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June 7, 2023

Ekiti Sound: “Mami Wata”

By: Jack Anderson

The Nigeria-UK connection has given us some of the greatest musical talents of modern music; while Shirley Bassey and Sade became more of national symbols, legendary performers ranging from Seal to grime icons like Skepta and Dizzee Rascal alongside modern innovators like Little Simz, and Obongjayar have really upheld London’s reputation as an incomparable centerpiece of cultural crossroads. But of course, they’re not the only ones.

For instance, there’s also Leke Awoyinka, better known by his creative handle Ekiti Sound. Stemming from a childhood split between Lagos and Essex, this producer-vocalist just launched his eponymous “Ekiti Sound Show” on Hot FM Lagos – which as of now is the sole electronic music specialty show on Nigerian terrestrial radio. Ekiti Sound’s own style also reflects those cross-country pollinations with electronic-anchored junctions of Afro-juju, Afro-pop, the foggy UK mish-mash jungle/DnB/dubstep, as well as turn-of-the-millennium hip-hop, and Caribbean dancehall. Ekiti Sound first caught ears internationally with his bold foray into Afro-fusion on 2019’s Abeg No Vex, a near-hour-long full-length that lent itself to critical acclaim and a remix EP the following year – Ekiti Sound’s final pre-pandemic studio output.

Friday after next, Ekiti Sound drops his long-anticipated sophomore LP Drum Money. On top of circulating a much-needed fresh batch of percussive currency, Drum Money and its immense seventeen-song track live up to Ekiti Sound’s legacy of bridging the globe’s very best sounds through unorthodox yet accessible originals. For Westerners, it’s nothing short of exotic. For Awoyinka though, it’s just another passage through the transcontinental pipeline that is life between London and Lagos. And although Drum Money lacks some of the explicitly UK-derived grit of Abeg No Vex, it compensates with semi-placeless arrangements, somehow steeped in specific Nigerian regional soundscapes yet simultaneously fitting for party playlists across the globe. Hear for yourself on one of Drum Money‘s more subdued offerings, which follows “Chairman” from this past March. With a grime-inspired stop-and-start 808 beat, a vibrant blend of traditional and digital instruments, and truly untethered vocals, “Mami Wata” perfectly encapsulates Ekiti Sound’s worldly eclecticism and borderless genius in just over four minutes.


Episodes

September 25, 2023

Katherion: “Roses and Daisies”

Song of the Day is finally back from a much-needed break! And as a token of appreciation for everyone’s patience in the interim, we’ve got some great new picks to catch y’all up on, one of which made an inaugural streaming appearance just last weekend. We’re talking about Katherine Yuna, also known as Rion Reed, […]

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September 8, 2023

Komorebi: “The Fall”

Although DJ Shadow turned trip-hop instrumentals into an American institution at the tail end of the ’90s, we can’t overlook the influence of pioneering English artists like Massive Attack, Portishead, and Sneaker Pimps earlier in the decade. Their unique placement of feminine falsettos over seductive, sample-and-synth-heavy soundscapes still inspires acts today, not just in the […]

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September 7, 2023

Beekeeper Spaceman: “Locusts and Honey”

We’re so over the moon from yesterday’s Lunar Gold premiere that we’re not ready to descend quite yet. So before touching down to the terrestrial for the weekend, let’s heed a far out beacon from Dallas duo Beekeeper Spaceman. The skeleton crew consists of guitarist-singer-songwriter Greg Brownderville and producer/multi-instrumentalist Spencer Kenney, who named themselves after […]

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