STAY WOKE: What To Listen To While You’re Waiting For Jai Paul Pt. 4: Acceptance

JAIPAUL

Typically there are 5 stages of grief or loss but I decided that we could skip a stage and head straight for acceptance. I’ve done 3 previous installments of the “What To Listen To While You’re Waiting For Jai Paul” series dating back to last summer and it’s taken me until now to accept that it’s time to move on and stop waiting for Jai Paul given all of the artists and music that’s out which more than fills the void left by his absence. By now, he’d only be adding to the wide selection of great music already out as opposed to tiding music fans over until he finally releases something.  That being said this will be the final installment of this series, the next time I do a piece along these lines it will have a different title. Jai Paul can do what he wants when he wants, the world revolves and life goes on regardless…

That being the case, I’ll shed light on a gang of up and coming artists and groups as well as established ones that have either recently released projects  or dropped ones I haven’t written about previously. I figure I’ll top out at 20 since I won’t be doing the next incarnation of this series until at least the Summer and that will give me more than enough time to discover some viable talent for my next post. The game don’t stop…

 

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Gabriel Garzon- Montano

Garzon-Montano’s LP “Bishouné: Alma del Huila” is without a doubt one of 2014’s breakout releases which left everyone from Lenny Kravitz to Mayer Hawthorne to Drake singing his praises. He’s currently writing and producing material for others (ex. Eliza Doolittle) but he’s poised to release some amazing music in 2015.

 

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TĀLĀ

TALA is an intriguing R&B prospect to me. Following her 2014 EP’s “The Duchess” and “Alchemy” I was left raising The People’s Eyebrow. Her 2015 output hasn’t dissuaded me in any way whatsoever. I need an album from TALA next…

 

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Collarbones

Collarbones has been on my radar since they released their heavily slept on sophomore LP “Die Young” in 2012. They dropped the excellent free EP “Atlantis 2014” last Spring followed by their new album Return” at the end of 2014. Since they’re based in Oceana (Australia/New Zealand) it’s extremely hard for them to break in North America. That’s where I come in…

 

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Rahel

I mostly remember Rahel from her work with Eric Lau and when she finally released her debut LP “Alkali” in February it solidified her place among my favorite vocalists of the past decade. I’m looking forward to see what she does going forward.

 

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Sudie

Sudie was on my last list but she’s back on this one because she finally dropped her debut EP back a few weeks ago. LISTEEEEEEEN! © Raphael De La Ghetto

 

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MNEK

MNEK has also been featured in previous incarnations of this series but he’s back after dropping his long awaited EP, “Small Talk” in March. We need a full length album from MNEK in 2015 as well…

 

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Dolphin

In March the enigmatic artist Dolphin released the 7 minute epic track “Young Black Mind” via Fresh Selects and even though we only have two songs to go off of, I know that his 2015 LP which will be released via the Fresh Selects label is going to be one for the record books. Trust us on this…

 

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PKWY (Terracotta Blue x Emily Hope)

The producer Terracotta Blue was a regular on Producer I Know, now he’s part of a duo called PKWY that makes some excellent music together. They opened 2015 with their debut EP “The Fire” and the track “Hiding Behind Fine” there’s a good chance they’ll put out an eye opening LP later on this year.

 

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LZRS TXN

Mysterious outfit LZRS TXN first came to my attention when my boy Malcolm J. Gray did a post about them on his Future Sounds series for KillerBoomBox last month. After releasing three dope songs in a row (“Anywayzer”, “Only Lovers Left Alive” & “The Last Metro”) they announced their debut EP drops next month. Can’t wait to hear what else they have in store.

 

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Devon Baldwin

Devon Baldwin’s voice stood out to me when she was featured on Blackbear’s album, her vocals on “Waste Away” made me seek out all things Devon Baldwin related. Needless to say, I’m very glad I did. She is developing quite a unit with both 4e and Christoph Andersson. An EP or a full length project should alert more people to her output as everyone is more focused on Niykee Heaton at the moment.

