Basside
After the tragic death of SOPHIE earlier this year, the Miami duo Basside wrote in memoriam that the artist “wasn’t from this planet.” They were far from the first to observe the galactic magic of SOPHIE’s music, but the phrasing… Read More
rap
Facta
A year on from first being told to down tools and go home en masse, people in the UK find themselves in the perverse situation of comparing lockdowns. Despite the nearing possibility of being able to do things like go… Read More
HeckerOkkyung Lee
Okkyung Lee and Florian Hecker (aka Hecker) both find freedom in limitation, channeling the infinite possibility inherent in cello and code, respectively. Their methods sometimes verge on hermetic; some of their weaker work sounds more like a demonstration of every… Read More
Vegyn
In tarot, the flame-licked Tower card represents a mercurial period of upheaval and personal transformation. After producer and experimental artist Vegyn moved from London to Los Angeles last fall, the foreboding card became a regular appearance in his deck. The… Read More
Clark
Twenty years is a long time to do anything, no matter how well you do it. Even for an artist as restless as English electronic polymath Chris Clark, 20 years of poking and prodding at his hybridized sound might lose… Read More
ZULI
In a city of 23 million, Ahmed El Ghazoly sometimes had trouble finding a receptive audience for his brand of club music. “My stuff is too weird for Cairo,” he told The Wire a few years back. In fact, El… Read More
Mr. Mitch
When he’s not writing music as Mr. Mitch, Miles Mitchell runs a record label (Gobstopper), raises his growing family in southeast London (they welcomed a daughter last April), and holds down a full-time job. When venues are open, he’s one-quarter… Read More
Japan
Before they became synonymous with heady, ethereal synth pop, Japan started out under the sway of Bowie and Bolan. On their first two albums, Adolescent Sex and Obscure Alternatives, both released in 1978, singer/guitarist David Sylvian affected a nasal sneer… Read More
Yellow Magic Orchestra
As a Japanese initialism, “BGM” stands for “background music.” It’s meant to evoke the blissful ’80s ambient work of Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haruomi Hosono, the kind of idyllic music that wafts from hip mass-market clothing stores or loops quietly under… Read More
FAUZIA
In early 2017, not long after she had begun DJing in earnest, London’s FAUZIA uploaded her inaugural DJ mix to SoundCloud. “first ever mix,” she noted in the track description. She quickly landed a monthly residency on NTS Radio and… Read More