TAMON TAKAHASHI — GHOST OF PROW

---

⌾ LISTEN TO GHOST OF PROW BY TAMON TAKAHASHI ⌾

---

There’s a richness to the soundscape at work in Tamon Takahashi’s ‘Ghost of Prow’. A swaying sweep of guitar floats through like the slow swell of the sea, paired with brass that peals and tapers with a stoic lilt — a sombre contrast to the evocative guitar solo that ends the piece. The vocals in the Hokkaido-based artist’s track are a hefty pairing of voices that add organic texture to proceedings, the bass smooth and crooning beneath it all.

Ultimately, with its pendulum-esque rhythm, and lavish, illuminated textures, the bittersweet charm of ‘Ghost of Prow’ illustrates the doomful passing of time with a world-weary sparkle.

---

• 🔔 Listen to more from Tamon Takahashi over on his Spotify.

---

📠
☟ Tamon Takahashi Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube

---

DEREK MURO — ROVE FEAT. DAISY PRESS

⌾ LISTEN TO 'ROVE' FEAT. DAISY PRESS BY DEREK MURO ⌾

---

---

This track by begins as if it were about to erupt into a rave-ready tract of Balearic breakbeats: synth chords wobble and sigh on a backdrop of elastic intent. Instead, it evolves into a cross of Gregorian chant and jazz (like a future revival, perhaps, as if it has already been a thing), the voice of experimental vocalist Daisy Press soaring in an aerial display of virtuosity among phrases of saxophone like scudding clouds.

Sub-bass punctuation and gradual glimmers of light gives Derek Muro’s ‘rove’ yet more cathedralic height and space — and then it breaks off, a rapture interrupted by the everyday, the bubble of dreaming burst. Peals of anguish surface through the found sound chatter, and most pointedly, Muro sprinkles the coda with a ticking clock: though it had seemed halted in its tracks, time has actually not stopped, and never does.

---

• 🔔 'rove' is taken from cues, released 9th April on Toucan Sounds. You can purchase it from Bandcamp either digitally or on cassette.

---

📠
☟ Derek Muro Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

---

CUUSHE — EMERGENCE

---

⌾ LISTEN TO EMERGENCE BY CUUSHE ⌾

---

It’s Cuushe, but not as you’ve ever heard her. In ‘Emergence’, the Tokyo singer-producer is at her most dancefloor ready. The beat shuffles with insectoid intricacies and thumping kicks, the synth looms laid-back and lounging, nocturnal piano drip-drops in with icy gloss.

Cuushe for a long time has been classed dream pop, but the garage-influenced beat and the strength of her mantra-like vocals launch ‘Emergence’ to a darkly effervescent realm of groove — for example, the sleek, solely instrumental outro conjures a futuristic take on the Streets of Rage II soundtrack. What could be dreamier?

---

• 🔔 'Emergence' is taken from Cuushe's forthcoming new album Waken, out now on flau. Purchase it at the flau bandcamp.

---

📠
☟ Cuushe Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ wikipedia ⚘

---

CUUSHE — MAGIC

---

Cuushe is back. Recently she announced her upcoming album WAKEN via the fresh vitality of its first single, 'Hold Half'. This time around, it's 'Magic' that faces up to the grey piercing light of morning.

A slow steamroller of a beat thuds as the propulsion to 'Magic', rusted metallic percussion ticking faintly at its mechanical heart. A set of heavy-hearted piano chords plays a downcast reverb-laden refrain; "I just wanna die.." Cuushe's voice whispers from this fog of sound. Craggy synths crack in mournful reply, a glistening gloomy call-and-response.

Starting quietly, almost from another perspective, later in the track her vocals rise up, outraged: "Magic... Why are you so silent?" A question perhaps posed to the once-dreaming individual now scrutinised by reality. Lightness eclipsed. This refrain cuts through a wash of intense sounds, synths glittering and roaring together with the clatter of a bright guitar riff — a combination of playful concreteness and fantasy synthetic noise that runs through 'Magic'.

