Song Of The Day: Ariel & The Culture – “Infatuation”

With Its Latest Single, The Experimental Rap/R&B Group Fuses Elements Of Soundcloud-Esque Hip Hop With Lo-Fi Playlist Beats For A Brockhampton Banger. And Yes, We’re Infatuated.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.

Ariel & The Culture – “Infatuation”
RIYL: Brockhampton.
What Else You Should Know: Ariel & The Culture feels like somewhat of a new, best kept secret in North Texas music. The Latinx R&B/rap collective formed back in 2017, and yet somehow it’s taken us this long to be put on.

With a self-described prospectus of “making jazz cool again,” the six-person group often mixes brass instruments with heavy SoundCloud-rap beats, resulting in a sound that isn’t to be easily boxed-in.

Throughout the highlights of each members disparate voices, the song’s lyrics touch everything from Dragon Balls, needing DMs full of Daisies and Dora’s backpack — modern millennial romance at its finest.

While acts like Brockhampton might seem like the low-hanging fruit for comparison, being that groups are rap/R&B collectives and this is a cover, you would still be hard-pressed not to recognize the same experimental, genre-reconstructive sensibilities the groups share, both sonically and lyrically.

This cover of “Infatuation” is just the tip of the iceberg with Ariel & The Culture, though. Do yourself a favor and listen to the group’s debut EP, NOSTALGIA, including its breakout single “Walk Out,” or just do it for the (Ariel &) the culture.