Five on it: Lafawndah closes the year with beautiful club reworks

Lafawndah artwork by Ceheivi

The time of year has come to reflect on our listening habits if – like me – you basically contribute the bare minimum to artists you love by having a Spotify account. It’s definitely a 2020 resolution for me to be paying more for music – I am admittedly a merch fiend when I can be (yes, I have three pairs of Tyler, The Creator IGOR socks), but am fortunate enough in my current career choice to get to go to a lot of shows for free. In the grand scheme of how much joy my favourite artists give me, it’s kind of damning how little I actually spend on their work.

Accordingly, I’ve been trying to use Bandcamp more, and I still like to buy physical records where possible – I guess the flipside of my current career choice is that regularly buying £30+ albums is perhaps not wise or realistic, though.

Anyway, this is just a vague reflection that while it’s fun to look at your listening data and lol over the fact that you spent too much time with the Glee soundtrack, it’s also nice to try reimburse artists you love where possible. Also a really simple way to support artists you love is to hit follow on streaming services and socials, because the reality is industry people do look to those numbers and make decisions based on them.

On the one hand, getting music out to people is easier than ever, and accessing sounds from everywhere and every decade is at the tips of your fingers which is so cool – but also it’s been a weird murky decade for artists to make money. Whether it’s sending some coin on Bandcamp or just commenting on their Instagram posts, from here on in I’m gonna try to show more love to my favourites.

Also unrelated, but big up Celeste, this year’s BRIT Awards Rising Star – read our interview with her from earlier this year here. Pensive intro aside, here is this week’s five on it:

Lafawndah – Ancestor Boy II

As the year draws to a close, looking back means remembering what a great, intricate album Lafawndah put out with Ancestor Boy back in March. This week some of those earthy songs have been reworked for Ancestor Boy II, a release that glimmers and pulses beautifully with cerebral and strange club heat.

IAMDDB – ‘Famous’

Manchester’s scene stays great, though the latest from IAMDDB swirls with that London Afroswing kinda heat. As it gets colder and colder outside, this one should keep you warm in the dance.

Kali Uchis – ‘Solita’

Kali Uchis is still one of the best when it comes to entrancing, soulful pop that sounds like a dream. This is smooth and silky as ever, with a gorgeous limber beat topped by breezy, bilingual vocals.

Shaqdi – ‘mom’

This new track from the rising Palestinian-Swedish artist is a sweet ode to her Swedish mum, full of plush keys and rich R&B style vocals. She’s got an EP dropping in spring, so get to know.

Abisha – ‘Love Like This’

A shiny old school kind of pop-R&B bop that explores unexpected queer love, this is a sweet new release from the London artist. It comes ahead of an EP, Scorpio, that’s set to land sometime soon.

You can follow the Five on It playlist here: