selected works
‘Traditional Noise’ is the debut album from the DMV native duo April + VISTA – that’s Virginia-raised vocalist and multi-instrumentalist April George and Maryland-raised producer Matthew Thompson (mattVISTA). Their DIY roots in the D.C. underground scene has informed their eclectic palette and formative experiences as artists. Having been influenced by everything from trip-hop to rock to classic soul, the duo’s newest work challenges us to release inhibitions when it comes to “tradition” and embrace the visceral noise of life, art, and emotion. The duo’s picturesque lyricism and immersive musicality build full, realized worlds, connecting each track to a greater sonic story.
Read more on Clash Magazine
Fossilized Experiments: April + VISTA Interviewed
In a society that champions constant and speedy evolution, one has to ask where are we in a rush to and why? Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Arima Ederra untangles that question, re-learning her relationship with time on sophomore album, A Rush to Nowhere.
With bright, childlike earnestness, Ederra sang of love, lineage, and a longing for freedom on her 2022 debut An Orange Colored Day, solidifying her as a force in the new wave of indie-facing R&B acts. Reuniting with producer Teo Halm and numerous close collaborators, Ederra now delivers a grittier, hardened and more evolved work. Across the album’s fifteen tracks, she explores the question of time; the transience of memory, our compulsion to outrun the present, relinquish control and surrender to the slow unraveling of our future.
Read more on Clash Magazine
Time Stands Still: Arima Ederra Interviewed
An interview with visual poet jellystone robinson
The south-side filmmaker discusses their upbringing, creative process, and forthcoming screenings.
Formerly a National Youth Poet Laureate, jellystone robinson is now creating visual poetry that honors the memory of Chicago’s south side while redefining how sound, self, and sensuality are communicated on film.
Robinson, a Black, agender digital artist and filmmaker from Bronzeville, just wrapped a yearlong Filmmaker’s Mixtape Challenge, which involved making a new no-budget film each month.
Read more on Chicago Reader
Sumthin’ Wicked this Way Comes: Dissecting Sleep Paralysis w/ BbyMutha
As a Chattanooga-born rapper, the bloodline of Three 6 Mafia seeps into the fabric of BbyMutha’s music. The deep horror movie influence on early Memphis rap is translated into this ominous sonic abyss she creates on her newest album, sleep paralysis. The sophomore LP delivers new layers of performance and experiments even further with her alternative sound, her cadence switches, and her darker imagery.
Historically, Black people are wiped not only from past and present memory but the imagined futures many science fiction and fantasy authors, filmmakers, and artists create. Traditional media does not make space for the future of Black culture in these imagined worlds. But Afrofuturism gives Black people a place to also imagine and dream far into the future. To carve this imagination aligned with the unique qualities of Black culture.
Watch more on the OHM YouTube | Read more on the OHM Blog
Afrofuturism in Media: Reclaiming Black Narratives
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