Maurice Carroll Teams Up With Grammy-nominated Carolyn Malachi For New Dance Track

Music, Videos

When it comes to his music, Maurice Carroll has a simple goal.

The Baltimore-based composer and producer has worked with artists who’ve been nominated for – and won – Grammy awards and others who’ve delivered chart-topping hits. He’s toured across parts of the U.S. as well as eastern Europe and in Africa. He coaches other artists to help elevate the independent music scene.

But at the root of it all, Carroll wants to expose more people to house music by combining it with other genres like R&B and hip hop.

“The intent is for people to not pigeonhole dance music for a certain type of person,” he says. “It’s not just for one type of person. I want to make people more aware of it so they can enjoy it more and understand it more.”

For Carroll, it’s as simple as this: house music is easy to move and dance to. With a background in multiple genres, he says this genre is the party genre for him.

“It makes it easy for people to dance and be free of what they might look like when they’re dancing,” he says. “Be free with it. You don’t have to know specific steps and dance moves, you can move freely in it. I’ve also found it’s a controlled musical genre for me. It’s simple to the average listener but it has intricacies that I enjoy and it’s about the placement of those intricacies.”

Beyond just introducing fans of other genres to dance music, Carroll enjoys the difficulty of combining house with those other styles. When he’s mixing with something like R&B, for instance, his music isn’t written and arranged the way a traditional R&B song would be.

“You have to leave enough room on the front and back end for the DJs to blend it,” he says. “Placement for the vocals is important, and even if you’re featuring instrumentalists, where that instrument is being showcased within the song is important and has to be calculated because you have to anticipate what the dancers are doing during that song and not abruptly introduce another element where the listener isn’t prepared for it.”

Carroll has worked with artists like Michelle Weeks, a dance music artist who was a singer in Little Shop of Horrors. He’s worked with Michelle Shellers (vocalist for the electronic hit song “Keep on Rising”), The Floacist (formerly of Floetry), Ruff Endz and more.

He’s been building a buzz with his 2-step mix of “Ooouu Work It” featuring rising hip hop artist Lor Dae. And he recently composed, produced and arranged the dance track “Under My Own Weather” for Carolyn Malachi, a Grammy-nominated artist.

“KP (Kevin Powe Jr.) insisted that she work with me. Then she asked me to produce a song,” Carroll says. “When I sent it back to her, she was really taken aback by what I did. She said it was exactly what she was looking for.”

Malachi sat with the music for a while, wrote to it and then brought Carroll into the studio to hear where she’d taken the project with Grammy-winning and multi-platinum producer and engineer Andros Rodriguez.

After listening to the song, the two asked Carroll for his thoughts. He said it sounded good, but they still sat waiting for his real producer’s response.

“I said okay, can we listen to it again? I have some suggestions,” Carroll recalls. “Let’s move this here, place this here, manipulate it this way. Then we sat back and listened to playback and everybody in the room was like oh, I get it. That’s what we’re hearing as the record has been released, those changes and arrangements are what we hear.”

“Under My Own Weather” appears on Malachi’s new EP, Counter Narratives, which was released Aug. 26 and is available on Apple Music.

Make sure to stay connected to Maurice Carroll on all platforms for new music, videos and social posts.

Website: https://mauricecarroll.net/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO1DqJMN6SssUG3dz2viDTw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MauriceLCarroll

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mauricelcarroll/

Rising R&B Artist Kris Jonathon Dealt With Heartbreak – But He’d Do It All Over Again

Music, Videos

When a young Kris Jonathon was gifted an iPod, the first music he wanted to listen to was Soulja Boy – but his mom said no.

Instead, she said he could download any of the hundreds of songs she’d collected while working as a DJ. He finally gave her “old people music” a chance, and it wasn’t long before he was singing along with those Motown hits.

“From that point on I’ve had a huge connection with it,” he says. “I feel like Motown is a connection to my soul as well as my family. It’s how my first interest and love for music started. When it was time for me to start making music, it wasn’t that I was trying to sound like Motown, I think I wanted to exude my soul in the way Motown artists used to because that’s what I knew most.”

Now Jonathon, a native of Prince George’s County, Maryland, is a rising R&B and soul artist whose music has garnered well over a million streams on platforms like Spotify alone. His first EP, Honey Moon, was recorded in the closet of his college dorm room and then amassed more than 100,000 streams, inspiring him to keep going.

Last year, he released his biggest hit to date: the single “That’s All,” which already has nearly 900,000 plays. And he followed it up with two more EP’s and his latest release, “Rewind.”

