Listen: I Like It Fast by Tony Pops

In case it isn’t clear, my jam is bruised falsetto vocals, clear eyed synths and warm vibes. My favourite kind of music feels like the kind of emotional security that is an invitation to just be yourself. Tony Pops’ new single, I Like It Fast, is exactly that.

Tony Pops is a multi-instrumentalist who started out drumming in bands on the East Coast, before moving into songwriting and music production in 2016. Embracing a sense of versatility, Tony is equally at home with R&B, electronic, pop and rock, and the diversity of his experience shines through in his music. Now based in Los Angeles, he has had music featured on shows across Netflix, FX, and MTV.

Opening with an Amen-style drum loop but pairing it with cool blue guitars and crisp synths, I Like It Fast is basking in light airy space from the moment it arrives. The juxtaposition of loose, stuttering percussion and a sunny electronics give the song a feeling that is both the warm sun on your face and the refreshment of cool blue water on your skin. It is a combination that feels like Tony bottled Mediterranean vacations and distilled them into something you can administer through a pair of headphones. Embracing little details, the producer twists his song back into itself, pitched vocals, a brief scream, overdubbing and glassy melodies all coming together to create something unique, detailed and absolutely thrilling.

Inspired by late nights and a reckless embrace of one’s own freedom, I feel like I Like It Fast stems from the same emotional centre that I sometimes find myself longing for. The song is described as being about ‘living fast and letting go, even when you know it might not end well’. Every so often you have to take a risk, be that in embracing the moment and cutting loose, or simply opening yourself up to experiences and people.

I Like It Fast is one of those songs that I got to live with for a few weeks before its release, and over that time I have found myself increasingly drawn to it. I like everything about it — the production, the delivery, and even the crisp, clean artwork is perfect. I know it will be on heavy rotation, particularly for those moments when I want to just let it all go, and live a little faster.

Listen: In Your Arms by Real Pleasure

Real Pleasure is the musical project of writer and producer Kevin Claxton, and here on In Your Arms we find him channeling French Touch by way of LA.

Single In Your Arms leverages a distinctive bassline and combines them with the kind of steely guitar licks that Daft Punk built their careers on. Unlike Daft Punk, however, Real Pleasure lets In Your Arms gently marinade, basking in a hook that is given plenty of space.

Inspired by small house parties in the later period of the COVID pandemic, Claxton wrote In Your Arms between 2022 and 2023. The lyrics were inspired a ‘tender group hug between friends on a living room dance floor at about 2am’, and are performed by LA-based artist Natalie Sawicki. The whole song was written by Claxton, and produced in Los Angeles, lending the song its slower, open aesthetic and a bright sunny style, yet combining it with an emotionally reflective feel.

Check out In Your Arms below, and look out for a forthcoming remix from rave outfit, Adam After Hours.

Listen: Felt by Tiberius

Tiberius was originally created as a solo project for Brendan Wright, before expanding to a rowdy Boston four-piece who specialise in the niche that Wright describes as “Farm Emo”. It is a label that suits the sound of new single, Felt, well.

Basking in the low slung stylings of slacker rock but with an anxious and damaged vocal, Felt sounds like a cross-over project between Death Cab For Cutie and Pavement. Loose drums skitter as layers of guitars gently howl, Wright’s vocals describing a moment of torture, wrestling with their own personal fear of being alone. Describing the song, Brendan says:

‘When I wrote Felt, I was fairly fresh out of a breakup and was spending a lot of time looking for distractions. Instead of tackling some bigger questions, and engaging in a healthy recovery, I was tucking away my feelings into compartments and distracting myself with casual dating. I was spending some late nights slipping into the backstories of strangers' lives - exhilarating, but merely theatrical. It never eased the issue at hand. I was alone, and I was terrified to sit with that.’

I appreciate the freewheeling and lackadaisical aesthetic on Felt, partly just because there has always been something enticing about the sound of a band operating in this way. It is like they are in slow motion, and letting things just happen, free jazz like. But the delivery also suits the subject matter here, of someone somewhat deliberately avoiding confronting what they are actually feeling.

Felt comes ahead of Tiberius’ forthcoming album, Troubadour, which is due via Audio Antihero on 14 November. Check it out below.

Watch: So Long (L'Étranger Remix) by MKSTN

Having previously appeared on BlackPlastic a few times, over ten years ago, L’Étranger is back with a disco-infused remix of Toronto producer MKSTN’s So Long.

UK producer L’Étranger leverages the ethereal and wisp-like vocals of MKTSN’s chillwave / dreampop original but pairs them with a lively French Touch bass pattern and crisp synths. The result is blue, Mediterranean warmth, compared to the original’s more Pacific feel.

L’Étranger applies his touch delicately here, and the result retains the organic, earthy aesthetic of the original. The remix is intended to take the ‘slow burn melancholy’ of the original version and shift it to the ‘exact moment the sun dips behind the city skyline’. It hints at the promise of the evening to come, but retaining an air of cool reserve, taking inspiration from early Kitsuné Maison compilations and Braxe & Falke, blog house but with a little extra romance.

Overall, I found this remix of So Long emotive and atmospheric, nostalgic and yet fresh. Check it out below.

Watch: Something In Common by Kendra Morris

Opening with a nervous sounding Wurlitzer refrain and a guitar melody that carefully strolls through its duration, Something In Common is the new single from Kendra Morris. Originally appearing on BlackPlastic all the way back in 2014, Morris' latest release comes from the forthcoming ‘board game concept album’, Next, the song represents its most introspect moment.

Initially constructed with little more than those two elements, guitar and Wurlitzer, together with Morris’ brutally emotive vocal, the song was written in an afternoon on guitar and using a looped sample. Later, when in the Portage Lounge studio in Loveland, Ohio, Morris’ full band helped lay down what you hear here. The Wurlitzer was laid down in full by Monti Miramonti, classic nylon string guitar by Supremo ‘Premo’ Massiv, and they are pulled together with a looped drum machine. Despite its simplicity, these four elements come together to create a song with significant depth.

The depth in the song’s sound really stems from its message, which deals with the nature of humanity, our strength of emotion, and predisposition for conflict. The result feels weary, tired and slightly fearful. Explaining the song’s inspiration, Kendra says:

‘There is all this conflict in our humanity, both internal and external. We kill each other over our differences, or we destroy ourselves emotionally. We spend so much time fighting these battles, but in the end…. There are no winners or losers. In the end, we’re all the same: dust in the ground.’

Check out the lyric video for Something In Common below, and look out for the album, Next, which ties characters, including Kendra’s band, to a vintage board game ‘in the spirit of Milton Bradley’s finest retro dice-rolling moments’. Stepping through the block-to-block journey of the game, Next deals in a ‘mosaic of corals, creams, and pale lilac tiles’, with even that description evoking a surprisingly tactile feeling. The album is due out via Karma Chief on 19 September 2025.