Loud Sounds 31
Cover photo: Amai Kuda
"Loud Sounds" are some of the best new tracks we've found. We are coming back with the 31st installment of the series. Today's tracks deal with ghosts building walls and Oshun, a deity in the Yoruba tradition.
Amai Kuda et Les Bois – Oshun
The new single from Amai Kuda et Les Bois is literally a prayer to Oshun, a deity in the Yoruba tradition. Its swinging percussion, rubbery bass line, sweet guitars and Amai's effortlessly beautiful vocals create a disarmingly catchy combination. Take a listen for Oshun to hear the song once again and send "love, beauty, sweetness and abundance" to you and all the musicians who took part in the recording.
The new single from Amai Kuda et Les Bois is literally a prayer to Oshun, a deity in the Yoruba tradition. Its swinging percussion, rubbery bass line, sweet guitars and Amai's effortlessly beautiful vocals create a disarmingly catchy combination. Take a listen for Oshun to hear the song once again and send "love, beauty, sweetness and abundance" to you and all the musicians who took part in the recording.
Amai Kuda
The song 'Oshun' came to me as I was honouring the deity of the same name at the shores of a pond in Southern Ontario. I began singing it to her everytime I would pray. The chorus lyrics ask Oshun for love, beauty, sweetness and abundance, which are all areas of life that she rules over. In the verse there are references to aspects of her identity or to stories about her. For example, despite her association with beauty, she is also connected to vultures based on a traditional tale where she transforms into a vulture as she saves the earth from drought. For the production, I was very much inspired by certain Southern African house artists that I listen to a lot, but there is also a West African sensibility that I think speaks to the Yoruba tradition from which the deity Oshun originates.
Check out the artist's other singles.
Eggplant Purple Moves – Ghosts Building Walls
Do ghosts need to build walls if they can walk through walls? Is the process of writing music similar to ghosts building walls? Maybe it is. Electronic artist Eggplant Purple Moves described his latest single as a song about frustration that manages to stay playful. If you have ever created anything, you probably know that the writing process involves both frustration and playfulness, coming in waves or even hitting at the same time. So maybe EPM's track is just music reflecting on the phenomenon of music. Listen to its eerie synths flying though the haunted corridors between anxious drums and deep sultry bass and find out.
Do ghosts need to build walls if they can walk through walls? Is the process of writing music similar to ghosts building walls? Maybe it is. Electronic artist Eggplant Purple Moves described his latest single as a song about frustration that manages to stay playful. If you have ever created anything, you probably know that the writing process involves both frustration and playfulness, coming in waves or even hitting at the same time. So maybe EPM's track is just music reflecting on the phenomenon of music. Listen to its eerie synths flying though the haunted corridors between anxious drums and deep sultry bass and find out.
Eggplant Purple Moves
Musically this was influenced most by a lot of artists from the ambient and IDM side of the electronica spectrum. I draw inspiration from so many great artists like Casino Versus Japan, Boards of Canada, and Secede. In terms of drums I probably try to tap into Kruder and Dorfmeister more than anyone.
My process usually involves a lot of time in sound design so I started off creating a custom patch in a synth called Harmor. It had some beautiful spooky and forlorn elements to it and everything else was built to compliment those sounds.
I had the idea of ghosts as kind of sad beings with limited abilities to do stuff, and them building walls is kind of absurd because ghosts can move through walls and also why do they need walls?
So it's a song a bit about frustration but also I hope it has a kind of eerie beauty to it, so maybe it's playful as well as melancholic. My songs usually come back to playfulness after enough time. My process usually involves just hours and hours of playing through the song endlessly and trying to work the song to a balance between enough structure and enough organic and surprising elements. So if it's feeling too chaotic I'll add some more stability, and it's feeling too easy for the listener all do something weird to disrupt expectations more.
My process usually involves a lot of time in sound design so I started off creating a custom patch in a synth called Harmor. It had some beautiful spooky and forlorn elements to it and everything else was built to compliment those sounds.
I had the idea of ghosts as kind of sad beings with limited abilities to do stuff, and them building walls is kind of absurd because ghosts can move through walls and also why do they need walls?
So it's a song a bit about frustration but also I hope it has a kind of eerie beauty to it, so maybe it's playful as well as melancholic. My songs usually come back to playfulness after enough time. My process usually involves just hours and hours of playing through the song endlessly and trying to work the song to a balance between enough structure and enough organic and surprising elements. So if it's feeling too chaotic I'll add some more stability, and it's feeling too easy for the listener all do something weird to disrupt expectations more.
Also check out the track from Oneo Fakind, another project that EPM founder is part of.
