You Herd? SoundCloud is the place to be

We need to talk about SoundCloud. A lot of people don’t want to use it because the app is shitty, it has a reputation for birthing an entire legacy of garbage rapppers, and the actual streaming quality of the music is really poor (128kbps, rly guys?).

All true. But I will never leave SoundCloud. It’s all of those awful things and still the single greatest platform on the planet for finding musical gems. Every unbelievable, eargasm-inducing remix/bootleg/flip lives on SoundCloud, and they’re made by the most incredible musicians that might never see the lights of a main stage. TLDR; SoundCloud has the best artists in the world. And you’ve probably never heard of them (until now, cuz you read my newsletters obv):

What caught my ear

I have listened to tens of thousands of songs and I can honestly say: I’ve never ever heard anything like this. Kollaba has transformed Carti’s “Backrooms” into a stunning journey through jazz, blues, garage, and idek what happens during Travis’s verse. This is creativity uncharted. I live for finds like this.

What caught my ear

In addition to the dragging beat and wide-panned percussion, the thing that caught my ear here is the vocal that creeps in and out incrementally throughout the track. The first time I heard it, I was like “Oh that’s a sick sax countermelody,” but it’s actually someone’s voice?? Crazy-cool FX processing and a great example of tasteful distortion.

What caught my ear

It’s really just the original Mac Miller classic with a lo-fi drum loop sitting underneath. Most producers call these types of tunes “edits,” and they usually warrant a press of the Next Song button cuz they’re pretty dull. This one tho - it’s so tastefully executed that I can’t help but share. Besides, sometimes less is more… well worth a listen.

Wanna chat about these songs & artist? Have some recs for songs I should listen to? Just wanna leave me some feedback? Reply to this email 📧 

Not sponsored by SoundCloud,
Zain

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