Freetimes and Isolation with @IOanalog – (Mixtape Summary)

The music industry has recently been blessed with young, eclectic R&B artists like Frank Ocean and BJ The Chicago Kid, but Wait…Wait a minute. Now we have I/O! This mixtape is stellar – yes, I said stellar. Listening to I/O’s “Isolation” mixtape is a fresh whirlwind of feelings. Sometimes I felt like I was playing Super Mario Dance Dance Revolution (if that exists,) and other times I felt like kicking it on the bed, if you know what I mean.

I/O gives us crafty R&B, and I emphasize the word crafty since he continues to pursue his Grammy-Award winning grandfather’s legacy, and most of all – his own passion.

In my mind, the sounds of Isolation make it a mission to pick up all listeners on the same wavelength by travelling seamlessly through the same wires that provide fiber optic communication. The grand message through fiber optics reaches further than any of us will ever have power to, and therefore making it a powerful cohesion of thoughts from those on the same channel.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/54746007″ iframe=”true” /]

The meaning of “Isolation“, as it pertains to his mixtape, means a couple of things for me. The last track, “Face It”, features the idea of a decentralized America, with the repeat sampled voices shouts “Information wants to be free”. So, to feel isolated with so much free information at our hands is the idea of feeling overwhelmed, in this case, with our personal relationships as well as our relationship with politics; the mixtape is like a fanciful break-up letter to both.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/54746016″ iframe=”true” /]

I’ll stop blabbing and let him take the stage. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Ayo Olatunji aka I/O…

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/54746006″ iframe=”true” /]

Download the mixtape at ayoolatunji.com

-Celeste (@cellyonthetelly)