It's all been brought to life with a video by director Tao Tajima. On a backdrop of footage filmed in the wilds of Tibet, it's a tale of ghostly girls tied with string to insistent flapping birds, drawn in their phantomic pastels by sometime Cuushe collaborator Yoko Kuno. The music — mysterious yet methodical in its makeup — matches the stark marching mountains and vast empty tundra.

---

• 🔔 'Hold Half' is taken from Cuushe's forthcoming new album Waken, set for release 20th November on her label home flau. Pre-order it over on the flau bandcamp.

---

📠
☟ Cuushe Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ wikipedia ⚘

---

SCINTII — TIMES NEW ROMAN (PALMISTRY REMIX)

⌾ LISTEN TO SCINTII, TIMES NEW ROMAN (PALMISTRY REMIX) ⌾

---

---

Firstly an undulating wash of post-trance sound, the static sea of scathing synths and hiss that marks the start of this track feels panoramic, witch house-tinged, maybe, but less pentagrams, more amorphous futuristic mode of transport. This harsh, nebulous swirl becomes the backdrop for a restless scuttle of garage-tinged beats — the propulsion at the heart of Palmistry's remix treatment for 'Times New Roman' by Shanghai-based Scintii.

Leaving its electrified cosmic cloud behind, the track dives into a glimmering shuffle of percussion and gloopy bass, pitched clangs simultaneously rooting it somewhere physical while also darkly ringing in a metaphysical realm, a club night on another plane of existence.

While Scintii's original 'Times New Roman' sees her voice creep amid a lurching forest of synth, Palmistry's reworking fragments the vocal and scatters it like silly putty throughout, adding human — if warped — warmth to its cold, kinetic vessel. The change tempo towards the end is natural, satisfyingly so, like a train slowing for a station, further emphasising the propulsive power of the track as the track draws to a fizzy, ethereal close.

---

• 🔔 This track is out now via Houndstooth. You can stream it and purchase it as your heart desires from this list of services.
• 🔔 The original 'Times New Roman' was the result of a recording session with Danny L. Harle. "The main melody came to me while wandering round a shopping mall," Scintii says of the track "but I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Then I had the session with Danny and it just worked with the beat he was making. It really started to become about me feeling sure of myself as a musician and producer, going in a new direction and really being able to maximise my own voice."

---

📠
☟ Scintii Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

☟ Palmistry Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

---

HEIGHTS — SILLY

⌾ LISTEN TO HEIGHTS, SILLY ⌾

---

---

Occupying its time of existence with plumes of bass that collapses in on itself with potential, and with a restless energy curled like a cosmic spring that provides the aesthetic casing for the track, 'Silly' by Brighton-based musicmaker HEIGHTS is a tale of willing one thing leading to another, of inching towards what you desire.

While the propulsive kick-snare pattern and misty tick of cymbals keeps impatient time, the voice of HEIGHTS herself skips over the lyrics, the vocal nonchalant, lilting and heady, turning fully acrobatic in the chorus, splitting sentences in graceful slices: "And I want you to take this / lip lock / No shock / I like this kind of vertigo / From time / to time / I see you when my eyes are closed / No low / no lie / Seen a little light now I want to see the full storm."

Washed with an icy haze of ambient synth throughout, summoning a cityscape at night, HEIGHTS builds a story on tantalising lyrics, weaving between cryptic self-enquiry and concrete, relatable imagery. The opening lines paint this interplay with particular skill — "Would you believe I’ve still not made it home? / I still have the city underneath my bones" — and later announcing "Summer inside my soul" before a harmony of realness erupts with the refraining "all I wanna feel is love".

Splicing this poetic deftness and effortless songwriting with a moody instrumental that feels as though a post-night out atmosphere has been bottled up and presented in sonic form, somehow, the other triumph of 'Silly' is how its title belies its brilliance.

---

• 🔔 'Silly' is taken from HEIGHTS' debut self-released EP, also called HEIGHTS, which you can stream on SoundCloud.

