Tag: Karma Kid

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alex Amor Shares Heartbroken Yet Buoyant and Anthemic “Inside”

Rising Scottish singer/songwriter and musician Alex Amor has three EPs under her belt, 2021’s debut, Love Language, 2022’s The Art of Letting Go and 2023’s Super Sonic, all of which have received praise from The Line of Best Fit, DIY Magazine, Clash Magazine, Dork Magazine, Wonderland, Notion, 1883 Magazine, The Skinny, Ones to Watch, The Sunday Mail, and The Scotsman — and she has received airplay from BBC Radio 1‘s Jack Saunders and Sian Eleri. 

Building upon a growing profile across the region, Amor has made a run of the UK festival circuit, playing sets at TRNSMT, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Live at Leeds and Dot to Dot. She has also toured across the region, playing on bills with the likes of Good Neighbours, Liang Lawrence, Gretta Ray, Swim Deep, VLURE and a list of others. 

Amor’s highly anticipated full-length debut Heavenly Bodies is slated for an August 21, 2026 through New York-based label VERO Music. Written and recorded between London and Glasgow with Peter Brien, Baz Kaye and Karma Kid, the album’s material is heavily informed by meditation, rune reading and the work of Swedish mystic Hilma of Klint. Weaving together celestial imagery, spirituality and the vast emotional terrain of human connection, the album’s material reflects Amor’s fascination with cosmic symbolism and the belief that personal experiences mirror the rhythms of the universe. Sonically, the album is a decided evolution from the raw indie charge of the rising Scottish artist’s earlier work as the album features diaristic, intimate and confessional songwriting is paired with shimmering guitars, ethereal synths and slow-burning arrangements. 

The album will feature the previously released “Avalanche” and the album’s final pre-release single “Inside,” which comes on the heels of festival appearances at this year’s Liverpool Sound City, The Great Escape Festival, Footsteps Festival and opening slots with Liang Lawrence and Prima Queen. “Inside” is a twangy New Wave-tinged bop that showcases Amor’s unerring knack for pairing catchy hooks and shout-along worthy choruses with introspective, lived-in lyrics. While buoyant and rousingly anthemic, the song is anchored in a complicated mix of loss of innocence and faith, weary, heartbroken exhaustion and of devastating loss that lingers and reverberates throughout your life.

Originally written as a sprawling poem, “Inside” arrived in the studio with producer Baz Kaye determined to preserve every word Amor had written. With a run time of 5:30, the song features what may arguably be some of Amor’s most earnest and devastatingly honest writing with an defiantly upbeat arrangement, informed by the optimism Kaye and co-writer Peter Brien carried back from that summer’s Glastonbury Festival.

“It’s about coming to terms with compounded grief, generational trauma and taking a stark look at one of the coping mechanisms that defined much of my twenties: dissociation,” Amor explains. “Pulling away from connection altogether to avoid the pain of needing someone, missing someone, or losing someone. Part of love is accepting loss, making space for grief, and finding the courage to feel it all. It’s a song about connection, the choice to be vulnerable, and learning that the only way through grief is to let yourself feel it.”

The accompanying video follows a simple conceit: Amor and her band performing in the corner of a studio space — or an elevator. It nods at early MTV-era videos with a modern, frenetic sensibility.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Alex Amor Shares Shimmering “Avalanche”

Over the past handful of years, rising Scottish singer/songwriter and musician Alex Amor haas released three EP’s 2021’s debut, Love Language, 2022’s The Art of Letting Go and 2023’s Super Sonic, all of which have received praise from The Line of Best Fit, DIY Magazine, Clash Magazine, Dork Magazine, Wonderland, Notion, 1883 Magazine, The Skinny, Ones to Watch, The Sunday Mail, and The Scotsman — and she has received airplay from BBC Radio 1‘s Jack Saunders and Sian Eleri.

The rising Scottish artist has made a run of the UK festival circuit playing sets at TRNSMT, The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City, Live at Leeds and Dot to Dot. She has also toured extensively across the UK, playing bills with Good Neighbours, Liang Lawrence, Gretta Ray, Swim Deep, VLURE and a list of others.

Amor’s highly anticipated full-length debut Heavenly Bodies is slated for an August 21, 2026 through New York-based label VERO Music. Written and recorded between London and Glasgow with Peter Brien, Baz Kaye and Karma Kid, the album’s material is heavily informed by meditation, rune reading and the work of Swedish mystic Hilma of Klint. Weaving together celestial imagery, spirituality and the vast emotional terrain of human connection, the album’s material reflects Amor’s fascination with cosmic symbolism and the belief that personal experiences mirror the rhythms of the universe. Sonically, the album is a decided evolution from the raw indie charge of the rising Scottish artist’s earlier work as the album features diaristic, intimate and confessional songwriting is paired with shimmering guitars, ethereal synths and slow-burning arrangements.

