While the internet has brought immaculate innovation and connection since the first moments it sprang onto an audience in 1983, it has now become a wasteland of virtual crate digging with a seemingly endless bound and depth. Following the overabundance of artists that release tracks and records every single day, sometimes it takes over half a century to discover some true gold.
Little Ann is an artist that initially began her first musical moments in Chicago, the birthplace of some of sounds greatest pioneers under the name Ann Bridgeforth. After some time spent in the house that Vee-Jay Records built, she relocated to Detroit, where Motown was rampaging at the time and was able to sprout her first hidden emerald of power. Detroit’s Secret Soul may be a record released in 2019, but it features a collection of tracks from Little Ann stretching over her most infamous piece “Deep Shadows” to the unreleased cuts of first takes and alternative versions.
So where the internet has been able to essentially dismantle some artist’s careers, in cases like Little Ann’s, her career was resurrected after her death in 2003 and while she was never able to see the stardom or recognition that she deserved for her powerhouse vocal performances, hindsight becomes 20-20 and clearer with each listen.
Opening with the rambunctious “What Should I Do” where Little Ann is simply a sparkling gemstone from foremost seconds, she takes a step in front of graceful but commanding horns with a rhythm section built on tight-knit personality. She blends into the crowd of twists and shouts but begins to make deep incisions on the following track, “I Got To Have You.” The rock blend fusion that is paired with dusty production is a lo-fi recording of a soulful dreamscape where Little Ann is in control. Stomping along like a master to her own sound, Detroit’s Secret Soul is the swinging open of the obsidian curtains where Little Ann has all eyes on her.
While her most popular song, “Deep Shadows,” is such a clean instrumental recording that mixes into the frankly beautiful kaleidoscope vision that Little Ann nestles under. She describes, “Lonely is the night, wanting him to hold me tight. Deep shadows, surrounding… Nobody knows, the trouble I have with my man. Nobody cares, they just don’t seem to understand.” As her vocals are boosted by background choir swells and this subtle, creeping production where Little Ann is perfect. She opens to scream, maxing out the microphones and begins to cut into the ears, like a level of uncaged and untamed power before fading from obscurity.
While Little Ann may have never seen the hold that her music has over just one listener nearly 60 years later after the initial first recording, hopefully, people eventually catch on and can see why she deserves a spot at the table. Breaking the glass is never easy, but Little Ann creates a velvet throne to sit upon as the pages of history continue on in why Detroit is one of America’s most important cities for sound.
Listen Here – BandCamp
Cover Photograph By: AF Cortes
Featuring: HTRK
Track List: Vitality, Outsiders, Intoxication, No Sleep, Echo In The Outside World, I Am The Affront, Nostalgia, Strange Days, Descent From The High Tower, Shot To The Heart
Listen Here – BandCamp
Melodic Metal From Finland
Track List: Kuolema, Uudelleenstntaymä, Ikuisuus, Kuolema II, Pelko
Listen Here – Spotify/Amazon/iTunes
Featuring: Rah, Bandhunta Izzy, FTR DRama, J.I.D., Prophie Luciano, Peewee Longway, Tay Keith, Doe Boy, Sada Baby, Chevy Woods, OMB Peezy, REASON, Deh Kewlz
Track List: D.i.E., Long Way Trapn, Front Desk, Balance, Hurry Up & Buy, Coulda Bought A Key, Nothin To Me, Devil On Laketon, Owe Yall A Body – Remix, No Courtesy, Croocked, Soulja’d Down, G Me, Over
When crossing the ancient art of juggin’ and finessin’, then combining the skill of creating an oftentimes intricate story that can move crowds, you get the Memphis team-up of Idontknowjeffery and Xavier Wulf. While they have toured together, been on tracks together, never have them seemed to be a stronger entity than on their 2020 project Bennington Forest.
When Idontknowjeffery first appears on the introductory track “Undefeated,” his vocals are a centerpiece for borderline comedy with his ad-libs that shine and monotone vocals over low-keyed instrumentals. He describes, “Swipe the credit card til that shit insufficient, I bought my bitch a business, ‘ooh girl no he didn’t,” in this often vulgar display of power. He moves on to switch hands with the microphone as Xavier Wulf emerges from the rafters like Sting with the bat. Xavier Wulf’s often high energy delivery clashes against Idontknowjeffery’s as sparks start flying even in the initial moments.