---

📠
☟ HEIGHTS Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

---

ATREM — SLICER

⌾ LISTEN TO ATREM, SLICER ⌾

---

---

'Slicer' by Japanese duo atrem — comprising Ryuichi Shima and Yusuke Kamimura — is a multifaceted being of a track. It all begins with the tricking of looped electronics, glistening drops of glitch, a tour of circuit boards and the shifting complexities of sound.

Streams of harmonised vocals flow into the mix. If you've ever played PS2 RPG EverGrace (2000), the way voices in 'Slicer' are so drastically instrumentalised may remind you of Kota Hoshino's surreal and vocal-heavy soundtrack for that game.

Before long, 'Slicer' shifts into gear. A crescendo of sound, bubbles and crashes into view, drowning out the voices. HEALTH-esque distorted synths swirl and slice through the bristling hyperactive breakcore beats that propel the track into its final section, where wordless vocals soothe the disjointed disquiet that came before.

A showcase of how this atrem can be as intricate as they can be aggressive, as blissed out and chill as they are dedicated to fully fledged noise, in 'Slicer' the duo have made a veritable journey of a track, a tale of kinetic movement, of graceful poise and letting loose.

---

• 🔔 Check out the dramatic 'Slicer' as well as many more morsels of music on atrem's SoundCloud.

---

📠
☟ atrem Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ spotify

---

MADANII & LLUCID — DANDELION

⌾ LISTEN TO MADANII & LUCID, DANDELION ⌾

---

---

It's not only the combination of lush textures and minimalism that makes 'Dandelion' so captivating. The beat is a collage of snares, metallic percussion and whispering cymbals, crisp handclaps — I mean, you could even count the found sound natural noises of outdoors, birdsong, footsteps on gravel, among the songs percussive elements. This by itself affords MADANII & LLUCID's track a certain flow, each click, tick, slap and crash the like a stream dancing between its rocky banks.

There's the delicious syncopated clonk of the marimba (or whatever it may be), lending a fresh flavour, a cucumber and soda water fizz, to proceedings. All that's left is the foundation, the smooth synth of the bass, rounded and acrobatic enough without being too busy or overpowering. LLUCID's production is cooling, allowing the warmth of singer MADANII to radiate outwards.

Her vocal lilts with a touch of onstage crooning, but stays within such a digestible range that makes it feel conversational, close-at-hand, as the lyrics to 'Dandelion' spill diary-like into the stream. While the song begins with the mention of "a little town, not far out" — the sparkle of storytelling firmly set — the chorus whirling listeners into a satisfying cycle of relatable feelings:

"Leave it all behind out of sight / Following the sun / On my homesick run..."

---

• 🔔 You can listen to and/or download 'Dandelion' via MADANII & LLUCID's Bandcamp. You'll also find the full lyrics there too, which are pretty cool to read.

---

📠
☟ MADANII Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ youtube ⚘ spotify

☟ LLUCID Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ instagram

---

🐣 R.BLACK — ALIEN MONSTER

⌾ LISTEN TO R.BLACK ALIEN MONSTER ⌾ There's a lot to like about 'Alien Monster' by R.Black. The synths twisting and melding with each other in the background definitely effuse a sense of, well, alien-ness and that's the first thing: this unobtrusive instrumental that, without getting in the way of what Houston-based, Jamaica-born musicmaker is doing with his voice, still conjures this bizarre backdrop of retro UFOs and pixellated, far-off galaxies.

Vocally, and lyrically, 'Alien Monster' is a gem. There's this hushed, rapid rap to begin with – featuring the no-bullshit of "I'm young and reckless / I'll snatch your breakfast" – and later on this slower, playground rhyme kinda rhythm, that kicks off with "Lover not a fighter / not a coward I'm a writer."

With this and other references to the literal craft of rapping, the skill of hopping on the beat, contending with nouns and verbs, R.Black has some originality that makes listening to his bars almost like hearing an alien man from outer space, which he mentions throughout. Combine with prime useage of reverb on some lines, brazen inexplicable yells and yelps for ad-libs, and you get a feel for the unique hype that is at work in 'Alien Monster'.

