I’m working from home now. Outside there’s a pandemic on and I have few reasons to leave my desk. Time feels like something that belonged to the people who lived before. Now the days run together. Night bleeds into morning which languishes into the afternoon. The death of the sun, the rise of the moon, … Read More
Zain Alam, the artist behind the music project Humeysha, released a new single, “You Always,” on Bandcamp Friday. All proceeds from the track will go to Bed-Stuy Strong and India Against Corona, to organizations responding to an unprecedented global crisis. “You Always” landlessly moves across language and sound and evokes something so effectively unterritorialized, diasporic, … Read More
Tasneem is a songwriter, producer, and multidisciplinary artist whose most recent EP, Just Before the World Ends, dropped late last year. Tasneem, who recently relocated from LA to Toronto, produced their own record and is sharing their experience with other artists who may feel isolated in their creative processes. Just before the pandemic took hold … Read More
Anjali Taneja’s latest single, “Golden Linings,” is a soulful reminder that there’s a powerful beauty in surviving and growing from the hard shit that life throws at us. Co-produced and written with producer Mars Today, guitarist Joel Van Dijk, and Charlie Sierra, the single provides a conversation about pain. As her lyrics go, “golden linings, … Read More
Since the 1940s, the beginning of the Golden Age of Hindi cinema, the Sufi song form of qawwali has been a prominent feature in Bollywood film. Due to the rich sociocultural and religious history of qawwali in the subcontinent, it is easy, even for South Asians, to picture the qawwali as a solely Islamic sacred … Read More
We’re missing songs of the summer. And, for many of us still in lockdown, we’re missing the summer entirely. Rafi’s new single “Dumbfound” gives us back some of what we’ve lost this year in ease and carefree spirit. With his friends on the beach, and shot simply by Bledar Fida and Thalia Perez and edited … Read More
A syzygy occurs when three planetary or celestial bodies are in alignment — when the sun, earth, and moon are in a straight-line configuration. Qais Essar and Alam Khan’s latest single, “Syzygy,” brings their traditional rabbab and sarod instruments into a new kind of alignment. They wrote and recorded the song all in quarantine, from … Read More
The 9-track R&B collaboration Blue Hour, a joint venture from Atlanta producer Hazi and Houston recording artist Noel, wouldn’t be possible if a mutual friend didn’t introduce the two musicians to each other. An instant familiarity with one another and compatible approach to music allowed Hazi and Noel the gravity required to make emotionally self-aware … Read More
There is something about this time that feels interminable – the repetition of state violence, the close-quartering during a mass plague, the forced abrasion of our political climate, it all seems to extend forever. There is no expiration date because, in truth, it never had a start date. One of the things I miss most … Read More
Kohinoorgasm’s newest single, “Exhausted,” dropped this month. The single is the artist’s latest exploration of themes common in her work, questioning how to navigate a world shaped by burnout-inducing capitalism. Using experimental production and her hypnotic vocals, she asks poignantly: “How can I free my mind / when I don’t own it?” The release is … Read More
