Garifuna singer Ifeanyi Elswith drops a powerful, poignant Valentine’s Day single

In summer 2020, local Garifuna musician Ifeanyi Elswith released the album Everything Festyle, which Gossip Wolf hailed as a “star-making turn” that feels like “an intimate conversation with the coolest girl on the block.” Needless to say, this wolf has been on the lookout for new tunes from this velvet-voiced singer ever since! Last month, Elswith released what she calls an “island genre flip” of Summer Walker’s R&B hit “You Don’t Know Me” (produced by Jeremiah Fristoe). As good as that cover is, it was apparently just a warm-up for the sumptuous new single “Hold You,” which came out on Valentine’s Day and features a poignant verse by rapper Wren. Elswith uses melodic invention and boldly stated emotional truth to illuminate the difficulties of a tempestuous affair, creating a song so powerful it’ll be thawing the air between estranged lovers for years to come.

Local producer Kurt Vise crafts intricate jams whose sound vacillates between the early DIY electronic industrial music and mid-90s IDM. On Saturday, February 12, Swiss label Sol VII dropped two new releases from Vise, Retrieve the Earth Elements and Escape the Gray, that strike a balance between his headphone-oriented style and his dance-floor moves. The barreling, dystopian “Biohazard” is a highlight, and both releases are available via Sol VII’s Bandcamp page.

^{Kurt Vise’s “Biohazard,” from Retrieve the Earth Elements, features guest vocals by Frank Rouch.}

Gossip Wolf fell for Chicago hip-hop duo Stranded Civilians when they dropped the giddy, upbeat 2019 single “SOS!,” with its smooth-as-hell flute sample and guest verse from WemmyMo. The north-side group included it on their terrific debut mixtape, 2020’s Nirvana, and last Friday they dropped their second full-length, Obsidian. The album feels engineered to improve your mood: rappers Tony Santana and Aubry slice the air with verses as cleanly as though they’re tossing Frisbees, adding sparkle to the rich music with the joy they take in working together.

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