Happy Holidays! We are back from Thanksgiving break – a wonderful week off – to bring you the Weekly Gems Countdown from the station! “KCSU’s Weekly Gems Countdown” is written by the KCSU Music Directors and describes the top artists that your local 90.5 FM DJs are playing this week! This article is posted weekly on Sundays and discussed on their show “KCSU Weekly Gem Countdown” which airs every Monday from 11-noon. During the show, you can learn more about each musician or band before tuning in to the top 10 countdowns on Monday from 11-noon, in which the music directors present to you the latest songs topping the charts and breaking down each song’s sound and feel.

* = brand new to the charts this week!

1. *Kenny Beats – Hip Hop/Rap – (10 spins of “So They Say” off of the 2022 album “LOUIE”) Kenny Beats is a notorious producer in the music world who finally made his own album this year. According to GQ, “he’s an in-demand, cross-genre producer, a gifted multi-instrumentalist, and as of a few weeks ago, a critically-acclaimed solo artist with a debut album ‘LOUIE’ that’s a complex tribute to his father.”

“So They Say” is the fourth track off the debut album, and has a catchy beat talking about his father, Louie.

2. *Indigo Sparke – Alt/Indie – (10 spins of “Golden Ribbons” off of the 2022 album “Hysteria”) Indigo Sparke is an Australian based artist that “writes with a rare and reflective power, creating music that builds and bursts as she examines love, loss, grief, and a newly realized rage,” according to her Spotify. Born in Australia and now based in New York, Indigo established herself in the Sydney music scene with her 2016 EP “Night Bloom.” She has toured with Big Thief, had a song featured on the TV show Cloudy River, and performed across Australia and the U.S.

“Golden Ribbons” is the eighth track of the sophomore album produced by Aaron Dessner.

3. *Odie Leigh – Folk – (8 spins of “A Month or Two” off of the 2022 EP “How Did it Seem to You?”) Odie Leigh is a folk singer and songwriter from South Louisiana. According to her website, “Odie Leigh’s songwriting reflects an earnest and fervent search for identity through the confusion of growing up culturally-adjacent in an area with so much history, tradition, and faults.”

“A Month or Two” is the first track off the debut EP, that describes waiting and healing over time.

4. *070 Shake ft. Christine and the Queens – R&B – (7 spins of “Body” off of the 2022 album “You Can’t Kill Me”) According to her Spotify, the New Jersey artist is “ranging from fraught to vicious, [and] the voice of rapper and singer 070 Shake is among the most unique in contemporary rap.” Pitchfork explains that on her sophomore album, 070 Shake “retains her style while also reining it in, re-centering the push-and-pull of romantic anguish that lives at the heart of her music through a more muted delivery. Here, her sound is full of keening synths, electric guitars, and heavy drum beats, furnished by co-executive producer and regular collaborator Dave Hamelin.”

“Body” is the eighth track on the albu, and talks about falling in love with someone’s looks.

5. *Bibi Club – Alt/Indie – (7 spins of “Parasite” off of the 2022 album “Le Soleil Et La Mar”) Bibi Club is the musical project of singer-keyboardist Adèle Trottier-Rivard and guitarist Nicolas Basque, based in Montreal making French alternative music. “Parasite” is the third track off the album. The song’s lyrics reflect almost wishing they had the life of someone else; jealousy yet happiness is relevant in the track.

6. *Cavetown – Alt/Indie – (6 spins of “1994” off of the 2022 album “wormfood”) Cavetown, real name Robin Skinner, has “emerged as one of the preeminent voices in the DIY bedroom pop scene, with more than 1 billion global streams to date, including nearly 8 million monthly Spotify listeners and over 2 million YouTube subscribers.”

“1994” is the fifth track off the album. We see them “attempting to make peace with their younger self through a journey of self-worth, resentment, and self-love.” In an interview with Warner Records about the album, Cavetown notes “That song is about trying to allow yourself the same compassion and forgiveness you’d have for a little kid if they’d made some kind of mistake, instead of beating yourself up over it.”

7. The 1975 – Alt/Indie – (6 spins of “I’m In Love With You” off of the 2022 album “Being Funny in a Foreign Language”) The 1975 are a British band from Manchester, England consisting of four members – Ross MacDonald, Adam Hann, Matty Healy and George Daniel. The members of the band met during high school and started playing together in 2002. They went by an array of different names throughout their career, such as Drive Like I Do and Bigsleep, until settling on “The 1975.” The name, “The 1975,” was inspired by a Jack Kerouac poetry book that had “1 June, The 1975” written on the back. During the early days of the band, they would perform punk covers in local clubs until they started to write music themselves.

“I’m in Love With You” is a classic 1975 pop track about love.

8. *Coast Contra – Hip Hop/Rap – (5 spins of “Hell on Earth” off of the 2022 album “Apt. 505”) As described on their Spotify, “Twin brothers Ras and Taj Austin, sons of West Coast rap legend Ras Kass and Soul songstress Teedra Moses, met Colombian-born Rio Loz in high school to assemble Coast Contra. After releasing their first mixtape, the trio found its fourth member Eric Jamal, a bubbling rapper out of North Philadelphia, PA.”

“My Lady” is the third track off the debut album, and talks about the love they have for their significant other.

9. *JID ft. Lil Durk – Hip/Hop & Rap – (4 spins of “Bruddanem” off of the 2022 album, “The Forever Story”) JID, a name adopted from what his grandmother called him as a jittery child, is making a name for himself in the rap scene. Growing up, JID’s first connection with music was through his parents’ collection of classic funk and soul LPs. In 2012, he dropped out of college to pursue music as a career. After working for 5 years and dropping projects, JID signed to J.Cole’s record label, which has boosted his career tremendously.

“Bruddanem” is the eighth track on the album, in which JID & Lil Durk rap about their relationship with their brothers. “They reinforce the concept by saying they would do anything for them if necessary and vice versa. Lil Durk also pays homage to the late King Von and DThang.”

10. *Mia Gladstone – R&B – (4 spins of “WHEN I THINK TOO MUCH I GET SICK TO MY STOMACH” off of the 2022 album, “LOOPY”) Mia Gladstone “fearlessly challenges the norms of society, making music that is as empowering as it is relatable,” according to OutLoud Culture. Gladstone explains that, “ever since I can remember, music has been at the forefront of my daily life and it’s been my greatest joy. I’ve always loved listening to music, singing, writing, playing, and it was just like this natural evolution that my parents really empowered growing up.”

“WHEN I THINK TOO MUCH I GET STICK TO MY STOMACH,” is the ninth track off of the sophomore album, and describes remembering an old love – and how awful it was.

Top Adds from this Week:

1. Hollow Sound by Taylor Kingman (Folk)
2. The Family by Brockhampton (Hip hop/Rap)
3.  softCORE by Fousheé (R&B)

The Music Directors can be contacted at music@kcsufm.com