It hasn’t always been easy, though.

Jonathon taught himself piano at age 13 and started composing his own music a year later. But he was “terrified” to sing on his songs, thinking his voice was too deep and different from singers like Chris Brown and Bruno Mars. Again, his mother came through.

“She was like, the world needs to hear your voice,” he says. “That line will always stick with me. I don’t sound like Bruno Mars or Drake and I’m not high enough like Michael Jackson, but it’s my voice and it’s authentic. It’s different but it’s like my soul.”

His talent is on full display in “Rewind,” the latest single – and his first release of 2022. It’s a soulful take on past romance that soured, but Jonathon sings he’d do it all over again.

“Loving you is substance abuse,” he sings. “So what’s my excuse?”

That relationship, with a girl who “popped up out of nowhere” and had a mysterious vibe about her, got Jonathon out of some bad habits and helped him to settle down and focus on the valuable things in life.

“I thought she was mature,” he says. “I showed her some of my music and she gave me some good advice for it. We helped each other a lot; it was a tough year for me and she was there for me. And then all of a sudden she just stopped talking to me.”

Turns out, she’d moved on to someone else. So Jonathon did the only thing he knew to do: sit down at the piano and play. The single that came from it is filled with somber piano, but it’s not a song about regret.

“I would go through it again because those memories I have with her are something I haven’t experienced before,” he says.

“Rewind” is a song that helped Jonathon come into himself, especially with his production style. He had a lot of doubts before finishing the project, but when it was done he sat back and said, “Whoa…”

“I just know I’ve got to keep making music so that’s what I’m going to do,” he says.

He predicts happier songs to come, but firmly believes he’ll write what needs to be written at the time – whether it’s love or heartbreak. Jonathon is also planning to release some covers soon.

Make sure to stay connected to Kris Jonathon on all platforms for new music, videos and social posts.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1Kt09OHecYKH4aJI5ZJdph?si=0piM9JVESjWtelMfLUbdCA&nd=1

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/krisjonathon

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonathonkris

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krisjonathonofficial/?hl=en

Love Canafuego Finds Inspiration Through Pop Music And Encouragement From Her Family

Music, Videos

BOSTON, MA—Love Canafuego finds inspiration through pop music and encouragement from her family.

While Love, and her brother Joyful Canafuego, are still in grade school, both have learned production and various instruments to create “Champ of Wealth,” a track she hopes can help her someday reach the Hot 100 and that speaks blatantly about money.

“We wrote ‘Champ of Wealth’ two years ago. The whole idea is to bring reality to how people handle money,” says Love. “‘Champ of Wealth” also includes her mother and father as writers, “Our songs are not just about everyday life, but art and feelings that people go through in the music business and in everyday life,” she explains. Her other single “Inflation Comes with Destruction,” features Joyful on vocals and is another take the family has on money and capitalism. Love hopes that if she becomes famous, she can use some of her earnings to help others.

Love tells that she wants to make music to make people dance, knowing she’d wanted to be in entertainment at an even younger age while constantly singing and dancing no matter where the Canafuego family goes. “Champ of Wealth” shows her knowledge of monetization and popular radio hits, but also plays with beats similar to old school disco and ‘80s pop, a la Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” without even recognizing it.

Some of Love’s favorite artists include Lil’ Nas X, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, and other hitmakers—the usual pop idols for most modern children, but Love’s focus outside of homeschooling goes into listening and emulating those sounds. Together as a family they write songs and compose lyrics using synthesizers, keyboards, drums, and guitar. Love is also a fan of Tina Turner and Cyndi Lauper.

When in school, she enjoys any courses relevant to the arts and enjoys drawing.

What other goals does Love have other than getting On-Air with Ryan Seacrest? Getting to the Grammy’s.

“I really want to sing, dance, and perform globally. I love my fans, but I want more fans to support me, and listen to me, and to share it with the world.

Make sure to stay connected to Love Canafuego on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/love-canafuego/1641587802 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFDOXAEi4DNTyOBPeOpKuHA 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075357813347 

Dale Bushka’s “Casey’s Shadow” Shows Yet Another Side To His Eclectic Mix Of Music

Music, Videos

Over the years, Dale Bushka has released music as the spirit moved him, every one different from the last, often to a large degree in music and the lyric theme.

His latest offering, “Casey’s Shadow,” follows in that tradition and expands it radically, and it comes with two different videos. He wrote the music, the lyrics and the story behind them, and he was the producer for the project.

