear white tees, the beat sounds like Sergio Leone on Long Beach Blvd, and Sam moonwalks with a Berry Gordy smile. “Attack of the Dreadlocks” finds Sam in union with Rae Khalil, answering the question of what would the Fugees sound like if they emerged in 2023. “Bullets From a Butterfly” is a crushed velour two-step glide where Sam details his glow up from government cheese and welfare checks to three-course meals and designer fashion. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThese are uplifting tales of classic cars and eternal prayers for a better future, odes to gorgeous women with cinnamon complexion and the importance of listening to the wisdom of the elders. It reveals an artist dedicated to creating three-dimensional quality music in a microwave world. A gentleman and a scholar. A rebirth of cool from someone secure in their own skin. A student of the classics ready to stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside giants. This is Seafood Sam’s time. We’re just living in it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e℗ + © 2024 drink sum wtr\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eWritten and produced by Bryan Ramsey Jr. (Seafood Sam)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eMusic produced by \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThomas Kendall Hughes\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAdditional production\/vocals\/instruments\/etc by\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e Anthony Michael Lynn, Andrei Taru Kvapil, Graciela Beverly Magwili Sprout, Jacob William Abernathie, Trevor J. 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Five supremely potent, honest tracks with no features and one producer; he views the bold simplicity of\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ebirds\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eas a counterpoint to\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eadultSW!M’s\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003emore collaborative, spiritual statement. Sharp and lean yet no less ambitious, Deem reminds us he is equally effective in this mode, calling back to his DIY days throwing shows across NYC’s underground and self-releasing softly free-spoken tracks akin to “audio diaries” (Pitchfork). “I am having more fun on this project, following my instincts,” says Deem. “I went back to the basics, but I learned so much about making music through the\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eadultSW!M\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eprocess.” He calls it a love album, and the savvy artist approaches the subject from different angles, balancing bars of vulnerable introspection with playfully puffed-up persona and humor. “When I talk about love and romance, I like to make light of how dramatic some of our love lives can be…the title all these crying birds, that's just funny to me, but it's also poetry, a storybook classic feel.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIndeed Deem has a knack for character development; his aspirations include a television pilot and a short film currently in the works, and when citing influences, he drops Willy Wonka in the same breath as Outkast and Frank Ocean. “My goal is to be Willy Wonka, in my own Jamaican way.” His ideas have been spinning since\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eadultSW!M,\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eand they overflowed into sessions last summer at producer Jackson Pittman’s Manhattan studio. “A friend of mine would always tell me, oh, Jackson’s got beats for you. 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Their chemistry comes from years of collaborating, performing, refining ideas and tastes shared, contrasting, and complimenting, from old-school R\u0026amp;B and hip-hop to Lovers Rock and dancehall to contemporary indie, ambient, and the many innovative styles they’ve encountered in the UK. They titled their debut project\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eGEMS IN THE CORNERSTORE\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e(released in 2020 on Soulection Records) because the phrase conjured “a kind of urban diamond in the rough,” says Elujay; the feeling of finding something unexpected in the melting pot of a city, an allegory that’s even more apt for its multi-faceted, genre-spanning sequel, their first release on Secretly affiliate label drink sum wtr. This time around the duo recorded primarily in person, across sessions in Los Angeles, Oakland, London, and New York, inviting a sprawl of guests — Amaria, Chase Shakur, Louis Culture, Rae Khalil, with additional production from several friends — into a cohesive street-soul vision, “a feel-good record,” says J.Robb. Modern, polished, and still true to the mission,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eGEMS IN THE CORNERSTORE II\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis JEMS!’s latest batch, the work of two world-class artists who understand where their strengths meet and precisely what constitutes a desired vibe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eCreatively, the key to JEMS! is a freedom to blend the process; while J.Robb’s pedigree for future beats anchors their sound and Elujay writes and handles the mic, the two musicians come together on the production. Songs often begin as shells that one brings to the other. “We would get up every day and just like, throw ideas together and then that would build on itself,” says J.Robb. As songs formed, they embraced a Caribbean influence — J.Robb is Bajan, Elujay is Trinidadian — listening to old dancehall mixtapes on YouTube, and mapped out a stable of collaborators and players that skew UK-based. “We have a strong affinity for the UK scene, they have the best artists. We’ve been able to test songs out there live, getting a reaction from people in London was huge,” Elujay adds. “Not everyone has a platform to do different stuff, they might be locked into one sound as a solo artist. 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They recorded “CREEPIN'” with Elujay’s live band in Oakland. “As a band, you gotta be locked into each other, there was no second-guessing any note,” says Elujay. “It’s a beautiful thing, having these solid people around you elevates everything.” The track showcases the street-soul shuffle of the record with smooth hooks, trailing harmonies, and a laid-back ‘90s pop bend. “BMW,” featuring South London’s Louis Culture, veers into hip-hop, with Elujay adopting a nonchalant rap persona, “a fake flex,” he says. “I just wanted the listener to feel cool.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e“STORMBLUS” leans indie while paying homage to classic pop and soul songcraft. J.Robb adds hard-hitting drums and collaborator Benji riffs overtop on guitar as Elujay spins tongue-in-cheek lines on riding shotgun and romance (“let’s put some miles on your car \/ let’s take the scenic route”). Following that track with “MASHUP” displays the record’s range. Driven by super-charged drum and bass breakbeats, the track stalls, stutters, and rides with verses from Atlanta R\u0026amp;B breakout Chase Shakur. Late album standout “BREANA” shines as a duet with LA-based neo-soul songwriter Amariam above the echoes of a distant rasta MC.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eWith all the voices, modes, and colors of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eGEMS IN THE CORNERSTORE II,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ethe show remains distinctly Elujay and J.Robb’s, two artists casually making great music — “It’s not that deep,” jokes J.Robb. 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The deluxe treatment welcomes remixes by UK dance\/jazz producer Crackazat and Baltimore beatmaker J.Robb and invites listeners back to the dazzling, coming-of-age collection which simmered throughout the year and saw Donkin reach new fans worldwide, including Billboard and BBC Radio 6, and debut in the US at SXSW festival among other firsts.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe 24-year-old's music draws from soul, funk, pop, yacht rock, hip-hop, jazz, and bossa nova, channeling everything from Michael Jackson and Bill Evans to George Benson and Jamiroquai. Across it all runs Donkin's sense of melody and his unique falsetto, sincere and smiling, amplified here as the connective thread between two adventurous new remixes.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eCrackazat brings “Tell Me Something” to the dancefloor. 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Instead of starting songs from the drums, focusing first on the groove, he adopted a more traditional technique at the piano, writing chords on the spot and marrying them with melodies and lyrics. \"Creating memorable hooks and moments through the instrumentation, beyond a catchy vocal melody,\" he says. A rubbery bassline dashes through shimmering keys on the dreamy, tender title track and EP opener, introducing Donkin's next direction: \"Here's where I'm headed now, I'm well on my way, but first, let me tell you my story.\" \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eHe wrote the cosmic-funk ballad \"Monday Night\" at one of his low points. Harmonizing across guitar chords and grittier production, Donkin reaches for the light, hitting his stride halfway through just as the production drops out for a weightless pause and returns with extra glow, \"I opened my eyes,\" he sings. Like the calm after the storm, \"Somewhere, Somehow\" offers a smooth solace, with its narrator \"chasing the sundown.\" Donkin has never sounded so assured and sweet at the mic, \"Brighter days, there's a warm in the air, I'm on my there, it's calling me.\"\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eHe calls the disco-tinged \"Bigger Than Love,\" co-written with Alex FB, his love letter to music, a celebration of \"my love for music, how much it means to me that I can even have a career in music.\" The guitar sizzles behind his earnest lines before a saxophone solo from Alex Bone steals the show. Next, \"Funny Lady\" is brimming with jazzy guitar and piano flourishes, co-produced by Syd (The Internet). It’s dedicated to Donkin's girlfriend — \"The most genuine and real love song I've ever written,\" he says. Here, renewed by romance, Donkin is ready for new beginnings.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eSurrounded by\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eOff the Wall\u003c\/em\u003e-era horns, EP closer \"Nobody's Perfect\" encapsulates self-acceptance, a message for \"anyone with ongoing mental health issues,\" he says. “A big part of getting out of your own head is learning to accept and love yourself.\" Donkin documents the journey to that realization on\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSuite Escape\u003c\/em\u003e, and he does so with dazzling prowess.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Gareth Donkin","offers":[{"title":"WAV Download","offer_id":49651667697955,"sku":"DSW018digital","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW018_3000x300_36e0e479-b512-44be-a9dd-dd352247194c.jpg?v=1725981920"},{"product_id":"surface-tension","title":"Surface Tension","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eAnnahstasia's proximity to love — for and from others, in society at large, and deeply within herself — guides the spirit of her soulful, poetic folk songcraft. It is the elemental constant, alongside her distinctly resonant voice, shading the singer-songwriter’s music since her earliest self-taught recordings, back when a 17-year-old Annahstasia Enuke was discovered and propelled into the pressures of an industry that nearly stifled her greatest strengths.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eSurface Tension\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eis\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ethe rising troubadour's drink sum wtr debut EP. This project serves as a prelude to her upcoming album\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTether\u003c\/em\u003e, where she explores themes of disappointment and heartbreak, self-searching and discovery, power and grace, and most elementally — the spectrum of love.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSurface Tension\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eunfolds like a 3-part story tracing the unsustainable nature of past relationships, documenting what is, in essence, \"a romantic war.