---

• 🔔 Get to R.Black's SoundCloud to hear more (since 'Alien Monster' the tracks have mostly been produced by others and don't have the same soul, personal touch or DIY charm present in this track).

---

📠
☟ R.Black Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

---

---

🐣 TSUKI — OXYGEN

⌾ LISTEN TO TSUKI, OXYGEN ⌾ The feel of being bed-bound with the window open and nature spills in. Bright mornings. Birds chirping like book ends wrap the sweetness of the song in pastoral, the synth even feeling leafy and organic in its rhythmic sparrow-sized chords, pastel-coloured trembling with minute vibrato.

'Oxygen' by TSUKI – a duo comprising Chanlar Rose and Levi Chappell (and one of the first songs they wrote together back in 2015) – is part natural idyll, part honest convalescence, an atmosphere conjured by Chanlar's vocals. The lyrics, referencing lungs, oxygen, souls turning black, lacking strength to lend, were written by Chanlar "while she was recovering from a fairly invasive surgery," Levi tells us.

"She was out for a few months and the lyrics are a reflection of the strain that that the entire experience ended up putting on her personal relationships."

The gravity of those lyrics – the way Chanlar's voice vaults into the air, how words seem almost spit out, how light distortion touches them – contrasts with the candy-coated instrumental, resonating only with the thump and heft of the beat, comparatively brutal compared to the delicacy of the cute synths. The birdsong, by the end, is crushed as the song, instead of fading out, decays.

---

• 🔔 You can stream TSUKI's 'Oxygen' variously, but it's on Spotify too.
• 🔔 It doesn't feature 'Oxygen', but if you liked this you should probably take a listen to TSUKI's debut album, Severance Package.

---

MORE MUSIC BY TSUKI → LAPSE

---

📠
☟ TSUKI Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ spotify

---

---

🐣 RUBY FRANCIS — RUSH (INITIAL TALK REMIX)

⊚ LISTEN TO RUBY FRANCIS, RUSH (INITIAL TALK REMIX) ⊚

This remix- with the soft bounce of its toy sized plasma chords, the virtuoso bass groove, the instant glitter of its glassy synths - oozes the blocky pastels of its late 20th century inspiration; it's a buffet of 1990s flavours served up by the Japan-based caretaker of nostalgia Initial Talk (whose credits also include a Dua Lipa 'New Rules' remix).

The original 'Rush' is minimal: all space and angular, squelchy synth. It feels contemporary for its sparseness and sub-bass, but equally retro-futuristic (sounding a little like Prince's 'Kiss' actually). So it makes sense that Initial Talk has transplanted the voice of Ruby Francis into decidedly retro surroundings. In fact, it feels as though this is the way it should have always been.

Like a safari through the aural landscape of twenty-something years ago, this remix of 'Rush' chimes, bounces and glistens with its purposefully timeworn elements. Ruby Francis' voice lilts soulfully in the verse, its echo weaving through the skipping rhythm—elsewhere it provides a sprinkle of jangling '90s ad-libs: "baby, why the rush?"

But the chorus is the centrepoint for this track's magic. The two distinct parts to the addictive vocal (the simple clarity of the first 4 bars and its playful vocal melody, and the rich, winding harmonies of the second 4), the step-up into it, the faroff sparkle of it, the warm, vibrant bass, the swaying beat. It's a cocktail of everything it should be: delicious escapism.

---

• 🔔 Stream and/or download Initial Talk's remix of 'Rush' by Ruby Francis via your fav service

---

---

📠
☟ Ruby Francis Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

📠
☟ Initial Talk Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

---

---

🐣 MALENA ZAVALA — COULD YOU STAY

When this song first eased into its beachside doo-wop flavours, oh how much like an island paradise it seemed, how with the slow sweep of chords it paints this lightly clouded atmosphere of warm sky and swaying palms. Yes, there is this total tropicalia sound that is undeniably smooth and sleepy, sounding not exactly like but certainly recalling with its lovely Hawaiian-guitar-esque guitar refrain the nighttime soundtrack for the island on Animal Crossing: New Leaf—chill and languid, melting into the landscape itself, that lazy feeling that overcomes people when they are transplanted from temperate climates to subtropical coral islands. And that ticking bongo percussion, somehow the glow of tiki lights, flashes of paradise.

