Tag: electronica

New Video: London’s IFULKI Shares Broodingly Cinematic “Something Greater”

London-based trio IFULKI features musicians shaped by a culture of improvisation, openness and collaboration:

  • Queen Kaltoun, a Moroccan-Italian vocalist, who relocated to London when she was 189 to pursue a career in music
  • Charlie, an English-born bassist and synth player with Irish and Ghanian roots
  • Ayman, a Sudanese drummer and percussionist

Each member of the trio have spent years performing across London’s live music circuit, playing sets at Ronnie Scott’s, Jazz Cafe and Village Underground and a long list of others, while collaboration with a collection of boundary-pushing artists including David Mrakpor, Rebekah Reid, Mei Kirby, Ayo Salawu, Arowah, Tay Grace, and NK-OK.

The London-based trio have quickly established a unique blend of Gnawa inferences, electronic textures and live instrumentation helps to create a sound that’s deeply rooted in ancient traditions while being remarkably modern. Rather than remaining within the boundaries of jazz, the project for the trio became the meeting point of everything the inspired them — the freedom of improvisation, the emotional depth of electronic music, trip-hop and soul, and the philosophy of Queen Kaltoum’s Amazigh heritage.

Ifulki means ‘beautiful” in the Amazigh language,” Queen Kaltoum explains. “It’s a celebration of the beautiful people and beautiful connections we encounter in this life.” For Queen Kaltoum beauty isn’t something superficial. Beauty exists in kindness, generosity, solidarity and the relationships we build and maintain with each other. Those values, which are deeply embedded within Amazigh culture, quietly shape every aspect of the emerging London-based trio’s creative vision — one, ultimately born, as Queen Kaltoum says, “from a need to bring people together.”

IFULKI’s debut single “Something Greater,” which was released through [PIAS]’s new important SOURCE serves as the trio’s bold introduction to the outsider world. Featuring a broodingly atmospheric production with brassy castanet-driven gnawa percussion, tweeter and woofer rattling tump, twinkling jazz-inspired keys and a gently buzzing bass synths beneath Queen Kaltoum’s bright and effortlessly soulful vocal, “Something Greater” is a lush and cinematic blend of Bristol-era trip hop, jazz and soul that’s simultaneously headphone and club friendly.

The song is about surrendering to the unknown and trusting that thing will ultimately fall into place, and having the faith that whatever the outcome, that’s what is meant to happen. Queen Kaltoum adds, “An unsettling and mysterious atmosphere is present in the music, and thematically matched by the lyrics. This energy never leaves, but combines with tones of positivity and hopefulness brought in by dancey rhythms, with the piano ending the song with a bittersweet melody, contrasting the dark and brooding intensity found in the bass and drums.” 

New Video: TOMORA Shares Expansive, Live Version of “IN A MINUTE”

TOMORA is a collaborative project featuring:

  • The Chemical Brothers‘ Tom Rowlands: As one-half of The Chemical Brothers, Rowlands has produced and recorded six widely acclaimed UK #1 albums and won six Grammy Awards.
  • Norwegian artist AURORA: AURORA has released four studio albums and has quickly become one of Norway’s most influential and globally recognized contemporary artists. Her single “Runaway” has amassed over one-billion Spotify streams to date.

TOMORA builds upon a creative relationship that can be traced to the recording sessions for The Chemical Brothers’ 2019 album No Geography. AURORA contributed vocals to three tracks, including “Eve of Destruction.” Rowlands then went on to contribute to AURORA’s 2024 effort, What Happened to the Heart?, which landed on the UK Top 10.

Initially, speculation was rife as to who — or what — the then-mysterious TOMORA was or could be, after the name appeared on Coachella’s 2026 Festival lineup post without any additional information last year. Then, last December, the duo released their debut single “Ring The Alarm,” which received praise from SpinBrooklynVeganStereogum and DJ Mag. “Ring The Alarm” also received DJ support from Erol Alkan¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and a long list of others.

The duo’s TOMORA debut single was then released on a very limited and collectible white label vinyl, alongside B-side “The Thing,” which showcases a glimpse of the tender and hauntingly beautiful downtempo tracks that appear on the duo’s full-length debut, COME CLOSER.

Released earlier this year through Capitol RecordsCOME CLOSER was written and produced jointly by Rowlands and AURORA. The 12-song album sees the duo pairing the Norwegian artist’s distinctive vocal with the acclaimed British producer’s unparalleled studio expertise. The album sees the duo creating their own unique space, somewhere they can produce the kind of magic that comes from flicking through a perfect record collection, flowing from wigged-out 1960s psychedelia to the hyper-futurism of sounds imagined for the 2060s. 