\" \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eAnnahstasia has carried these songs with her on the road, sung them for friends and strangers, and evolved them over time alongside her personal revelations. The music sustains a gravity and clarity across its delicate use of instrumentation. Through saccharine horn and string arrangements, Annahstasia's voice rings true, open-hearted, and free. \"I've come into the power of my voice as a medium,\" she says. \"As a tool of expression, I am able to shape the emotional space around me.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eAnnahstasia’s artistic resilience and dedication to process have yielded\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSurface Tension\u003c\/em\u003e, a commanding glimpse into the next era in her artistry.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eRecorded at the storied Shangri-la studio in Malibu with producer Jason Lader and an impressive range of accomplished musicians,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eSurface Tension\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efinds Annahstasia at her most intentional, embracing a slower sound than previous projects, with vocals left bare and up-front, exploring the capacity of her gift with newfound latitude. Sessions were both measured and spontaneous in a setting she’d dreamt of for years. “Jason would call me up like, ‘hey, do you feel like tracking today?’ Usually I would be, so I'd pop over with my guitar and we would just record as much as possible, one-take after one-take,” she says. “We were just patiently searching for my best performance.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e        \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThat immediacy and sense of spontaneity is felt in the recordings. The recording process birthed a calmness that prevails throughout, a warmth and resolute beauty amidst the fleeting light of two lovers undone. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e“Saturday” is a pure expression of hope, written within a classic folk lineage. “This is the moment of falling in love,” she says. “Realizing that you want to show up each day and contribute to another person’s journey through time.” Above raw strums, organ drones, and back-lit hums, Annahstasia sings with conviction, “I wanna be the voice that’s in your head \/ I wanna be the reason that you get outta bed.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eLove’s ecstasy crashes down on “Sunday,” when doubt seeps in and the notion of partnership is revealed as a one-sided projection. “Maybe in a different timeline,” she wonders over a plaintive piano phrase, likening bodies to valleys and love to a seed that needs nurturing, she channels a wisp of baroque balladry. “It's a small solace that somewhere in another universe it all worked out.” The dissonance of miscommunication and lost connection overpowers in the end, a windswept crescendo of strings, horns, and exhales. “A feral last gasp,” she says, “the pain of letting go, something not going gently into the good night.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e“Stress Test” follows the fallout, searching for belonging, and taking stock of the residual harm left in the wake. “The Universe tests you to see if you break,” she adds. The instrumentation gradually swells around her guitar, first keys, then bass, saxophone, and percussion, as Annahstasia finds an apt symbol in the rarest gems — not diamonds, with their fabricated value in culture, but amber and pearls, the ones that require life. She accepts the trauma and the games we play with one another and moves on, delivering a captivating, jazz-inflected final coda.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Annahstasia","offers":[{"title":"WAV Download","offer_id":49886342283555,"sku":"DSW019digital","price":3.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"7\" Vinyl","offer_id":49896583627043,"sku":"DSW019lp","price":11.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW019lp_Packshot.jpg?v=1734034732"},{"product_id":"love-jones","title":"LOVE.JONES","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eR\u0026amp;B duo THEY. — songwriter Drew Love and producer Dante Jones — have developed a smooth, future-facing sound for nearly a decade. In the early days, it was simple; two artists aligning on an appreciation for '90s R\u0026amp;B, new jack swing, and the height of soul-sampling hip-hop. Jones making beats and Love on the lines, a basic, balanced, and open-ended setup, free from major label expectations (which they'd feel on their 2017 breakout\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eNü Religion: Hyena)\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand high-profile collaborations (explored on 2018's\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFireside\u003c\/em\u003e, 2020's\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Amanda Tape\u003c\/em\u003e, and 2023's\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eNü Moon).\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThey're proud of every stop along their story, while hindsight and a fresh perspective after signing to art-forward indie label drink sum wtr have afforded them some distance to reflect on where THEY. goes next. The answer is\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLOVE.JONES\u003c\/em\u003e. Here the duo exudes a whole new energy by reasserting their artistry in its most potent and pure form, just Love and Jones, making straight-fire, love-making music indebted to the golden neo-soul era that gave us the namesake 1997 film. “Forget the features, forget bringing in the big producers and writers. It's really just a return to our original dynamic,\" says Jones. Refined and reinvented, THEY. have arrived at their boldest work, a stacked, high-energy collection celebrating Black art, culture, and \"the intense feelings of Black love.\"\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eLove Jones\u003c\/em\u003e, among other films, was a regular presence in the studio as the duo started shaping their next project. “I just keep movies on while we're working and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLove Jones\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ekind of sparked something and had me thinking about our very, very early days,” says Jones, who grew up in Denver but spent a lot of time in Chicago with his family in the early to mid-2000s, around the same time Love moved from El Paso, Texas, to DC. “I think there's this weird parallel that was kind of happening in both of our lives around that period where we're both being immersed in completely different cultures from where we came from, like, real soulful black culture, cities that had a really rich black history. We didn't know each other, we're on opposite ends of the country, but we were both kind of going through these transformative times.” They both realized the Chicago-set film, released during the zenith of Black romances in cinema and pop culture, encompassed a vibe and aesthetic that became instructive for new material (and, of course, the title also merges their surnames; for years they’d considered it for a band name).\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThinking back to the soul-spliced sound emanating from Chicago in the 2000s, Jones revamped his production process, experimenting with new systems and tools to create a palette of original samples and loops. THEY. also took cues from the fan response after a run of live shows, bringing more active energy into recording, a grittier style of R\u0026amp;B in the lineage of 112, Jagged Edge, Jodeci, and The Dream. “We really just wanted it to feel like from the moment that you press play like you're entering into something new,” says Jones. “When Drew gets on stage, he's pouring his heart out. It's not just trying to be cool or whatever, he’s like ‘I want everybody to feel me. I want people to feel the music,’ and that’s how we did it in the studio. You can feel it from the jump.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eEarly standout \"Diamonds And Pearls” rides on shimmering keys, a grooving bassline, and an instantly memorable vocal hook. “Choosin” keeps it moving; “caught up in the fast life,” Love sings across the beat-driven, call-and-response backdrop, flipping between the verses into a sly flow. “This one’s something you can bump in the car,” says Love. It was one of the first songs they tracked, a key that unlocked the rest, and re-established mutual trust and honesty during sessions. “The watershed moment for us creatively,” adds Jones. “It was kind of that brotherly dynamic, that push and pull, of us going back and forth on the joint to get it right. It had really been in a minute. You know, I'm lucky. I get to work with one of one of the best vocalists out there and an amazing writer.” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eLater comes the bumping single \"Straight Up,” one of their all-time favorites, “a bedroom banger, well tested,” laughs Love. “This one is the best embodiment of the way the entire album feels to me personally.” Lyrically, it scorches and flexes (“You ain’t see nobody take control like me… got you feenin’ like Jodeci.”)\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eTo record the pitched-up “5 Star,” first they made their own smooth jazz song with a friend, then resampled it and started building a beat around it. “Something about the bounce of the beat that we were making just had this f*** you energy to it, like a middle finger to the exes,” says Jones. “Wild to start in smooth jazz and land there.” Another highlight, “Rotation”, is a late-night burner. “We’re out here trying to raise some birthrates.” — Jones is half-serious, but the truth is this music is unapologetically sensual. With\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLOVE.JONES\u003c\/em\u003e, THEY. renews a mission; to fill a void in the contemporary R\u0026amp;B landscape, to bring this sound, with its rich cultural history, back into the mix, vibrant and modernized. \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"THEY.","offers":[{"title":"Paint Drip Vinyl LP","offer_id":52729875562787,"sku":"DSW017lp-C1","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Vinyl + Tote Bag Bundle","offer_id":52729902399779,"sku":"DSW017xbnd01","price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Tote Bag","offer_id":50901078737187,"sku":"DSW017-TOTE-01","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"MP3 Download","offer_id":50901078671651,"sku":"DSW017digital","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"WAV Download","offer_id":50901078704419,"sku":"DSW017digitalW","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/APD_THEY._LoveJones02.jpg?v=1744989927"},{"product_id":"the-dial","title":"The Dial","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLos Angeles trio Your Grandparents — producer Cole Thompson and vocalists DaCosta and Jean Carter — announce their signing to drink sum wtr with the new single \"The Dial,\" the first glimpse from a forthcoming project. \"We wanted to relay the message that things will work out when they’re supposed to,\" says DaCosta. “The best way to get the most out of hard situations is to keep your head down and work with integrity.” Carter and DaCosta float over Thompson and Josh Conway’s breezy funk instrumental, singing, “Now when my sun sets, and I look at the dial\/ I wanna surely say I wasted no time.” It’s a warm, inviting tune, one that came together over the course of only a couple days and, as Thompson says, \"sounds exactly like how it felt to make it.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Your Grandparents","offers":[{"title":"The Dial","offer_id":52222788796707,"sku":"DSW015dig1","price":1.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW015dig1_3000x300_c0ca8f91-1f66-41a9-9f09-d9456e244185.jpg?v=1737469715"},{"product_id":"exu-deluxe","title":"EXU (Deluxe)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHalima expands on her breakthrough EP with EXU Deluxe, welcoming remixes from forward-thinking producers DONIS and JADALAREIGN, plus two tracks from a live session performance. Released in spring 2024, EXU found the Brooklyn-based, Lagos\/London-raised artist on a path of spiritual self-discovery and drawing from the music of her youth: British soul, UK Garage, R\u0026amp;B, and beyond. The 4-track digital set gives fans an extra lens to view EXU through as anticipation mounts for Halima's full-length debut.