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news time! a short selection of links to all things going on in the music biz:

been saying this!

never read it, never seen it, crying anyway

this is one to be watching yessir, yessir indeed, watching with both eyes please

this year, i’ve really been trying to make sure we get a great breadth of music shared every week. i’m always looking through what we’ve sent and what we’ve got coming up to make sure no stone goes unturned and no genre or idea sits unsent. so imagine how i must feel when some of the most banging jazz lands on my head, and in my, nay, our database. yes that’s right, eagle eared among you may have already heard this. it was in last months submissions playlist. making it one of many songs to be featured in a playlist and then on the newsletter. told you it works. anywho, this is a gorgeous track, all instrumental and interesting and full to the brim with melody and tone. my advice to you? twofold! one, if you have a song you’ve been meaning or thinking of submitting, submit! it goes on the playlist, it might go here, just like this. two, plug your headphones in, get yourself ready to groove and let’s dive into the bounce by jon onabowu and david mrakpor.

i was thinking while listening to this, man, it must be so hard to mix a track like this. to have so much going on in the form of keys, piano, brass, bass, drums, guitar. it’s so so so much and to come away with something coherent and cohesive? not an easy task. the fact that this whole song feels like one single piece of gorgeous music is testament to the entire construction. the mix, of course, but the instrumentation too. the rhythmn is rock solid, grooving with plenty of character, signaling the start and end of each section with flair. the keys providing a middle area that glues everything together such that if you didn’t pay attention to it, it’d fall in the background, but if it wasn’t there? the whole thing would sound empty and fake. then there’s the brass and keys, giving so much life to this ensemble. and that’s just the tune, when this song gets going and the solos break out? it feels like the song is speaking to you. it’s such a rad experience.

the only thing i thought with this when i listened to it again and again, was man i wish the main melody had just a little bit more to it. the chords are lovely, the melody well positioned and stated, but it sort of is just a brief phrase. something a touch more hooky and memorable would cement this song

this is the kind of song where every bit of it makes me want to take up a new and different instrument

i went hunting for a good band to compare this to, and i stumbled across this album called keep on pullin’ by a band called bionic funk. it’s really rad, it’s in a very similar vein, and they’re called bionic funk you know what i mean?

it’s not often we get a submission in here from an artist that’s already really going places, but to be honest with you, this one is. usually they’re that bit earlier in their career but here we have an artist with feature after feature, collab after collab and a whole ton of dates coming up. and they deserve it, this track rules and the stuff they have coming up i think will blow your socks off. mine, are very much already off.