VMP Magazine

In internet time, 2016 might as well be forever ago. Turbulent sociopolitics of the broader world aside, back then, the music industry was undergoing a significant shift, prompted by a merry band of misfits who would come to be grouped under the umbrella term “SoundCloud rap.” The style encompassed lo-fi noise rap, histrionic emo rap, drug-addled cloud rap and combinations thereof that took hold across the platform. SoundCloud granted artists the ability to share their music and find both open ears and kindred community, no label budget necessary; fans would decide who rose to the top.

For nearly four decades, Bill Withers’ +’Justments sat hidden in plain sight. It was beloved, and even deemed a masterpiece, by listeners in the know, and for a certain kind of music fan, one of those albums that could confirm you’re amongst your kind — the ones who venture beyond charts; the diggers and the excavators.

But in 1974, when the album was released, the famed singer-songwriter was still at the height of his powers. He was already the Bill Withers who’d made “Ain't No Sunshine,” a prototype of lovelorn lament for its era, and “Grandma’s Hands,” an ode to matriarchal nurture. The Bill Withers who’d made “Lean On Me,” a monument to friendship that’s embedded in our cultural fibers. His songs were paradoxes, deceptively simple in the way they illuminated the interiority of the human experience, how they made the personal universal.

Every week, we tell you about an album we think you need to spend time with. This week's album is Dirty Computer, the new album from Janelle Monae.

VMP Rising is our series where we partner with up-and-coming artists to press their music to vinyl and highlight artists we think are going to be the Next Big Thing. Today we’re featuring Extended Plea, the debut EP by Toulouse. Extended Plea is out on vinyl now in the VMP store, and you can read our interview with Toulouse below.