Watch: Shift & Go - Little Luna

Riding the kind of emotive electronic production that I always feel a little predisposed to fall for, Shift & Go combines a sophisticated sound with an unfussy and economic touch. With deep-but-melodic bass and big live-sounding drums, the song leaves plenty of space for a female vocal that comes drenched in reverb.

Little Luna has created a piece of music that feels like a cinematic thrill ride. Shift & Go would sit well in Stranger Things, or soundtracking late night car rides after an eventful night out. It pulses with a charged excitement and a thrilling sense of the unexpected - depicting those moments where it feels like everything just changed, even if the rest of the world didn’t notice.

Shift & Go is the debut release from Little Luna, a project dedicated to a sonic journey of self (re-)discovery. The songs themselves come together in response to lyrics triggered by the artist’s poetry and musical rhythms that reflect the sense of movement and motion. Check out Shift & Go below, and look out from more from Little Luna in the future.

debut music video + single by little luna - "shift & go" listen to "shift & go" out now everywhere: bit.ly/ShiftandGo the shift is real, & it counts. you hav...

Watch: Bad Lot - SOUNDQ

SOUNDQ’s Bad Lot has the simplistic feel of techno but marries it to a soulful vocal, creating a hard sound that still comes with a dose of humanity.

With heavy 808s and clipped, distorted synth stabs there is an intensity running through Bad Lot, particularly in its opening. It starts with stark percussion, including a big four-four beat that on its own it would be too much - energised and infectious but too cold and mechanical. Yet a starry-eyed, vacant vocal provides just the contrast the song needs. It remains otherworldly, perfectly suited for moments lost on dance floors, but it transcends that - conveying hopefulness and sadness at the same time.

Bad Lot is a menacing drama and whilst the production is intense, it still leaves space for its message: that despite our best efforts, whatever decisions we make, we end up repeating the same actions.

SOUNDQ is the musical alias of Poland-based house and ‘dirty pop’ producer Kuba Kubica. The name SOUNDQ is short for Soundquake, which, if Bad Lot is anything to go by, feels very appropriate. Kubica’s focus is on creating rhythms that enable him to tell distinctly Eastern European stories - Ones that “speak of accepting failure, struggling to adapt, living in two worlds and finding treasure in another man’s garbage”.

Check out Bad Lot below:

"I missed a step once in life and I've been walking crookedly ever since." - Marek Hłasko Bad Lot is an outsider house ballad for the misfits. It's about the...

Premiere: Around Here - Asch-Rose

Around Here is the new single from Auckland, New Zealand musician Asch-Rose. Having toured consistently, she has built up a significant fan base and has performed more than 250 dates in New Zealand. The sound Asch-Rose creates recalls Warpaint - there is a density to the sound that really hits me.

Around Here opens with a guilty walk and a steely-eyed stare that inspires a sense of foreboding. Asch-Rose’s vocal performance exudes siren-like qualities, drawing me in despite the apparent danger.

With bluesy guitar and hushed drums, things start slowly, but over time the quiet gives way to organ and layered instrumentation. It feels deeply atmospheric, a sound that winds around the listener to create a disorientating wall of sound.

Describing the song as being a record of heartbreak, Asch-Rose says:

“A broken heart... obviously something gets stuck in you and breeds like wild fire. I felt compelled to sit and self-loath, while at the same time productively record it. That’s where Around Here was written. I craved that and I stayed in that for a while, there, I wrote this music. These string of songs have been influenced by that state of self-study and self-pity. That state of heartbreak and desperate search to void-fill creates beautiful things.”

Check out Around Here below, or through your platform of choice here.

Listen: Alive - Casual

Arriving on a psychedelic cosmic rainbow hooked onto what sounds like a life support machine, Alive enters like a rebirth and a resuscitation. It crunches and crackles - fresh brass jostling against rolling bass to create something that feels like an overly excitable crowd losing themselves in the moment… and oh, how I miss crowds. Alive feels like being free again.

Casual’s sound reminds me of Jungle, who they cite as influences… there is an obvious commercial appeal here, yet it is mixed with an authenticity. They blend hip-hop stylings with the indie-dance vibes of MGMT, falsetto vocal harmonies playfully bouncing along with the melody. The feeling I’m left with is one of fresh sneakers squeaking enthusiastically on polished floorboards, of feeling good in your new favourite outfit, of sweating with people whose sweat you like.

Casual are Amsterdam-based duo ReauBeau and Rico Dean and they feel destined for success, particularly with fans that include Edith Bowman (sample quote: “There's nothing casual about that. It is HUGE and it's currently on repeat in my house.”)

So yep… Feel Alive, and check it out below:

Listen: Move - Jodie Nicholson

I recently found time to watch Luca Guadagnino’s movie A Bigger Splash. As I mention in my review of the movie on Letterboxd, the film conveys the brutal, dramatic electricity that occurs when the general predictability of human interaction and behaviour disintegrates to leave just the id. I found the movie thrilling in the way it feels like things are constantly on the verge of falling apart.

As a piece of music, British artist Jodie Nicholson’s Move simmers with a similar sense brooding intensity. Opening with chords that slowly increase in volume as Nicholson delivers hushed vocals, Move always feels like a track that as much about the spaces between the sound as the sound itself. Much like A Bigger Splash, Move never quite tips over into the sheer chaos it threatens. Despite that, it always manages to feel so much bigger than it actually is. The economy is wonderful - this is a piece of music that has the intensity of techno and disco, yet it never has to break its cover beyond a canter. It doesn’t need to, because the strength and gravity is implied by its gait.

Move was produced remotely during the coronavirus lockdown by Tim Bran, who has also worked with London Grammar, Birdy, Halsey and Aurora. Here he has helped Nicholson create something beautiful and subtle and mesmerising. Describing the song’s creation, Jodie says:

”On the surface, its message is typical of a generic pop song, but as the track evolved in its creation, Move has become a powerful symbol for taking a feeling and running with it. It’s been an organic, impulse-driven song from the get-go and in many ways feels like an awakening. I never thought that my first time working with a producer would be during a global pandemic. Working remotely with Tim was fascinating. As I recorded vocals, he controlled my computer from the other end of the country, and we streamed the audio from both sides so we could listen together in real-time. It was honestly mind-blowing. I feel very grateful for current technology and Tim’s knowledge.”

Check out Move below: