here be music

Cryptic producer ilo ilo has made a huge enamoring impression on the scene since debuting with ‘wait’ a few months ago, which the artist quickly followed up with another successful release named ‘let me go’. ilo ilo proves to be a steady fare of rambunctious trap and brassy piquant R&B pop as the mysterious musician returns with third single ‘roll’, a collaboration with Austin’s Cara Bishop. We gladly “roll” with the new heater, which weds the sultry kinetics of  Marian Hill and the textured production of KRANE. Lest you missed out on our features of ilo ilo’s first two tracks, make sure you treat your ears to them on Soundcloud, here, or Spotify, here.

21 year old Swedish chanteuse ORKID is one of 2018′s most exciting new pop artists, having hit the ground running with smash debut, Wasted, then followed it up with equally magnificent So Rude. It’s three out of three as ORKID returns with Obvious, a straight-talking, addictive new pop single with lavish electronic production and snappy contagious beats. ORKID shares: “This song is about the harsh reality of relationships with people. There’s nothing worse than being around someone who makes you feel lonely. You want to see the good in them, but in the end you see them for who they really are. You can’t connect, and you keeping pushing shit up hill, but it’s not genuine from their side. It’s like it won’t even hurt for them to say goodbye and you’re hanging out for all the wrong reasons. So this is kind of a way of saying (to yourself mostly) - obviously we don’t fit. It’s pretty obvious right?” Well, it’s obvious ORKID is a perfect fit for our hearts and ears, especially after a full trifecta of nourishing pop songs. Obvious can also be streamed/downloaded, here.

lemin., whom we previously featured when she was known as lemon., is back with a beautifully aching, intimately stirring breakup ballad named My Body. The singer songwriter from Toronto lulls our hearts into a poignant trance with her exquisite vocals on the tender lullaby, a stripped back pop aria that cuts deep with its lovelorn torment. My Body exudes much of the enchanting sadness of Lana Del Rey, as well as some of the wispy elegance of Billie Eilish’s earliest songs, like Ocean Eyes and Six Feet Under. Keep up with the Canadian artist through her website, here.

Come Friday, hotly tipped rising star in pop bülow will be releasing her new EP, Damaged Vol. 2. The German born iconoclast, who closed out our 2017 with one of that year’s best pop debuts in Not A Love Song, shared a new track in advance of her EP arrival, even linking up with forward-thinking hip hop genius Duckwrth on the track. Sad And Bored is quite the fierce bristling, edgy skittering pop song. Of the steadfast song, she comments, “I was imaging myself trapped in a metaphorical cage of my own boredom. Duckworth’s voice and lyrics helped bring those visuals to life.” It’s obvious from tenacious Sad And Bored that no one can cage bülow. She’s about to take over 2018 with her new EP, and she’ll be taking her enigmatic sound on the road soon, too, launching a full-scale European festival takeover. Sad and Bored can be streamed/downloaded, here.

Smooth, buttery soul and a silky future groove leave us melting straight through the floor as Melbourne based artist Blasko returns with Ms. Love nearly a year after releasing his beloved debut single Another Love. Ms. Love is lifted from Blasko’s forthcoming mixtape ‘Blasko In Love Pt.1′. There seems to be an exorbitant amount of love in Blasko’s world, but we’re not one to complain as we swoon to his opulent electronica and creamy cooing on Ms. Love, produced by Australian producer Tentendo. Blasko is a sonic Casanova. His ‘Blasko In Love Pt.1’ mixtape is due for release in mid-2018.

There’s no faking the bliss that okaywill has brought us with his music. Why the mysterious project chose the name okaywill for his name rather than stupendouswill or spectacularwill evades us, but we’ve fallen heard for his bass warbling, fleecy sauntering, and feathery grooving electronica and pop on ‘pretend’. Though we really don’t know much about okaywill, we do know that okaywill’s last two releases are heavenly, too. Stream R&B inflected ambler ‘love will find a way’ below, as well as airy roaming ‘alone’ below, both of which appeared on okaywill’s soundcloud within the last two months, too. All three are available for downloading on Soundcloud. 

I don’t know who it is that ye. and Far & Few want, but they want this person so bad that they’ve strung all the words together and added an extra “u” to the title of their beast of a collaboration. New York production phenom ye. and new duo on our radar Far & Few team up to give us a glorious trap and bass extravaganza named “iwantuu” rife with thunderous drums, pounding beats, and an intriguing Eastern aura to its frisky whimsical strings. It’s a bold, brassy, brazen track that amuses and tickles, excites and thrills. The super-charged arrangement, a concerted masterpiece, is a free download, here.

well, i’m getting lost, i’m getting lost. 