“Avalanche” Heavenly Bodies‘ latest single is a breathtakingly gorgeous tune features Amor’s plaintive vocal singing intimate, lived-in lyrics detailing a relationship on the brink with an unusual clarity — through the perspective of someone who recognizes the relationship is ending, while the other partner is oblivious. Her vocal is paired with a shimmering, remarkably hook-driven, Laurel Canyon-like arrangement.

Amor wrote and produced the original “Avalanche” demo in her childhood bedroom in Glasgow before bringing it to her trio of collaborators in London — Brien, Kaye and Karma Kid — to complete the song.

“Avalanche is about the unsettling moment in a relationship where something has shifted, but only one of you is willing to see it,” Amor explains. ” While you’re starting to recognise it for what it is, the other person is still holding on, almost wilfully ignoring the cracks. The idea of an avalanche felt like the perfect metaphor. It’s not necessarily about destruction, it’s about release. It’s what happens when pressure has been building for too long and can’t be contained anymore. It’s sudden, overwhelming, and sometimes painful, but it clears everything out. And in that aftermath, there’s a kind of clarity – you can finally see things as they really are.”

Directed by Henry Croston, the accompanying video for “Avalanche” features Amor in a series of mod and 70s country-inspired monochromatic outfits singing and strumming her gorgeous sky blue Fender in some rooms with some decidedly 1970s era decor. A dancing alien in a suit listening to music on a Walkman is frequently off on the side, adding a surreal and playful sense of humor to a song but while also emphasizing the song’s central romantic couple.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

NAYANA IZ is a rapidly rising, London-born and-based Indian-British artist, who grew up in an artistic home. Being naturally musical at a young age, the emerging London-based artist dabbled in jazz and pop with a stint in an indie rock band playing keys and singing before stumbling across hip-hop. As a solo artist, NAYANA IZ meshes Indian instrumentation with contemporary hip-hop with the goal of empowering young girls — particularly young Indian girls, who don’t have many Indian role models — and inspiring them to live their lives, find their authentic voice and have a means of genuine self-expression.

The up-and-coming British artist is currently a member of the NiNE8 Collective, an influential collection of London-based creatives that include Lava La Rue and Biig Piig, who I wrote about some time ago. Before the official release of her material, the Indian-British artist has managed to play attention grabbing sets at Jazz Cafe for Annie Mac and 100 Club for Fred Perry — and she has opened for Lil Tjay at Electric Ballroom. Adding to a growing profile, NAYANA IZ has previously co-presented and/or appeared on a number of radio stations including NTS, Balamii and Reprezent — and  she has collaborated with Adidas, The North Face, Redbull Music, Boiler Room, The Face and others.

The rising British artist is currently touring with Irish hip-hop sensation Kojaque. And all of this has happened before the official release of any of her material — well, until now. “how we do,” the Indian-British artist’s Karma Kid-produced debut single is a swaggering and incredibly self-assured statement of purpose from an artist so young. But at 19, the rising artist is boldly telling the world that she’s going to do it her way, despite the haters and naysayers who tried to dissuade her or made her goals seem impossible or ridiculous with a dexterous flow, and over a tweeter and woofer rocking production featuring fluttering flute, thumping beats and an infectious hook. Simply put, this young woman is spitting fire — and I suspect we’ll be hearing more from her, once her EP drops in 2020.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Known as the head of trendy, taste-making, French indie electronic music label Roche Musique and as a highly-regarded, up-and-coming electronic music and artist, whose production and sound possesses elements of house, R&B, hip-hop and nu-disco, Kartell, along with labelmates and friends Kaytranada, Stwo and Bondax are at the forefront of a “French touch” electronic music revival, which has also helped the Paris-based producer, electronic music artist and label head develop a growing international profile. And adding to a growing international profile, Kartell has remixed the work of Karma Kid and Lianne la Havas, collaborated with a number of renowned artists and producers, including Flares and others, as well as a busy touring schedule that included more than 100 dates across Europe, Asia, North America and South America.

Sapphire and Tender Games Kartell’s last two EPs were released to critical praise — and his soon-to-be released EP Last Glow, which his label Roche Musique will be releasing will further cement his reputation for slickly produced electronic music as you’ll hear on the house music and R&B-leaning “5 A.M.” And as you’ll hear on his latest single, Kartell employs the use of stuttering and cascading blocks of shimmering synths, boom bap-like beats, a chopped and cut soulful vocal sample to craft a song that feels sinuous and sensual and nods at Octo Octa and the 100% Silk Records roster — but with a populist, late night, club-banging feel.

 

 

Uncategorized by William Ruben Helms

As a blogger, I receive emails from PR firms, labels and artists from all over the world. Recently, I received an email regarding a young, up-and-coming electronic music artist and producer from Derby, UK by […]