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHer first release with art-forward indie label drink sum wtr, EXU earned praise from all over, including Clash Magazine, The Fader, BBC Radio (who hosted her in their Maida Vale studios), and The Vinyl Factory. The latter outlet tapped Halima for their Reverb exhibition at 180 Studios, a series highlighting \"some of music and art's most interesting rising and established figures.\" Backed by Zamar-eden on bass and Nate Ricketts on drums, Halima delivered a spirited set from which \"Awaken\" was captured. On the same tour, Halima played a show in Rotterdam and introduced the previously unreleased “lgwe” with a poignant dedication, now heard here.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBrooklyn-based Dominican American producer DONIS ups the tempo and bounce of EXU closer \"Samantha,\" an ode to\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eacceptance, gratitude, and self-love. Halima’s vocals remain commanding as DONIS runs the chorus above bright key lines, utilizing her spoken word interlude for a proper club edit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNew York's JADALAREIGN brings her futuristic take on deep house and techno to \"Ways.\" The original crossed R\u0026amp;B hooks with propulsive skitters and bursts, expressing the thrill of meeting someone new. JADALAREIGN's take enhances that emotion, adding a dreamier dance feel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHalima adds:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I wanted both songs to be reimagined for the dance floor. They were created in a state of motion and transformation, making them feel naturally adaptable and open to reinterpretation. When I approached JADALAREIGN and DONIS, I was thinking about the relationship between music, space, and movement, as well as the immersive experience of sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoth tracks were inspired by the club, but I felt they had more room to evolve. JADALAREIGN’s version of Ways brings forward something the original hinted at, transforming it with a fresh yet familiar energy. Meanwhile, DONIS' take on Samantha places the song firmly in a club context, capturing and amplifying its innate lightness. I love how they reimagined this quality and made it the focus.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Halima","offers":[{"title":"WAV Download","offer_id":52462941208867,"sku":"DSW010xdigital","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW010X_3000x300_d28ef32b-b991-47eb-813f-2b7963a61c12.jpg?v=1738331879"},{"product_id":"the-dial-1","title":"The Dial","description":"\u003cp\u003eYour Grandparents are fascinated with time. It can neither be created nor killed; there’s never enough of it, but it can stretch on forever. Time is a form of currency that can be saved, spent, and gambled away. It can be wasted. Wounds heal, the flocks march from field to fold, and, in the end, it makes fools of us all. “I think time is a circle, infinitely repeating itself,” says producer Cole Thompson. “And there’s a bunch of smaller circles within the larger one. Everything we experience is cyclical in the micro and macro.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eOn their drink sum wtr debut,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Dial\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e,\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ethe Los Angeles trio — producer Cole Thompson\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eand\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003evocalists DaCosta and Jean Carter — deeply consider these disparate ideas. The record works as a meditation on time, but posits that in order to truly grasp the concept and all of its ambient qualities, one must remain rooted in the present. The group, who met in middle school in Culver City and are now in their mid-late 20s, has been making music for a decade, patiently watching the pieces of their career fall into place. They seemed to snatch their genre-agnostic but hip-hop-rooted songs from the cosmos, seizing on a moment of inspiration — a loop here, a turn of phrase there — and proceeding in a stream of consciousness. “We’d link up in the studio, and whatever anyone experienced in a week is what ended up on the track,” says Thompson.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eThe Dial\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etook shape more slowly, the result of what DaCosta calls “focused intentionality.” “There was a shift in our mindset,” he explains, “We wanted to be more comfortable going back to the drawing board and refining.” All told, the album took shape over the course of more than two years. After some initial sessions in Joshua Tree, Your Grandparents chipped away at\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Dial\u003c\/em\u003e, careful not to rush any one element into place. The result is stunning: a kaleidoscopic trip through heartaches and joys, moments of frustration and hope. Cole Thompson’s production reaches through time, gathering up influences from divergent eras and meshing them into a singular whole. There’s the house-meets-G-funk slink of “Be Cool,” the smooth Dilla-time boogie of “Down,” and the ESG-informed dance-punk of “BAD NEWS.” DaCosta and Jean Carter are deft performers, effortlessly switching from elastic band rap flows to golden-hued melodies. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eAlbum opener, “The Dial,” establishes the theme. By the time the trio sat down to complete the song, they’d landed on their time motif but needed a way to fully express it. “We wanted to relay that message that things will work out when they’re supposed to,” says DaCosta. “The best way to get the most out of hard situations is to keep your head down and work with integrity.” Jean Carter and DaCosta float over Thompson and Josh Conway’s breezy funk instrumental, singing, “Now when my sun sets, and I look at the dial\/ I wanna surely say I wasted no time.” It’s a warm, inviting tune, one that came together over the course of only a couple days and, as Thompson says, “sounds exactly like how it felt to make it.” \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eOver the dreamy '90s pop sonics of “Ali \u0026amp; Jen,” the vocalists ruminate on life’s harder lessons, understanding that with time comes wisdom, recognizing the necessity of more painful moments. “Conversations,” a late album highlight, is an exercise in vulnerability. “It’s very therapy-inspired,” Jean Carter reveals. “I was trying to take more of an initiative toward bettering my mental health. It was another pocket of purpose we could tap into: People are feeling these things, but not nearly enough people are getting help. We wanted to normalize those emotions and offer something people can jam when they feeling that type of way.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eYour Grandparents’ songs are big-hearted and welcoming, filled with the wide-eyed wonder of youth and the sobering wisdom of aging. They’re writing about the ethereality of it all, the moments that contour your existence, the things you’ll look back on when doing that final assessment.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Dial\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a beautiful, empathetic piece of work that understands the contexts from which it came and builds upon them, walking that fine line between contemporary and timeless.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Your Grandparents","offers":[{"title":"Vinyl + Slipmat Bundle \/ The Dial","offer_id":52818795004195,"sku":"DSW015xbnd01","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Antique Color Vinyl \/ The Dial","offer_id":52818795036963,"sku":"DSW015lp-C1","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Slipmat \/ The Dial","offer_id":52818795069731,"sku":"DSW015slipmat","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"WAV Download \/ The Dial","offer_id":52818795102499,"sku":"DSW015digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/IMG_5998.png?v=1744926504"},{"product_id":"yung-ep","title":"yung EP","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eWith\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eyung\u003c\/em\u003e, his second EP on drink sum wtr in roughly a year, Queens rapper Deem Spencer lets loose more goods from his time with producer Jackson Pittman, sessions that prioritized potency and simplicity. The \"no features, one producer\" framework of 2024's\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eall these crying birds\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eEP holds true for\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eyung,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ea call back\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eto his DIY days, self-releasing free-spoken tracks akin to \"audio diaries\" (Pitchfork).\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\"These songs are some of my favorites from my sessions with Jackson,\" says Spencer. \"Originally, I was saving them for my next album until it was revealed to me, months ago, what the next album would actually be. I'm happy to share these songs now.\"\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eBacked by stuttering beats (plus a steel drum vibe on \"even...\"), the three-track set showcases Deem's knack for playful verses with low-key hooks. He presents it with a fittingly tight summary: \"'Even if it is tho' is a cute bop with a message of resilience. 'Guy R Brewer' is an ode to my hometown of Jamaica, Queens. 'Monster' is a cheeky plea of innocence. Each song, very different in their own respects, presents the qualities of myself I'm most proud of.\"\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"deem spencer","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download","offer_id":52957774446883,"sku":"DSW022digital","price":3.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW022_3000x300_487c7d3a-c436-4ed6-9d46-9ad1f0ddbc0c.jpg?v=1740517647"},{"product_id":"tether","title":"Tether","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e*Orders for the Red Clay Vinyl LP placed after November 11th will begin shipping in early December 2025!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"My career has been a lesson in patience,\" says Annahstasia, having cultivated her musical language between blazes of intimacy and independence across different lives, locations, and iterations, loves lost and gained, expectations evaded and recreated. The rising troubadour's proximity to love — for and from others, in society at large, and deeply within herself — guides the spirit of her soulful, poetic folk songcraft. Love is the elemental constant, alongside her distinctly resonant voice, shading the singer-songwriter's music since her earliest self-taught recordings, back when a 17-year-old Annahstasia Enuke was discovered and propelled into the pressures of an industry that nearly stifled her greatest strengths. Artistic resilience, gratitude, and dedication to process have yielded Tether, Annahstasia's full-length debut on art-forward indie label drink sum wtr, a collection of beaming torch songs, orchestral hymns, and astral anthems that feel lived-in, drawn from the human experience and the spectrum of love.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnnahstasia assembled the pieces of Tether slowly and with deep intention; she's carried these songs with her on the road, sang them for friends and strangers, and evolved them over time alongside her personal revelations. \"The song is written, and then I have to live with it and see if I really believe what I'm saying,\" she explains. She brought material to sessions at the storied Valentine Studios in Los Angeles, joined by producers Jason Lader (ANOHNI and the Johnsons, Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey), Andrew Lappin (Cassandra Jenkins, L'Rain, Luna Li), Aaron Liao (Liv.e, Moses Sumney, Raveena) and a range of accomplished musicians, including featured guests aja monet and Obongjayar. The recording became instinctual, done only in live takes to capture the feeling of the room, the community of the music. The sequencing was just as essential; she arrived at a flow with shifting energies and poignant arcs. The instrumentation swells, at times understated and others supremely lush, and through each arrangement, Annahstasia's voice rings true, open-hearted, and free. \"I've come into the power of my voice as a medium,\" she says. \"As a tool of expression, I am able to shape the emotional space around me.