This week’s picks travel across continents and generations, threading experimental pop, Afrobeat heritage, and Punjabi folk reimagined for the dancefloor.
Let’s get into it!
Love & Death ft. Pat Thomas - Ebo Taylor
Any time Pat Thomas and Ebo Taylor come together it’s pure magic. Ebo Taylor is a legendary Ghanaian guitarist, composer, and bandleader, often regarded as one of the architects of Afrobeat and highlife fusion. His career spans six decades, and he’s worked alongside giants like Fela Kuti. This track features another Ghanaian icon, Pat Thomas, whose smooth, soulful voice earned him the nickname “The Golden Voice of Africa.”
Love & Death is a quintessential Afrobeat anthem filled with hypnotic grooves, intricate guitar work, horn arrangements, and socially charged themes. The song embodies the cyclical dualities of life: passion and mortality, joy and sorrow. Ebo Taylor’s music has had a resurgence in the past decade thanks to reissues and sampling by Western artists, reminding global audiences of the richness of Ghanaian music traditions.
Metal Dress - Sofi O
Sofi O is a rising indie/experimental artist who blends haunting vocals with dense, textural production. I’ve shared songs from her in the past and she’s quickly becoming one of my favorite up and coming artists out of Europe. She’s well rounded and isn’t afraid to be in her own lane. Metal Dress is a brooding, atmospheric track that sits somewhere between avant-pop and industrial-tinged electronica. The song carries heavy emotional weight, pairing ghostly melodies with metallic, almost claustrophobic instrumentation. Sofi O’s artistry sits in the lineage of experimental vocalists like Björk and FKA twigs, pulling from electronic sound design but centering the human voice as both fragile and forceful.
Tu Tak Tu Tak Tutiyan (Elados Rework) — Nadeem Khan
When I first heard this song I was enamored by it’s incredibly unique sound and bounce. The original Tu Tak Tu Tak Tutiyan is a classic Punjabi pop/Bhangra song rooted in South Asian dance tradition, performed by Nadeem Khan, a singer with a flair for high-energy folk-driven performances. The version here, however, is reworked by Elado — an Israeli DJ and producer known for digging into global disco, funk, and folk traditions and reimagining them for contemporary dance floors.
Elado’s Gulab Jamun Rework gives the track a modern nu-disco and global house twist, keeping the infectious vocals and rhythms but layering them with hypnotic basslines and crisp percussion. It’s a perfect example of how DJs are bridging archival music traditions with modern nightlife culture, turning folkloric sounds into club anthems.
Quote of the Day
“If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.”
Video of the Day
I love Snoopy and Charlie Brown. It brings back so many childhood memories. My mom has always loved Charlie Brown and I think that’s part of the reason why I love it so much. Put this video on while you work to relax and lock in. Enjoy!
Photo of the Day
Robert Smith and The Cure arrived in New York in 1980 carrying shadows from across the Atlantic. Just off the release of Seventeen Seconds, they weren’t yet the icons of gothic grandeur, but an anxious, wiry band figuring out how to turn alienation into art.
In Allan Tannenbaum’s photo, they lean against a wall of torn posters while NYPD officers stride toward them. The juxtaposition is perfect: youth disaffection staring down authority in a city that was itself teetering between decay and reinvention.
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