MEAWW's Basement Tapes: These genre-bending free thinkers are changing the face of music, one song at a time
The landscape of music is ever-changing. And while we've come to accept certain overarching terms like 'rock', 'pop', and 'R&B' as defining genres and we tack on a 'progressive' or an 'alternative' before the genre to make it more representative of an artiste's work, these terms hardly encompass what most modern musical acts are doing and it gets harder with each era to place new music into these categories quite so easily.
What stands out about a lot of modern music is that it tends to reflect the emotions and stories artistes are trying to convey far more than trying to fit neatly into a predefined category. And to that end, a lot of emerging singers and songwriters have taken to blending styles and creating their own unique sounds as a means to convey what they're trying to say.
Here are four of these inspiring genre-benders that are creating some stunningly evocative music entirely on their own terms.
ONUR - 'Wired'
Emerging on the British music scene back in 2018, the genre-bending multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and producer ONUR was already making waves and grabbing the attention of the media and industry professionals. But along with making strides in the right direction came some of the downsides to such a journey, an experience that the artiste explores on 'Wired'.
Written and produced by ONUR himself, the alternative R&B track is a strong pledge of self-belief, expanding on his musical horizons and encouraging his audience to celebrate their growth and to never shrink themselves just to make others feel comfortable. "I made this song at a time when a lot of my ‘friends' started to resent me for the little success I started to make in music after working so hard to even get there," states ONUR, adding, "It’s a difficult situation to be in but I basically said f*ck ‘em and wrote an unapologetic song playing up to my ego, about the joy of seeing people hate me for no reason, hence, I’m WIRED."
Hot off the heels of two sold-out headline shows in London and with his Spotify streams steadily gaining in number, ONUR is clearly showing no signs of slowing down who now vows to "pour his heart out whichever way it feels right" in 2020. His sophomore EP is scheduled to drop this fall, and if it's anything like the sound he created with 'Wired', it's going to be one hell of a ride.
Treasure - 'You & I'
Nestled within Treasure's recent EP 'Suffocation & Air', 'You & I' oozes with a hypnagogic pop vibe, delivering lethargic yet funky synthscapes with '80s tinged falsetto vocal arrangements.
Each track on 'Suffocation & Air' explores a different area of self-acceptance and love. For instance, 'More' addresses living in a material world and craving more, 'Feelings' explores themes of love in its various forms, 'I Never Sleep' is an ode to the sleepless nights caused by lustful longing, and 'Wish You Were Here' is a spur of the moment love song with a modern albeit unique R&B twist.
Leading single 'You & I' details the struggle of expressing emotions and Treasure's fear of leaving the house after going through a traumatic assault. The song depicts the process of feeling free after a long period of emotional imprisonment and is a haunting, minimalistic, and almost dream-like exploration of healing and love.
Treasure, who went from the bustling city life of West London to the suburban serenity of the countryside in the early 2000s, takes soul and R&B and fuses it with a laidback production and nostalgia-laden melodies and vocals, all layered on top of jazz-tinged indie-rock, creating a sound that mirrors his peaceful surroundings and elevates his genre to something that hits on a much deeper level.
He effectively creates a musical space that is free of judgment and open to vulnerability, a quality that can be found in the music of artistes like Frank Ocean, whom Treasure cites as an inspiration.
'Suffocation & Air' is a dark, moody record that takes you on an ethereal, downtempo journey of exploration, and 'You & I' sits at the beginning of this healing journey.
Listen to 'Suffocation & Air' HERE.
Butterfly Ali - 'Listen to Me'
Ali has already earned some fame thanks to his roles in 'Glee', 'Pretty Little Liars', and more recently, on ABC's 'The Rookie', so it won't be long before more people hear of his musical escapades. As they should, because he is one of the most interesting emerging artists.
Ali's blend of progressive R&B, indie hip-hop, thoughtful chillwave, and classic pop is a welcome liberation from genre, expectations, and convention. Everything from his sound to fashion is unique yet familiar, as it draws on a variety of styles in addition to representing the singer's own cultural roots.
While his previous single 'Righteous' is a playfully bright and soulful dance number, 'Listen to Me' is a more laidback bluesy and emotionally poignant track that conjures up the sounds of Motown and contemporary soul and R&B artistes like Frank Ocean, Andre 3000, Marvin Gaye, and Anderson .Paak, among others.
Listen to 'Listen to Me' HERE.
Bananagun - 'People Talk Too Much'
Melbourne-based Bananagun's lead single off their debut album, 'The True Story of Bananagun', titled 'People Talk Too Much', is an upbeat, sunshine nugget inspired by Fela Kuti.
The track bounces around atop hybrid percussion that fuses West African high life with Brazilian tropicalia and showcases the love of the groove that's at the heart of everything Bananagun. "We didn't want to do what everyone else was doing," the band’s founder, guitarist, vocalist, and flautist Nick van Bakel says. "We wanted it to be vibrant, colorful, and have depth like the jungle. Like an ode to nature."
This is wonderfully apt, given the band's propensity to steer towards connectivity and universality with their music. Their very name is representative of that, as the band states, "It’s like non-violent combat! Or the guy who does a stickup, but it’s just a banana, not a gun, and he tells the authorities not to take themselves too seriously."
With a sound stretching from '60s and '70s Afrobeat and exotica, the proto-garage rhythmic fury of The Monks, and the grooves of Os Mutantes, and drawing on the skate videos, the sound of '90s turntablists like Mr Dibbs, and the hip-hop beats they grew up hearing, Banangun's music is an eclectic blend of music from decades past that almost seems like the sort of stuff that could’ve come from a dusty record crate of hidden gems; yet as the punchy, colorfully vibrant pair of sold-out singles 'Do Yeah' and 'Out of Reach' have proven over the past 12 months, the band are no revivalists.
On debut album 'The True Story of Bananagun', they make a giant leap forward with their outward-looking blend of global tropical psychedelia.
'The True Story of Bananagun' is due out on June 26th, 2020. Pre-order the album HERE.
'MEAWW's Basement Tapes' is a column that shines a spotlight on undiscovered/underrated musical gems.