But in Argentinian London-based Malena Zavala’s gently undulating song ‘Could You Stay’ – an oscillating rhythm that feels like the slow collapse of beach-bound waves and their ambient wash across the sand – there is also this filmic doo-wop pattern to the bass, something that takes us from the expanse and carefree enclave of island life to a more intimate nocturnal setting; this is especially highlighted by the pining vocal refrain, “Could you stay for a while…? Even just for tonight…” And a closeness radiates from the warmth of the track, the embrace of its soft synth chords, the hopeful chorus of layered harmonising vocals. It’s a lovesong before it becomes a lovesong, the tingling outstretched hand question before the reciprocal answer, the searching sashay of desire.

---

• 🔔 You can stream and purchase 'Could You Stay' variously via your fav service. It's taken from Malena Zavala's debut album Aliso, which is scheduled for release on 13th April courtesy of Yucatan Records.

---

---

📠
☟ Malena Zavala Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

---

---

🐣 NELYLAND — SUNRISE

It’s an added bonus when a piece of music sounds like its title, or more correctly evokes its title with sound, and that is the case with Nigerian artist Nelyland. His track ‘Sunrise’ is a nod to the subtle feeling of pre-dawn, the muted sky washed in a gradual brightening and lightening of colour, dark clouds becoming white, purple skies becoming blue – the soft synth rising up in the subtle afrobeat rhythm of the track represent that tone, those dark pastel shades when day still cannot yet shake the night, nor take the sleep from its eyes.

Speaking of that afrobeat rhythm, it’s a sparse semblance of a beat that propels this track forward, with robust thudding kicks like a gradual step towards the proverbial light, and softer percussion popping alongside in an angular, fragmented cluster of beats that gets smooth shaker and hi-hat accents. Nelyland’s soulful vocal itself calls out fringed with autotuned brightness, telling his story: “I been through the storm and the hurricane / Searching for love but it never came.” These lamenting yet determined verses are contrasted with the gradual hope that rises up in the hook: “Sunrise, sunrise, they pray for my downfall but I’m praying for my sunrise…”

It represents that dark side of hope, when you realise that by the very act of living in hope you are without something, struggling, and could be on a long journey to realise your dreams. And yet the slow, steady pace of ‘Sunrise’ feels like a march, a tenacious beeline set for what Nelyland wants to achieve: tell his story to the world.

---

• 🔔 The description for 'Sunrise', a track written by Nelyland following the loss of his mother, reads as follows:

  "I'm sure there are a couple of people out there still trying to find the light. I want to help you realize that your light is already within you and that you should just let it shine! RISE UP LIKE THE SUN !"

  The track is out now courtesy of Afrocentric independent label Sufferings & Offerings and you can listen to it on SoundCloud as above, or via Spotify if you like.

---

---

📠
☟ Nelyland Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ spotify ⚘ instagram

---

---

🐣 PASTEL — CLOSE

The space afforded by this track, the expansiveness of it, how it manages to put you in this swirling realm of love, yet also retain this very intimate feeling, as if your ears are being privately whispered into, is testament to pastel's efforts as a musicmaker. And not only this, but this atmosphere is summoned with great simplicity, a seeming effortless swathe of sound that utilises sparse elements to maximum effect: mainly a simple beat, a bit of soft synth, and voice. The difference between the sense of space and intimacy is best illustrated in this song by the big rush of sound that is the chorus, the only moment where there is any sort of loudness, representing a swell of feeling. Still there is an underlying mist of loneliness here, a distant wind that is like a sadness that cannot be shaken.

But, that said, 'close' is a lovesong, that's for sure (it's dedicated to Valentine's Day, so it'd better be). And as such it's full of lovely moments, small parts like the sudden downturned chord change at 1:15, the constant fluttering heartbeat of the kicks as they propel the song nervously forward, the sparing use of a little soft melody that gently bloops on-and-off in this gorgeous minimalist morsel. Last time we heard from pastel it was a different story: the sandstorm ambient abrasions of 'stammer' from absent, just dust summoned an almost inexpressible sadness and isolation. His vocals were lost in the noise.

