Ella Mai Heart on My Sleeve.

 Second post, even I didn't think it would come out this soon but alas! here we are.

The process has not changed.

Genius page. 

Albums February 2023

Hit play on my Spotify.

Listen.

I am trying to give everything a chance. I will say, though, that I remind myself a healthy amount of times that you only get one life so you might as well live it how you like it especially what you can control. If it involves pulling the plug on a show even a minute in or a song a few seconds in even a meal just by the look of it. Do it. Of course, there is a thin line between curating and being that person who is infamous for not trying out new things. I don't know about you, but that's not the tag I aspire to have. Which is why I present to you, balance.

I start listening to this album and I am digging deep within my gut to give it a chance and this is only a couple of songs in of an 18 track album. It was at the "couple of songs" that I should have called it instead I adopted a different approach, album reviews.

I was elated to find that it was described as boring by Pitch fork yet it still managed to scored an admirable,  some (me, being some) would even say a generous7.3. Other music sites described it as generic. Even their track by track analyses, heavy use on the thesaurus. 

At this point I am scrummaging for a reason to keep listening and wouldn't you know it there are surprise audios from Kirk Franklin and Mary J. Blige. I hate to admit it but even they couldn't salvage this. Yet another apparent sign to off the headphones, yet I kept going.

Featured artistes include Latto, Roddy Rich and Lucky Daye. 

I wasn't particularly disappointed given I like only 2 songs from this artist; Trip and Boo'd Up. Two out of an entire discography, it's not looking good bruv.

It's time. It's time to admit that these heavily produced, R&B, with the endless riffs and rans and heavy basses, 'type-beats' that we see on Youtube that end up sounding like you could swear you have just heard it elsewhere; the curtains are coming down on what should have come to a close a while ago.

Let's give it up though not only for effort, but for showing up. Just like I show up to my desk job and have average days, music is a career where you need to show up and show up with your deliverables which sometimes serve the purpose of being marked as "complete". Not everything has to blow your mind. That's exactly what Ella Mai did with Heart on My Sleeve.

I may have liked two songs out of the entire 18 tracklist with one having been in rotation for most of last year ,DFM.

My two cents, she needs to work with different producers, she needs to work with producers who are also artistes like the Bryson Tillers and Ty Dolla Sign, Mustard alone, he isn't cutting it, everything on that album sounds the same. And if she doesn't have one already she should get a writer not to completely trash her writing skills but a little bit of help, even just a pinch may do more good than harm.

Maybe she already has all these things and to that I say showing up is half the victory , releasing a project is another fraction of the victory and that deserves an applause because God knows that I have been in several instances where all I have done is set out to show up and check a few boxes.

Enemy Brain Entertainment Suite by Fox Stevenson.

 Hey guys,

It's bee ages and I have several excuses valid if I say so myself. However I got to talking with ne of my friends yesterday evening and it became more apparent that we really aren't doing with the concept of free time. She resolved to pick up origami I on the other hand couldn't think of anything. I did put on the table taking a nap which I will  and should in fact everyone should. Naps don't even need a single person to make a case for them, the make toddlers much calmer and less cranky and rejuvenate everybody above the double digits. I do think as pleasing as naps are I could tap into something else.

If you have been on this little piece of the internet for as long as it has been in existence then may I remind you of a little thing called Media Monday. Of course then my dreams for this blog were bigger although the right word would be different. Now, I am older, wiser and most importantly, I have realized that there is a lot more to life than the numbers game. It is beyond important to just do something; out of curiosity, because you have time, because you enjoy it and most importantly, just because.

I guess that's why I am back here. I like writing and I like writing when I have the time and when I don't (even as I type this from my work station on valuable company time). I like expressing myself without expecting any feedback in the form of likes, comments, views; running a mok if you will. Maybe one day I am Marie Kondo and the next its the chaos a la Ridiculousness or worse, Jackass. Today could not have been the best time to reaffirm nothing is a straight line.

All that to say that I am not back but instead I will jump on here hopefully with good energy and spiel on books, tvs , movies and shows that are on my radar.

I forgot how intentional I was with when it came to finding something that would take up all my time. Then I turned it into a chore and tasked myself with having to find something anything by the week. Predictably it ceased being fun and ironically became fundamental to my writing routine that I was a always hot on the heels of the next big thing. What a task and impossible at that.

Now we watch what we want.

Listen to what we want.

Smell what we want.

Taste what we want.

Genre-bend, pallet challenge and all around live in colours, loud and proud.

This is beginning to sound like some sort of coming out speech so let me nip it in the bud coming at you with an album which I am on a second listen within a couple of hours.

Let me explain MY process; go onto Genius search for the albums to be released in a specific month, go onto spotify and hit play. I would love to give everything a try but K-Pop has not won me over neither has metal, they aren't any less of a genre, let's just say they are a cup of tea to someone just not mine. But who knows maybe one of this days I'll come on here and tell all of you, even you in the back to drop everything and listen to Slipknot's latest drop.

Today's drop, Enemy Brain Entertainment Suite by Fox Stevenson.

It gives me those early 2000's teen movie nostalgic feels. When age restrictions were a suggestion and rewatching the  same film now you can't help but wonder how living under your parents roof you managed to watch "Not Another Teen Movie" when you were not even a tween yourself.

The entire album has been added to my GYM playlist especially since I aspire to be more consistent with treadmill HIIT sessions. Hopefully that means you have put two and two together and  established that it is a high BPM album with the cherry on top, dubstep. This makes it perfect for a spin-cycle session, solo-peloton or high-energy fitness class  as well. 

I am going to go out on a limb and say that even the gamers will have this on their radar.

I would say it is feel good only because of its composition but the lyrics are in an entirely different headspace which works out perfect for me because in my world, when the rubber meets the road, things are thick, everything even your comfort throw is a wet-blanket an amazing stress reliever, adrenaline releaser is cranking that speed all the way up on the treadmill and letting your legs carry you as far and as long a they possibly can.

I nearly left out that Fox Stevenson has entered the list of 2023 perfectly sequenced albums with the exception of a couple slower paced tracks in between. Appreciators of good sequencing can go to the principle judge in the sequencing division, of course I'm talking about none other than Nathan Zed. Of course being a dj and possibly composer, heavy on the possibly, he definitely knows how to keep that button on play and the ravers on their feet.