Noga Erez KIDS
Israeli hip-hop artist Noga Erez returns with her sophomore album KIDS and quite possibly an album of the year contender. Erez has taken the strengths of her debut and amplified them on the new album while eliminating the weaknesses of her first outing. KIDS is a very political record accompanied by strong, slick beats that are very reminiscent to the ones Finneas O’Connell has made for his sister Billie Eilish.
There are numerous obvious influences found on KIDS but one should not confuse that with Erez being a copycat. Noga’s sound and style is very much her own and her strong political views separates her from a lot of her musical peers. “End of the Road,” not to be confused with the Boyz II Men classic, is the highlight of an album filled with highlights. The half-spoken chorus is very contagious and the track finds Erez in a very upbeat mood despite its theme.
KIDS could very well be the jumping off point for bigger things for the artist from Tel Aviv. With comparisons to Bjork and M.I.A., the artist I find her the most parallel to is Kendrick Lamar. Like Kendrick, Noga is very conscious of the world around her and the injustices in it. They both often bring a party vibe to their music while making sure to open the minds of the listener to issues important to them. @nogaerez
John Smith The Fray
With 2020 behind us and the hope of returning to some sort of normalcy in the near future, it can be easy to feel a bit of optimism. That feeling is spread throughout the new full-length album from British singer-songwriter John Smith. The Fray is a look back at the journey Smith went through in the last year. He went from touring 200-plus days a year to trying to manage his way through the pandemic like us all, but what separates his year from ours is during that time he and his wife also lost a pregnancy and his mother was diagnosed with cancer.
Those tragic events crumpled with a worldwide pandemic is enough to make the average person bury their head in the ground and just wait for better days. Smith instead poured his feelings and experiences of the last year into The Fray and exits with a renewed energy and positive light ready to move forward into a new year.
The new album is very comforting in its melodic folk-pop sound. His songwriting filled with joy and hope is very reminiscent of pop songwriters from the ‘90s like Joshua Kadison, Curtis Stigers, and Billy Mann. Smith claims that “the album is about being in the thick of it and looking for a way to cope without going nuts” and that feeling is best felt in the song “Hold On.” The song is about holding on to that thread of hope while stuck in the middle of a storm of bad news.
The Fray was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studio and was truly an international affair to complete. John was joined on the album by Sarah Jarosz, The Milk Carton Kids, Courtney Hartman, and Jessica Staveley-Taylor of The Staves who recorded their parts separately from around the world. The album has a tie to Nashville as it was mixed here by Shani Ghandhi. @thejohnsmith
Check out some of the other great music just released….
- Evanescence The Bitter Truth
- NF Clouds (THE MIXTAPE)
- Vic Mensa I Tape
- Carrie Underwood My Savior
- Bella Thorne Phantom
- Zeds Dead Catching Z’s
Steven McCash is the Music Columnist for SoBros Network, and host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast. He is the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music, in addition to the occasional live show review. Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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