Here, however, the vocals are clear, liquid, bravely at the forefront and completely a capella sometimes: long tracts of the vocal begin the unexpected hook, "Do you think about my body? ..." Warm harmonies abound. It's beautifully honest, heart-on-sleeve songwriting sung with caramel smoothness, touching moments treated with gorgeous simplicity – "you held me a little longer than the last time we met" – inspire real images of real romance, and stealing your own heart in the process.

---

• 🔔 This Valentine's Day special arrives courtesy of Very Jazzed (part of Frenchkiss Label Group)

---

---

📠
☟ pastel Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

---

---

🐣 ROBOKID — WORTH IT

Right from its heavenly shining intro, with the gently clomping percussive synth and gradually gleaming chords, 'Worth It' feels like a perfect pop song: the syncopated synth bass that bloops and bops along in this pastel plaintive progression totally bumps the track along, the falling away of that lighter atmosphere into this hook – "I hope you know / how far this goes / it was worth it though / I'm never going home" – in which Robokid evokes emotion and intrigue, the very thought of never being able to go home, to anywhere, being a world-shattering prospect. It's a veritable story told with very few words; it's what's not said that makes it so effective.

"For this track I was trying to keep the lyrics less literal and be a little more cryptic," he explains to us via email. "I want people to make their own conclusions for sure, but it's a lot about everyone in my life however also talking to myself."

And that literal-cryptic mix comes to life in lines like: "I know you've had a bad year / and you keep saying you just wanna die / I think we have the same fears / cause you don't ever go outside." Whilst very literal, the captivating element of these words is their lack of divulgence: they don't tell you everything, just enough to touch your heart, not your mind. The rest of the track is characterised by a lack of lyrics, and an intensification of synth, spreading gossamer trance veils above garbled pitch-shifted vocals as it leads to its end; the whole thing a powerful parcel of music, like a deep and emotional DM sent to somebody but manifested in music form and seeded with upbeat pop accessibility.

---

• 🔔 'Worth It' is out today on Robokid's debut EP Apart, released via Moving Castle. You can grab that here.

---

---

📠
☟ Robokid Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

---

---

🐣 OURI × MIND BATH — WILD MOTHER

The minimalist space of 'Wild Mother' is as beautiful as the sound itself, and made beautiful in fact by that sound. The two, the presence and absence, work together to create this world of sequential peaks and troughs in texture: the rich and rounded boops of electronic summations feel plastic and colourful, liquid and wobbly, and the spaces between them are greyfully faded, the hanging in the air of static, the constant ache of the unobtrusive glossy column of bass propelling the track through a void.

Two Montreal musicmakers, harpist, cellist and producer Ouri, and Mind Bath – who here provides the vocals – duet: a human heart surrounded by circuitry and conjured abstract shapes. In fact it is more than just this electronicness to it. Scuttled metallic drums set this creeping organic tone, the constant shuffle of percussion texturing the dusty boom of the beat. The voice of Mind Bath croons outward, searching in the brooding intergalactic clatter of the track for meaning; and Ouri's artful construction of objects in aesthetic sultry dancefloor collage.

---

• 🔔
• 🔔 'Wild Mother' is taken from Ouri and Mind Bath's collaborative four-track EP, OURI / MIND BATH, which you can purchase and stream variously via this hyperlink.
• 🔔

---

---

📠
☟ Ouri Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

☟ Mind Bath Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘

---

---

🐣 ONLY REGAL — SIDE2ME FEAT. QENDRESA

The clattering Latin beat is the complex somersaulting grammar of this piece, beautifully written, percussive punctuation here all a-glitter all a-tumble, the whole of it giving a blissfully contrasting feeling of chill, not of bustling business or stress as a result of bustling business, but instead the clop tap clack of the beat, perhaps because it puts you in mind of the coursing flowing energy of Latin music, of ease and effortlessness. It's all glass and wooden, all organic and luscious, ticking with a light veil of noir settling over its city-flavoured atmosphere.