The album is less about two separate and distinct artists finding a fertile middle ground and more the sound of two tenacious individuals connecting in the studio and hitting massive creative peaks together. 

“This is our album COME CLOSER, it is everything we dreamt of. We made it without obligation or expectation, just a joy in creation,” the duo says. “It’s the sound where we meet, the landing zone of our musical escape pods. It is a special place to us. We hope you dig it as much as we do.”

The album also includes singles “COME CLOSER” “SOMEWHERE ELSE” and “I DRINK THE LIGHT.” After a successful Spring tour to support their debut effort together, the pair went to Rowland’s Sussex, UK-based Rowlands Audio Research Studio to record a live version of album closing track “IN A MINUTE” that’s inspired by their ever-increasing extended performances of the song as part of the encourage of their first-ever live shows together, including two rapturously received sets at this past year’s Coachella.

Whereas, the album version of “IN A MINUTE” distills the duo’s quickly established euphoric push-pull chemistry into a tight, breakneck structure, the Live in the Studio version of the song, clocks in at 10 minutes gives the duo the ability to stretch out and to roam a bit musically, building from the song’s central refrain into an extended dreamy sequence of densely layered shifts, shifting rhythms beneath otherworldly harmonies, before returning to the song’s hook, giving the song even more of a mind-bending, lysergic quality.

Directed by Adam Smith the gorgeously shot accompanying video for “IN A MINUTE (LIVE FROM THE STUDIO VERSION)” captures the feverish euphoria of a life TOMORA set.

New Video: BRIXTONE Shares Glitchy and Brooding “The Mirror Stars”

BRIXTONE is an experimental music duo — half-brothers Paul and Pete Brixtone — that features members, who were raised in opposite musical worlds and yet drawn to the same aesthetic: One member works by instinct, noted in abrasiveness, aggression and noise. The other words with structure, discipline and an architectural melodic sensibility.

The duo’s debut Never Play To The Gallery was released earlier this year to positive reviews across music media with the album being describes as an “electro rock-post punk-jazz entity,” and a restless, shape-shifting mass of sound pulled tight between decay and precision.

Never Play To The Gallery‘s latest single “The Mirror Stars” is anchored around an industrial electronica pulse and skittering beats, bursts of scorching guitar, distorted vocal samples, eerie electronic textures, and a brooding lead vocal. Seemingly channeling early Nine Inch Nails and Earthling-era David Bowie, “The Mirror Stars,” possesses a creeping sense of dread that feels uneasy, familiar and of our deeply fucked up moment.

New Audio: TOMORA Returns with Luminous and Euphoric “I DRINK THE LIGHT”

TOMORA is a collaborative project featuring:

  • The Chemical Brothers‘ Tom Rowlands: As one-half of The Chemical Brothers, Rowlands has produced and recorded six widely acclaimed UK #1 albums and won six Grammy Awards.
  • Norwegian artist AURORA: AURORA has released four studio albums and has quickly become one of Norway’s most influential and globally recognized contemporary artists. Her single “Runaway” has amassed over one-billion Spotify streams to date.

TOMORA builds upon a creative relationship that can be traced to the recording sessions for The Chemical Brothers’ 2019 album No Geography. AURORA contributed vocals to three tracks, including “Eve of Destruction.” Rowlands then went on to contribute to AURORA’s 2024 effort, What Happened to the Heart?, which landed on the UK Top 10.

Initially, speculation was rife as to who — or what — the then-mysterious TOMORA was or could be, after the name appeared on Coachella’s 2026 Festival lineup post without any additional information last year. Last December, the duo released their debut single “Ring The Alarm,” which received praise from SpinBrooklynVeganStereogum and DJ Mag. “Ring The Alarm” also received DJ support from Erol Alkan¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and a long list of others.

The duo’s TOMORA debut single was then released on a very limited and collectible white label vinyl, alongside B-side “The Thing,” which showcases a glimpse of the tender and hauntingly beautiful downtempo tracks that appear on the duo’s full-length debut, COME CLOSER.

Officially released today through Capitol RecordsCOME CLOSER was written and produced jointly by Rowlands and AURORA. The 12-song album sees the duo pairing the Norwegian artist’s distinctive vocal with the acclaimed British producer’s unparalleled studio expertise. The album sees the duo creating their own unique space, somewhere they can produce the kind of magic that comes from flicking through a perfect record collection, flowing from wigged-out 1960s psychedelia to the hyper-futurism of sounds imagined for the 2060s. 

The album is less about two separate and distinct artists finding a fertile middle ground and more the sound of two tenacious individuals connecting in the studio and hitting massive creative peaks together. 