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLyrically, Annahstasia embraces the nuance of poetry, inviting listeners to engage in words laced with meaning, whether ruminations on romance or social constructs. She sees the opener \"Be Kind\" more as a poem than a song, \"a reflection upon the beauty of the mundane and the grandeur of everyday life…a reminder to myself and others to be kind to each other.\" The track's minimalist atmosphere picks up where 2024's Surface Tension EP left off, with her vocals left bare and up-front, exploring the capacity of her gift with newfound latitude as strums, strings, and keys enter the frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe palette expands for \"Villian,\" welcoming drums, brass, and horns into a sweeping nod to healing. \"We are all made of both shadow and light. From some angle, we have all been the villain of the story,\" she adds, suggesting that often, the only way to move on is through understanding that \"we are all trying our best, negotiating survival.\" At its triumphant peak, above gospel-like shouts, she delivers the reprise with a smile: \"Take it \/ Take it back \/ This dull knife of memory \/ I still hear your voice inside my head \/ Says that I'm the villain of the story.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlbum centerpiece \"Slow\" emerges from a chance connection with London-based Nigerian musician Steven Umoh, aka Obongjayar. After exchanging DMs, Obongjayar came to one of her shows, and the two artists talked for hours afterward; \"he was like a lost brother,\" she says. Later, they wrote and demoed the track in the living room of her Airbnb in London, where they huddled around a single ribbon microphone. \"I'm just playing the guitar, and our eyes are locked; it was very sensual and intense.\" Emboldened by one another, their voices orbit and coalesce, trading verses on the signals the universe sends us (\"I heard it on the wind \/ To go slow\"), harmonizing the last stanzas (\"What's the worst that can happen \/ If we just let it happen\"). Without proper album plans at the time, the song sat for a while; then, in another cosmic chance, Obongjayar happened to be in town during the Tether sessions. Annahstasia reflects, \"It was a beautiful experience to have us all in the room. The artistry, the moment, a real acceptance of African art where these two Nigerian musicians are coming together and making something very tender and pretty outside genre expectations.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLater, Annahstasia finds a kindred spirit in aja monet, the NY-based surrealist blues poet and her new labelmate, who lends stunning prose and voice to \"All is. Will Be. As it Was.\" Given only the prompt of \"open air,\" monet wrote the lines on the ride to the studio. Together with Annahstasia on guitar and Ashley Fulton on piano, they captured the piece in its purest form as if bottling a breeze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnnahstasia described the EP prelude to this culminating set as a \"romantic war,\" and the artist truly thrives amidst and after drama. She taps into a punk sensibility for \"Silk and Velvet\" — \"I'd say it's punk in the sense that it is really dry, really stark and selectively dissonant.\" A clashing of cello and piano mirror pointed lyrics about \"living with the hypocrisy of having revolutionary ideologies but consumerist tendencies.\" The tension comes full circle on \"Believer,\" a song she's been trying to get right for years, now finally recorded in the right place with the right people. Nearly every instrument on Tether returns in full force; towering percussion, jagged guitar lines, and howling singers encircle Annahstasia at the mic as she enters a fantasy of rock stardom. \"I love how in making a record, you get to make a film and pick which direction to take it. Now I have this version that I blast in my headphones, play air guitar, and pretend I'm performing it for 100,000 people.\" The sheer power of Tether is the result of patience, and it's not hard to picture such a dream realized in good time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Annahstasia","offers":[{"title":"Red Clay Vinyl LP \/ Tether","offer_id":53295004221731,"sku":"DSW011lp-C1","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD \/ Tether","offer_id":53461373911331,"sku":"DSW011cd","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download \/ Tether","offer_id":53295004254499,"sku":"DSW011DIGITAL","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/KTH6PMQ5oFj45IM7fEmsLYMLeBdmMD7W4mDRzGdMuW0.jpg?v=1743103575"},{"product_id":"merlot-and-grigio-feat-father-philis","title":"merlot and grigio (feat. 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You have to find peace in that duality,” says Yaya Bey, who commits to life’s delight — humor, love, the power of human movement and connection — even if she has to do it afraid. With her new album, which follows a run of critically acclaimed releases and marks her debut on art-forward indie label drink sum wtr, the Queens, New York singer-songwriter thrives across uplifting, effervescent material. A rejection of past narratives projected onto her,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edo it afraid\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efinds Bey reclaiming her story with resolutely fun, full-hearted, and nuanced songs that pull from R\u0026amp;B, hip-hop, jazz, soul, and dance music, including the soca stylings of her family’s Bajan roots.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edo it afraid\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ecelebrates all sides of Yaya as part of a collective lifeforce that doesn’t subscribe to fear but to the moments that move us.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cem\u003e“I wrote this album from the most vulnerable parts of me, which contrary to what many people want to believe about me, is not my trauma but my desire to love, to feel joy...to be free. In this life, pain and loss are promised to us; it takes real courage to dance in the face of the inevitable. To savor the now and make it beautiful. I come from a people who are masters at this. Onlookers like to make a spectacle of us. Rob of us of our nuance. But the truth is we are brave, resilient and joyful. I made this album for us. May we continue to do it afraid.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eFirst, Yaya works through the raw emotions. In the tradition of her rap-led album openers, “wake up bitch” comes from a place inflamed. Over a fluttering piano loop, she deconstructs the contemporary hellscape, taking aim at widespread uncertainty, economic recession, and an exploitive industrial complex built on lies. She explains, “Anger for anger's sake isn’t productive, but sometimes you need that fire lit, like here are the things to be mad about.” As a self-identified working-class artist, Yaya maintains a healthy distrust of institutions at large and an unwavering belief in herself — she fronted the album’s recording budget without a label partner yet in place and manifested it as a 2025 release — and that fiery intentionality radiates in the intro and elsewhere across Yaya’s clever, confessional rap cadence. On “bella noches pt. 1” she decries low wages and rising rents; on “choice” she’s mad at god but chooses “to trust him anyway”; on “breakthrough” — a bumping, rattling, scorched-earth shuffle of keys and bass — she reminds folks to not take this magic for granted. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eFlipping the script with intensity is key to Yaya’s craft, while\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edo it afraid’s\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003epower also rests in its pleasures, the sonic embodiment of a smile and the counterpoint to the misconception that Yaya’s music is solely about overcoming hardship. After breaking out with\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eRemember Your North Star\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ein 2022 and the success of 2024’s transcendent\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTen Fold\u003c\/em\u003e, “I suddenly became like the face of Black struggle,” she says. “But if you know me in real life or been to one of my shows, you know I have a superb sense of humor. I'm funny. Because I'm black. Because we are funny. Because we are inherently joyful and actually being Black is a very f*cking fun experience…but people like to minimize us to one dimension.” From the softly percussive lover’s anthem “end of the world” to the vaporwave fever dream of “dream girl” to the big stepping, ‘throwin-that-ass-around’ club call “in a circle,” this music\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003efeels\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003egood.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e“I just had to really go back to like, what do I know? What do I do to make myself feel good? I put music on in my house. I dance. I knew I needed to make dance music and I needed to make a nuanced album. There’s dance in my previous work, but I feel more confident in that space on this album.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003ePerhaps the purest point on the carefree end of Yaya’s catalog is “merlot and grigio.” She details its origin, “I was traveling for shows a lot last year and was just thinking, I want a chance to go where people look like me. I would love to go play a show in Barbados. I gotta make some soca records.” She reached out to Bajan artist Father Philis, who dropped his ad-libs over a vibrant, hooky rhythmic bed produced by Yaya. “We're so excited about it; it's cool to bridge that gap, you know, throughout the diaspora, that Caribbean and American bridge. It’s a real soca record, like my aunt Wendy would play this.”\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eWhat keeps\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edo it afraid\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ecohesive is not just Yaya’s boundless voice — from high-velocity verses to tender close-ups (“no for real, wtf?”) and strummed codas (“a tiny thing that’s mine”) — but her world-building ear for arrangement. She welcomes a cast of co-producers, including BADBADNOTGOOD, Exaktly, and Virginia collective Butcher Brown. Reuniting with the latter yielded several tracks, including “raisins,” a jazz-inflected DJ Harrison production she cried the first time she heard. In this song, which serves as the anchoring sentiment of the album, Yaya understands the generational journey from her father’s bout with the music industry to her own: the pressure, the scrutiny, and the fear of failure. “I can’t run no more,” she delivers over drum taps, deeply in the groove of the moment, afraid yet unflinching and free: “So if I step out on faith \/ For heaven’s sake \/ Let it be everything I dreamed of.”\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Yaya Bey","offers":[{"title":"Liquid Gold Vinyl LP","offer_id":53570558820643,"sku":"DSW023lp-C1","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":53570558853411,"sku":"DSW023cd","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":53570558886179,"sku":"DSW023digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/APD_YayaBey_DoItAfraid01.jpg?v=1754489234"},{"product_id":"cut-rewind","title":"Cut \u0026 Rewind","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBONUS: All Vinyl \u0026amp; CD orders come with an exclusive Say She She sticker sheet!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere’s nothing more resonant than the human voice. It contains timbres and textures no other instrument can replicate, but most importantly, it’s immensely powerful: One voice can spark an uprising, but many voices in unison create a movement. Nya Gazelle Brown, Sabrina Cunningham, and Piya Malik, the three women who front NYC punk-chic, discodelic band Say She She, understand how to wield such power. They soar above irresistible grooves, locking together in gorgeous three-part harmonies that cleverly disguise the feeling of righteous rebellion permeating their music. Theirs is a multi-pronged call to action: Move your body, expand your mind, and recognize your strength. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSay She She, whose name pays homage to Nile Rodgers, made Cut \u0026amp; Rewind, their third record, almost immediately after wrapping the tours supporting 2023’s Silver. The band’s trajectory has skyrocketed over the past few years, earning praise from The Guardian, the LA Times, MOJO, and NPR, and touring with Thee Sacred Souls. They have performed at venues like the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and the Roundhouse in London, as well as festivals including Glastonbury, Austin City Limits, and Pickathon. They’ve long mined the sounds of the '70s and '80s, citing Minnie Riperton, Rotary Connection, Liquid Liquid, and ESG as influences. Cut \u0026amp; Rewind expands their scope, incorporating elements of Lonnie Liston Smith and the Lijadu Sisters into their sonic palette while channeling the spirit of contemporaries like Lambrini Girls and Amyl and the Sniffers. It all combines into a psychedelic soundscape of pulsing disco beats, astral whistle tones, and earwormy melodies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver a couple of short, intense sessions, Brown, Cunningham, and Malik gathered with their rhythm section, Dan Hastie, Sam Halterman, Dale Jennings, and Sergio Rios—all members of cult funk band Orgone—at Rios’s North Hollywood studio, Killion Sound. Say She She’s writing practice is an exercise in presence, as each of the three channels their front-of-mind thoughts and feelings into cathartic transmissions. There’s an element of spontaneity at play, informed by the players’ affinity for The Meters-style jamming and the studio discipline of Booker T and The M.G.’s, as well as Malik’s time in a post-punk improv band with Liquid Liquid’s Sal Principato. “The writing room is very free,” says Brown. “We’re able to just be, and fully express ourselves.” They’d write a song and record it that day, cutting the instrumental to tape no more than three times, choosing their favorite take, and immediately laying vocals. To preserve that raw, spur-of-the-moment vibe, they stick to a hard and fast rule: “We never record anything that we can’t recreate live,” explains Malik. “It’s the same thing when the three of us are up on stage that happens in the studio.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach of the 12 tracks on Cut \u0026amp; Rewind crackles with palpable energy, practically daring you to keep your head and hips still. The cosmic boogie of “Chapters” ripples out into the ether, while the no-wave throb of “Shop Boy” glides like rollerskates through a warehouse loft. The silky “Under the Sun,” written in solidarity with the 2023 Writers Guild of America strikes, shines like a sun flare in a camera lens. The three vocalists deftly weave around each other, sometimes creating an interlocking rhythmic lattice (part of a technique they’ve dubbed the “Say She She sigh”), sometimes coalescing in a heavenly triad. But a politically charged undercurrent buzzes beneath the lush, strobing sonics, giving these jams an added heft. In a time of political turmoil where community is more necessary than ever, Say She She offers a particular salve: protest music dressed up as a sweat-dripping, body-moving, consciousness-raising good time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“She Who Dares” is a simmering slice of psych-funk that imagines a near-future dystopia wherein women’s rights have been decimated globally. The group started writing the piece as a way to exorcize a notably insulting male interaction, but it morphed into a more universal, fist-raised anthem. It starts with Cunningham’s voice filtered through a megaphone, explaining how hundreds of thousands of women have suddenly been imprisoned across the world. “It feels scary, setting a Handmaid’s Tale tone,” explains Cunningham, “but ultimately, it’s meant to be empowering for other women.” The song doesn’t linger in fear; instead, it seizes and becomes that megaphone, issuing a chant of encouragement to keep up the good fight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEarly album highlight “Disco Life,” whose unbreakable beat and shimmying tambourine live up to the name, is one of Cut \u0026amp; Rewind’s most overtly political cuts. It examines the 1979 “Disco Demolition Night” at Comiskey Stadium in Chicago, a publicity event-turned-riot organized by shock jock Steve Dahl. Attendees were encouraged to bring a disco record in exchange for cheap admission, which Dahl would then burn in a dumpster—already an implicit attack on a genre fronted by Black people, queer people, and women—but the crowd brought and destroyed anything made by Black musicians. The lyrics decry the event’s racism and homophobia, understanding that the roots of the riot still linger. Say She She knows a better world is possible, and uses “Disco Life” to manifest “a playing field where all are free.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCut \u0026amp; Rewind is Say She She at their most vital, both outside of time and profoundly of the now. It urges us to stay present and attentive to the challenges we must endure, but offers a way to recharge our collective battery. It’s a shimmering, celebratory epic, equally suited for the dancefloor and the demonstration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy Dash Lewis\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"drinksumwtr","offers":[{"title":"Black Agate LP","offer_id":53945974980899,"sku":"DSW025lp-C4","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Black Vinyl","offer_id":53962097361187,"sku":"DSW025lp","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":53962065477923,"sku":"DSW025cd","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":53945975013667,"sku":"DSW025digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW025lp-c4_Packshot_Sticker_01d44770-f824-4070-b832-ab32e31eef97.jpg?v=1753887897"},{"product_id":"sweet-tooth","title":"SWEET TOOTH","description":"\u003cp\u003eHalima’s debut album SWEET TOOTH is a bold declaration of power from an undeniable talent. Seductive, restless, and deeply assured, the record unspools like a night in motion. In the afterglow of her 2024 EP on drink sum wtr, praised by Clash Magazine, The Fader, BBC Radio, and others, the Brooklyn-based, UK\/Nigerian musician solidifies her sound and expands it tenfold. If EXU was a spark, SWEET TOOTH is the full burn. Not so much genre-less as \"genre-full\"; the album spans a bright, lush world where club bangers meet deep ballads in a striking, fully-formed hybrid of honeyed Afro-pop and scorched R\u0026amp;B. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcross its eleven tracks, Halima maps the push-pull of desire, transformation, and emotional reckoning. \"Sweetness on my terms,” she offers a mantra for reclaiming softness without surrendering strength. “The album is about the journey to reclaim one's self amidst the chaos of life and ultimately acts as a love letter to the pleasures and pain of these human pursuits.\" While SWEET TOOTH declares Halima's artistic arrival, she calls it an epilogue, a reflection on past behaviors and lessons learned. \"Am I the person that I wanted to grow into becoming? I think so. I've given myself permission to be free of those things. To be bold. To take up space.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat began as a series of sketches — written in the margins of EXU's more structured sessions — slowly revealed a larger, more thrilling story. \"I wasn't trying to construct a narrative,\" Halima explains. \"I was just writing whatever felt good.\" But the connective tissue was always there: late nights, heartbreaks, full-time jobs, stolen moments — the in-between of becoming. \"These songs carry three to four years of my life,\" she says. “And hearing them together as a whole, kind of feels like blowing the lid off.” \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eHalima co-produced SWEET TOOTH with a sharp range of producers, including Mikey Freedom Hart (A$AP Rocky, Dev Hynes\/Blood Orange, Empress Of), whose openness created room for her to explore. \"He told me, this is your playground - do whatever you want,” she recalls. “So I picked up the guitar and started humming.\" That melody would become the album's emotional axis, ‘wasting my body’, introducing notions of physicality and yearning amidst the bittersweet reality of love dissolved. From there, things crystallized. The title track followed, along with the record’s central metaphor: sweetness as both offering and armor. “Studies show people with a sweet tooth are more agreeable,” Halima says. “That really hit. For me, people-pleasing is rooted in guilt, shame, and an irrational fear of rejection - it's my superego, which protected me once but is not my true self. SWEET TOOTH is my way through that reckoning.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe early standout ‘eleven eleven’ is a story of tension and disillusionment detailing the nine-to-nine grind and a late-night rave romance (\"We lost track of the timing \/ Oh shit now I'm involved \/ She's in my bed\"), all told across drum machine pulses and rattling hooks. Following in sonic and lyrical contrast, ‘eau de vie’ is all breath and yearning with Halima back in ballad mode; she asks plainly, \"Am I your one baby? Coz you're my eau de vie,\" reaching for devotion. The album’s heartbeat surges on ‘cocoa body’, a full-throttle sensual cut that’s already the peak-time club scene in the album’s arc, and a fan favorite in Halima's recent live sets: rhythmic, radiant, and electric with presence. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs SWEET TOOTH's day breaks, Halima's tone settles into serene introspection. She awaits her muse on ‘laundromat’ and feels them in a warm night breeze on 'november like u', a steely, pitch-shifting slow jam outlining an \"imperfectly perfect love.\" \"I won’t hide my glow no more \/ So everyday I’m writing love songs \/ Is that so wrong?” she declares on ‘callum,’ the album's closer. \"Could you find me, babe?\" — the question is wrapped in a shimmering swirl of hums, strings, and synth, leaving us with the vision of an artist content and grounded, no longer searching. The sheer electricity and fiery urgency of SWEET TOOTH ensures Halima's music will soon become one of the year’s most rewarding discoveries.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Halima","offers":[{"title":"Candy Red Vinyl LP","offer_id":53946008895779,"sku":"DSW020LP-C1","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":53946008928547,"sku":"DSW020CD","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":53946008961315,"sku":"DSW020digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW020lp-c1Packshot.jpg?v=1749563375"},{"product_id":"gems-in-the-cornerstore-ii-deluxe","title":"GEMS IN THE CORNERSTORE II (Deluxe)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA victory lap for their 2024 album, a deluxe edition GEMS IN THE CORNERSTORE II finds JEMS! Aka Elujay and J.Robb, in a sustained creative energy. A “thank you” for all the fan love received for the album, the digital deluxe adds three songs\/remixes to the original album, which continues the group’s streak for light-as-air but meaningful jams. Fans of the original album will be happy to have a new Summer cruiser like “SLIDIN” to play, which includes elements of their trademark sound but pitches Elujay’s vocal up a hair to achieve maximum top-down energy. JEMS! has enlisted a remix from TOMBOGO, aka friend and collaborator Tommy Bogo, showing off the duo's love of fashion and branding. The LA designer has been gaining steam in fashion and music circles and lends a more urgent vibe to “SWEEPSTAKES.” Rumor has it that some collaboration hats are in store between the group and the designer.  Showing their depth of taste, fan favorite “CREEPIN” gets the rework treatment from London’s SBTRKT, who is no newcomer to the remix game, touching tracks from Radiohead, Modeselektor, Basement Jaxx, and Mark Ronson. The remix takes the original into the evening, another stop in a day full of JEMS! magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c!----\u003e","brand":"JEMS!","offers":[{"title":"WAV Download","offer_id":54190151926051,"sku":"DSW016xdigital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW016_3000x300_1.jpg?v=1753718450"},{"product_id":"pain-the-people-around-me","title":"Pain \u0026 the people around me","description":"\u003cp\u003eQueens-based rapper Deem Spencer sees his records as snapshots. He explored a heartache-shaped persona on his 2019 full-length breakout, Pretty face. He dove headfirst into collaboration on the coming-of-age 2023 LP, adultSW!M, followed by a pair of “one producer, no features” EPs in 2024 and 2025, returning to the bold, instinctual simplicity of his DIY days. Each release brings self-discovery, evolved musicality, and, he adds with playful resignation, “pain and the people around me.” The phrase strikes him as a summary for love and life as an artist, for the flourishes of beauty and disappointment that color the human experience. Pain \u0026amp; the people around me, his new LP on art-forward label drink sum wtr, finds Deem at his best above sharp and vibrant instrumentation, reaching across genres for redemption, heartfirst and with crystalline precision. “This album is the clearest I've ever sounded. The clearest I've ever executed my vision,” he says. “I feel realized as an artist. I'm a fan of mine all over again.