In Case You Missed It Monthly: May 2023
In Case You Missed It Monthly Is Live! Every month in this written piece the Music Mondays Staff Writers will be compiling the latest underground tracks for the current month and spotlighting talented individuals along with a few familiar faces with their latest drops. Check back each month for new editions to In Case You Missed It Monthly.
8/10/23
DJ SWISHA & Kush Jones - (Respectfully)
(RESPECTFULLY) is a genre meshing project by underground dance stalwarts Kush Jones and DJ SWISHA, who have been my favorite producers of this type of rave, footwork, jersey amalgamation. The samples are really well chosen, and the energy of these tracks are fantastic. There’s such an intoxicating blend of new school and old school sounds. This is definitely worth a spin if you’re a DJ or a fan of footwork/jersey in general.
sv1 - low lite
sv1 has flown under the radar a little bit here at Music Mondays, however, we’ve been following his music for a minute now. sv1 does most of his sound design in the graphical programming language Max/MSP, which means he builds synthesizers out of programming nodes in the language. Low Lite is a spin on his hyperreal technical sound through the lens of a trap beat. Alongside artists like shamana and cutspace, they’ve carved out an interesting minimalist sound in the scene.
Bandcamp: sv-1.bandcamp.com/track/low-lite
Nico Niquo - Esperanto
Nico Niquo’s Esperanto is inspired by the late great Ryuichi Sakamoto project by the same name, and Nico continues his tradition of echoing giants of music. Last year I discovered Nico Niquo somehow via the internet, specifically his release In A Silent Way which further inspired me to dig through Miles Davis’s discography. There’s little textual references throughout Nico’s music which provides us with context as to what drives him. As unfortunate as the timing is, since this album’s inspirator passed this year, we still have Sakamoto’s massive body of work to draw endless insight from. Nico does this in his beautiful subtle way, and this is a project for meditation and careful listening.
Bby Eco - Air Grip
Continuing this week’s theme of minimalist, weightless music, Bby Eco dropped air grip somewhat under the radar to most of the scene. I didn’t hear much about it on twitter, however, it deserves to be highlighted. There’s this ephemeral aspect to low passed pads, 808s and clean chopped falsetto which only Bby Eco can capture in their tracks. Their album is dropping soon, and we are eagerly anticipating what else they have to show us.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/track/02Ya8ho4M8rD8VNthNwa3O?si=59a3b793c923445d
heartstopmiami x FearDorian - Love My Life
heartstopmiami is an artist you should be on the lookout for in 2023. She has collaborated with musicians such as angelus, Jane Remover, bronclair, and tropes. ‘Love My Life’ was released in celebration of her SoundCloud reaching 3K followers. ‘Love My Life’ is a remake of her song ‘nah’ featuring bronclair and was released on her most recent album ‘meow’,. Both tracks were produced by FearDorian. It’s a feel good track that celebrates miami’s love for life and accomplishments. The drum pattern flows perfect with miami to create the ultimate club banger.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/1PDuUQVNkxqUKZVcDWWTUt?si=9pHTemY1TzuMkbVze5WxzA
zivve x Scruff - wakeUp!
zivve is a Norwegian singer who teamed with American singer and producer Scuff to create their track ‘wakeUp!’, The first half of ‘wakeUp!’ was produced by xKori while the second half was done by ilias. The first half of the song starts out slow with a simple guitar melody and singing. Towards the 1:30 mark zivve and Scruff’s vocals begin to mesh together in harmony. As the song picks up its pace their vocals are chopped and pitched in a brakence style of fashion. The climax of the song isn’t till the very last bar where the instrumental drops into silence.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/3zlJWniBYGbgxN8gQ2ts0b?si=u08Ql4TfSYaHRUdt6SVqDw
sleepwater - anxiety
sleepwater is a vocalist and producer who has worked with artists such as heylog, xona, hiraeth, and autumndropsdead. sleepwater sadly passed away earlier this month, his death was a heavy hit to his fans and collaborators. anxiety was the last single he would release to streaming services. The instrumental is a soft guitar riff with a synth lead that is played in reverse. sleepwater sings about his struggle with social anxiety and his regret of cancelling plans with his friend. In the chorus, he says “I’m sick of saying no, My friends are out while I lay at home, When time ticks I pray I don’t, I wanna leave but I’m all alone”
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/19zo1uuXW14y8bDMX4Ikhj?si=znX3EGipR66PSyaabY7rYQ
zak hilton - ##FAKEID
zak hilton is a 20 year old vocalist based out of LA. ‘FAKE ID’ was produced by Lindo and Reo. zak hilton takes elements from the early 2010s to influence his music and aesthetic. The beat for ‘FAKE ID’ is a mixture of 2013 Chief Keef and hyperpop. There was an accompanying music video that was shot in both the United States and Korea. While it’s common for hyperpop (and scenecore) artists to pull from 2000s Myspace culture, zak’s use of 2010s Tumblr nostalgia sets his music apart.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/7zXzFjywJdkdMh8AAmInkT?si=vRkFDTpoRjih29D9VpI27g
heylog - healer
heylog is a producer and vocalist that has grown a cult-like following. Even though he has never shown his face or even spoken on live stream fans still flock to his every social media interaction. His fame is purely from the organic love fan have for his music. A hard hitting hyperpop track with elements of electronica, ‘healer’ details Logan’s relationship struggles, he says “Everything’s about you and the rest, “But I got to go without you cause it’s the best, I like to think we’ll cross paths somewhere else, I hate that these thoughts are where I’ll dwell,”
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/4QAK9fKjn6eopB3AEYozW7?si=UsSi9UPsSC-gK1KVNyJRpA
Mon Rovîa - To Watch the World Spin Without You
Mon Rovîa is a Liberian-born singer who fled to the United States during the First Liberian Civil War. He describes his recent sound as “Afro-Appalaichan,” ‘To Watch The World Spin Around You’ is a heartfelt ukulele song with soft undertones of piano. This track was co-produced by Daylight who has worked with gnash, Fifth Harmony, and Shawn Mendes. Mon Rovîa speaks to the listener from the second person, in this storyline the listener is stuck watching T.V. In what seems to be used as an escape for the listener. Finally in the final verse Mon Rovîa gives reassurance by saying “So if you’re stuck in a memory, Wishing then was now, Know you can call me, And I’ll be around,”
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/1yFRhLSA5QlBIodWNqNoGh?si=AKlh84AYTQyYLk9UlZgWAA
xxxmanera - Era of Man 2
xxxmanera is a popoular Russian rapper from Sevastopol. For his newest album ‘Man of Era 2’ xxxmanera enlisted the help of producer FLOWRENCY who has worked with Yeat. Following the success of Yeat’s rise in Europe there was huge demand for “rage” music. Artists like xxxmanera have been able to adopt this sound and blend it with their original styles to make it distinctively Russian. Tracks like ‘Love the Way Do That’ and ‘Думал не найду (I Thought I Couldn’t Find)’ take a relaxed tempo compared to the album”s main sound, while carrying the same synth cadence.
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/0HuMYeOXvvEzfed024KNju?si=FOUsRXtXREOF5v5cR_OzIA
May 2023 Edition Written By Rei Low & Raven Marin
Artists 1-4 By Rei Low: twitter.com/_rocktimist
Artists 5-11 By Raven Marin: www.flowcode.com/page/ravensdottir
Graphics By Aesxr: https://twitter.com/aestxr_