In Carnatic music, a raga is performed by a vocalist singing improvisations in the corresponding register, in turn leading a small band of tabla, sitar, and violin to follow their patterns and rhythmic gymnastics. It’s like jazz being led by scat, but somehow more regimented despite its largely improvisational nature.
For all PC Music’s influence on the current direction of pop music, the London label / collective have released surprisingly few compilations. Rather, label head and producer A.G. Cook has been focussed on a steady output of once-off singles and EP’s from his guard of pop agitators, flooding the genre
acid rave / bubblegum / bubblegum bass / experimental / hyperpop / Pop / Synthpop / Techno
Over the past decade, Bristol’s Batu has been making a name for himself as one of the most forward thinking club music producers in the UK. His sound, an amalgamation of influences from techno, to grime, to UKG, is entirely future focussed. With the nebulous techno of releases like 2021’s
ambient / Bass / breaks / Drum'n'bass / experimental / IDM / Techno / UKG
The electronic music that comes from the North of Europe has always been distinct, as if echoing the terrains of its point of origin. Icy and ethereal, there’s a sort of primordial mysticism that can be felt in The Knife or Jenny Hval, or the pitch perfect emotional alchemy of
Few debuts are as striking as Kelly Lee Owens’s 2017 self-titled album which, simply put, was a revelation. The Welsh producer/songwriter introduced herself to the world with a sound not easily defined, but traceable. Brewing minimal techno and hazy dream-pop with atmospheric, new age ambient and even touches of caustic
ambient / experimental / IDM / Industrial / NOISE / Techno
“How’s the weather?” is one of those questions that’s become a means toward trivial banter, an autopilot prompt for small talk in the ranks of “where are you working now?” or “how’s the family?” No one seems to be taking the question too seriously, except maybe for Loraine James. Following
ambient / Breakbeats / experimental / IDM / improvised / neo-classic / trip hop
On last year’s Reporting From Detroit, minimal techno visionaire Terrence Dixon mapped a portrait of the city that made him. Like sonic cartography, the music on Reporting echoed the architecture of his home city, both physical and social. Sparse, spacious, yet simultaneously dense, Dixon notes how his ‘Detroit techno’ comes
ambient / Detroit techno / experimental / Minimal / minimal techno / Techno
Max Cooper approaches music like mathematics. His background and PhD in science is likely part of this unique approach, with Cooper’s interests lying in the science of sequencing sound. The result of this obsessive investiture into the possibilities of sound design has resulted in Cooper becoming renowned for crafting a
ambient / Breakbeats / Drum'n'bass / electronica / experimental / Post-dubstep / sound design / Techno
“I don’t wanna go to school, I just want wanna break the rules,” proclaimed Charli XCX in 2014. This was no frivolous remark. If only we’d understood just how serious she was, perhaps her path as a pop star wouldn’t be regarded as the oddity it is today. Truthfully, XCX
Belgian-Caribbean musician Charlotte Adigéry has often been referred to as the future of dance music. This isn’t an unfounded observation; there’s certainly no one quite like her active in the sphere of electronic and left-field pop right now. Central to Adigéry’s artistry, and part of her progressive allure, is her