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe refreshing, uncomplicated sound of Pain \u0026amp; the people around me starts with Deem’s chance encounter with producer Elie Bashkow at a local smoke shop. “This was completely out of the ordinary for both of us. For one, Elie doesn't usually smoke, and I don't usually speak to strangers...we always say that something outside of us brought us together. We chopped it up, found out that we both make music, and agreed to link.” Sessions were split between Elie’s Brooklyn studio and Deem’s house, and the music came together quickly. Deem had brought an album’s worth of material but abandoned it all after their first experiment together. “I realized that I needed to take advantage of the fresh energy; I just knew we needed to explore that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat first session became the album opener, “Persist,” an alt-pop burner that crosses ruminating guitar lines with towering distortion. Deem peppers sweet, unlikely rhymes against the beat like “ooh, I miss you. How is you? How blissful, god bless.” His clever flow is the central force of Pain, while Deem welcomes potent bars from friends in select places: fellow Queens rapper Slyy Cooper lights up the back half of “all my prayers”, Chicago’s Fresh Waters (of Pivot Gang) gives “idky” a pointed lyrical jolt, and North London’s Brian Nasty breathes fire into “someone.” The latter track, the closer, embodies the redemptive tone of the whole. Delivered in casual clarity, Deem outlines the grind of rapping for a living: “I obsess about becoming the best cause I can be \/ I’ve dedicated the rest of my life to this message, I been next up forever…”, giving way to a sun-kissed hook and then Brian’s thundering verse. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSupremely hooky standout “everybody want me but my lover” features Deem in his feelings but having fun, in conversation with Will Evans’ inspired trumpet playing. “I just kept bringing the beat to my homegirl's house,” he explains. “Just spinning it over and over, like, what should I say on this? That hook came first, and I was just thinking ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s classic pop. Real gay, cocaine music. That song is special, I hope a lot of people hear it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor “heart don't know”, Deem and Elie tapped Aviad Poznansky on co-production. It’s an airy, shuffling track built on a bed of birdsong, shimmering keys, and warm bass, with Deem oscillating between a falsetto chorus and lower, heady verses, waxing on the confusing fluidity of love: “I was tore up \/ Loving you like Minnie Ripperton \/ I was on one \/ Love you like the ocean love the sun \/ I could go on \/ Sometimes I hate you \/ Sometimes I love you \/ Sometimes my heart don’t know.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePain \u0026amp; the people around me is filled with such contrasts, drawing power from vulnerability. Deem’s always been good at this mode, where abstraction meets introspection, but here, he’s unlocked his most direct means to deliver the message. It’s a cloud-parting, culminating sound, a rightful reintroduction from one of contemporary hip-hop’s most distinct minds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"deem spencer","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":54330537967907,"sku":"DSW024digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW024_3000x300_5d0cf3f6-fd32-4cac-9b12-0c6edf1f1916.jpg?v=1757705661"},{"product_id":"strange-world","title":"Strange World","description":"\u003cp\u003eSt. Panther is the recording project of Dani Bojorges-Giraldo (they\/them), a Mexican\/Colombian artist, producer, singer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist living in East Los Angeles. Strange World, a new EP of soulful modern pop songs, marks St. Panther’s first release with art-forward label partner drink sum wtr. A striking return and sign of what’s to come, Strange World reignites the excited simmer that surrounded their 2020 breakout debut EP, These Days. Smooth, dynamic, and super-charged with emotion, the songs of Strange World search for purpose, security, and love — notions that are ever at odds with the speed of today’s uncertain landscape. “We’ll never be the same \/ But I’m still rooting for us,” they sing on the title track, lending a statement of intent for a set that thrives in realness and hope.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA St. Panther song can move between soul, R\u0026amp;B, jazz, hip-hop, or alt-pop; what makes it theirs is an ear for inventive, inviting production and an unmistakable voice. Whether raspy or silky, crooning or rapping, that drawl contains pure charisma, joy, and grit. Their ability to tap into life’s vibrance as much as its pain places them within a rarified throughline of expressive pop greats from Wonder to Winehouse. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFive years is a long time in this strange world, and Bojorges-Giraldo used it wisely, making space to grow as an artist and person, to record, and to “become a part of my village,” they explain. “I've spent so many years making music and making noise endlessly and kind of just shouting into this echo chamber that never ends. But I took this long pause to really listen to my village, listen to the needs of my community, and the people around me. We're all feeling the weight of the world on our shoulders a bit. We want hope, you know, for our listeners, we want people to feel heard and that there's someone out there representing this feeling.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The opening piano vignette “Brand New” reintroduces the project. “Before, I was a little bit more guarded to let people into the deep space of my story and my life...I'm ready to open a completely new door. I'm letting the outside world into that.” Here, St. Panther is stationed at the keys, in their apartment studio in Boyle Heights, which they lovingly describe as “literally the ricketiest setup ever.” Strange World sessions were split between that familiar setting and a new one, Haven Sound, the Burbank studio run by co-producer Chris McClenney (H.E.R., Khalid, Jamila Woods). They credit McClenney’s presence for pushing them forward sonically, “just to reference each other and pick apart the things that we can make more modern and push this music a little further.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“American Dreams” gets to “the why” for Bojorges-Giraldo, who found themselves questioning the roots of their ambition, their relationship to technology, and their place in the world, coming up in a first-generation immigrant family, and as a trans person in a country where safety is constantly compromised. Over slow marching drums and guitar, they deliver stanzas on doom scrolling and the daily grind. In contrast to the capitalist dream, St. Panther is here for human success. “I want our communities to succeed in caring about each other.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey kick up the tempo for “Strange World”, featuring past collaborator Rae Khalil and co-written with Erik Bodin of Little Dragon, replete with punchy percussion, shuffling bass, organ stabs, and finger snaps. “The Deal” is a lounge-y love ballad that finds St. Panther at their most raw, in a D’Angelo mode of tender, reflecting in the clarity of a breakup gone good; “it changed me foundationally as a person. In all the best ways.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStrange World closes on “Whoever Said Silence is Peace”, a pointed, piano-hooked outro that started like many St. Panther songs do, from intimate experience, “then they gain more context over time.” Great pop music often holds a mirror to generations, and St. Panther does so here with timeless ease.\u003cbr\u003eNew boost\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"St. Panther","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":54330546323747,"sku":"DSW027digital","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW-027_3000x300_501a5812-1cff-46fd-8cd3-ed7b2ef78791.jpg?v=1757706523"},{"product_id":"a-constant-charade","title":"A Constant Charade","description":"\u003cp\u003eWith A Constant Charade, Oakland artist and producer Elujay removes the mask from his multifaceted, genre-crossing craft. “One of the most talented singer-songwriters in the Bay Area” (Hypebeast) makes his solo debut on the art-forward indie label drink sum wtr with a risk-embracing LP that follows nearly a decade of distinct work in the contemporary pop landscape. He sees his style as a fusion of unexpected flairs: R\u0026amp;B stirred up with rhythms drawn from yacht rock, sophisti-pop, dancehall, Al Jeel, Lovers Rock, and the tones of his Trinidadian roots. He pushes the sound outward in various directions on A Constant Charade, a dynamic collection marked by vulnerability and ambition. Themes touch on social cues, behavioral loops, and the ways we perform for others, “just noticing how I feel when I’m around people,” he says. Whether I’m code switching or acting differently…we all do it, it’s a charade.” With his signature croon and strongest arrangements to date, joined by a cast of collaborators and co-producers, Elujay cuts through the games to get real. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded in various locations over a three-year period, A Constant Charade caps a breakout 2025 that started with the second installment of GEMS IN THE CORNERSTORE from JEMS!, his dsw-signed project with J. Robb. Like GEMS, the new album leans further into the influences of Caribbean music and leftfield electronic from dance to ambient and a dozen strains in between. “I think it's important to just notice that these people who you work with kind of give credence to new sounds that you find,” says Elujay. He credits much of Charade’s nostalgic quality to Nicholas Creus, “he’s a jazz guitarist and huge fan of The Police and yacht rock, he’s just all over this record.” As well as longtime collaborators Martin Rodrigues, Jaden Wiggins, and Ben Yasemsky, whom Elujay has known since childhood. “Benji is just a silent killer, great guitarist, producer, and finisher, always at the 11th hour tidying everything up.” When it comes to working with others, “I don’t have an ego about it, it’s all about: the best idea wins. At the end of the day, it’s for the people, we just want to make the best music possible.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlbum opener \"Rogue Heart\" finds Elujay floating above a breakbeat; his flow skitters over the hook, detailing the record’s central message. “It’s about finding myself through different partners and different situations…I was wearing this mask for somebody, and I realized that my heart wasn’t fully in it. How you can kind of lose yourself in someone’s aura.” He takes the metaphor a step further on \"Flotilla\", likening love to submersion, literal bodies of water. “Being scared of commitment but knowing it’s okay to dive into something.” Sonics mirror the feel with loose, fluid guitar lines and a pulsing beat. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tempo drops for “Hyundai”, a downtempo mode where Elujay’s velvety vocals come to the fore. Backed by bass, guitar, piano, and saxophone, he spins lines about “that person in your life that gives you that boost, you know, like keeps you going. Because they have conviction and confidence in what they do, and you can lean on that in times of self-doubt.” On the smooth falsetto jam “Circles”, he outlines the shape of looping routines and interpersonal performance. It’s in these passages that Elujay reveals glimpses of his true self behind the stylish exterior. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe delivers the airy and poignant late album highlight “Anjeli” with serpentwithfeet, in their second duet following 2022’s Circumvnt. Directed to “angel number nine,” the two artists trade verses on the sobering flipside of promiscuity, a visceral sense of solitude set to synth chords. “I don't know how he does it, but his vocals…bro is just a wizard.