One year on and DJ Kazo continues to mix things up – Newbie leads with rising anticipation from the outset, quickly enveloping listeners in its potential energy and the high-octane embrace set to follow.
Music
Loaded with imagery that initially feels like something clever to hide behind, the song ultimately reverts back to a revealing search for self.
There’s a whole new realm to be experienced as you revisit the ins and outs of these Portraits as the artist crafts them before you. Beautiful work, from a composer with a broadly unique approach to creativity.
Classic RnB vibes with bass and keys-led warmth meets the story-telling of vintage hip hop throughout a melodically engaging EP from The Startin Lineup.
Houston’s Simon Val blends the vocal meandering and brightness of musical theatre with the colour and calm of folk-pop as the aptly optimistic single Just Smile emerges.
Gentle acoustic rhythms with warm layers of reverb-kissed keys and synth create a colourful, aptly emotional ambiance as Unity introduce their project All The Feelings.
Visually striking and simple yet hard-hitting musically, AZYN mixes up his flow and keeps the lyrical thread gritty and intense throughout a fiercely heavy BIRDISTHEWORD.
Whether the moment features long, drawn-out notes for a passionate calling, or quicker riffs and crashing drums alongside storytelling details, the song presents it in an artistic and authentically new manner.
Herman Martinez emerges this season with his third studio album to date, a twelve-track collection of boldly contemplative songs and organic, hypnotic soft-rock soundscapes.
The mind wanders entirely, each journey likely unique to each listener; a powerful trait that only music of intention can truly promise.
Zerk continues to raise the bar in alternative, gritty and storytelling hip hop, with the striking intensity and equally haunting visuals of By Myself.
Unpredictable yet satisfying, thought provoking, hypnotic and blissfully mighty as a form of contemporary escapism.