With production that comes from BOZ, HitKidd, MARCELO, Quintin Lamb, Safeboy, and KingZoe, there are more than enough cookers in the kitchen to chef up a complete meal of 12 tracks over 28 minutes. Bennington Forest is digestible, never seems to run too long, and actually demands to be instantly put on repeat with these addicting trade-offs from the two vocalists. On the electronic stutter-step track, “Twitch,” there is a perfect instrumental that borders on the lines of sporadic machines cluttering and overheating.
Hearing one-liners like “She Apple paid me four racks, yes sir I heart that. Forgot I just got carjacked, nigga where I park at?” invokes more laughter and it is a refreshing relief every time a rhyme is discovered after digging into the lyrics. But it is not just all jokes
with Bennington Forest, the track “Where They At” is a mid-90s creep of an instrumental with these rattling hi-hats that boost over a thumping 808 bass line. The spotlight, however, is placed on this distorted string ensemble that carries the melody, acting as the vehicle for Xavier Wulf and Idontknowjeffery to search and destroy.
Even some of the singles that were released like “SoHo (Freestyle)” and “One Punch Wulf” now fit into a nicely nestled spot where the doses and injections of shouts over rampant instrumentals are breaths of fresh air. It takes Bennington Forest from being just a joint project between two artists, into crafting this cohesive Diddy Bop through the mosh pit that an audience so desperately needs.
Over broken bones and stolen credit cards, Bennington Forest is more exciting and entertaining than it is profound. Where each verse piles on like loads of bricks, both Xavier Wulf and Idontknowjeffery are charismatic rhymers that appear as the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of hip-hop.
Listen/Watch Here – Youtube
Director: Jose Lun
Production Company: dreambear
Inspired + Based On The Artwork Of: Goya
Take the urge to burn anything that is established with the thundering hammers of 10,000 hard-body sucker punches, and essentially the lovechild of Fawn Limbs newest record, Their Holes Aroused By The Splinters Carved From Their Teeth will be born. Enchanted and resurrected from the boundless might of “Geometric Noise Mathematical Chaos” as the band describes on their about page on BandCamp, this eight minutes is bred to eliminate you.
When the first moments of “Reverberated” hit the scene, The minute-long track is an effigy sacrificed toward what lyrics illustrate, “All moments pass and so will you,” before an atmospheric spawn is crushed by pulsating noise. This noise is disguised as the track “Birch Womb” where Fawn Limbs is then identifiable by their rambunctious delivery and pulverizing play style. Eeli Helin covers the noise, vocals, and guitar while Samuel Smith delivers the bass, then Lee Fisher completes the hydra-head with the percussive output.
Together, this grouping is the power violence and hardcore combination that nightmares are sculpted from and the lyrical content is reflective with false saving graces that turn out to be only stopping motions set in place. Describing, “A coffin of secrets, thoughts polished of a memory of home. Plastered with hope, plastered with gold, as if you were not tied by your ankles and throat. I’m only a threat to myself.” Immaculately bleak and almost astounding by how much misery that can be pumped into only eight minutes, the sporadic death spasms and rattles are the last signals of sovereignty that are choked away.
Fawn Limbs commands Their Holes Aroused By The Splinters Carved From Their Teeth as if it were a miniature, but conquering militia of sound. Nothing is microscopic about their walls of noise however and one of the highlights of the record is just how concise and well-executed this form of torture is. From the last track “Extortion Parcel” which is both a cohesive ride on train rails and moments of free form destruction, Fawn Limbs is a non-conformative animal that lingers along no formidable barrier.
But ultimately, the track “Pleura Touch” is the closest relation to human nature that Fawn Limbs show through describing, “Floundering while gasping for air, ascension through drowning. Striving to climb back up from the old black hole, hauling myself through the murk.” All while an instrumental beatdown is occurring, they continue to illustrate, “And the splinters they carved from their own teeth are finally sinking in, excessively deep. Lightless, my lungs scorching inflate with a torrid air.” The writing style is misery from the first seconds, but can accurately describe what listening to their music feels similar to, every piece of the body failing under immense weight.
When the burden of broken spirit and body is lifted, Fawn Limbs stands in the distance, surrounded by mystery and shrouded in cloaked confidentiality. When Their Holes Aroused By The Splinters Carved From Their Teeth finally reaches the terminal station, all that chaos is engraved on the listener like a mark of the coven.
Listen Here – BandCamp/Spotify/iTunes
Featuring: duendita
Produced By: Skywlkr, Matrax, Black Noi$e, 16yrold, Nedarb, DJFreakyShit
Track List: Pain Aint Mine, Extravaganza Live, Style For Sale, DJ Freaky Zhit, Bounce, Hyphen, Lost Me, 16, Tryna Figure Out Where My Phone At?, On De Mf Head, Mythical, Hideous