Listen: Tonight by Velar Prana

The latest single from Velar Prana, Tonight opens with a lush wave of sophisticated sound. Slithers of brass instrumentation weave in and out of themselves, soaring and fluttering, as warm and crispy bass establishes a feeling of sun-kissed movement.

Having spent endless nights at turntables through his years at school, Velar Prana now writes, records and produces music. His focus is on what you hear on Tonight — a kind of warm electro-pop that glitters and captures the feeling of summer, and good times.

As Tonight progresses, a restrained vocal portrays a simple story — people working to communicating, and landing with the intention to say things as they mean them. Synth notes echo and bounce as Prana layers together a dense soundscape, and overall the song leaves everything else to the imagination. The result is a piece of electronic music that is dense and atmospheric, about the vibe more than anything… A dash of melancholy mixed with a hint of hope, surrounded by so much beauty.

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Velar Prana · Tonight

Watch: Hair by Lelia

The new single from London-based artist Lelia, Hair starts with a ripping bass line and thumping drums, immediately delivering a dark sense of confrontation.

As an artist, Lelia builds her sound from a combination of thick synths, angular percussion, and direct confrontational vocals. With touchpoints that include artists who, on paper, appear very diverse — Lady Gaga, LCD Soundsystem, and PJ Harvey — Lelia weaves those references together to feel cohesive and, in retrospect, obvious. Of course the darkness of Harvey blends with Gaga’s penchant for drama, and the throbbing electronic post-punk rock of James Murphy underpins it all like a slowly boiled frog.

As we hear on Hair, the overall result is a beautiful cacophony. The third single taken from Lelia’s forthcoming debut album, Dark Disco, the song is an embrace of destruction, applying Daft Punk’s dance-forward production to a song that is a far more direct exploration of sex, desire, and identity.

Employing overdubbed vocals liberally against a backing that is grounded in grungy sounds and a hissing electro bass line, the sound here evokes a sense of size. Lumbering, heavy and formidable, Hair embraces exactly the kind of building details Murphy deals in — hi-hats and cow bell create a kind of disco punk crescendo as the song nears it’s conclusion. With a sound that is itself big, Lelia is deliberately evoking a feeling of scale, as she describes:

“It’s about rejecting everything material. If I make my hair as big as possible then, in a nod to Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1958), I'll destroy anything in my path in the quest to dance and be free.”

I love the intersection of genres Lelia is channeling here, and can’t wait to hear more. Check out Hair below, and look for the album, Dark Disco, due 6 November.

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Listen: All That I Break by Meleetah

Based in Brisbane, Australia, electronic artist, producer, and multimedia artist Meleetah works with music and audiovisual mediums. Focused on a combination of electronic pop, future bass, and electronica, the artist is focused on creating immersive worlds with a strong sense of emotionally driven storytelling.

Here on All That I Break, Meleetah reflects on the possible reality that the things that fall apart in our lives don’t just happen to us — they are themselves a response to our choices and out behaviours. It reflects a shift from blaming the outside, to evaluating our own actions and taking responsibility for the role we play.

Opening with soft bell-like notes, All That I Break starts from a place of vulnerability. Meleetah’s vocals hang amidst a glittering soundscape of synths, like a chandelier casting light around a stark and empty room, before the song introduces deep sub-bass tones. The glassy aesthetic reflects a feeling of mirror-like reflection that runs through the song… You can almost feel Meleetah reaching out for images, trying to grasp and hold on to what is real. Is our pain actually of our own making, or are we a blameless victim? The result is a piece that shudders with a bold futurist aesthetic, and a depth of emotion.

Check out All That I Break below.

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Listen: Death Drive by Eliza Edens

One of my triggers in alt-rock is a sense of texture, and the first time I heard Death Drive, the latest single from Eliza Edens, I was blown away by the detail.

Texture adds a vibrancy to a musical recording, particularly when it comes to real physical instruments. The bright details here make Eliza and her band’s performance feel real, intimate and grounded. The bass and guitars float right in front of you, and you can almost feel the air moving in front of your face as you listen. The drums thump with a grounded pulsing energy. The whole thing feels expensive, and created with care. It all underpins a vocal performance from Edens, at terms intimate and vulnerable, then soaring on a wave of overdubbed harmonies.

That vocal is focused on Edens’ preoccupation with near-death experiences, and living dangerously. As she sassily sings here, “Maybe I was flirtin’ with the limit but baby that’s how you win it.”

Shortly after the two-minute moment there is a slight, yet noticeable, drop in pace. It is as though the band simultaneously got caught in something that caught them off guard. They almost miss a beat and fall into a stagger. The moment seemingly reflect Eliza, confronted with a thought, as she contemplates her own mortality and the afterlife. She quickly shrugs it off, and like a moth to a flame, goes straight back to thinking about all the ways in which she could be embracing reckless abandon. Overall, she creates a thrilling feeling - vivid, real, and alive.

Check out Death Drive below.

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Listen: No Hands by Christian Medice

The latest single by NYC-based and Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Christian Medice, No Hands sees the artist weave a nostalgic course through layered instrumentation. Low bass and ethereal chords establish the scene before gentle guitars meander.

Medice is no stranger to diverse genres, having featured as a co-writer on Pink’s album Beautiful Trauma, alongside production credits spanning pop, alternative, indie, and K-Pop.

Here, on No Hands, there is something of the earthy richness of Vampire Weekend. It is Medice’s vocal that creates the emotional foundation for the song, his performance capturing the thrill of a freewheeling bike ride through the city. The verse gives way to a chorus that sees the song’s title repeated with the thrill and pace of someone calling it out as they fly past you on the street, careering wildly with their arms spread wide. You can almost feel the wind on their face and see their wide smile.

The cycle ride depicted on No Hands feels like both a retelling of a real event, and a metaphor for a feeling of freedom and abandon. Describing the creation of the song, developed in partnership with his friend and collaborator Jordan Greenwald, Christian says:

‘The first time I heard Jordan's track, I was instantly inspired. I wrote the verse and pre-chorus right away, and it immediately felt like there was something special there. The story brought me back to the period when I was living in New York City right out of college — being young, figuring things out, and not always knowing where life was taking me. We kept coming back to the song over the next few months and letting it grow naturally.’

Check out Christian Medice’s No Hands below.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

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