Last week, it was Public Radio Music day, a time to celebrate public radio stations like WXPN and the work we continue to do discoverubf the sound of local community. In that sense, this past month has felt like a winning season for the Philly local music scene. Perhaps it’s the green and white skies in this Red October, but there’s an undefeated creativity in the artists in the City of Brotherly Love, especially from the singers.
Whether a single, double or a tripl,e there have been some good hits coming from the community. Off their latest EP In Between Planets, Arthur Thomas and The Funkitorium gave the city a banger called “I Wantcha” mixing funk with some new jack swing. Vincena then follows with a melody about intimacy and compatibility over rhythm and blues with her single “Friends & Lovers.” While touring across the country with Flo Milli, GoGo Morrow cooked up a sensual bounce with “Don’t Stop” off her new EP Ready. Even the city’s flute bae Brielle Aprilfoolchild stays connected with her hometown with her own bop for a certain mood with “Link Up.” Funkitorium’s own Zavetis and Harrisburg’s own AJAY use their chords to create alternative soulful grooves “Traveling Fast,” and “I Never Slept in the Summer Shade.” Over the strings of MalachiTheGuitarboul, Steph Chambers uses her pen to paint a picture of a vulnerable destruction called “Sabotage,”off her new project Between You and Me.
Below is a small sample of what the current sound of R&B from Philly sounds like.