Bree Runway: Pressure

Bree Runway’s first release of 2022, “Pressure” is drenched in attitude, with a video—directed by Nadira Amrani—that blends corporate attire with S&M looks and electric choreography (some of which is ballroom-inspired). Driven by self-confidence, the Afrobeat-inflected track comes with this statement from the London-based artist: “I love how this song embodies everything I am. It oozes Africa with the rhythm of the drums, the attitude, …

18,000 Ancient Egyptian “Notepads” Discovered

Archaeologists have uncovered 18,000 “notepads” in the ancient Egyptian town of Athribis. Known as “ostraca,” the inscribed pottery fragments provide insight into life in Egypt some 2,000 years ago—with everything from shopping lists to trade records and schoolwork marked onto the remnants. Some of them had repeated phrases, believed to be student punishment. “Around 80% of the ostraca are written in demotic, an administrative script used …

Kokoroko: Something’s Going On

New from London-based eight-piece Kokoroko, “Something’s Going On” (led by Sheila Maurice-Grey) blends Afrobeat, jazz, soul and ’70s psych-leaning funk to create a luminescent and sprawling song. Opening with twinkling synths, guitar and gentle percussion, it becomes a horn-heavy track, punctuated by the calm but powerful chant: “Something’s goin’ on, something’s happening now.” The dreamy, layered song was inspired by “the enforced stillness and unsettling …