Ever since xxyyxx's 'About You' infused itself into YouTube in 2012, the whole aesthetic movement that is "chill hop" seemed to grow, coinciding with the birth of channels like Majestic Casual. But it wasn't a landscape that the producer (real name Marcel Everett) trod alone; there were and are others — many, many others.
One such is a veritable proponent of the genre, xander. Both he and Everett recently teamed up for a gloopy, glossy collaboration in the form of 'Settle'. Jointly classifying it as "great brain food", the pair lend their respective styles to the track: an uptempo shuffle into a landscape of woozy chords and urgent synth arpeggios, percussion driving it forward in a virtuosic collage together with acrobatic, elastic bass.
The vital aspect of 'Settle' — created remotely via facetime — is that it eschews the "chill" element for which both artists are known, instead casting a certain restlessness, a sense of struggle, no matter how outwardly sparkling or glossy its aesthetics may be. Given the context of pandemic and political upheaval the world over, it's no wonder.
- 🔔 You may not stream the whole thing on SoundCloud, but you can stream and download 'Settle' via whichever streaming service on this list is your favourite.
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