“This is our album COME CLOSER, it is everything we dreamt of. We made it without obligation or expectation, just a joy in creation,” the duo says. “It’s the sound where we meet, the landing zone of our musical escape pods. It is a special place to us. We hope you dig it as much as we do.”

The album also features the previously released “COME CLOSER” “SOMEWHERE ELSE” and its latest single “I DRINK THE LIGHT.” “I DRINK THE LIGHT” is a euphoric and luminous song featuring glistening synth arpeggios and skittering boom bap as a lush yet woozy bed for AURORA’s remarkably Björk-like delivery. Sonically nodding at a slick synthesis of Madonna‘s “Ray of Light,Come with Us-era Chemical Brothers, “I DRINK THE LIGHT” evokes the otherworldly and almost childlike sense of awe and delight of seeing a natural wonder for the first time.

“We wrote ‘I DRINK THE LIGHT whilst watching the light glitter and dance off the shimmering fjord in Norway. We wanted to write a song that felt like witnessing the wonders of Earth for the very first time,” TOMORA explains. “The song is an exploration of light sensations and fluid dynamics. We taste the earth, we swallow the sun, we are one with the fabric of life, and most importantly of all, we drink the light.”

New Audio: MABLONDE Shares Dance Floor Friendly “1973”

French producer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter MABLONDE‘s career started in earnest back in the 90s as a beatmaker. But since then, his work has gradually morphed to a sound that features elements of electro pop, electronica and synth wave and makes references to the styles and aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s.

The French artist’s latest single “1973” is a sleek, hook-driven, club banger that’s one-part LCD Soundsystem, one-part indie sleaze, one-part 70s glam rock and one-part 1980s-era Giorgio Moroder.

New Video: TOMORA Shares Mesmerizing “COME CLOSER”

TOMORA is a new collaborative project featuring:

  • The Chemical Brothers‘ Tom Rowlands: As one-half of The Chemical Brothers, Rowlands has produced and recorded six widely acclaimed UK #1 albums and won six Grammy Awards.
  • Norwegian artist AURORA: AUROR Ahas released four studio albums and has quickly become one of Norway’s most influential and globally recognized contemporary artists. Her single “Runaway” has amassed over one-billion Spotify streams to date.

TOMORA builds upon a creative relationship that can be traced to the recording sessions for The Chemical Brothers’ 2019 album No Geography. AURORA contributed vocals to three tracks, including “Eve of Destruction.” Rowlands then went on to contribute to AURORA’s 2024 effort, What Happened to the Heart?, which landed on the UK Top 10.

Initially, speculation was rife as to who — or what — the then-mysterious TOMORA was or could be, after the name appeared on Coachella’s 2026 Festival lineup post without any additional information last year. Last December, the duo released their debut single “Ring The Alarm,” which received praise from Spin, BrooklynVegan, Stereogum and DJ Mag. “Ring The Alarm” also received DJ support from Erol Alkan, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and a long list of others.

The duo’s TOMORA debut single was then released on a very limited and collectible white label vinyl, alongside B-side “The Thing,” which showcase a glimpse of the tender and hauntingly beautiful downtempo tracks that will appear on the duo’s full-length debut, COME CLOSER.

Slated for an April 17, 2026 release through Capitol Records, COME CLOSER was written and produced jointly by Rowlands and AURORA. The 12-song album sees the duo pairing the Norwegian artist’s distinctive vocal with the acclaimed British producer’s unparalleled studio expertise. While the album sees the duo creating their own unique space, somewhere they can produce the kind of magic that comes from flicking through a perfect record collection, flowing from wigged-out 1960s psychedelia to the hyper-futurism of sounds imagined for the 2060s.

Ultimately though, the album is less about two separate and distinct artists finding a fertile middle ground and more the sound of two tenacious individuals connecting in the studio and hitting massive creative peaks together.

“This is our album COME CLOSER, it is everything we dreamt of. We made it without obligation or expectation, just a joy in creation,” the duo says. “It’s the sound where we meet, the landing zone of our musical escape pods. It is a special place to us. We hope you dig it as much as we do.”

COME CLOSER‘s latest single, album title track “COME CLOSER” is a haunting, dreamily mesmerizing track featuring AURORA’s achingly yearning delivery ethereally floating over droning synths. But just under the hypnotizing surface is a sense of unease, perhaps even menace. As a YouTuber commented “I think this is how sirens in Greek mythology were supposed to sound — alluring and hypnotising at first, but once you listen long enough, you can hear the nightmare hiding behind the voice.” I wholeheartedly agree with that.

Produced and directed by Adam Smith and S T A R T !, the accompanying video for “COME CLOSER,” employs a relatively simple concept: Shot in a cinematic black and white, with eerie strobe lights, we see AURORA singing the song. Her appearance is simultaneously full of desperate yearning but also emphasizes the subtle sense of unsettling menace and unease.

