Four Influential Black Musicians of Today

With constant opportunities for online music promotion and exposure, it can be difficult to stand out in the current wave of upcoming alternative acts. As February approaches an end, KCPR would like to continue celebrating Black creativity and highlight four Black musicians who have been transforming what independent music looks and sounds like. Explore the sound of visionary evolution with FKA Twigs, Dean Blunt, Yves Tumor and Arlo Parks in this observation of Black talent. 

Yves Tumor

Yves Tumor — also known as Sean Lee Bowie — can’t be tied down. The experimental musician has found themselves writing of nights in Miami, slow mornings in Leipzig, endless days in Berlin and the paradise of Italy. 

Tumor released their first album “When Man Fails You” in 2015, later re-releasing the LP under Apothecary Compositions in 2016. That same year, they signed with PAN Records, unveiling “Serpent Music,” a Motown-inspired LP that explores Tumor’s upbringing in Knoxville, Tennessee and spirituality. 

The performer’s music has been remade into something more hypnotic, unpredictable and genre-less. Both lush and distorted, their newer sound balances abrasiveness and gentleness.

Tumor’s most recent album “Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds),” is an emotionally charged compilation of music that demands to be heard. They toy with distortion and thick reverb to encompass the feeling of tragedy associated with the abandonment of an abstract, godly figure, which is a common theme within their discography. 

FKA twigs 

Tahliah Debrett Barnett has always been a performer. Known under the moniker FKA twigs, the London-based dancer and musician began her dancing career at 17, later performing with names like Ed Sheeran and Jessie J. 

Creating her own artist persona, “Twigs” shifted her focus to music composition and production in 2013 with the release of her EP, “EP 1,” featuring the otherworldly, futuristic track “Weak Spot.” 

As an experimental pop artist, Twigs is eloquent in everything between punk rock and opera, showcasing this throughout her discography, especially her recent LP “EUSEXUA.” 

Like most of Twigs’ music, EUSEXUA transcends the human experience and was coined by the artist as the moment, “You’re not human anymore, you’re just a feeling,” she said to British Vogue. 

Twigs’ music has a distinctly feminine feel to it, combining ephemeral softness and playful vocals. Her influence goes beyond sound, inspiring other female musicians to embrace their femininity in their music. 

Dean Blunt

Dean Blunt is a puzzle asking not to be solved. Born as Roy Chukwuemeka Nnawuchi, he appeared in the world of music in 2007 under the electronic duo Hype Williams. 

The Dean Blunt persona is completely unorthodox. The Hackney-raised musician began releasing solo music in 2011, following an unconventional path to stardom: sparse social presence, obscure shitposts and abstract music. 

His lack of strategic planning has allured the hearts of many, earning the performer a Philip Hall Radar Award at the NME Awards in 2015. Dean Blunt speaks to a generation of “trollers,” explaining his subtle yet existing rise to success. 

The musician’s newest album, “lucre,” came out on Feb. 7, which was a collaboration between Iceage’s lead singer and lyricist Elias Rønnenfelt. The product is a tender, guitar-heavy fifteen-minute experience, with each of the seven tracks being named in numerical order. 

The LP was originally released to YouTube on New Year’s Eve under a secret channel that features other work by the enigmatic artist. 

Arlo Parks 

Arlo Parks entered the singer-songwriter scene with a bang. After releasing her debut album “Collapsed in Sunbeams,” she earned nominations at the 2021 Brit Awards for Album of the Year, Best New Artist and Best British Female Solo Artist. 

Perspective and vulnerability are Parks’ secret ingredients to songwriting, often exposing the most intimate parts of her relationships and internal monologue. Her hit song “Eugene” explores the pains of falling for a straight woman dating a man. She details the experience of unrequited love with specific and stark lyrics: 

“You play him records I showed you/ Read him Sylvia Plath/ I thought that that was our thing/ You know I like you like that/ I hate that son of a bitch.” 

The transparency continues on her sophomore album “My Soft Machine,” a 12-song LP that examines the world through wonder and sensitivity. 

“This record is life through my lens, through my body – the mid-20s anxiety, the substance abuse of friends around me, the viscera of being in love for the first time, navigating PTSD and grief and self-sabotage and joy,” she said via YouTube.

There’s no question why Parks is an influential artist of this generation — her relatability tells listeners that they can turn their ailments to music, and hardships to something tangible and outside the body.