Went a bit crazy during the week and ordered a big bunch of Sound Sniffer merch online for myself. The reasoning behind this bulky and impulsive purchase was pretty logical (for my standards) actually. The idea came to me following a little shopping trip in Watford. I needed summer t-shirts; I set off for Primark, my wallet was ready for a splurge of activity. I’m a plain white t-shirt guy and Primark offer the best value at £3 a t. As I entered the shop, I immediately noticed a massive queue to my left that snaked all around the central aisle of the fairly industrially sized building. There were hundreds of people queuing up for the tills. Hundreds. I left.
I continued on to the other shops in search of some value t-shirts. River Island, nope. Next, nope. Bershka, nope. I bought nothing and returned home empty handed. Later that night I typed ‘cheap white t-shirts’ into Google and next thing I know, ten personalised Sound Sniffer t-shirts were heading my way for the fair price of £6.80 each. They arrived this morning and I was like a proud child donning a sports day gold medal wearing one around the house. Sniffer attire is the way forward; give me a week and I’ll be head-to-toe Sniffer branded clobber! Probably not the most interesting intro I’ve ever written in hindsight but I’m wearing a Sound Sniffer t-shirt whilst scribing it! Thanks, as always, for reading my musings. Onto the music now: Welcome to episode thirty-three of The Lockdown Mixtape.
Christy / When We Get Old
Natural talent is one thing Christy O’Donnell doesn’t lack. The Scotsman has thrown his hand at plenty of things and is still only reaching his mid-twenties. He is a Disney actor and he creates beautiful folk Justin Vernon would have been proud of in his ‘cabin in the woods’ days. This young Glaswegian has even been in a boyband. His resume puts mine to absolute shame anyway.
When We Get Old has just been released as the opening single from his new home made EP Somebody Else Instead: a track steeped in circa 2009 indie folk feels. Christy‘s husky vocals and whimsical falsetto brings me back to Bon Iver‘s For Emma record and that’s great.
Ibejii / Gonto
Something a little bit different and a little bit special from British/Nigerian songmaker Ibejii and his new single Gonto. Remaining close to his West African roots at all times, Gonto is a song fimly embedded in this talented musicians Yoruba ancestry. The song is sung in the beautiful Yoruba language and it’s rich texture hits the mark so well. I’ve never heard this language before and it’s pretty nice to pick up something new and fresh like this. Not only is Gonto unique in its sound – the instrumentation behind the vocalist is top shelf. Strings galore. What a wonderful song this is.
Dejector / Take Me There
I’ve been listening to the music of Fred Gibson (Fred Again) for around a year now. For me, he pioneered a new age style of electronic production. His early work sampling YouTube clips and transforming them into dancefloor-ready tunes was groundbreaking. Like all good things, the genre has expanded and more and more of this euphoric and dreamy electronic is being produced. Take Me There is the debut single from Newcaste-born, London-based producer Scott Nelson. It’s a superb debut and it shimmers just as brightly as a Gibson number. Wavy on the top end (synths) and melancholic on the bottom (keys) – this is downtempo electronic suited for the mainstage of a festival on a sunny summer’s evening. Take me there.
Ursina / Lay Low
Every submission I receive from Switzerland seems to be outrageously good. Maybe it’s just the Radicalis imprint being so consistent with the quality of their label releases come to think of it. Radicalis are brilliant and Ursina is their latest prospect to grace the mixtape. Lay Low is a chilled out and well produced track and I think it was the crisp production that really impacted on me here. Repping a smooth and rich voice, Ursina Giger (Ursina) grew up in the rural situation of Disentis, a town deep in the mountains of Eastern Switzerland. From humble beginnings, Ursina is looking to expand her sound to pastures far and wide and on this evidence, her music will be lapped up.
Luca Musto / Nice Place, Bad Intentions
This song brings me back to the days I spent listening to The Avalanches; remember their song that repeated the line, ‘That boy needs Therapy‘ : well if you know, you know. German producer Luca Musto has just released a song that reminded me of it. Nice Place, Bad Intentions is slow, sample-based house at it’s best. This is the type of song you put on if you are wearing your most hip attire and sitting on a private yacht (I’d imagine) – the only yacht I’ve ever been on was an abandoned one in Croatia: We discovered it one night and proceeded to hop on board at sunset. It wasn’t the most legal of activities from our lot, looking back. Nice place, bad intentions as it turned out. Fitting monologuing.
About ‘The Sound Sniffer’
The Sound Sniffer is a music blog that’s still only a baby – Founded in early 2019 by Kevin Coakley, a music writer and ghostwriter. ‘The Sound Sniffer’ also runs gigs and showcases in London since Oct 2019. The showcases are picked from artists found in the blog’s submission inbox.
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Ha! nice write up on the Ibejii tune – great stuff. Where’s a pic of the Sound Sniffer t-shirt?