March iPod Update

{for all music related posts, see .Evolving.Music}

For February's music update, click here.

March has brought me some fantastic new cuts, and several blasts from the past that I hadn't heard before, making them new to me. I will say that I downloaded The Jackson's "Blame it On the Boogie" which is simply sublime. But through 56 new songs, including an album that won't be released until next month, March was good for music. I'm almost sad to see it end, until I remember that once it does, I get to start all over again with April...

Dessa, False Hopes: Released in 2005, False Hopes is a 5 song EP from Dessa (@dessadarling) of Doomtree. Why write about a 2005 release as "new music?" Well, have you given this EP a listen yet? While short in length, this EP is huge on style and poignant, introspective lyrics against musically gripping backdrops. "551" looks at an addictive and damaging relationship over a dark beat laced with piano. Throughout the album, Dessa mixes her vocal talent with her rapping and slam poetry background to great effect. "Mineshaft" utilizes an urgent string backing and heavy drum beat to accentuate the sense of loss in the song. Many of the lyrics focus on a central theme of personal loss ("The list of things I used to be is longer than the list of things I am," "I lost an octave to the Camel Lights") and they're delivered with such intensity that her personal experiences become visceral for the listener. "Kites" delivers an eerie underwater feeling that brings to mind the melancholy feeling I first heard on listening to Atmosphere's "God's Bathroom Floor." Through just 5 solo songs and her contributions to Doomtree, Dessa rivals P.O.S. in her passion and creativity on this album, and one can only hope that her poetry, lyrics and music gain the public recognition that they deserve. Don't Sleep On: "Mineshaft," "551," "Kites."

Kero One, Early Believers: This man does it all out of his self-run label, Plug, in the Bay Area. DIY in every sense of the word, Kero One plays his own instruments, makes his own beats, writes his own lyrics,

and for the rest of the new music I've been listening to this month, click here.