New Audio: Glasgow’s Akkiles82 Shares Cinematic “Streets of Neo-Yokohama”

Nick Thomson is a Glasgow-based electronic music producer and the creative mastermind of the solo recording project Akkiles82. Akkiles82 sees Thompson creating a sound that draws from cyberpunk, retrowave, and his history both playing bands and as an electronic music/dance music producer.

The Scottish-based producer’s Akkiles82 full-length debut, CybernNation will be released in two parts over the course of the next year. The album reportedly will tell a story of desperate survival, after an unknown cataclysm causes destruction in a futuristic cyberpunk-like city. The album’s track range from classic synthwave and EDM through breakbeat — with health doses of 80s cartoon and TV themes influences.

CyberNation‘s second and latest single “Streets of Neo-Yokohama,” is a slickly produced cinematic track that recalls a synthesis of Fragile-era Nine Inch Nails, John Carpenter soundtracks and 80s TV themes, anchored around dense layers of glistening, arpeggiated synths and tweeter and woofer rattling thump. A new Knight Rider, Transformers or Voltron theme perhaps?

“This track was inspired by the towering skyscrapers and street racing scenes of Tokyo and Yokohama, painting a picture of neon and rain soaked streets,” Thompson says.

New Audio: Rival Consoles Shares Upbeat Yet Cinematic “Catherine”

Ryan Lee West is a critically acclaimed, London-based electronic music producer, best known as Rival Consoles. Over the course of his nearly two-decade career, West’s work has diversified from the challenging electronic output of his earliest releases to gradually becoming more conceptual and metamorphic: 2020’s Articulation used drawings and sketches to imagine and developed each track while 2021’s Overflow explored themes of the human and emotional consequences of life surrounded by advancing technologies, including social media — and was composed for choreographer Alex Whitley‘s contemporary dance production of the same name. 

West’s consistent desire to create a more organic, humanized sound often sees the acclaimed British producer often developing early ideas on guitar or piano; forming pieces that capture and evoke a sense of songwriting behind the electronics. His eighth album, 2022’s Now Is featured some of the most playful and melodic material of West’s catalog in some time, with the album’s material drawing from music, art, film, colors, shapes and even human emotions. 

“The title of the record Now Is interests me because it is the beginning of a statement, but it is incomplete. I like art that is open and suggestive of ideas even if they are inspired by very specific things,” West explains. “With my previous record Overflow being very dark, heavy and almost dystopian, I wanted to escape into a different world with this music and ended up creating a record which is a lot more colorful and euphoric.”

West followed Now Is with 2023’s standalone single “Coda,” an incredibly nocturnal song built around an eerie chord progression that slowly twists, turns and morphs as it builds up tempo paired with skittering beats and a relentless motorik-like groove. The composition manages to evoke a somnambulant and woozy buzz of energy.  “’Coda’ started as a really late night experiment around a chord progression that seemed haunting but also had some strange beauty,” West says. “The whole piece is centered around this theme. I wanted to embrace the dark and quiet moments of the nighttime but also the energy of people who were maybe moving around London late at night with a nod to house music.”

West’s ninth Rival Consoles album Landscape from Memory is slated for a July 4, 2025 release through his longtime label home, Erased Tapes. The album’s material blossomed following a frustrating fallow year away from the production desk.

For West, having spent the past decade producing and writing in a habitual way, falling out of love with creativity was a a sort of slowing of the clock that has long made him tick, a sense of being swallowed whole by some elementary force. And yet, the time out of the studio and writing room, helped inform what may arguably be his most invigorating album to date.

Partly stitched together from a scrapbook of discarded audio snippets, Landscape from Memory reportedly demanded a degree of openness and vulnerability from West during its assembly. “There is a kind of strange beauty to it because it involves the past, present and future in a very strong way,” West says.

The album’s climatic productions are frequently characterized by their propulsive quality and driven by West’s own push to step outside his comfort zone, having found inspiration from new and unfamiliar sources. Because his self-built Hackney studio suddenly felt too controlled of an environment, West changed up his creative process, mapping out tracks away from is studio desk. And as a result West’s forthcoming ninth album is a sort of travelogue of creativity on the move, a collection of postcards from a everywhere that features material defined by restlessness.

Landscape from Memory’s lead single “Catherine,” dedicated to West’s partner is a haunted yet remarkably upbeat track featuring propulsive, skittering and shuffling beats paired with a glistening synth-driven melody that twists and turns throughout a cinematic and expansive song structure.

“I recently came across this sketch of a melodic idea that I created many years ago,” West explains. “The title is named after the person who made me realise in that moment, that this idea had something special about it that should be returned to.”