100words

Bass has sifted the pockets of its sub-genres for decades, perpetually in search of a fresh direction. But like a recent graduate with strict, expectant parents, the genre often falls back on a sturdy, lucrative route. Eschewing even a whiff of ‘Youtube Football Compilation Music,’ ‘SCREAMER’ plugs spirited pop melodies and a scorched, glitchy coating to the UK Bass cannon. The production is akin to a Grimes record; it could, in fact, be the more dangerous twin sister of ... read more

‘ISTHISFORREAL?’ sounds like it came from the back rooms of a nightclub with flashing light fixtures. By assuming the seedy, neurotic gristles of the issues he addresses, KTown comes to embody them with an irony undercut by stone-cold seriousness. That said, while tracks like ‘MISOPHONIALOVE’ contain a smart premise, they would be more proportionate in substance to an interlude or even a verse. It’s a wider issue on the album: across just twenty-four minutes, it ... read more

TW: this record contains material on suicide and abuse

‘Riderless Horse’ is a lonely album about two people. Like Mount Eerie’s ‘A Crow Looked At Me,’ Nastasia’s first record in twelve years isn’t even an echo: it’s the initial reverberation of real life despair. The jagged candor of her writing is entrusted to expertly patched up vocals and rhyming schemes that share the tight authority of a traditional folk song. As the album winds in and out ... read more

quinn’s big successes have always been focusing on her components philosophically; on ‘quinn,’ the production has caught up. Despite the record’s consistent, lo-ist of lo-fi sheen, it belongs in a list alongside music from anarchist, diverse oddballs including Dean Blunt and 100gecs. The completeness of ‘quinn’ in the face of its manifold genres is more than impressive. The artist’s next progression should be reflected in her writing, which, despite ... read more