Last week, I got the chance to see Sam Fischer at the Sony Music Entertainment Headquarters in London for a very exclusive Playback & Chat session. Whilst there, Fischer talked through the meanings behind some of the tracks that will be making their way onto his debut full-length LP next year and even played a few of them for us. Most importantly, I got the chance to sit down with him for 10 minutes for a quick interview to chat about mental health, TikTok and his favourite music moments of the year. Tommy: Sam, you said earlier in your Playback…
Author: Tommy Docherty
Belgian popstar Angèle has very quickly become one of my favourite artists of the last few years, and recently I had the pleasure of seeing her live on stage in Lyon, France as she toured in support of her latest album Nonante-Cinq. When I arrived at Halle Tony Garnier around 14:00 pm, I was astounded to see two queues both full of around fifty Angèle fans waiting to get in. They had snacks, card games and gold foil to keep themselves fed, entertained and warm as they waited in line. I had never seen this level of dedication for a…
Ghosts Aren’t Real is a comedy-horror play that hammers home themes of grief, mental health and spirituality while still managing to be laugh-out-loud funny. The brains (or should I say brain) behind it all is the producer and writer Jasper Dweck who wrote the play in the first lockdown of 2020. The idea of the play came to him after making a friend who lost both their parents at a young age. This springboarded the concept of ‘Ghosts Aren’t Real’, and after consulting with Camden Fringe superstar director Hannah Beach, it went into production and finally saw the light of…
Ashobi is the title track to Drizilik’s upcoming sophomore album of the same name. Drizilik has recently been stirring up quite a lot of heat, winning ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Best Afro Hip Hop Artist of The Year’, ‘Male Artist of the Year’, and ‘Best Live Performer’ at the 2019 National Entertainment Awards. That’s a lot of awards to win in a lifetime, let alone one year. Seeing as this young, aspiring talent is whipping up a lot of talk, it’s only fitting to see just how many artists and producers would want to work with him. Lately, the “Sierra…
L E M F R E C K is a rapper, actor and producer hailing from Cardiff, Wales. Most would recognise him as a grime artist, bringing a production style and rap flow similar to that of Skepta or Pa Salieu. Growing up, L E M F R E C K was a huge fan of the buzzing UK hip-hop scene, taking inspiration from MCs such as D Double E and Kano. Now, he takes his influence and vision and pours it into his first single of 2022, RED HOT featuring MacOsare. RED HOT instantly caught my attention before even…
YRN 717 (casually known as just YRN) and JNR deliver the afro swing summer banger you never knew you needed with the upbeat and funky single Havana. YRN is a very new up-and-coming UK rap artist who has released just two songs to date. Cap, a drill cut released back in June 2022, was our first taste of what YRN could bring to the table. With his second release, Havana, he has linked up with JNR, another UK rapper, and decided to go in a slightly groovier direction. The song opens up with a very Pharrell-inspired production choice of looping…
Pittsburg, and Ohio rap group Sound Kodz channel a much-needed positive message with a fun, smooth hip-hop track in the form of Open Your Eyes. Sound Kodz has been making uplifting, and motivational hip-hop music since 2019 and their latest single is no exception. If you’re in the mood for a soul-lifting bop that sounds like a mixture of the Fugees and early Pharell, look no further than this near-4 minute record. Lyrically, the subject matter focuses on the world hoping to become a better place if people also become better themselves. The first verse drops powerful lines such as…
Ogechi (Ogechi Nnedinma Ofodu), the promising poet and now head-turning hip-hop artist has just released her second single of the year featuring Coley Xavier; On Gawd. If the title of the track didn’t give it away immediately, On Gawd is an upbeat, bouncing hip-hop banger pulled straight from the West Coast. More specifically, Atlanta-Kansas City, where Ogechi was born and continues to live and make music. Ogechi started releasing music when she was just 19 years old with the release of Blvck + Womvn | Body Pg. 1 in 2017, a politically and socially conscious hard-hitting rap track. Now, it…
Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Dylan Dunlap is back earlier than expected with a brand new single Still Here. In this dreamy pop ballad, Dunlap gets personal and details a meteor crash he witnessed last year that led to a panic attack on the 405 freeway. However, as well as this being an autobiographical cut that tells a very heartfelt story, it also doubles up as a thank you to all the people who are still with him and support him despite his mental health issues. Dunlap writes in his own words that Still Here was written due…
Los Angeles based husband and wife indie duo Jim Hantf and Samantha Yonack, better known as Jim and Sam, release an emotional piano-driven ballad Space for the Stranger. It was written during the first lockdown of the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, which is becoming quite the catchphrase among many indie writers over the last couple of years. However, this was also the same time they both realised Sam was pregnant. As they both came to terms with this revelation, it led the couple to analyse the physical and mental space they needed to make as they prepared for the arrival of…