Genres in this issue: Hip hop, Arabic, grime, trap, UK funky, garage, dubstep
Cooly G
Playin Me
Selected by Mike (Wax & Stamp)
Sami Baha
Mavericks
Selected by Mike (Wax & Stamp)
The Letter
The good news this month is that we’re very close to catching up with all of the chaos that was caused by our warehouse and logistics company going out of business a couple of months ago. In the next few weeks those of you that are waiting for April’s box will finally get that, and then we should be all caught up. We’re currently testing a few features with the warehouse, including automatic feeding of order tracking numbers to your account control panel, so you’ll have more visibility of where your deliveries are! We’ll keep you posted on that.
Now, on to June’s vinyl:
Your album this month is the highly lauded “Playin’ Me” by Cooly G. This is an excellent slice of early ‘10s UK funky scene loveliness. Very distinctively London sounding, Cooly explores the lineage of her sound, from funky to dubstep to garage to drum'n'bass, she digs all the way back to the groundswell of synthesised, post-disco R&B to give it a common thread. Look out for the unexpected Coldplay cover - we would have never expected that on an album like this!
The 12”` for this month is a great accompaniment to the album, but from a different background and country. Sami Baha is a young producer from Istanbul, with his roots in the Turkish Hiphop scene, who has been stealthily pricking up ears with guest spots on Rinse FM and NTS since he moved to London. He says of his sound; "I grew up when the Arabic style of Turkish music known as Arabesk was at the centre stage of Turkish culture, so I was listening to popular Turkish performers Ibrahim Tatlises and Muslum Gurses alongside trap originators DJ Screw and the Atlanta scene. I know people don't hear the orient instruments and rhythms in my music, but I like to think of my music as arabesk-trap, as I feel like the Arabesk and trap crossover is where they come from and in their feel."
‘Mavericks’ EP is a deconstructed and beautifully crafted take on the trap sound, using a dramatic sense of space and melody that gives the EP an epic feel plus a great attention to sonic detail. Play loud!