British-Armenian musicmaker Richard Melkonian aka Only Regal adds ghostly hollow organ sounds to increase the tension, just slightly, just enough to lift the track off the ground somewhat, so it levitates lightly, all diagonal and unconventional. Intensity builds with the addition of buzzing bass synth, plumes of sound fit to burst with their body of robust frequencies, a hefty foundation for 'Side2Me'. Also joining with Only Regal is London-based singer Qendresa, injecting groove and effusing not exactly smooth soul but the jaunt and intrigue of jazz with a strong silken tone, something retro and angular in how she whispers in the deep booming rumble of this sidewinding track.

---

• This arrives via London coffeeshop-turned-label, Quaker Street Coffee.

---

---

📠
☟ Only Regal Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ☟ Qendresa Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ instagram

---

---

🐣 ROXINY — THE LIGHTS

At first it's like this beguiling machine that's just been fired up, something dusty and proto-analogue, a powerful piece of engineering, some sort of vehicle with which to reach some out of reach place, conceptual locations and sectors of emotion. Firstly you notice that synth don't you, modulating like an off-balance spinning top, some sort of antique Beyblade, but in its true actuality is something like a benevolent swarm of bees – like ideas lit up and in motion – buzzing and bustling brightly and busting speakers with a tape delay sort of sound, warped but warm. It's called 'The Lights' and it's by NYC-based Dominican-born Roxiny, "granddaughter of a revolutionary who helped mobilise against Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo."

As it builds with all its added elements into a refraining mantra, this song whirls with intensity. The constancy of the buzzy bee melted synth chords, laying a simple progression down like a veil over the song's backdrop, keeps it ticking over, jostling like electrons heated up, the noise of potential energy, whips the track into a frenzy by the end. In this supercharged soup we also find a sparse vintage beat keeping time from somewhere in the past, as well as guitars that slapdash and croon metallic, raw and unadorned. But it is the voice of Roxiny, with its intimate glam-garage-rock echo, the movement from lulling tones smouldering to yelling loud fiery powerful, it is this that drives the machinery, adds lightning to the growling tumult of clouds growing on a bluesky horizon, a hazy forward-march.

---

• 🔔 'The Lights', which is a free download as you can see from the SC embed above, is taken from Roxiny's upcoming Rituals EP.

---

---

📠
☟ Roxiny Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ youtube ⚘ instagram

---

---

🐣 WILD & FREE — FERNS AND STUFF

The groove piledrives through this track, the glossy dancefloor sparkles its glitter and the lights cut through the dark and dust. But mainly let's address that groove: bass guitar seems to somersault and cartwheel, it's an acrobatic full-bodied bass, tinged at the edges with metallic pugilism, something thudding about the way it curls like a snake covered in scaly armour around the bumping beat, the kick and abrasive handclap. Groove lies at the heart of this one, powers it, propels it forward.

LA duo Wild & Free, aside from these disco-summoning rhythmic patterns, also inject some faraway sense of darkness, of faded neo-noir, into 'Ferns and Stuff'. Stuttering synth arpeggios blip and boop twinkling in the air, and gradually there are these high pitched string sounds fluttering around this one particular note and effusing a sort of ambient tension with that soft persistence it has; and with wide sweeping chords that wobble with wonky progressions there is the guitar, half-surf half-late night jazz, distorted and starkly angled against its foundations. Vocals seem to speak from all sides, from beyond the vanishing point, a thin ghostly croon adding human intrigue to the dance steps painted boldly all over this one.

---

• 🔔 'Ferns and Stuff' arrives courtesy of Lisbon-based label Discotexas, and is taken from Wild & Free's album Shapes on Shapes, which is out now also on Discotexas. You may purchase it via this hyperlink.

---

---

📠
☟ Wild & Free Internet Presence ☟
facebook ⚘ soundcloud ⚘ official site ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram

---

---