 

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TELANA

I discovered TELANA’s “AETHER EP” this Winter and I ended up playing it quite a bit seeing as how I was surrounded by 6 feet of snow everywhere. The trio of songs she did with producer Cam’ Obi showcased her versatility and now I’m looking forward to see what she does next.

 

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Alina Baraz

Alina Baraz is yet another artist I discovered while listening to something else. I discovered Alina Baraz’ work with Galimatias after I heard the song she did with Producers I Know regular ESTA, “Paradise”. The track with Galimatias called “Fantasy” is an indicator of the potential a full length project with them could yield. Just recently they dropped the song “Can I” which hits iTunes on April 28th. We need that Galimatias x Alina Baraz album in our lives yesterday…

 

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Clara La San

I’ve heard numerous songs from Clara La San thus far. “Let You Go”, her sensual cover of Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body” , “Nineteen Twenty”, “I Was Always Yours”, “XXX” and other random joints of hers I happen to stumble across here and there. The best thing is that she writes and produces all of her own material which makes her all the more intriguing to me. Worst part is I don’t know if she intends to release an album or an EP any time soon…

 

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Dre Green

I discovered Dre Green while running through the previous work of the producer The-Drum. That led me to her project “Only One” on Lo Motion from last Summer. Her last song was “Let Me Know” produced by frequent collaborator Jeremiah Meece. They need to have her singing more than her breathy talk singing in the future, though.

 

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Kali Uchis

I’ll be totally honest. I didn’t know shit about Kali Uchis until I heard her vocals on Tyler The Creator’s “Perfect”. After he mentioned her on Twitter, I went searching for her SoundCloud page where I heard her previous material and her new EP “Por Vida”. That’s pretty much it. You’re all caught up…

 

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George Maple (Jess Higgs)

I first found out about George Maple’s “Vacant Space EP” after visiting Hillydilly this past brutal Winter. I’m just waiting for a full length album to drop next. As dope as “Talk Talk” was I don’t need to hear 80 remixes of it on Soundcloud. Bless us with more music. Until then? I’m just gonna wait…

 

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Keeper

Keeper are a vocal trio from Austin, TX that have several great songs to their credit but came to most people’s attention when one of their songs was featured on an episode of the Comedy Central hit series “Broad City”. The song was the super dope “Happy To Be Sad” which is produced by Producers I Know regular BoomBaptist. Hopefully they drop an album soon after hearing their new offering “The Shadows”

 

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ABRA

I’m not big on the entire Awful Records roster but there are some acts out of Atlanta I do like more than others, that being Raury, Demo Taped and ABRA. ABRA’s “BLQ VELVET” dropped at the top of 2015 and I’m curious to see how she capitalizes off of it. The new song “U Ain’t Got To Lie” is dope but Father didn’t need to be on it at all. We’ll see what happens next.

 

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RAYE.

RAYE’s EP “Welcome To The Winter” really helped me make it through the Winter so there’s no surprise she landed on this here list. Her 7 song set made me look forward to what she puts out next. Don’t sleep on her…

 

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ELHAE

I feel like based on what I’ve heard of ELHAE’s “Aura EP” he can best be as described what would happen if Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR happened to do the Fusion Dance and moved to Houstatlantavegas to pursue a music career. Listen to this project and tell me I’m wrong. I’ll track his growth as his career progresses, thank God he doesn’t make me wanna jump out of a third floor project window like August Alsina does…

 

I’ll do a similar post this along these same lines in the Summer when I can finally pull out my air conditioner and invest in more variations of cargo shorts. By then Kehlani, Ella Eyre, Lianne La Havas, Miguel, Hiatus Kaiyote and Frank Ocean will have dropped new material and I will no doubt have discovered some new prospects. We are no longer waiting for Jai Paul to release new music, if my time waiting on D’Angelo’s “Black Messiah” to drop has taught me anything it’s it’ll happen when it happens and no time sooner. Just live…

One.