As the Afrobeats landscape evolves in size, landscape and influence. And as the releases mount each week, a lot of songs slip through the cracks. In a weekly series, TheBlotted highlights Nigerian music with memorable artworks, production, sound engineering, features, and presents a wildcard. This is to document, and appreciate the moving parts of the Nigerian music industry.
Artwork Pick:
The Cavemen – Love and Highlife.
Album art designed by Etubi Onucheyo
Coming from the success of their debut LP, ROOTS, The Cavemen keeps making bold statements that the sweet Nigerian Highlife sound is still around and better. This attention to craft also bleeds into the album art.
The graphic artist, Etubi Onucheyo creates a fitting environment for the music by invoking smaller parts of the Eastern waking life. He places palm trees, and huts in the artwork. Within the environment are inhabitants staring into the sky, which is filled with ancestral markings—Nsibidi. They convey the richness of their Igbo cultural background and music.
Etubi blends the serene environment with his motif, totem poles, and this fits exceptionally as The Cavemen make music that ties strongly to roots– pun intended.
Designed by Etubi Onucheyo
Production and Engineering Pick:
Wande Coal – Come My Way
Produced by Spiritual Vibes
Engineer unknown at this time
Wande Coal once again proves why his demeanour is worthy of Fireboy’s ‘Peru’ homage with his first single of the year, ‘Come My Way’. But what steals the show is the beautiful production Spiritual Vibes brought to the table. It blends bare percussive Amapiano sound with continuous South African House chords that pushes the music forward without much obstruction.
The instrumental gels with Wande’s sultry falsetto, and it sounds as good as any Amapiano hit, even without the hard hitting, staccato synth solo we have been so accustomed to. This sonic canvas, coupled with a smooth mix just makes this an easy listen. And this is really what we want from music.
Feature Pick:
Cobhams Asuquo on “Were Kwushin” by The Cavemen.
Produced by The Cavemen
Cobhams Asuquo’s feature on The Cavemen’s new album is an existential perspective on humanity. The song, Were Kwushin started cinematic, with an arrangement that evokes a call back to Spiritualized’s ‘Lay It On Me’, comes with a warm piano rendition that ushered in a singing Cobham Asuquo. Cobham asks important questions of life, with booming vocals that reverberate through the sound design. Cobhams’ insight is complemented by The Cavemen, who advises the listener to sit on ‘kwushin’ (means ‘cushion’ in Igbo language), instead of forcing his hands. Afterall, we are only human.
Blotted Wildcard:
Moss the Fireman – Look What I Did
Produced by Dedo
IB City rapper and creative, Moss the Fireman dropped a new song that prides in his music journey and the mission he is on. He combines a liquid flow, charismatic delivery and relatable lyricism with a simple trap beat that commands attention.
This is exactly the track record Moss showed that landed him a verse on “Streets”, a song by one of Africa’s premium rap groups, Show Dem Camp. And ‘Look What I Did’ seems to extend that.
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