Pulse: New Music You Need #18

Tkay Maidza

Zimbabwe born Takudzwa Victoria Rosa Maidza moved to Australia with her metallurgist mother and industrial chemist father at 5. Prior to pursuing music full time Maidza studied architecture at the University of South Wales.

I mention this because her bi-continental upbringing can be felt in the indefinable international quality of her music, and there definitely being a certain amount of chemistry present in constructing the concoctions she calls songs.

Maidza knows how to pick her collaborators too, having worked with some big name producers already, to find her rapid rhymes and impressive singing ability sitting atop, or interweaving within, anything from nocturnal electro, tropical future pop, scuzzy club bangers, dutty dance anthems, or all of the above. Oh, and she’s only 19.

 

Silvana Imam

Now, you may not understand what Silvana Imam is rapping about, unless you speak Swedish of course, but I have it on good authority, and the ever so helpful English subtitles that accompany her music videos, that Imam isn’t just spitting bars, but flammable spirits.

Essentially, Silvana Imam is all fired up and laying down all kinds of lyrical assault against any kind of bigotry you could care to mention. Raining rhymes like napalm, so she is. However, it’s not all lyrical warfare, as is the case with anyone that fired up, Imam is primed with passion of the romantic variety too.

Then you’ve got the beats backing her up like a robot army in some dystopian future, capable of sounding as brash and bass busted as the machine war, or as beautifully barren and haunting as the ethereal calm of the immediate aftermath.

 

Stash Marina

Rolling out repetitive hooks like meditative mantras and pulling lyrics with an effortless lethargy, Stash Marina’s flow is so laidback and drawn out; you begin to wonder if you just be punch-drunk and thick-headed on something you forgot you took.

Take that, then sprinkle on some positively lost-in-the-haze sung vocals, and a production that actually sounds narcotic, let alone under the influence of; ambient instrumentation that verges on absent, trance-inducing loops of what could be the mundane sounds of office equipment doing the daily drudgery, twinkling sequencers your own paranoia and a horror soundtrack simultaneously, audible smoky insomnia, and a time-lapse permeating throughout.

Also a visual artist, Marina’s videos run on the same nocturnal steam that her music does. Though, often low-lit streets and alleys at night, they can equal swerve into a low-budget tweaked colour mania. I guess it depends on how upbeat or downbeat the track’s high is.

 

Lizzo

Listening to Lizzo you get the impression that, no matter your previous misconceptions about whether the party had started or not were, it really, truly doesn’t start until Lizzo walks in. It’s immediately obvious the moment any one of her tracks hits the speakers.

Actually, thinking about it, I’m kind of coming to conclusion that nothing gets started until Lizzo walks in. Which might go some way to explaining why Lizzo’s started and been through so many different musical acts. Just gotta keep starting something; indie bands, electro-soul duos, rap/R&B groups, and even experimental rock.

However, it was with her solo output that Lizzo really got the party started, and her debut album, 2013’s Lizzobangers, kept all of its titular promises; every track is an absolute banger, thanks to production by Lazerbeak and Ryan Olson, but Lizzo rapping ability and personality is still very much the star of the show.

Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.