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA Constant Charade ends on the jazzy ballad, “Stereo Blasting,” crossing hypnotic instrumentation with one of Elujay’s most daring performances. “I was in my room, stereo blasting, it took a while to let down your guard,” he sings as percussion comes crashing down on each syllable of the chorus. A fitting place to close an album as adventurous as it is intimate.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Elujay","offers":[{"title":"Ochre Vinyl","offer_id":54356767441187,"sku":"DSW021lp-C1","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":54353192681763,"sku":"DSW021digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW021lp-c1_Packshot.jpg?v=1758720994"},{"product_id":"extraordinary","title":"Extraordinary","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNon-US buyers: Try ordering from \u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(43, 0, 255);\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/secretlystore.com\/products\/extraordinary\" style=\"color: rgb(43, 0, 255);\"\u003eSecretly Store\u003c\/a\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efor better shipping options!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTrue to its name, \u003cem\u003eExtraordinary\u003c\/em\u003e, Gareth Donkin's second album widens the scale of his virtuosic soul-pop songcraft not just on a sonic level, but in a profoundly personal way. A step wiser and more confident, fresh off a feature on De La Soul’s new album, the London-based singer-songwriter and producer lets go of past constructs to celebrate the present tense with his most sophisticated, vast, and dazzling work to date, nodding to disco, R\u0026amp;B, and funk greats with playful charisma and modern sheen. He says, \"\u003cem\u003eExtraordinary\u003c\/em\u003e is about taking ownership of your life, embracing new experiences and adventure.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhat happens after a coming-of-age album? Donkin, now 25, at the peak of his powers, would say life keeps going, it doesn't get any easier, \"but you learn more about yourself, who you once were, who you are now, and what you truly want.\" Released on art-forward label drink sum wtr, Donkin's 2023 breakthrough full-length debut, Welcome Home, resonated far and wide — from BBC Radio to Billboard (\"a soul-savant\") — and brought him to SXSW for the first time. Yet his struggles to find happiness during its rollout came to a head following the release, in a year marked by setbacks and heartbreak. His first impulse was to reach for\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eromanticised fantasy, culminating in the cathartic Suite Escape EP in 2024. \"Once the EP was complete, I found myself in a much clearer headspace to dive into this new project,\" he adds. \"I enlisted the help of some incredible musicians and artists who saw the vision and ran with it.” \u003cem\u003eExtraordinary\u003c\/em\u003e guests include ESME, Kiefer, and UHMEER, with contributions from Shaan Ramaprasad (Jamila Woods, Teddy Swims), Disclosure's Howard Lawrence, and many others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDonkin's made a name for himself as an old soul, one-man-band in the ilk of Prince and Stevie Wonder, often seen on social media assembling songs from behind his bass, pads, and keys with mystifying ease, covering everything from pop culture mainstays like Jamiroquai and Outkast to deep cut legends like Al B. Sure!, Patrice Rushen, and The Jones Girls. His pure enthusiasm is endearing and contagious; it's impossible not to smile and nod along. Even when the world appears to be rooting for you, though, the anxiety of adulthood can consume even the most lighthearted. Behind the cheerful disposition, Donkin became overwhelmed by constant change, strain, and the dissolution of a relationship. \"Listening back to Welcome Home, the world, in a way, was still quite exciting to me. I was wowed by everything, modest but a bit naive. I've had people walk all over me in the past,\" he says, noting a recent inflection point where he turned the corner. \"I think part of getting older is navigating how to stand up for myself and recognize and acknowledge my self-worth and self-respect. I realized how much I'd been holding myself back. This album represents letting go of those limitations, surrounding myself with good people, and choosing to live fully.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLike past work, \u003cem\u003eExtraordinary\u003c\/em\u003e captures Donkin's undeniable talent and charm. What sets the record apart is the expanse in which these virtues shine, given unprecedented space to move. \"It just sounds bigger, more current,\" he says, with a quip, \"Almost like, more expensive.\" He continues on the leap to LP2, \"Because I started the last album when I was 19, I sat with all of those songs for a really long time. I still love them, but I think that this album will continue to feel fresh to me.\" Donkin beams on the topic of \u003cem\u003eExtraordinary\u003c\/em\u003e touchstones. \"This is a tall order and task, but I set out to make something reminiscent of people like Earth, Wind, and Fire, David Foster, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Michael Jackson, and Quincy Jones, especially Quincy, like the big horns and arrangements, the Jerry Hey horns… I've tried my absolute best to throw that in there whilst also finding a contemporary flair and fluidity throughout the project.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe cinematic opener \"Out Here\" sets a hopeful tone. \"It's basically a love letter to LA from a Brit,\" he says, leaning into the 'seize the day' sensation that met him and co-producer James Berkeley on the LAX runway. \"Something is changing, it's come over me \/ Letting my feet fly off the ground,\" Donkin sings in his sweetly-hued high tenor, from the school of Back to Avalon and Off The Wall. For \"Where Did We Go?,” he shifts into a more subdued, reflective mood, backed by strings and slide guitar, featuring Stones Throw affiliate Kiefer on keys, whose smooth glissando sets up the next slow-jam sequence. \"Never Gonna Break Your Heart\" finds Donkin at his childhood piano, writing \"about a flame that dwindled and left me hurt and confused.\" Here he's at his most soulful, deep in an R\u0026amp;B dream, harmonizing with backing vocals as finger snaps and kick drums give way to wobbly bass and luxurious strings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom unifying anthems (\"Sing, Everybody\") to powerful self-mantras (\"Please Don't Give Up!\", \"Don't Be So Hard On Yourself\") to drama-shedding declarations (\"Half Shuffle\"), Donkin unlocks the kind of optimism that can only come from hard work on yourself. \"Come and dance with me,\" he urges on \"Running Away\", a shuffling, unpredictable, house-infused pop song co-written and co-produced by Howard Lawrence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe title track captures \u003cem\u003eExtraordinary's\u003c\/em\u003e prevailing sense of autonomy, with Donkin howling above a yacht-rock groove. It all fades into \"Hello Sunrise\", a closing coda that fittingly marks the start of a new day for a timeless artist who has found that hope springs eternal.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gareth Donkin","offers":[{"title":"LP (Solar Flare Vinyl)","offer_id":54683613135139,"sku":"DSW026lp-C1","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":54683613167907,"sku":"DSW026cd","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":54683613200675,"sku":"DSW026digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW026-c1Transparent.png?v=1769450534"},{"product_id":"fidelity","title":"Fidelity","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNon-US buyers\u003c\/strong\u003e: Try ordering from \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/secretlystore.com\/products\/fidelity\"\u003eSecretly Store\u003c\/a\u003e \u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003efor faster, more economic shipping rates\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCD + CD Bundle Includes:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eFidelity\u003c\/em\u003e CD + \u003cem\u003edo it afraid\u003c\/em\u003e CD\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2xLP + CD Bundle includes:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eFidelity\u003c\/em\u003e CD + \u003cem\u003edo it afraid\u003c\/em\u003e 2xLP\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eWhen Queens-born Yaya Bey released her third album,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edo it afraid,\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ein 2025, she yearned to move past the topic of grief after feeling her work was increasingly viewed through the narrow lens of loss. That said, there was plenty to mourn, from the death of her father, the acclaimed Juice Crew MC, Grand Daddy I.U. as well as a creeping sense that a particular Black American experience, the one she grew up in, was disappearing. The week the album dropped, despite the critical acclaim, she found herself on the road in a Miami hotel room, crying uncontrollably. She wasn’t just tired, but also coming to the realization\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e“there was no place for that grief to exist that would not become a spectacle. I had been holding it in. Maybe, to protect myself. Maybe to prove the onlookers wrong. Whatever the case, it was spilling over now.”\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eWhat Bey was pondering was\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e“what part of that ache is specifically Black?”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand clarity followed. Yaya quickly returned to the studio after last summer and crafted a new body of work, an album that works as an accompanying piece to\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edo it afraid\u003c\/em\u003e, called\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFidelity\u003c\/em\u003e, the result of that breaking point. It is a record born from a summer of reflection on what it means to be a Black artist when your grief becomes a commodity, another sob story for onlookers to feast upon.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFidelity\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a bold step forward, and in this new act, Bey moves past the surface-level labels to examine what she calls the \"Three Deaths\": the personal, the communal, and the loss of innocence.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe album confronts Personal\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eDeath through the passing of her father in 2022. Bey questions why the life expectancy of Black musicians is so short as we continue to lose consequential artists, only to receive their flowers too late, too far after the fact. \"Why are we more interesting as ghosts?\" she asks, looking at the mid-career mark where so many artists are left to die by a system that prioritizes the \"shiny and new.\"\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eOn\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eFidelity\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, the social and the personal are inseparable. Bey explores the Death of Home and community, charting the displacement of native New Yorkers and the fracture of the Black diaspora. She critiques the rise of Black capitalism, or the \"individualism and tribalism\" that have replaced community solidarity. From the gentrification of her native Queens or Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy to the \"diaspora wars\" online, Bey navigates the ways we’ve been pulled apart, weaponizing our differences instead of addressing the collective ache of being \"made new\" in a world that demands our constant adaptation.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eFinally, the record addresses the Death of Innocence—the crash back to reality for a generation raised on the empty promises of the 90s and Y2K eras. Bey reflects on the transition from the \"Golden Era\" of Black media to a landscape of global pandemics, state violence, and an industry that exploits and disposes of Black artists that were once held in high esteem.