NEW SINGLE RELEASE – The Last Dinner Party ‘Caesar On A TV Screen’
NEW SINGLE RELEASE – The Last Dinner Party ‘Caesar On A TV Screen’ The latest chapter in The Last Dinner Party’s fairytale-esque story is the theatrical new single ‘Caesar On A TV Screen’. 05.01.24 Words by Kyle Roczniak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqcYU_eoihU The new track is the fourth single from upcoming debut album ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’. Their first new music of 2024, it promises to kick off what looks like a huge year for the band with an absolute anthem of a song. A perfect blend of rock, drama, and the bubbly energy that shot the band into popularity, ‘Caesar On A TV Screen’ encapsulates the Shakespeare tragedy in the modern world – “And just for a second I can be one of the greats/ I’ll be Caesar on a TV screen, champion of my fate”. It’s hardly surprising that the music video encapsulates the single perfectly too, due to it featuring the band unleashing their inner Shakespearean acting skills, with fiery frontwoman Abigail Morris as Caesar, Speaking on their debut album ‘Prelude To Ecstacy’ (available February 2nd via Island Records), the band say ‘This is an archeology of ourselves; you can exhume our collective and individual experiences and influences from within its fabric’. It doesn’t stop at the fantastic music either – The Last Dinner Party have been celebrated by fans and critics alike, now boasting a BRITs Rising Star award and recently being crowned the winner of BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of 2024 shortlist. You Might Also Like
IN CONVERSATION – Meduulla
IN CONVERSATION – Meduulla discussing her debut EP ‘Oblongata’ Meduulla discusses her debut EP Oblongata, making connections through music and her love of language 05.01.24 Words by Paul Bacon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G49ttieW6vE Oblongata is Meduulla’s 8 track EP released late in 2023. First and foremost, and to put it simply, it’s an amazing listen. Meduulla combines her smooth Mancunian voice with a versatile, unpredictable flow that toys with words whilst simultaneously controlling the beat. Although it seems like a contradiction, Meduulla’s sound is both chilled and intense, somehow relaxed but with moments of defiant observation. The tracks blend nostalgia with modernity, taking you back to the Hip Hop golden era, evoking the vibes of Arrested Development and the Pharcyde, before catapulting you back to contemporary Manchester. Oblongata is Meduulla’s debut EP, “I wanted to allow people to get to know me deeper and give them different flavours of myself through my music and my style,” she says. The release is the culmination of a long running process, “Some of the tracks have been around since 2021, so I feel like I’ve been sitting with it for quite a while. It’s very easy to become detached from your project once you’ve made it, but I’m glad I gave it my attention because it’s still very new to everyone else.” “How do I know where my limbs reside? Living two lives tryna synchronise, Don’t get me wrong I’m a simple guy. Tryna find peace in a simple life.” Meduulla – Limbo Part of what makes Meduulla such a special artist is her ability to interweave insightful observations into her music. Often, such as in her track Limbo, these are reflections on identity, “I was born in Zimbabwe and moved to Manchester when I was three years old. So I feel like I grew up with two very different cultures, however they do have a strong historic connection due to colonialism,” she explains. “So growing up that was quite conflicting because basically, my family has seen this like the land of opportunity, the land of dreams, but now I’m here. I’ve grown up with not much context of where I’ve come from, and I feel kind of alienated sometimes.” Despite emotions of isolation, Meduulla has actually found belonging via these feelings, “I make music that’s for people that are a bit off the curve, people that might see themselves as outside. But then I embrace that and connect with other people.” For Meduulla, viewing difference as a form of connection makes perfect sense, “Embracing the fact that I’m not the same as other people has been my superpower and informed a lot of the music that I make.” “Yeah, times like this, Got me thinking how a concept like time exists, Its our planet so we got the power, Every minute of the day we spend, its all (h)ours” Meduulla – Night Trip View this post on Instagram A post shared by Meduulla bby (@meduulla) Meduulla prides herself on following in Hip Hop’s rich tradition of manipulating language for maximum impact, “I love wordplay. I think it’s sick. I think it’s dope how words are the way we understand what people are thinking in their heads.” It’s such an inherent aspect of her craft that its shaped not only her work, but even her name, “I called myself ‘Meduulla’ because I want to be able to give people different perspectives in their minds, that’s how I write. I might think, okay the way I’m saying this means this, but what else could it mean? You can find multiple meanings in absolutely everything.” This is fundamental when it comes to her word play and the choice and power of words she uses. But Meduulla being Meduulla, she goes a step further, “I’m blessed that I speak three languages, French, Shona and English, so if I can’t find an alternative meaning in English, I’m able to find it in a different language.” And that combination of linguistic capability, musicality and a background in poetry, means that Meduulla’s writing can hit you in many different ways on many different levels, “That’s the beauty of language, because everything is connected or you can make it connected which gives me different ways of thinking, literally just a spiral of talking to myself on paper. I’m trying to find a way to say the things that I feel about the world.” Although Meduulla’s art is distinctive, it evokes reminiscence for some of Hip Hop’s greats and her work is influenced by an eclectic selection of music, “Growing up, my older cousins used to listen to a lot of DMX, I loved his unique voice, and that peaked my interest into Hip Hop. As I got older, I found my own vibes, I was drawn to Kendrick Lamar, then J Cole and Chance the Rapper.” When you listen to Oblongata, this affection for clever lyricists who can also make popular bangers makes a lot of sense. And much like many Hip Hop fans of her age, she discovered a lot her musical tastes in reverse chronology, “Later I went back and started listening to stuff that was before my time, like A Tribe Called Quest, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu. I just love innovative minds.” “What’s that thing about the horse? You can take it to the river but to drink you can’t force. I’m tryna do me, that’s the message I endorse, And the fit is looking clean, you know I got the sauce.” Meduulla – Mish Muulla https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRu_KnpXNzI Its well documented that the music business can be a challenging space for female artists, and perhaps that is even more prevalent within the sphere of Hip Hop. A few years ago, Meduulla experienced barriers when she participated in the BBC’s Rap Game UK, “It was quite clear that to be praised, or do well, you had to have either a hyper-feminine persona or be hyper-masculine. I feel like there wasn’t room for an artist