Tag: Essex UK

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Essex, UK’s Nukie Shares Swaggering “Face like -_-“

Essex, UK-based artist Nukie is an emerging artist, who is gaining momentum within East London‘s underground music scene. And within a short period of time, he has quickly established a sound that’s a bold collision of punk and British electronic subcultures, blending garage, indie rock, drum ‘n’ bass and grunge. Routinely driven by distorted guitars, punchy rhythms and gritty vocal-led hooks, the rising British artist attempts to channel the tension and urgency of his environment while channeling the disillusionment and intensity of modern life.

Operating with a DIY ethos, the rising British artist oversees every aspects of his creative output from production and recording to visual design, bringing a cohesive and authentic quality to his work.

Nukie’s latest single “Face like -_-” is a bold, swaggering anthem anchored around dusty and glitchy breakbeats, distorted and woozy guitars, enormous hooks and choruses paired with an insouciant, extremely British delivery. The result seemingly channels a synthesis of The Streets, Odelay-era Beck and garage while showcasing at an artist with an uncanny knack for catchy and rousing hooks and choruses.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Leee Zimmer is an Essex, UK-born, French-based electronic music and sound designer, who has worked with brands like Vivo Barefoot, Clark’s, Soul Of Africa and others. He started his solo recording project iD3 and since then he’s released a handful of EPs and a full-length album. Zimmer’s latest effort, the independently released Simple Beats is inspired by his love of contemporary soundscape-based producers including Bonobo, Four Tet, Flying Lotus, Amon Tobin, and jazz.

Interestingly, Simple Beats‘ latest single, is the slow-burning and nocturnal “Joy of a Kind.” Centered around an atmospheric production featuring twinkling synths, boom bap-like beats and a mournful, reverb-drenched trumpet line, the noir-ish track is one part Toto-era Miles Davis, one part Portishead, on part The North Borders-era Bonobo.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Stormy and Nostalgic Video for Leena Ojala’s “Why”

Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the young, up-and-coming pop artist, Leena Ojala. Born in Germany to a Finnish father and English mother, Ojala was raised in Hong Kong and Essex before she relocated to London when she was […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Born in Germany to a Finnish father and English mother, young, up-and-coming pop artist Leena Ojala was raised in Hong Kong and Essex before she relocated to London when she was 17. Influenced by London Grammar, Rae Morris and Florence and the Machine, Ojala spent a considerable amount of time experimenting, tweaking and honing her sound — until she felt she found her voice. After a six month stint in Berlin, absorbing everything it had to offer and then using her time there to inspire and inform her music and lyrics, Ojala returned to London, and began working on the material that would comprise her forthcoming EP, EP 1.

EP 1′s first single “Why” is comprise of some sparse piano chords at the song’s introduction followed by guitar, an ethereal string arrangement and stuttering synths and skittering percussion paired with Ojala’s plaintive vocals that express recrimination, anger, confusion, heartache and inner resolve within the turn of a phrase.And that shouldn’t be surprising as the song’s narrator seems to be demanding answers from a deceitful, absent lover in a bitter confrontation. Certainly, the song possess a heartfelt honesty that suggest that the song is inspired by the songwriter’s personal experience — while backed by production that gives the song a stormy and melodramatic heft. If you’ve ever been betrayed by a lover or made foolish by a lover, the song will remind you of a familiar (and universal) ache.