Ready For Love – JFlames featuring Ruinz Ason
A great choice for an album opener…. The beat is summery, and has such a great vibe…
This is Ruinz Ason in full lyrical introspective mode, talking about being ready for love. The thing I like about Ruinz is that his lyrics are fully thought out — he doesn’t throw words around just for the sake of making it sound good, like trigger words or the trends of the day, he’s not that kind of an artist — and his sound will pleasantly surprise you. This track is from a fast-growing genre called amapiano that incorporates the sound of South Africa with dance beats, making them pop and sound exotic. Then you have the South London twist. Both Ruinz and his brother JFlames have turned me on to this new sound, and I’m absolutely loving it.
Run 2 (Mellow Yellow)
This track continues with the summery vibe, you can just imagine being sat under a tree in the summer, or just winding down the party at 4am – it wouldn’t sound out of place on a chill out playlist…
JFlames gets creative with his vocals on this, putting the lead through the ringer with different processors. I love the bit where he pitches the vocals down, it’s unexpected and gives a bit of variation on this.
Mellow Yellow whisks you off, the synths providing the melody for this are intentionally meant to make you feel like you’re on a journey, it’s very watery and it’s not unpleasant that’s for sure.
Probably one of my favourite tracks on this project.
Con Tu Amor Ft. Tazito
The first of the international collaborations on this album, this shows that COVID hasn’t impacted the creativity of artists, instead it has shaped the way things could be in the future. With technology, a little bit of forward thinking and ingenuity things can be made to happen.
With this in mind, “Con Tu Amor” – Spanish for with your love fuses Spanish with a little bit of dancehall slowed down – In all the time I’ve known JFlames this is not something I’ve heard him do before and it makes me proud. He’s a versatile producer and this proves it. Never underestimate an artist’s production value.
This is my stand out track on the album so far.
Cut The Cord – Ft. Jodie Erica
One thing I like about this song is Jodie Erica’s sultry vocals, she goes through her range here, I’ve never come across her before but.. I’m impressed.
She’s got soul.
Her vocals come riding in on a syncopated rhythm that’s guitar led… I love the chorus “Hold me one time don’t let me go…”
This has summer written all ove it, enjoying your BBQ with your friends. It would make a great dance tune as well, DJs would be mad not to pick this one up for the party to get started….
I don’t mind admitting I’d have loved to get the call for the keyboards for this one I can tell you now!
In The River – Featuring Ruinz Ason
Another collab with Ruinz, and it’s back to that Amapiano vibe, the bells that kick it off lay a nice foundation for a hypnotic tune, the beat has a bit of a swing to it.
I like it.
Ruinz is using the higher range of his vocals here – for those of you who don’t know him, he’s a rapper and producer and the brother of JFlames, when I first met him he was rapping but this shows how much he’s evolved in time…
The percussion sounds so sweet on this, shakers and agogos, with some bongos – very light and not overpowering.
Definitely a hit with this one.
Ungowami Ft Platinum Mind
Whale can I say about this without making my ego stand out?
Well, the first thing I want to say is that from top to bottom I’m very proud of this one. It’s hit over 1000 streams and has received plenty of support from radio, and I’m very grateful to both my fellow artists and friends who have supported it.
When I first heard this before the vocals had been added I knew that this was going to be a serious vibe, JFlames already had it in mind to make it international tapping into the Amapiano style. So for me bringing in Millie to do the vocals completely in Zulu was a stroke of genius…
Ruinz makes a special guest appearance with some beat box and absolutely nails it.
For me recording the keyboard parts was easy I know how J likes his old school synths so I have a template for layers of EPs for this reason in my DAW set up for when Ivey the call… bringing in jazz chords with some soul was my intention and I hope I brought that flavour.
Chega Ft La’Byle
This mashes up lots of different vibes and JFlames recruits La’Byle to bring that Spanish flavour to it.. and they deliver! There’s beatbox, acoustic guitar, trumpet solo… Will I Am wished he had it this good.. it’s a hypnotic groove and naturally makes you want to dance. In fact there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be dancing at this point non stop to the beats on this album so far. If this song was to be performed live I reckon this would be an absolute spectacle on stage… Rumour has it that La’Byle know how to put on a party! Very talented crew and I hope that it’s not the last time I hear from them whether it’s a collaboration with JFlames or not.
Heartbreaker (Feat. G Maffiah)
JFlames breaks out the steel pans and takes us to back to the island with this one, bringing in G Maffiah, lamenting about a girl that’s got hold of his heart but in the end breaks his heart… The chorus is catchy like hell!
You could imagine the video being shot for this sun soaked beach, with a mystery girl that you can’t see, but only view her from a distance.. MTV when MTV was MTV… haha!
Faith Not 4 Sale ft. 8Tred Da Gr8
Being the penultimate track on this project, this has made me think… J you could have made this a lot more longer.
EASY!
This track is another introspective vibe, you hear the sea rushing against waves, and you could imagine this being on a ukulele and just vocals…. I’m listening to this on a cold morning, and it’s drawing me in.
The lyrics that catch me are “Father father please help me”….
Yeah.
That’s a prayer.
I love the outro where JFlames gives a heartfelt thank you to those who helped him put this together.
Before I close this out, I just want to say that JFlames is a chameleon when it comes to production and as an artist, he’s not someone you can put in a corner and say… “This is JFlames”, you do that you will be disappointed, he will change on you and you’ll have to re evaluate….
Rudeboy Ting ft. Ruinz Ason
This track had me from the Rhodes. I know that JFlames has a thing for EP sounds, and this is sweet… I need the presets to make that Rhodes piano sing, bro!
The offbeat groove has me nodding my head, and is a fitting track to close out the project with it makes you want more…. I have it blasting right now and I’m enjoying it while sipping my juice…..
Thanks bro.
This was a trip!
Before The Tide Rises – JFlames On Bandcamp
