Your enemy is your mind
If you forgot your identity
It’s a small fragment of one of the most impressive releases I’ve heard all through 2020, and a fitting place to start today’s review, I think. The above quote is taken from Zawles’ brand new track, “Loose Woke”, a biting social commentary. The track starts out resembling a spoken-word piece, then gets more melodic and rapid as the music progresses. In the artist’s own words, he’s got a mellow, laidback sound, but that doesn’t equate mellow lyrics. Quite the contrary, in fact. Talking about race, media lies, and other important topics, the track “Loose Woke” practically forces the listener to wake up and pay attention. It’s an invitation to think outside the box and take a step past your immediate assumptions and pre-conceived notions. In other words, it’s precisely the type of music our generation needs, and it’s a shame there isn’t more of it.
Interestingly enough, however, Zawles isn’t that excited about “Loose Woke” as he is for his other recently released piece, “Expensive Tastes”. It’s interesting to listen to the two tunes back to back because then it’s easy to see how versatile this artist is. The sound in “Expensive Tastes” is, appropriately, mellower and more melodic than the sound in “Loose Woke”. Likewise, “Expensive Tastes” is a clever piece that invites discussion, thought, active effort on the listener’s part. It discusses the appeal of narcotics, but on a more educated level than the mere “I wanna get high” that’s so prevalent in most music today.
Zawles, who released his first piece all the way back in 2008, has been experimenting with different sounds and ensembles for the past decade. He recently recorded both of the above tracks with the powerful City Flow Band, as part of his G-Flow Symphony project. This exciting collaboration brings various takes and styles to the music, which only serves to add extra layers of meaning to what was already a very powerful piece.