Listen: Rated X — Nieri

Following on from his glorious track, Where Would You Drive?, LA-based musician Nieri is back with another slice of fresh electro-influenced pop.

Rated X sees Nieri dive into sensual territory, realising sexual pleasure through dedicating himself to a single person. Through that dedication, you can truly understand and stimulate someone’s desires. The X in Rated X subverts expectations, substituting explicit for exclusive. In a description that is in itself somewhat alluring, Nieri says:

“In this song, I wanted to celebrate the profound connection that emerges through physical intimacy. Specifically, the joy of feeling appreciated and accepted in a long-term relationship, while also embracing the exciting exploration of each other's bodies in various ways.”

More playful than Where would You Drive?, but still delivering a powerful message, Rated X sees Nieri perform a verse as a rap and has a crunchy acid-tinged sound to it. Crisp synths combine with body-shot beats to create something sexually charged and infectious. Check it out below:

Listen: Give Into You — Yuraa

Give Into You is a song in which we submit to falling into another person, emotions in free fall, in the belief, or hope, that someone will catch us.

The song starts with soft synth notes, and a vocal that, cutely, commences with the line, “This is how it started”. Hollow bass tones, chunky beats and clipped melodies evoke dizzying emotions in this electronic slab of dream pop.

The vocal on Give Into You acts as its anchor, but as emotionally charged as the hushed performance is, it is the surrounding instrumentation that provides the emotional colour. In particular, there is a growing crescendo of sparkling synth keys that get progressively louder during the song’s third-minute, and they feel like the starry-eyed experience of growing increasingly close to another person.

Describing the song, Yuraa say:

“Give Into You is about that moment when you finally allow yourself to fall for someone. It's about the joy and tenderness behind the very beginnings of love. It’s about acknowledging the fears that make you hesitant, and letting them go.”

Yuraa are an electronic duo making music for hopeless romantics, leveraging breakbeat and house styling to create emotive music. Check out the wonderful Give Into You below:

Listen: Sandcastle — Grabbitz & Jayceeoh

Opening with dream-like folksy melancholic guitars and a Chris Martin-esque falsetto vocal, Grabbitz & Jayceeoh’s Sandcastle is a deceptive piece of experimental electronic indie. As the song’s first minute reaches a close, Sandcastle slams into a lairy drum roll and teeth-shattering bass.

The way Sandcastle combines an experimental electronic aesthetic with cardigans and teary Whatsapp message threads feels very Hot Chip. I’m not entirely sure whether this should work, particularly that drum roll, yet it does.

Jayceeoh is known for his work with iconic rapper Redman, together in their EDM hip hop outfit 1000volts. Here he parters with long-time friend, Grabbitz, in what represents their first actual collaboration. Together on Sandcastle, they describe the reality of relationships that come and go, getting washed away as love enters and leaves your life.

Listen: Something We Would Dance To — Henri

The first time I heard Something We Would Dance To, the sun was beaming down on a sunny Thursday morning in the UK. The three central elements of this song felt perfectly attuned to my mood, in that moment — the wisp-like vocal, the staccato vocal samples, and that huge piano riff.

There is a buoyant hopefulness here, shot through with yearning. It quivers with the excited hopefulness that, just maybe, we can still find human connection. It’s a feeling the accompany press sheet describes as an invitation to “dance through their tears”.

The song itself is very purposeful in that feeling, in that it is an encapsulation of “the beautiful moments shared with an ex-lover while grappling with the lingering doubts and heartache of a breakup”. Indeed, I can imagine the whispered words of the song’s central refrain, “Is this something we can dance to?”, passing between two people who still love each other, yet know that their love has to change.

Henri is an indie-electronic producer, gearing up for the release of his debut EP, Rakkaus, on 2 June. His music is an attempt to draw on “deeply personal and transformative experiences”, creating a sound that is emotive and resonant. Purposefully steering clear of the typical clean lines of repetitive beats, Henri is focused on bringing humanity to electronic music. That focus is obviously central to Something We Would Dance To — check it out below:

Listen: Häntextra — Fricky

Bathed in warm tones, crisp drum rolls and jazzy touches, Fricky’s Häntextra brings together some of my favourite elements of D&B and shakes them, gently.

The spacious, jazz elements recall LTJ Bukem’s Good Looking Records, but here they are blended with the sunny vibes of Movement and the soulful space of Defunked. All of which to say, this skews intelligent, emotive and sophisticated, but still makes me want to dance in the sunshine or in sweaty rooms with low ceilings.

Tricky is artist, producer and designer Erik Friman. Having grown up in Sweden, he got exposed to hardcore bands, DIY music and rap. Friman formed a rap duo with his childhood friend Broder John, before eventually branching out to more exploratory, melodic and atmospheric sounds.

Häntextra is taken from the forthcoming album Horizon Inn. Rather than focusing on D&B or rap, the album takes a wide-angle lens to 90s and 00s music, encompassing sounds as diverse as indie pop, and trip hop. The music is in truth a collaboration, by Fricky, but together with collaborators Joel Kiviaho, Magnus Larsson and Simon Lundgren. Describing the sound, Friman says:

“This is the closest I get to the sound that only exists in my dreams. The inspiration is taken from drum and bass, trip-hop, acid and old school hiphop. The world can undeniably feel escapist, but at the same time, I can't remember ever being as present in the music as I was during this process.”