Tricky day pre-Friday. Want to anticipate the weekend but can’t quite do so yet. And still hard times in lockdown and more Covid impacts. Let’s ease our way along with some chilled beats from Lina Labs and Oly.Lo.
Lina Beats is from Hamburg, Germany. The track is Change. Released at the tail end of last year, Lina Beats says of the track, “2020 was a special year which brought a lot of change and I hope things will change for the better next year. That’s what inspired me to write this song.” The start of this year has brought the awful news of more than 100,000 deaths in the UK from Covid. That’s a number that starts to become so large it’s hard to comprehend in a meaningful way. And there’s more to go. Change is a sort of soothing panacea. It uses a delicate jazz guitar to wander gracefully but slightly mournfully along. In the background are shuffly hip hop beats that give a bit of depth without overwhelming the guitar. An at less than two minutes it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Subtly beautiful.
Oly.Lo is from Atlanta, Georgia but says he has, “deep roots in the pacific northwest.” His track Renewed was made with Wes Harris and also has a focus on the times we’re in. Of it he says. “Coming into 2021 there is a lot of baggage and heartache and I hope this song brings hope.”
Renewed also uses a combination of guitar and beats. The guitar offers some drawling chords while the beats have a nice crunch and proper bass kick to move things along. Has a front porch whittling feel. We never had a front porch but I did used to whittle. All too often misused the knife and stabbed my knee by accident. As much deja vu as renewed perhaps.
