Music fans unite – for the escapism-craving nostalgic listeners, who still turn to the likes of Massive Attack, Morcheeba, and Portishead; new music of equal depth and humility emerges, from the creative corner of J Brink.
Mindscape is a stunning new album, modest in its simplicity and warmth, but vastly detailed and immersive for its sheer attention to the flow and mood of each track.
Impressively engaging for a new starter in production and sound-design, Don’t Do This features a timeless groove and a riff and effect-line just quirky enough to really blend the melodic and emotional tones with a clear sense of character and rising anticipation. We’re in a sort of early Fatboy Slim arena, a playful instrumental realm of sweeping synths and more clean-cut riffs alike, all separated by the opposing sections of this ongoing rhythm.
Three new releases from UAE creative producer Sarah R Jay continue to showcase the diversity and depth of her sound. Crossing the Tempest and 300 Fallen Heroes mark two new cinematic instrumentals, and both will be accompanied by EDM remixes in the very near future.
Composer Ube Palomino captures the imaginative freedom of instrumental expression, with the uniquely evocative, intimate to cinematic arrangements of The Hinterlands Suite.
Producer and songwriter Simone Contin captures attention beautifully, with the creatively balanced fusion of rock traits that is Nella mia testa.
“The only mindset I had was to make myself feel happy by doing what I love to do, and that hasn’t changed. Songwriting truly does that for me. It quickly cures any feelings of being down or stressed.”
Adam Layne Fisher is the man behind Kings of Men, a musician blending traditional instrumentation with generative AI, resulting in a fascinatingly successful take on what AI can mean for the future of music.
From ambient and atmospheric hyper trap through a series of emotional deep-dives in relation to self-destruction, pain and hope all intertwined – producer Axtronomical intoxicates listeners, throughout the sixteen-track album DYSPHORIA.
Coming in at over six minutes of exploration, Time Irrelevant sees its listeners plunged into a web of multiple layers of distorted guitars and classic eighties rhythms. At the same time, subtle waves of synth and electronic instrumentation meet with organic, acoustic ones, to craft something that’s both a looping realm of comfort, and a consistently evolving delivery of rising anticipation.
Introducing an intoxicating balance of high-octane rhythms and euphoric production – Child of SP fuses genres with relevance and fluidity, for the boldly thought-provoking single Halo.
The intimate piano format and cleanly-mixed vocals seem incredibly rare these days. Even the biggest pop ballads of recent years have had some kind of huge moment where drums crash and a choir joins the process. Rafael Montecruz keeps things refreshingly genuine though, and the song is so well written and performed, that really, nothing else is needed to communicate its intentions.
Featuring a compelling fusion of smooth rhythms and enchanting tunes, Soul’d Duets acts as a timeless reminder of the precision and heart combined that Waithaka brings to the RnB and Soul Pop production space. It’s an album of easy hits, but it’s also a simple pleasure to let play – an uplifting listen, often celebratory and bright, and one that effectively bridges the gap between fans of RnB past and present.
