friday five - vol five

This has been an exciting week of new discoveries and new releases. I'm particularly excited about Roy Woods and Cold Specks. Roy Woods has been releasing a lot of tracks as of late, and I'm super pumped for a new album. Cold Specks released her new album recently and I'm super into it. Without further ado, here's this week's Friday Five:

1. Say Less - Roy Woods
This is Roy Woods' new single, and it's so great to bump in the car with the bass turned all the way up, as per usual. He was disappointing live but the tracks he releases never fail to impress. Super pumped for his debut album to drop (December!!) I guess this is one of those situations where I should just say less and let the track speak for itself.

2. Habaesha - Ramriddlz
Fun fact, Ramy is from my hood. He first popped up on my radar with Sweeterman, a track that Drake covered (obviously better). Ramy's video for that track was very...homemade, shall we say? Production was also very homemade, but he released an album in August, called Sweeter Dreams. Tropical vibes, this track is the essence of the album. It makes me feel like summer is still here, and I really need that right about now. Just don't read too much into the lyrics...l o l, I feel like he needs to figure out what part of the world he's singing about (a combination of Latin and African?). Upon a quick Google, "Habesha" is a term that Ethiopian and Eritrean people use to refer to themselves, a synonym for Abyssinian people, but I guess "Abaessinian" isn't as catchy for song purposes. Who knew Ramy would take me on such a history lesson.

3. Drawn to the Blood - Sufjan Stevens Remix
Sufjan released an album called The Greatest Gift this week that contains some remixes from his 2015 album Carrie & Lowell (which I definitely cried to), and a few new/previously unreleased tracks. The first time we heard Drawn to the Blood was on Sufjan's 2015 album, Carrie & Lowell. This remix is kind of weirdly electronic (Age of Adz vibes) and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet, so I'm going to let this mixtape grow on me for a bit.

4. Already Won - Kehlani
Upbeat and fun, Kehlani is always bringing it. This is a great motivational, pump up song. Love listening to this track and thinking to myself, yeah, I already won!!!

5. Wild Card - Cold Specks
Cold Specks is an amazing soul singer based out of Toronto. She released a new album recently called Fool's Paradise. It's been quite a while (2014) since she released an album, and like a hearty stew, the longer you simmer, the more flavour that comes out. Fool's Paradise was definitely worth the wait. It's quintessentially Cold Specks, easy listening and so emotive, but also a little bit different from what she has released in the past, blending Somalian and English lyrics. It feels like we're getting to know her a bit better. Give this album a listen, it's warm and makes me smile.