The Plug’n Play: April (‘24)
April 30, 2024
Illustration by Malaaya Adams
You can listen to the full playlist on Apple Music, Spotify, or Tidal
Throughout the month, Kevin and I select some of our favorite releases. In a lot of ways, this playlist — The Plug’n Play — is an extension of our text thread where we send new music to each other. We hope you dig it!
Songs 1 - 13 were selected by me, Stanley. Songs 14 - 23 were selected by Kevin (and we both decided Kendrick Lamar’s euphoria was a must add at song 24!). As always, we hope you find a song you like and check out the larger body of work, whether it’s an album or an EP!
Mika Bambi — Devin Morrison
As a child of the late ‘90s and early 2000s — and the child of Black, Seventh-day Adventist parents — Devin Morrison’s sound has always felt familiar to me. Take 6 and Commissioned are readily apparent in Morrison’s sound; a sound that strikes a nerve of nostalgia in me. Dreamsoul Ballads, Morrison’s latest offering, is a breezy 7-song album filled with lush synthesizers and drum machines. I’ve returned to this project time and again since its release — it’s one of my favorite from him.
b i g f e e l i n g s — WILLOW
There are few contemporary artists I find more interesting and exciting than WILLOW. Their latest single, b i g f e e l i n g s, is an exhibition in dexterity and a show of the artists range as a vocalist, musician, and composer. Something I find most exciting about WILLOW is how they escape notions of genre at every turn: odd-metered syncopation, acoustic pianos, electric pianos, borrowing and reappropriating vocal styles — it’s hard to neatly fit them into any box. I’m looking forward to their album out in early May.
Weekness — Baby Rose and BADBADNOTGOOD
Baby Rose and BADBADNOTGOOD is a pairing I’ve wanted to see for a while. Listening to them individually, it always made sense: the two exist somewhere between Motown and Stax, Daptone and Big Crown. They’re each able to fold time, turning “vintage” sounds into something of the present and the future. Their collaborative EP, Slow Burn, delivered in ways I once could only dream of.