“It’s a story,” he said. “The story is a lot more involved than the song is. “Obviously the song can only kind of give a little bit of background of what it’s about, but the video really gets into the dramatics and all the actors and everything that’s going on.”

That would be the long video, 10 minutes, featuring two young amateur actors, Tyler Anderson and Kayla Lonsberry.

The three-and-a-half-minute video is the song, featuring pianist Dorell Salmon and vocalist Gina Murrell.

He has two main hopes for “Casey’s Shadow.” One, of course, is to get play for the song, including air play. The Dorell and Murrell song video is the accompaniment for that purpose.

The other purpose, or hope, met by the long video, which tells the full story around the song, is to gain some attention for his musicians, the actors and his videographer, Terry Davis.

Dale, a retired insurance executive living in California, has been writing and producing music, “off and on,” for more than 40 years.

“I’ve been doing this for a while,” he said. “I don’t need the money, so it’s not really for me, it’s mainly for them. I’m trying especially for the kids. These kids are in their early 20s, and I’m trying to promote them. Maybe they can get into acting or modeling or something. They’re very good.”

As he talks about his music, and about this song and its two videos, it’s hard not to think that another motivation for this project is that he has never done anything like this, and he had a story he wanted to tell.

Casey’s story, told in a breezy, poppy tune, is about a young fisherman who, unbeknownst to his wife, in desperation, hires out as a killer to support his true love. Tragedy ensues. The long video ends with a mental health public service ad.

What he would like out of his music, ultimately, is simple.

“Honestly,” he said, “if I can hear one song on the radio, I think I’d be happy. That’s all I want to do. Before I die, I just want to hear at least one of my songs on the radio, and I think my songs are as good as anything on the radio.”

He says that if he could sing, or dance, or play the guitar, his musical aspirations might be different.

“But the thing is, I can’t sing. I can’t dance, and I don’t, and I can’t play the guitar. So, I try and do the next best thing, and I try and find people that I can trust that I believe in.”

He found people like that for this project. He had never met Gina before, but he had worked with Dorell, who introduced him to her. Dorell also introduced him to Terry, the videographer. All of them, and the actors, he said, were wonderful to work with.

“It’s just amazing, the talent that I was able to get. So I mean, I truly appreciate everybody that I’ve worked with.”

The music he has produced is a small body, but covers a lot of ground, which can be found on his website, http://www.bhhmusic.com/releases.

“I cross different paths,” he said. “I’ve done ‘Laurel Canyon,’ which is kind of my ode to Crosby, Stills and Nash. It’s about Laurel Canyon as it was before the Manson murders, and ‘Claire,’ which is the story of a boy that’s in love with a plastic doll. I mean, there’s a lot of weird stuff. I run the gamut.”

His songs vary not just in subject matter. “Badass Jesus” is a hard-edged, hard rock church hymn. “Totally Tubed,” another hard-edged but playful spiritual song, is ’60s style soft rock. “Fisherman Song” he wrote as a sing-along song, a sea-shanty style about fishermen saying goodbye before heading out to sea.

Coming up is “Girl You’re God’s Problem Now.”

It’s about a girl that had just driven everybody nuts in this town. She’s hit on them, she’s asked them for money and never paid it back, she’s just been a real pain. So when she passes away, the song asks at the funeral, ‘Why did the mourners giggle instead of bow?’”

Find “Casey’s Shadow” and Dale Bushka’s music on these platforms:

Website: 

https://www.bhhmusic.com/releases

Amazon Music: 

https://music.amazon.com/artists/B0BG6F48M2/dorrel-murrell

YouTube (short video): 

https://youtu.be/IzLfd4j8kwM

YouTube (long video):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_PHRs31Kls

Carriesa Shares Fresh Single About Raw Emotions, Finding Redemption

Music, Videos

HOUSTON, Tex. — Who hasn’t had struggles in their life? Who hasn’t felt insignificant in a world of trial and tribulation?

Acclaimed singer-songwriter, producer and recording artist Carriesa addresses these feelings in her new single “Radar” when she asks, “Am I on your radar?”

“This song is not the typical song you hear, especially nowadays,” Carriesa said. “Everybody likes the energetic pop pop kind of songs that you can play. This song I wanted to touch people who are in that mental state, and I just became a big advocate of mental health. 

“In the song when I sing ‘Am I on your Radar,’ it’s really me speaking to God, God can you pull me out of this? I know I’ve strayed away, I know I’ve done things I wasn’t supposed to, I’ve strayed away from your light, that kind of thing.”

Carriesa first got into music as a kid growing up in a musical family and the daughter of a preacher. She started playing the piano at age 4 and was playing in church services at age 9, and continues playing in church to this day.

She went to school at MediaTech Institute, a school with campuses in Houston and Dallas that focuses on the music industry.

“We learned engineering, song-writing, things like videography, doing voice overs,” Carriesa said. “We had to build a mini-amplifier and doing some repairs, stuff like that on your instruments. It really grabs every aspect of the industry. 

“After I graduated from there that’s when I kind of started taking off on my own. I didn’t realize until after I graduated, writing songs is poetry, Writing in diaries and things like that I did growing up as a little girl and I turned most of that stuff into songs, especially on my last EP that I released a couple of years ago. I just decided to go full force into it when I moved to Houston.”

Carriesa started releasing music in 2018, but being something of a perfectionist, her songs don’t get released quickly or real frequently, but when they are released, listeners know she’s put everything she has into them.

She worked with another singer-songwriter, Kenneth Clark, when she started working on “Radar” back in 2019.

“I asked him to help me write this song and I told him what I was dealing with at the time,” Carriesa said. “I was going through a lot of depression and it was really bad. I was in a really, really dark place so he helped write the chorus.”

Things seemed to get worse for Carriesa when she lost her record label. She said her emotions can be felt in the tones and sounds in “Radar.”

“That took a huge mental toll on me and put me into an even darker place,” she said. “It’s a really tough situation but I felt this was an appropriate time to release this song. I don’t know if you can feel it or see it when you listen to this song but it’s a very dark series of emotions spiritually.”

Carriesa said the song has a message too.

“When you’re in a vulnerable and dark place like that, it’s ok to speak out about it,” Carriesa said. “You don’t have to hold it in. I just want people to know that if you’re in a vulnerable or dark place, and you feel like you can’t trust anyone or you can’t get out of it, it’s ok to say I need help.”

Over the next year, Carriesa said she is working toward making her Grammy dreams come true. At the end of the day though, it isn’t about the award and accolades — Carriesa cares about her art and helping people heal through music.

“I would love for people to know that we are all flawed, and it’s okay to make mistakes,” she said. “You don’t have to live in fear and dwell on your mistakes. God can use your mistakes for your benefit. Everything is going to work out for you, and life is a journey.”

Make sure to stay connected to Carriesa on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

Website: www.carriesa.com

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/carriesatwo
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/carriesatwo
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/therealcarriesa
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/carriesa
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRAX8pflou_EiFBo3Tod2mw

Xcellence Podcast Episode 6! Kanye or Coon Ya

Videos

Xcellent World is the new podcast from Xcellence. On this new platform he covers hot topics from pop culture in the world of fashion, music, sports and entertainment.

Check out a segment on Episode where Xcellece shares his thought on Kanye’s Anti-Blackness after being spotted wearing a ‘White Lives Matter’ shirt at his daughter’s basketball game,

Drewe – BLANK FACE (Official Music Video) Produced by Freshnerd Beats

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The song recorded by DREWE called “Blankface” is featured on A Midwest Story Vol. 1 EP. The song is about locking in even when people don’t wanna see you go up. A uplifting, inspiration , enlightening song from a mature Indiana MC. Born Phillp Hargro, the conscious MC delivers mind awaking bars to uplift his peers confidence during the time of covid, when he recorded the track.
Check out this track from DREWE

Trey P – Belong To Me

Music, Videos

Trey P Puts His Life Story Into His Melodic Hip-Hop

By Gabby Cast

A little over a decade after Cyndi Lauper released her hit single “Time After Time,” singer and rapper Trey P was a child growing up in Chicago and overhearing the ‘80s pop track in his
household. His reworking of the single is now gaining attention, connecting his personal journey to listeners who might not directly relate, but can feel its resonance through his lyrics and songwriting
methods.

“Not only is it just opening up about me and where I come from, it's also universal. I get a lot of people telling me about how it helps them throughout the day when they listen to it,” says Trey P. “It's a very universal song and I feel like it will go places the others haven’t.” Trey P says that the song is his own version of what he was experiencing growing up, and his personal journey of life-lessons surrounded by a difficult environment while his aunt and grandmother tried keeping him out of trouble. He has been inspired by all types of music, more specifically New Orleans hip-hop veterans such as Hot Boys and member Lil Wayne’s subsequent solo career, but creating the music itself is what ultimately helps and inspires Trey P to write expressive tracks.

“There's a lot of things I still have a hard time getting past, looking over, or trying to still deal with on an everyday basis. I wake up and think about this every day and I've been learning to try to conflict, but it just feels better when I let it out on a track or on a musical platform,” he explains. “My writing process comes from just experience and things that I went through and things that I've seen. Even with songs where I'm talking about females, or my experiences with other females, I have to get out to things that I still think about. It's just helpful to get it out on music.

The music brings it out of me and when it comes out it's like magic.” Trey resides and travels from Kansas, Chicago to Atlanta frequently to record music when he’s not in his home studio. He’s currently writing a solo track for a friend while brainstorming a new single to follow-up “Time After Time.” Trey P has released 5 singles, and is looking to release a few more; his most recent tracks include “EZ,'' detailing his personal growth, and “Give It to You,” that talks about relationships. Other singles deal with tragedy and rising from the ashes of one's past while acknowledging their story.

“Humble” will be another upcoming single, while he’s set to play a show in Kansas City, KS. Trey P has been performing since he was 17-years-old, including an opening slot for R&B singer Inayah.

To whether or not he’d collaborate with Cyndi Lauper if her team reached out? “Of course, That’s not even a question. Yes.”

Trey P is on the right track for his sound, but not without a sound that allows him to look back at his journey.

Make sure to stay tuned in to Trey P on various platforms for new music, visuals and social posts.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Trey_peezy/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Thr3Peezy
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@3peezy

G Quick – Make A Change ft. T-Rell Produced by: Mad Chemist

Industry Spotlight, Music, Videos

Always one to put his life story into his music, East Moline, IL artist Gary Quick, professionally known as G Quick, tells his current chapter in the new single, “Make A Change”, a track about moving past the pressures of street life and wanting to make amends, grow as a person, and seek redemption.

The song is relatable to anyone who has experienced the rush of the “good times” and the heavy weight of the dark times of being entangled in street life. G Quick’s focus on becoming a better man for the sake of himself and his children keeps the listener engaged and resonating with that energy for the entire 3 plus minutes of the song.

G Quick’s flow and delivery on “Make A Change” ride perfectly with the piano-laden production by Mad Chemist. Add to this recipe a feature by Kansas powerhouse artist T-Rell, who as always brings a soulful melodic element to the chorus, “Make A Change” is definitely the single G Quick needs to release to gain a foothold in the industry, while at the same time taking steps for personal and professional development.

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pachousequick/

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/gquickdaboss

TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@pachhousequick

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdS6LZWm0i8ZQOCW4b1WEFw

Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/6cTV5iNymQe7C9WPiaQ5sd?si=G0Ehs26STzeMFiVjm1Sp4Q

Apple Music – https://music.apple.com/us/artist/g-quick/1161591429

[Video] Bianca Clarke ‘Sit In My Room’

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Bianca Clarke is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper, born in Mobile, Alabama. Bianca always knew music was her calling, at a very young age she started honing her skills by singing in her local church’s choir. As a result of her love for all things music, she naturally started writing poems and her own songs. Throughout her youth, Bianca continued to listen to great artists such as Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill, Trina, Lil Wayne, and Future, which helped her to further understand the makings of a hit record. After graduating high school, Bianca decided she wanted to round out her musical skills by merging her natural talent with a formal education in the art of music. Bianca starting attending the Art Institute of Atlanta, where she studied music production and sound engineering. Quickly making a name for herself around the campus. By the end of her first year Bianca decided it was time to pursue music full time. Bianca began to invade the open mic circuit of Alabama performing at every showcase, industry function and local venue with an audience. Bianca’s relentless approach garnered even more exposure, as she was labeled the “Rising Queen of Mobile” by the Alabama Press Register. Bianca Clarke’s buzz continues to grow at a rapid pace, with numerous electric performances under her belt, a few tour placements, three well-received musical projects, and being the recipient of a total of 20 awards, given to her at five separate Gulf Coast Music Award shows, Bianca has collabed with artists like Trina, Yung Bleu, Rylo Rodriguez, Honey Komb Brazy to name a few! Bianca also just founded her own record label “QBGANG The Label” Bianca is ready to take her career to the next level! Check out her latest album “Pretty Thug” out now on all platforms! Bianca also just released a visual to her captivating single “Sit In My Room”, video out now on Youtube!

Follow her on social media,
Twitter: QB_Bianca
Instagram: QB_Bianca
Facebook: Bianca Clarke