8bit drummer reality check through the skull

It's the embodiment of trying to keep your cool while you see an ex at a party: on the surface, you're collected, inside you are an ocean. The music is anxious in 'Easy Tiger,' while the melody is steady, rhythmic and calm. Will Taylor has a giant vocal register, but he is so subdued on this track, the emotionalism is totally carried by the instrumentation. But enough about their LP (but for real, open your window and listen to it), I'm here to tell you about 'Easy Tiger.' It's one of those covers that hops in your bones. It's a gorgeous, passionate, musically beautiful album, which rounds out with an acapella cover of 'Archie, Marry Me' by Alvvays.I think about it all the time. Their debut record The Loved Ones felt like a secret I kept between me and the band, an Easter egg in an 8-bit video game I revisited again and again, continually charmed and surprised. WHEW I love Flyte.They're a three-piece British band with my heart in their hands. “Cities burning, tides that rise / She's in pain, she's been hurting / Can you feel our mother raging? / She'll flood us out, her heart is flaming / Pretty soon we'll be underwater.” The song grows in complexity and power before glitching to a stop Hakim introduces a de-tuned piano and a wide vocal that sounds like a phantom prophet warning us of the danger of our ways, whispering “She will drown us” and “Hope is fading.” We’d do well to heed Hakim’s words even as we lose ourselves in his sublime soundscape. Delicate, stacked vocals envelop us from within the groovy synth-drenched ambiance as Hakim sings an ode to Mother Earth, calling on humanity to change our ways before it’s too late. At first we hear tentative sounds-a cry, a few notes plucked on a guitar, an electronic snare, a flute tuning in and out-coming together into a single undulating unit with the deep boom of a synthesized timpani-esque drum.

'ALL THESE CHANGES' is the spectacular opening statement for Nick Hakim’s exquisite, sensitive new album. She continues, “Please make me feel you care my ally / But are you prepared to lose your sleep / To bare your teeth / To break like me?” She is calling on us to not only reflect but to educate ourselves and put in the work. Ayonisings, “Are you sitting comfortably while we bleed in vain? / I’ve died by other names,” calling attention to the countless Black women who have died unnecessarily. As the song progresses, the layering and tone of her voice symbolize the frustration and anger that ebbs and flows when trying to reason with ignorance. The song begins softly with the strumming of an acoustic guitar, Ayoni’s vocal then coming into play creating a shift that pulls you in. “Unmoved (A Black Woman Truth)” is the battle cry of the revolution both sonically and lyrically. For Non-Black people, it provides a lesson in the Black experience and how the fight for Black lives is not new, as Ayoni sings, “It’s always been bigger than this.” Lastly, it is a call to action for the people who are listening and a wake-up call for the ones who aren’t. For Black women, it is the reiteration of the struggle they’ve always faced, brought to them in a vessel that allows for them to feel at peace. Ayoni released her truth, “Unmoved (A Black Woman Truth),” offering peace, knowledge, and even a reality check for those who are truly listening. What’s scary is to be revolutionary, to speak your truth to power, to give people the opportunity to turn a blind eye to your own experience, and to tell you that you’re wrong. Even though it should inspire others to join, it often scares people on the sidelines. Revolution comes in all shapes and sizes.

8bit drummer reality check through the skull