Taking It Back with Harriet Brown
Harriet Brown’s hypnotic R&B music sounds like something straight from the early 2000s done completely differently. His addition of loop machines and love of electronic music bring it deep into the new millennium, while slick guitar licks and outlandish on-point wails bring it to a Prince place. He’s seeping soul from every era, past present and future.
We talked to him before he took the stage with fellow Popscure features Opal and Dazeases this coming Thursday. Jasmine Rodriguez of No Preserves was kind enough to dive deep into his discography - namely, his latest endeavor Mall of Fortune - and ask him a few questions.
Redefining the Framework of tyler donavan
“What you see is getting framed.” Tyler Wright—better known as tyler donavan—prides himself on his “open book” level of transparency. Our first conversation was scheduled for a late Friday afternoon/evening, a few hours into the start of the weekend. But a couple hours before the agreed time, tyler had asked to reschedule, citing a bad mental health day. This level of transparency shouldn’t come as a surprise to those that know, or are familiar with, tyler donavan’s work and personal testimony. Following major spinal surgery in 2018, tyler donavan has done nothing but stay true to his word. From documenting his first steps without a walker to expressing the ebb and flow of doubts that surround his psyche of who he is as an artist and a human being, tyler donavan continues to maintain that what you see is what you get—“what you see is getting framed."
LEYA Sheds Light on a Sort of Beauty
Described accurately as "transcendental punk", Marilu Donovan and Adam Markiewicz use detuned harp and violin + vocals respectively to create ethereal sounds that evoke a tangible chasm of emotion. Their debut full-length album Flood Dream drops this Friday 3/6 via experimental label NNA Tapes and they’ve got their hometown album release show tonight at a DIY venue in NYC before embarking on a two-month tour taking them down the east coast en route to SXSW and through the Midwest and Canada. I’ll be checking back in with them this Friday when they play Taphouse with Community Witch, Dysphonia, and VV, but first I wanted to get to know them a bit more...
Join NYC Nightlife United in Keeping NYC's Lights On
2020 has served us all a harsh reminder that "you don't know what you have until it's gone." Late-night hangs with friends are cut short...big celebrations are canceled or reimagined in a new way fitting of a dystopian novel...things that were once a lighthouse amidst the storm of life have gone dim. I mean, things weren't perfect before COVID, but at least we had those small sanctuaries of respite. Now, as society begins to rebuild itself to a "new normal," many will be left struggling to keep their heads above water. And unfortunately, many of those will be members who have brought us that joy and happiness that we took for granted---from artists and musicians to venue workers and small business owners, everyone in the music and entertainment industry has inevitably been affected. To make matters worse, the disparity of who will be affected is disheartening with minority-owned businesses and BIPOC & LGBTQIA spaces being most at risk at closing due to financial struggles.
A Change in Perspective with Black Spirituals' Dathan Kane
When you think "black and white," what's the first thing that comes to mind?
Most people would say something along the lines of rules or limitations...outdated structures of time and space---but VA artist Dathan Kane is not "most people." Rather than subscribing to the realm of conventional human expectations, Kane's world of "organic black and white shapes" operates like a Rorschach Test, full of limitless possibilities for viewers to see, interpret, and experience.
More Than Meets the Eye(s): A Peek Into Black Spirituals' Adewale Alli
The human experience is one filled with irony. Those first moments of existence, we are seen as pure but deemed born into sin. We're taught from a very young age that we're all uniquely unique, but are then carefully crafted to be the same as the next. Before you know it, you're living the same life as the one before, living someone else's "truth."
Artist Adewale Alli knows this all too well, and through his art, offers a chance...an escape from the imposed sociological sanctions of society. With his trademark "red eyes" and color-centric pieces, the Baltimore artist invokes an unsettling sense of urgency in introspection. His work beckons the viewer to reach into their subconscious and acknowledge the things buried deep.
Celebrating Love and Life in Its Most Natural Form with Black Spirituals' ALXMCHL
If you really think about it, everything we see is a shape. Without a second thought, we go about our lives seeing, analyzing, and accepting shapes as they are in their natural form, taking their very existence for granted. Cubist artist, Alex Michael---better known as ALXMCHL---possesses an acute awareness of this and works to highlight and honor the love and life that lives in every shape we come across.
With compositions like his "MTHRNSON" series, ALXMCHL shows that the love and bond he had, and still has, with his late mother has never been taken for granted. From the Norfolk NEON Arts District to the Virginia Beach ViBe Creative District, the memory and energy of his mother's love and life is honored in the most organic way he knows how---through shapes.
Healing & Hardwork: How Pure Lagos Keeps Reaching Further
“Ká ohun ti o gbìn” translates to “you reap what you sow.” and is a Nigerian (more specifically Yoruba) take on the classic proverb. For Sia Alexander and her company Pure Lagos, this adage rings more genuine than most.
Founded in 2018, Pure Lagos has had a serendipitous rise to success in the community of Norfolk. After receiving a warm welcome as a pop-up shop at the Selden Market, the African art gallery/artisanal boutique soon found itself becoming a long-standing shop at the Selden Market, eventually spurring the growth of three more shops. But before the success of Pure Lagos, shop founder Sia Alexander had to plant the seeds that would inevitably lead to the ultimate fruition of her passion and mission to “serve humanity, highlight Afrocentric culture, and [provide] healing methodologies.”
