Put Me On: June 2021
From Mereba to James Blake to Kaash Paige, let me put you on.
Welcome back to another month, another playlist, and another issue of Put Me On! This month’s songs as usual span all sorts of genres, but lean heavily on polar opposite sides. We start off slow with some more indie and R&B leaning artists from Cavetown to Mereba to Bachelor and then almost abruptly make a jump into rap – both slower jams like Kaash Paige and Bali Baby to way more intense sounding tracks from Comethazine and Rio Da Yung Og. No matter what your musical preference is, there’s always something for everybody.
Also, Happy Pride! If you’re looking for it, I have a little playlist just for that too. But as usual, you can find this month’s playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.
“You’re Too Precious,” James Blake
As usual, this month starts off with something smooth from one of my favorite artists – James Blake, aka the man whose music was the soundtrack to my life for the entire first half of 2019 with his last project Assume Form. James Blake’s music has the ability to lure you into something of a musical wonderland. On this track, there’s barely anything going on sonically, and yet so much happening at the same time – the claps, the warped vocals, the light singing in the background. There’s even a moment towards the end where his voice comes in a bit louder in a way that feels like it shoots through your chest. I wanted this playlist to start off with something that truly pulled you into the music that you’re about to experience, and James Blake never fails to do just that.
Oh, man. Where do I even start with this song? First of all, Mustafa’s debut project – When Smoke Rises – is without a doubt my favorite album of 2021 so far. It is beautiful. Besides his ability to tell such painfully moving stories on top of such soothing instrumentals and with a voice that makes you ache along with him, this song is just crazy good. The piano, the voice, the simplicity of it all comes together to make such a perfect final product that the first time I ever heard this I was left completely speechless. And as you know, if an album leaves me speechless, that’s when I know it’s going to the top of my lists. The last album that hit me the way Mustafa’s did was Chloe x Halle’s Ungodly Hour last year, which quickly became my #1. And Mustafa is definitely in the running to follow suit.
“Time Moves Slow,” BADBADNOTGOOD, Samuel T. Herring
If you’re on TikTok (which I’d hope you are by now if you’re subscribed to this newsletter since I mention it so much), you’ve most likely heard this song, but a lo-fi edit that spins the chorus and went viral earlier in June by an artist called VANO3000. And while the edit is good, the original song, from BADBADNOTGOOD’s 2016 effort IV, is a dramatic masterpiece. Samuel T. Herring’s voice on that chorus, and the way it drags throughout the song, is reminiscent of another era – his voice combined with those drums seem vaguely familiar and yet passionately new as it builds into a powerfully moving chorus. For a while I was replaying this so many times back to back that it was actually concerning, it was the default song playing in my head at all times whether I had earphones in or not, and I’m so happy that it’s been resurfaced for some newfound popularity.
When I think about artists and albums that had an impact on me in my life there’s so many, but one who always floats to the top of that list is MARINA, formerly Marina & The Diamonds. I urge you to listen to her older albums like The Family Jewels and Electra Heart, the projects that made me fall in love with her voice and this style of pop – bouncy yet introspective and not annoyingly commercial or vapid. Her latest project, Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land seems to be a callback to her older works and I absolutely love it. To be honest, I was between including this track or “Highly Emotional People” for the newsletter, but ultimately this song captures the essence of what MARINA does best – examine a serious topic within culture with airy vocals and an infectious beat.
What’s a Put Me On playlist if it doesn’t include a DMV artist? And what’s a DMV artist if they haven’t taken a random classic and flipped it to rap about something totally unrelated to the nature of the original song (for example: Moneymarr’s “Jump On It,” GlockBoyKari’s “Holla Back” or XanMan’s “iCarly”)? Goonew is one of the biggest artists in the DMV right now, and I listen to him a lot if I’m being honest (see this playlist for reference). Quite frankly, I just think this song is fun as hell and a real testament to his creativity, because not only is he using the hell out of the piano in the original song, but he dips into a bunch of different flows over the course of the track itself. The darkness of his voice and the track as a whole contrasts with the upbeat message of the original in a way that the first time I heard it I was so intrigued that next thing I knew I couldn’t stop listening.
“Beating Down Yo Block,” Monaleo
Speaking of songs that are fun as hell, this one is another viral favorite from a rapper who I hadn’t heard of until now. In a way, it’s giving Flo Milli – Monaleo’s voice rests in a similar range in terms of pitch, but her lyrics are unquestionably more biting. And that’s exactly what I love about it. The end of each verse had me going “Damn!” which is exactly what I’m looking for in a rapper. Even besides her raps, the song is a modern day extension of Yungstar’s Houston classic, “Knocking Pictures Off The Wall” which meant I immediately liked it just off the strength of the sample alone. And with a sound like that, it wasn’t long before this became my personal anthem for the month.
That’s all for this month’s issue of Put Me On! As usual, you can check out the full playlist on Spotify or Apple Music.
This newsletter is completely free to read, but each month I highlight a different community organization, charity, or foundation for you to consider donating to if you can. This month, in honor of Pride Month, I invite you to check out The Emergency Release Fund, whose mission is to post bail for LGBTQ+ individuals to get them out of detention centers in New York City through mutual aid.
See you next month!
Tia