Sampha – HighClouds

HighClouds: 100 Tracks of 2017

Arnaud Marty — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:16:45 +0000

We can undoubtedly write that 2017 was a great year for music. We know it because our staff almost had to fight to agree on the final choice below and we’re proud of presenting a list which features a lot of up and coming artists and songs in 7 languages. Scroll down through our countdown and find the whole charts as well via Spotify and Deezer below.

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100. CITY FATHER – “Coquette”

99. BILLIE EILISH – “Bellyache”

98. SABRINA CLAUDIO – “Belong To You”

97. PETRA GLYNT – “Fell In A Hole”

96. HERCULES & LOVE AFFAIR + SHARON VAN ETTEN – “Omnion”

95. GIRLI – “Hot Mess”

94. THE SOFT MOON – “Burn”

93. J.I.D – “Never”

92. ACE TEE + KWAM.E – “Bist Du Down?”

91. CRALIAS – “Hope You Are”

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90. CHROMATICS – “Shadow”

89. RUN THE JEWELS – “Legend Has It”

88. CARDI B – “Bodak Yellow”

87. YELLOW DAYS – “Hurt In Love”

86. JFDR – “Airbone”

85. SUSANNE SUNDFØR – “Undercover”

84. TOM TRIPP – “Aurelia”

83. SUPERORGANISM – “Something For Your M.I.N.D.”

82. KAN WAKAN – “Still Feather”

81. NILÜFER YANYA – “Baby Luv”

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80. WAKE CHILD – “In The End”

79. JAJA BU – “Sweetness”

78. ALVVAYS – “Dreams Tonite”

77. KIDÄ – “Bone Mother”

76. HÅN – “The Children”

75. ULYSSE – “Mañana”

74. SHY GIRLS – “You Like The Pain Too”

73. GOURMET – “Delicious”

72. SORCHA RICHARDSON – “4AM”

71. MILLIE TURNER – “Underwater”

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70. NABIHAH IQBAL – “Something More”

69. KEDR LIVANSKIY – “Your Name (имя твоё)”

68. MORGXN – “xx”

67. GRIZZLY BEAR – “Mourning Sound”

66. DANIEL CAESAR + KALI UCHIS – “Get You”

65. DILLON – “2.KIND”

64. COUCOU CHLOE + SEGA BODEGA – “Flip U”

63. THE TRP – “Soda”

62. JAY SOM – “The Bus Song”

61. GFOTY – “Tongue”

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60. SELENA GOMEZ -“Bad Liar”

59. ELA MINUS – “Juan Sant”

58. EMPRESS OF – “Go To Hell”

57. SHE Major – “Please Don’t”

56. VAGABON – “Cold Appartment”

55. NADINE – “Ultra Pink”

54. SONDER – “Feel”

53. RINA SAWAYAMA – “Alterlife”

52. SEGA BODEGA + SHYGIRL – “CC”

51. GOLDLINK + BRENT FAIYAZ – “Crew”

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50. CRATER – “Unearth”

49. QUAY DASH – “Decline Him”

48. YELLE – “Romeo”

47. GABRIEL GARZÓN-MONTANO – “Fruitflies”

46. WESLEE – “Bathwater”

45. FOREST SWORDS – “The Highest Flood”

44. KENDRICK LAMAR + ZACARI – “LOVE.”

43. ALEX CAMERON + ANGEL OLSEN – “Stranger’s Kiss”

42. SMERZ – “Oh My My”

41. SASSY 009 – “Are You Leaving”

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40. CHARLI XCX – “Roll With Me”

39. TESSA DIXSON – “Prayer”

38. TOMMY GENESIS – “Tommy”

37. SSION – “Comeback”

36. PIXX – “Romance”

35. DANNY L HARLE – “1UL”

34. LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – “american dream”

33. LANA DEL REY – “Love”

32. KING KRULE – “Dum Surfer”

31. SAMPHA – “(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano”

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30. MAKTHAVERSKAN – “Vienna”

29. CCFX – “The One To Wait”

28. KLLO – “Downfall”

27. KELLY LEE OWENS + JENNY HVAL – “Anxi.”

26. BLUE HAWAII – “No One Like You”

25. FEVER RAY – “Wanna Sip”

24. JULIEN BAKER – “Turn Out The Lights”

23. LIL PEEP + LIL TRACY – “witchblades”

22. FAKA – “Uyang’khumbula”

21. TR/ST – “Bicep”

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20. SARO – “Eyelids”