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe songs showcase Bey’s range as a performer from lead-off single\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Blue”\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ewhich opens like a breath of fresh air to the project. Yaya says:\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e“Blue” is the first song I wrote for the album. I wrote it when I was rock bottom coming off the heels of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003edo it afraid\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e. When I realized I had to make a big shift mentally and emotionally or I was gonna drown. The production is really reminiscent of early 2000's Pop\/R\u0026amp;B like something red-haired Kelly Rowland would sing over on one of her solo projects. The nostalgia drew me to it. Almost like I'm coaching my younger self through something. Which I guess ultimately I am.”\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eEqually bright and effusive, “Forty Days” glimmers with clarity, a song with a heavy theme about a phase transfer that is unexpectedly buoyed with a Disco-Funk confidence.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e“There’s a belief that after a loved one dies you give them 40 days to pass over into the ancestral realm and that got me thinking about what is the time frame for the grieving to transition into a new life that is absent of the lost one’s physical presence. How do both acclimate to new conditions of the relationship?”\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eFellow Queens native NESTA drops in for\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Egyptian Musk”\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, a surprise chance moment turning into a key moment in the album.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e“I ran into NESTA at an event the night before and invited him to a session. We had this really dreamy reggae track that sounds like something old with a fresh spin. I named it Egyptian Musk ‘cause it reminds me of the scent. Rich, sweet and comforting.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eThe core of the album is indeed found in its title. For Bey,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eFidelity\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis the ultimate Black skill. It is the ability to fall down and get back up—to be \"religiously joyful\" even while the world is on fire. It is a grand pivot away from a yearning for mainstream accessibility, and toward a radical faithfulness to self and community.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eFidelity\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis not just a foil to\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003edo it afraid\u003c\/em\u003e; it’s a reclamation. As she puts it, the veil is lifting and the work is being done, and she’s still here. Cheers to hers, and our fidelity. \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Yaya Bey","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":54730953752867,"sku":"DSW032cd","price":13.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD + CD Bundle","offer_id":54730953785635,"sku":"DSW032xbnd02","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP + CD Bundle","offer_id":54730953818403,"sku":"DSW032xbnd01","price":38.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":54730953851171,"sku":"DSW032digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW032cd.jpg?v=1770914299"},{"product_id":"the-color-of-rain","title":"the color of rain","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cem\u003eNon-US buyers: Try ordering from\u003cspan\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/secretlystore.com\/products\/the-color-of-rain\"\u003eSecretly Store\u003c\/a\u003e \u003c\/span\u003efor faster, more economic shipping rates\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethe color of rain\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a compositional tour-de-force of poetry, emotion, and resonance.  Rain nourishes, blesses, and renews. It loves everything it touches. This album is the space between droplets. At the crux of rising fascism, aja monet offers\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ea waking-dream intervention, amid the sinister reality of contemporary events. A prompt to look up at the sky within.,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ethe color of rain\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis an imbrication of familiar genres forged beyond category or definition. as one stride’s through the sequence of poems,  each song shifts between musical perceptions of jazz, soul, hip hop, rhythm and blues. surrealism at it’s finest, a marvelous unleashing of the mind.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ethe color of rain\u003c\/em\u003e  reminds us that poetry predates the very blueprints of genre.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eThis is an evolution from the intimate, live-café energy of aja monet’s Grammy-nominated debut album,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ewhen the poems do what they do.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eWhile\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eshe nods at the Black Arts Movement’s legacy and lineage, this sophomore album is a conjure to experiment and explore the interior\u003cem\u003e. \u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eIf the first album was a gentle altar call, then the second is an impassioned call to\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ebare\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003earms, a definitive guide to choose your weapon, wisely. If the pen is the sword, music sharpens or blunts the blade.  \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eLive instrumentation anchors the record but it’s spirit surfaces in pre- and post- production with warped sonics, wayward voltas, and delicate investigations. Meshell Ndegecello conducts the illustrious cast of musicians while Justin Brown bolsters the prismatic vision\u003cem\u003e.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eIn true community organizing fashion,\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eaja knows how to bring artists together, recruiting meaningful musical contributions from Burniss Travis, Josh Johnson, Daniel Mintseris, Jermaine Paul, Ambrose Akinmusire and Nico Segal.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cem\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eaja monet recites poetry with verve and risk. what sets her apart as a poet is her vulnerable immersion in the music. Her vocal delivery is a rare art. she’s not just monotonously reciting words over a stubborn beat.  aja’s tone, rhythm, and cadence interacts with music melodically and vice versa. her instincts as a touring bandleader are felt on this record as we bear witness to the mood and meter of her words. They lead these songs by refrain, invocation, or image. At times the urgency of what is said underscores the deliberate breaths of stillness. As we listen intently, we catch glimpses of aja singing throughout\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ethe color of rain\u003c\/em\u003e. It’s a sonic collage of sounds and personas but most importantly—commands presence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor the devoted lovers of poetry, there are breadcrumbs of metaphor and meaning embedded within and throughout her musical choices. ‘Say It With Your Chest,\u003cem\u003e’\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e opens\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ethe color of rain\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eas a sublime drumming mantra for courageous truth telling. “elsewhere” poetically grooves and glimmers in honor of Sly Stone’s memory--featuring soul-stirring vocals by Georgia Anne Muldrow, Novena Carmel, and  Meshell Ndegeocello. The afro-punk drum and horn haunts in “hollyweird” as aja reports on the Los Angeles fires of 2025, smoldering of visceral descriptions.  With synth finger paint on “withness” and trumpet sketches on several songs such as “skinfolk,” the album draws the listener close. And reaches an intense polyrhythmic rally in “for the congo.” aja tells us to\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e“talk about the blood”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003erepetitively. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eSoaked by absurd and provocative vocal treatments, her poem, “song of myself” is a direct nod to thepoet Walt Whitman as aja ventures to confront the loose contradictions within a “self.” She straddles the world between that which makes sense and that of which our senses are tested\u003cstrong\u003e.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eWe don’t have to look far for the shattered ground that is paved of the illogical and magical, there’s a song called Melting Clocks. Which, if even a nod to Dali only in name, boasts a tempo that darts, transports, and moves as if time itself were being questioned. How do you listen when sound is being rearranged in front of you? This work makes us wonder about what we know to be true and stirs us to lean into the mystical unknown. The song extends with clever lyrical offerings from Mick Jenkins, Vic Mensa, and Josh Lane. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eWe are encouraged to consider the temporality of love as\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ethe color of rain\u003c\/em\u003e  renders a poetic ballad by way of, “Love is a Choosing,” featuring the fresh breeze of  Mereba’s voice. While aja’s work sits in the knuckled terrain of advocacy and protest, it is without glamour and showmanship.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e“I do not trust a mouth that has never pronounced the word, sister,”\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003ea testament to the onus she responds to, that of care for dignity and equality, as it echoes in the lives of women. Sister is a verb. “To Sister.” This sentiment is realized with vocal breaths by Ganavya and hints of harp by Brandee Younger.  It’s a real treat to hear the playful adlibs in “i know that i don’t know” and suspends us into a moment for humor and insight. the brave and daring bass steers the listener through the pressing depths that is “every media minute.” A poem that mirrors the moment. “working class musicians,” in its sonic landscape is unrelenting – rapturous jazz, hands and hums, chants that hold fort as propulsive tenors. Art is a labor. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003eA call to testify, imagine, and transmute\u003cem\u003e, the color of rain\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis the hue of daring introspection. This album is aja monet’s refusal of convention and apathy.  The final words of the closing song “indigo”  encourages the listener not just to hear, but to drift, to wander, to go inward—to feel. Be the poem we need right now.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe rain exploding \u003cbr\u003ein the air is love.\u003cbr\u003e-sonia sanchez \u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"aja monet","offers":[{"title":"CD + Vinyl Bundle","offer_id":55034425540899,"sku":"DSW029xbnd01","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"2xLP","offer_id":54856903852323,"sku":"DSW029lp","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":54856903885091,"sku":"DSW029cd","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital","offer_id":54856903917859,"sku":"DSW029digital","price":10.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0682\/1602\/9475\/files\/DSW029lp_Packshot.jpg?v=1774276441"},{"product_id":"a-constant-charade-deluxe","title":"A Constant Charade (Deluxe)","description":"\u003cdiv\u003eAhead of summer tour dates, Elujay releases\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Constant Charade Deluxe\u003c\/em\u003e, an expanded digital edition of his 2026 LP, adding six new tracks to the ambitious set that saw praise from Clash (“supremely crafted”) and The New Yorker (“breezy and sweet”). 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He calls it “a personal take on blending my Caribbean and alternative influences into a single song.” The tapestry expands elsewhere; he channels UK street soul and Sade vibes for “Bomo”, and leans into Bachata for the romantic “Rockas”, which he made after visiting his father in the Dominican Republic. \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eA tender, reflective tone runs throughout. “Wushua” is a tribute to D'Angelo, written the day the neo-soul legend died. “I wanted to resurrect his spirit through the music.” On the dreamy, dubby “Know It”, Elu searches for validation; above snapping percussion and looped strums, he details feelings of not being enough. 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