Follow @beatmochini #NoPlanB EP Series Ft @ZIMKITHA_SA & KhashanE Thus Far

Renowned music bender, yes that's how immaculate his production ability is, Beatmochini, has opened the year with a rather pacy entrance. The brilliant producer has launched a series titled No Plan B, which is a collection of accumulated collaborations with various artists over the past few years. 

He starts us off with part 1 featuring the sultry singer, ZimkithA, as well as part 2 with the refreshing KhashanE. ZimkhithA's 4 track piece is all sorts of honey, milk, and melting biscuits (if you must). Her vocals on this EP encompass you in warmth, a tint of sexiness, but most potently intense nostalgia. For instance, the layered vocals on "Phinda Futhi" give me serious Busi Mhlongo vibes and ZimkhithA's musicality is inexplicable in how seasoned she is. She knows in which pockets of the music to dip into and which to dance through, she is world class. Beatchmochini's production is not only the perfect canvas but it subtly carries the story heavily in how deliberate every element in the music is. Titled the ReBirth EP, it's no surprise that it features a toddler in the opening of the project signalling a level of innocence and purity before it journeys you, albeit briefly, into ZimkithA's woman in song. "There You Go," and "Oooh!" give me late 90's, early 2000's pop-RnB nostalgia in their very production. If you're someone who thinks in visuals you will immediately imagine branded "goom-geddles" (yes I want to say it like that) stomping in front of a camera with the owner sporting leather pants, high ponytails, and perhaps a lollipop in their mouth. This is splendid work by Beatmochini and ZimkithA. 

"I wish there was a way to know if you were in 'the good old days' before you left them. Someone should write a song about that."

While you're still tripping off the ReBirth EP, Beatmochini quickly followed that up with Finally Out which, if you listen to immediately after ReBirth, has the smoothest and seamless transition between either project. You're immediately thrown deeper into the nostalgia box as Beatmochini now opts for an old school boom bap treatment for this project. From the sample in "Time Flown By" to the intricate vinyl needle scratch in "The Invitation," you'd swear Beatmochini put out all his best archive material to assemble this project. Although the EP is embedded in nostalgia, you don't get too lost in it and he achieves this through adding new voices in Bizz ATV, Ras, and Les B on the feature list. The skits he places in-between tracks also snap you out of the music, if but for a few seconds, which I find both refreshing and opportune. Speaking of Les B, "Lost Flame" reminds me of a classic 2000's hip hop/RnB collaboration, you know those sweet tunes where hard rappers needed a famed singer to marinate us in order for his "soft" lyrics to be well received. Think of a Genuine and Ludacris combo... Listen, Beatmochini is certainly applying for a tender to be the pot manufacturer on this project. The best part about it is how KhashanE easily compliments the music with his very flexible rhymeskill. He moulds himself effortlessly into every new track while managing to remain relatable when he displays his spaza roots (Xhosa influenced rap). These men get a standing ovation from me for this amount of funk and bounce in a world crowded with "circular music" textures. SHU!