Sauti Sol’s announcing of their next body of work, Midnight rain, turned the spotlight on local music albums of this year more than ever. Most actors have been secretly working on full-length projects as ALFAYO ONYANGO discovered

Full-length albums can be described as an artist’s film production, while a song can measure up as a scene in it. Many scenes together make for a film. 

Already the pace has been set, most Kenyan artistes, both mainstream and underground, have either released singles, music videos, short length projects called Extended Plays (EPs) or Limited Plays (LPs), and non commercial projects called mix-tapes. With all these in works, albums seem to have stagnated.

“Albums require heavy resourcing, both financially and in human resource. It requires teamwork and planning.

The budget alone goes into marketing the artist, distributing the product, financing music videos and promotional material, getting quality producers and engineers for sound fidelity, licensing it for copyright.

This is why most artists look for music companies to partner with for albums, or just opt to release projects within their means,” artiste manager and Vice Life co-founder Bigg Musa revealed to Spice.

Quality vs quantity

Various artists are industrious and have great turnaround ability to record music and ready it for release in an instant.

Barak Jacuzzi, for instance, once revealed that in one studio session with peer Steph Kapela, they had recorded a whole project due to great chemistry and experience in the booth.

However, artistes also work for livelihood, and do not treat their crafts as hobbies.

“Perfectionism has made me take long to produce a project because I want to do it the right way. I just don’t want to put a couple songs out because I can.

It’s sort of unhealthy ‘cause people just want music and they don’t really care how you put it out,’’ Karun shared with a local podcaster. 

Karun is among artistes on music enthusiasts’ waiting list of albums, with her third studio album Glow Up already over due by some days after announcing a January release.

Others are Naiboi, Khaligraph Jones, Otile Brown, Nyashinski, Octopizzo, Tetu Shani, and Muthoni Drummer Queen (MDQ).

Even so, last year saw a number of new additions to artist’s discographies including Kagwe Mungai’s Spectrum, Fena Gitu’s Unleashed, Arrow Boy’s Hatua, Boutross’ 6 Views to 8K, Bey T’s Concept: Vol 1, and Kaa La Moto’s Kesi. From experimental cuts, critical debuts, culture-shaping efforts, street anthems, and moment givers, last year didn’t fail to deliver to a degree.

Expectations

Music albums from fans’ favourites are always welcomed with a host of expectations. From features, sounds, collaborations, surprises, these are just but some unwritten rules and additives that fuel up an album towards the day of release. 

Whether the album can stand the test of time is another conversation, but so far in the year, many are looking forward to minds being blown at the creativity and fellowship the Kenyan music industry has been cultivating from the recent past in different arenas.

“I’m already working on something. The intention is the same as Testimony 1990. Only this time content is wider.

I’m at peak level at 30, and there are already different ongoing conversations with artistes from different countries. So far, so good,” disclosed Khaligraph Jones about his new album currently in the pipelines.

Khali also teased collaboration with Hip Hop counterparts Nyashinski and Octopizzo on his latest single Yes Bana featuring Bien Aime.

So far, Sauti Sol has previewed their latest visual, Suzanna, putting everyone on high alert while setting the bar high enough for others to follow. 

“Kapela’s album has been in the kitchen for two years since we started talking about it and it seems ready to drop this year.

But the year is still so young with album announcements. I’ll just wait for the mix tapes here and there,” says radio presenter Miss Ruby.

So far snippets and previews on social media have been the name of the game altering how fans and consumers are getting album updates.

For example Instagram has been efficient enough with snippets such as Blinky Bill and Kaa La Moto in studio listening what sounded like a classic bop, MDQ and Sauti Sol have been spotted on a video set, with the former holed in South Africa with artistes Sho Madjozi and Sjava, or even Naiboi’s closed door meetings with top executives rumoured to be from Universal Records. 

“I’m making the best music of my life. 2020 will be wild,’’ Atenshan hitmaker Blinky Bill teased on his Twitter.

An age-old sentiment that most Kenyan acts can boldly ride with as patience for their music could run out fast turning into frustration in this information age where music from all worldly corners gets released by the minute.

On the medium best suitable for music consumption today, many local fans are still into peer to peer sharing through social networks Whatsapp, and others downloading from audio sites such as Mdundo and other Digital Streaming Platforms such as Boomplay, Apple Music, Songa by Safricom and Spotify. 

“Physical albums are just added to the collection. I try get them signed by the artist and that’s that. I prefer streaming because I can have the music with me whenever and wherever,” Miss Ruby reveals.