How Ramadan devotion became Nigeria's percussive revolution. The talking drum does exactly what its name promises. The dùndún, as it's called in Yoruba, has two heads connected by leather cords. Squeeze them and the pitch rises, following the tonal patterns of speech. Relax your grip and it drops low. In the hands of a master, this hourglass-shaped instrument doesn't accompany language. It becomes it.

On her new self-titled album, the Brazilian artist returns to herself. We talked transformation, diaspora, and the power of staying soft. On her new self-titled album, the Brazilian artist returns to herself. Seven years sit between Ludom’s debut and her sophomore record. In that time, she toured four continents, slept on friends’ couches between countries, sent production notes from bus stations, and shed a name. What was once Luciane Dom compressed into something truer: Ludom.

EADEM named a face mist after Mami Wata and the internet split wide open. Fear, pride, confusion, celebration all at once. Beneath the noise lives a question worth sitting with: what shifts when a spirit shaped by centuries of movement and memory shows up on a beauty shelf? This piece offers clarity, context, and cultural literacy.

Before the shutter clicks, a negotiation happens. For over a century, that negotiation was rigged. Film emulsion was calibrated for white skin. The "Shirley cards" that cinematographers used to calibrate skin tones and lighting featured only Caucasian models until well into the 1970s.

True influence whispers. And sometimes, it whispers across oceans. This is Between Shores: a new sonic offering from Subtile. Vol. I is called Prayers, Portals & Pulse, a 14-track playlist that does.