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Soul in the City:
Ear Candy Interview with Timikah Jones
Written by: Slangston Hughes
Photography by: Edith Williams of Diamond Digital Portraits
A while back, I had the opportunity to sit down with some of the Mid-Atlantic regions’ most amadamaphous artists at the most recent installment of Gypsy Soul’s live music series “Ear Candy” at Teavolve in Baltimore’s Fells Point area. At first, going in, I thought I would get the privilege of interviewing two artists: aggressive Soul sensation by way of New Jersey, Chinah Blac, and “b-boy to b-man”, B-more’s Hip-Hop staple, Ab Rock. Then, upon arrival at the venue, I was blessed to find out that I would have access to interview yet a third artist, “Alternative Soul” artist from Washington D.C., Timikah Jones. (Good thing I always have bonus questions floating around somewhere inside my mental dimensions. lol!) All in all, making way for three very intriguing and enlightening conversations on music, life, and the creative process, held prior to a truly dope evening of performances that absolutely epitomized what I call “soul in the city”…
Slangston: So, what would you say is your overall style and sound? Just what are you trying to bring to the audience creatively and sonically as an artist?
Timikah Jones: Well, my sound is kind of like a mix between Soul and Alternative with a mix of, I’ll say, Hip-Hop, Jazz and other different various influences. Overall, I would call it "Alternative Soul". I think it’s a good way really to sum it all up. A lot of comparisons in terms of sound that people will say are artists like Jill Scott, India.Arie, Lauryn Hill, Georgia Anne Meldrew and so forth.
“I think my personality really comes out in my music and I talk a lot about myself as an individual and my life and
I have this like dark humor about me because I’ve been through a lot and I can put it all in the mix…”
Slangston: When you say “Alternative Soul” is it in an effort to separate yourself from the somewhat commercialized cliché in a way that so-called Neo-Soul tends to get viewed as and placed somewhat in a box because of it?
Timikah Jones: Well, yes, somewhat, but not solely because of just that either. I mean, when you here my music, it won’t just always be one thing or sound. You won’t only hear Neo-Soul in the mix, but you might hear some Hip-Hop here or a Jazz sample over here and something else that you might not eXpect. So, it doesn’t really necessarily fit into just one genre because there are so many different sounds and various influences.
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Slangston: What is the main difference between what you do in the studio and what people can eXpect to hear from you in the live setting?
Timikah Jones: With the studio sound, I think there’s a lot of different and unique things I’ll do vocally with my backgrounds and it’s, I guess, kind of my niche in a way. While with the live setting, I tend to be more dynamic because live, you know, I can’t back up myself, so I try to be very dynamic. And, plus, live is different because the stage has always really just done something to me, I think. I just go into another mode completely. I mean, it’s live so it kind of takes on a life of its own.
Slangston: What are the current projects that you’ve been working on and what projects are out now?
Timikah Jones: I’ve been featured on a lot of underground mixtapes and compilations and collaborations with other artists; other soul artists and Hip-Hop artist, as well as working on other underground mixtapes of my own. I like doing a lot of different stuff on the mixtapes like fusing Soul, Hip-Hop and Jazz together and doing a lot of really interesting concepts. There’s a series of mixtapes called Timikah Love Jones where I do a lot of things like that. Then, another project out now is called Melodic Thesis, which is basically me eXplaining who I was and who I am musically, as well as a window into who I will be musically. So, yeah, it’s like my melodic thesis. Also, I’m getting ready to put out an official EP. I have different distribution channels and it’ll be out and you can buy it on iTunes and all of that. And that will be another volume of Timikah Love Jones with similar stuff on it as the first two, but just like taking it to the next level.
“Well, my sound is kind of like a mix between Soul and Alternative with a mix of, I’ll say, Hip-Hop, Jazz and other different various influences. Overall, I would call it ‘Alternative Soul’…”
Slangston: What is different about your music that someone can hear or get that they won’t be able to get anywhere else?
Timikah Jones: I think my personality really comes out in my music and I talk a lot about myself as an individual and my life .jpg)
and I have this like dark humor about me because I’ve been through a lot and I can put it all in the mix. I have a very unique writing style and just an anointed voice and I’m able to put the two together and make a sound that’s just me.
Slangston: If you could work with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be?
Timikah Jones: I would have to say my mentor, Nina Simone. I would have loved to work with her and I call her my mentor because I feel like, in my toughest times, musically and personally, just like in life period, her music and her just persona and personality as an artist period just really inspired me so much. To just break free in just so many different ways, not just musically, so I would definitely have wanted to work with her.