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19. BROCKHAMPTON – “Summer”

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18. TYLER, THE CREATOR + KALI UCHIS – “See You Again”

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17. O-SHiN – “A Revelation”

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16. ionnalee – “SAMARITAN”

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15. Vince Staples – “Crabs In A Bucket”

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14. WWWATER – “My Hands”

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13. Björk – “Blissing Me”

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12. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Cut To The Feeling”

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11. Big Thief – “Mythological Beauty”

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10. SZA – “Drew Barrymore”

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9. Frank Ocean – “Chanel”

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8. Wy – “Bathrooms”

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7. SOPHIE – “It’s Okay To Cry”

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6. Moses Sumney – “Doomed”

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5. Kelela – “Onanon”

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4. Arca – “Desafío”

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3. Lorde – “The Louvre”

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2. Perfume Genius – “Slip Away”

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1. Yaeji – “Raingurl”

Listen to the 100 tracks of 2017 according to the HighClouds‘ staff via Spotify, Youtube and Deezer.

Sampha – Process

Jonathan Vilardi — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 16:24:30 +0000

From his extensive collaborations with SBTRKT to his breakthrough moment on Drake’s “Too Much”, Sampha has spent years working to prove that uniqueness and true musicianship are still valuable assets in the music industry. With his debut album “Process”, the British singer, songwriter and producer solidifies his point with an effort that feels as much like an extended diary entry as it does an LP.

Nobody sings quite like Sampha does. The character of his voice is instantly recognizable, occasionally goofy, and almost always interesting. This is apparent from the jump, as the extended, outer-space tinted metaphors of the opening track, “Plastic 100°C”, conjure up vulnerable images of Sampha melting like plastic under the heat of a symbolic sun. Poetic, sometimes elegiac lyrics are deeply wound throughout not only this song, but a healthy majority of the album. Lines like, “Sunshine and blue skies, yes I call. But now there’s a darker blue. I’m bleeding and you don’t care. The sun sinks and you’re not there” read like prose lost to time in a drawer of Shakespeare’s most insecure work.

On “Process”, Sampha brings forth some astonishing lyrics, but doesn’t always realize his full potential in bringing them from words on a page to vibrations in the air.

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Simple, honest, and mournful, “(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano” caught a lot of ears and garnered a lot of praise as the last single leading up to “Process”, and it proves to be one of the best examples of sonic storytelling on the album. Along with “Take Me Inside”, another mournful piano ballad, it seems to represent a wealth of untapped potential that Sampha misses out on through this project. In so many ways, songs like these are his natural habitat. They’re gorgeously stripped-down and transparent, showing off his ridiculously rare and distinct brand of piano playing, while complimenting his equally distinct singing in a way that frames his lyrics in the most favorable way. While interesting, the complex and sometimes convoluted electronic-flavored production that underlies a lion’s share of the album often sullies the stories being told, and highlights the wrong aspects of Sampha’s vocals – especially on tracks like “Kora Sings”, “Under”, and “Incomplete Kisses”.

What’s remains apparent on “Process”, though, is the sense that Sampha expressed himself exactly how he saw fit; and I can’t fault him for that. With talent and tendencies as exotic as his, there are bound to be some moments of dissonance and moments of greatness alike. And “Process” is just that: a collection of moments, good and bad, synthesized from those thousands of moments in Sampha’s own life that we never get to see – only hear about.

Sampha announces his first live shows

Arnaud Marty — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 15:05:25 +0000

Young Turks‘ rising artist Sampha will soon hit the road. Indeed, the singer-songwriter has just announced via his Twitter account a bunch of live shows starting next month.

I’m very happy to announce that I’ll be playing my first ever live shows next month. Details https://t.co/9eiPHKNe9C pic.twitter.com/3XxudmwQ7i

— Sampha (@sampha) 13 septembre 2016

As you can see in the tweet, Sampha will start his tour in London and finish it in LA. This announcement comes some days after the release of his amazing last single “Blood On Me”.

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Connect with the artist on Facebook, Twitter, and Spotify.