Major girl power abounds on this trifecta collaboration from London involving RAYE, Mabel, and Stefflon Don. Cigarette is an R&B, dancehall, and electronica cut with sparkling Caribbean percussion that feels very Cashmere Cat, Charli XCX, and Mura Masa-like in its aerated production. The three females, all major artists to watch, bring the heat on the taster from a bigger project set to come later this year. Cigarette is out now via Universal Music. We’ll be keeping our ears out for this mysterious project on the horizon. 

Fucked Up is as beautifully agonizing and bittersweetly heartrending an alt pop ballad as its name might suggest. It’s the latest from Los Angeles trio Bahari, who kick off a new year of much-anticipated music with captivating grace on the stringy billowing, synth gusting single. At the forefront of the gorgeously melancholic song are Bahari’s tenderly crystalline cooing. Fucked Up is like a combination of WET’s soft aching and XYLØ’s dusky electropop. They paint our hearts in indigo skies and charcoal ashes with their lovelorn lament. You can also stream and purchase the single via all major platforms, here.

Everyone knows Aesop’s famous fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, which spawned the idiom “to cry wolf”. San Diego singer songwriter Ashe, who’s graced many an amazing electronic track as a guest vocalist this past year, makes a play on the idiom by unleashing her song named Girl Who Cried Wolf. On production duties are Imad Royal and Rogét Chahayed, who’ve crafted a rich soundscape replete with dramatic percussion and frisky whizzing synths to accompany Ashe’s honeyed piercing vocals. Girl Who Cried Wolf is an instantly infectious, bold searing electronic and pop hybrid, and it’s out now via Mom+Pop. Stream/download via alternate outlets, here.

My Town is a tart piercing and deliriously edgy new bop from Cherryade, the London noise pop, dance pop, and electro-pop purveyors who first snagged our ears with their debut, Fractured Fairytales, over a year ago. My Town is as jittery and restless, spunky and sassy as the band’s prior offerings, and it’s corralling a whole lot of deserved new buzz for the burgeoning duo. The song’s spicy piquant, bubbly infectious pop is endless cheeky fun. For a moment, we’re all visitors in Cherryade’s “town”, where they run our heart rates with their sugary head rush of an exhilarating song. My Town is part Charli XCX boom bap banger, part raucous Sleigh Bells, and part spiky riotous The Ting Tings. Stream more of Cherryade’s vivacious offerings on Soundcloud, here.

I’d never suggest that anyone should ‘smoke a pack’, which just seems like the worst idea in the world. But I do understand that it’s how some people cope with stress and misery. Bristol production and singer songwriter duo Mauwe offer up future bass and dulcet pop bliss on their single, Smoked A Pack, which I do suggest you partake in, stat. Its sharp shuddering soundscape and boy-girl harmonies capture the turmoil and emotions involved in dealing with feelings you’ve developed for someone else, someone you don’t want to have feelings for. But as always, we can’t really control the desires of the heart, nor can we control our attraction to Mauwe’s dusky quivering, synth throbbing song, which takes on an exultant urgency as it progresses. Smoked A Pack brings together the gracefully melodious vocals of Oh Wonder, the electronically charged soundscape of ECHOS, and the twilight sentimentality of XYLØ. Mauwe says of their song:  “In the past, we’ve both been more likely to smoke when stressed, and that’s what the concept represents for us. However, smoking is bad for you kids, don’t do it!!” Re-visit Mauwe’s debut single That’s All, here.

Long Beach’s SATICA, who started out as a songwriter for K-pop powerhouse label SM, has quickly become one of our favorite rising artists in the female pop scene these past months. Not only has the Singaporean daughter of Cambodian refugees lent her honeyed, breathy voice to Manila Killa’s Youth, but she’s also collaborated with genre bending post-EDM visionary Sakima. Now, SATICA has released her very own four track EP named Drippin, on which she dazzles us with her own forward thinking brand of R&B, future pop, and electronica. Aside from previously featured gems like Honey Whiskey and Dysfunctional with SAKIMA, Drippin also includes this gracefully teasing, sweetly wistful, and spry kittenish gem You Are Here, produced by Moving Castle label mate AObeats. SATICA coos over the song’s glistening web of nostalgia about the youthful rush of falling in love and the desperation this true longing oft creates. “In real life, the feeling is simple, you miss them and you love being around them,” she says of the latest sonic earworm. “But sometimes it hurts.” Stream SATICA’s debut EP Drippin, here.

SLANG’s a new artist out of London on our radar, and he’s certainly caught our attention with an astonishing and unique genre bender named Cokeroaches. Indie rock meets breezy hip hop, UK grime, and chill electronica on the addictive tune. Its jaunty saunter leaves us much excited over this fortuitous find, which comes from SLANG”s new album fwENDZ, which is a fine full listen on Soundcloud, here. Support on iTunes, here.