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It’s been well documented here on Sound Buffet that I have a major crush on Pat Grossi aka Active Child. I pretty much have a full-on spazz attack every time he releases new material. His cinematic falsetto is ah-mazing on its own, but when coupled with well-delivered rap lyrics, it enters an entirely new stratosphere. The lucky collaborator, Gilbere Forte, is a talented performer in his own right. Forte is a rapper based in Philly, whose debut EP, Pray (on which “Nolita” appears), drops today.
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Female indie poppers are a dime a dozen these days, but there’s something about Suvi that stands out from the crowd. The combination of strong synths, a powerful drum pattern and the singer’s angsty (someone really did a number on homegirl) but pretty vocals really works for me – so much in fact, that I got some weird stares as I blasted – and sang along to – this song in my car. “Bleeding For Your Love” is the second release from Suvi, a pop singer/songwriter from Stockholm. Her debut album is expected out sometime this year.
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Mariah Carey may be one of the biggest divas out there, but she has the goods to back it up. She’s been in the business for 23 years and she’s still got it, and her latest collaboration with R&B crooner Miguel is proof of that. Don’t let the hashtag in the title deter you – this song really is gorgeous (or #beautiful…whatever). The song – co-written by Carey and Miguel – was released only days ago and is already being touted as the “song of the summer.” It is off of Mariah’s latest LP, which is due out sometime this summer.
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As some of you may have noticed, Sound Buffet has been on a bit of a hiatus as of late. To make a long story extremely short, Sound Buffet is no longer based in Chicago – it is now officially a DC blog. (Slightly longer story: I moved back to the Dirty District earlier this month and am starting law school in the fall, which will leave even less time for blogging.)
But enough about me - onto the music. I’ve been listening to all sorts of stuff over the past month, but when it came time to decide what song to blog about, Ta-ku’s remix of “Left Alone” was a no-brainer, seeing as I’ve probably listened to it upwards of 40 times since I first heard it a few weeks back. If Flume’s original featuring Chet Faker is a beauty, then Ta-ku’s remix is a freaking beast. By packing the original with a healthy dose of bass, Ta-ku transforms what was once a soulful electronic song into a trap heavyweight. Like Flume, Ta-ku is an electronic producer from Australia. Recently, he’s been making his presence known stateside by churning out trap (the music genre du jour) remixes that are anything but ordinary.
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Usually my song attention caps at about four minutes, but I savor all 370 seconds of “Song for Zula.” It is, in a word, stunning. The fragile vocals, lovelorn lyrics and celestial instrumentals work together to create a sublime listening experience. The song is performed by Phosphorescent, aka Matthew Houck, a singer-songwriter from Alabama who now resides in Brooklyn. Houck is not exactly new to the music industry - Muchacho, his latest LP, which dropped last week, is actually his seventh album. As with wine, Houck seems to get better with age.