Each week, we feature some fresh new releases from emerging and established talent from around the world, these are highlighted on our New Music Spotlight playlist on Spotify, but we also share a handful of artists in our round-up who are making waves.
You can read more features in our Music + Culture section.
COBRAH, Chris Lorenzo – Mami
Chris Lorenzo launches his new label Late Checkout with one of the most impactful records of his career. A collaboration with the celebrated Swedish electro artist COBRAH, Mami is a ferocious house cut with an earworm vocal that’s already captured the imagination of dancefloors around the globe.
Speaking on the collaboration, Chris says, “I had been listening to COBRAH’s stuff for a while and knew that stylistically, her vocals over my beats could work really well. We were in the studio for 2 days recording different ideas but I especially remember the moment COBRAH came up with the Mami lyric. I knew right then and there what we created was going to be huge, even before the beat was finished. On top of being super talented, COBRAH is an absolute gem to work with and be around. I look forward to making some more fire with her.”
Chris Lorenzo’s rise to the upper echelons of the house and bass scene is one of electronic music’s more notable success stories. Widely acknowledged for pioneering a sound that has become increasingly prominent throughout the UK, US and many other parts of the world, Lorenzo’s flawless production and high-octane DJ sets have earned him a fanatical and ever-growing global following.
COBRAH is the self-made, Stockholm-based electro artist, songwriter and producer paving a new way in the alternative music scene. Early in her career she founded the label GAGBALL and released the first single IDFKA which received a Grammy nomination for her directional work on the music video.
Expanding on the track, COBRAH adds, “There’s so much talk about the Daddies in the world, but let’s be honest. Daddies never do sh*t. If you wanna be taken care of real good, get a Mami.”
Central Cee – Doja
For the past week TikTok has been full of videos featuring the opening line of Central Cee‘s Doja as he sings “How can I be homophobic? My bitch is gay”. The song also samples Eve and Gwen Stefani’s 2001 hit, Let Me Blow Ya Mind.
The song also features a performance based sun-lit visual from Cole Bennett, marking the director’s his first time working with a U.K. artist. We appreciate the marketing-savvy approach from the song and can see the memes lasting well into the future!
Shygirl – Coochie (a bedtime story)
Coochie (a bedtime story) is an explicit, celestial hyperpop lullaby. Shygirl co-produced it with Mura Masa, Sega Bodega, and Karma Kid, and Samuel Ibram directed the video. The song features the memorable line, “Any time the coochie calls, I’ll be on my way.”
The new single will feature on Shygirl‘s debut album with earlier releases Come For Me and Firefly. Nymph will feature 12 tracks, and was created with help from collaborators Mura Masa, Sega Bodega, Karma Kid and Cosha, as well as producers Noah Goldstein, Danny L Harle, BloodPop, Vegyn and Kingdom.
Senior – With or Without You
Establishing the mood with a celestial frequency and atmospheric vocals singing the lyrics, “It’s been 11 years but it feels so rough…”, Senior opens his new single, With or Without You with introspection and depth.
Senior is the solo project of 22-year-old West Yorkshire native Niall Michael Senior. Passion for music and performing came early for him at the age of 7-years-old when he was offered a scholarship to theatre school. He grew up listening to artists such as Christina Grimmie and Lauren Aquilina who inspired him to make covers online armed with nothing more than GarageBand and a cheap microphone.
He uses music as a personal outlet covering topics such as depression, abandonment, sobriety and more. With or Without You depicts how tough it was losing his dad to cancer at just 8-years-old. This is the first single from his upcoming project and is accompanied with a music video.
We appreciate the authenticity that Senior shares with his artistry and his luscious and immersive soundscape.
Skar de Line – New Silhouettes
We recently featured Skar de Line as he sought freedom in the cinematic video for his bold opus, Reset, so we were thrilled to learn that he had just released New Silhouettes!
Opening with a super vibrant and dynamic synthscape with percussive blows, we are immediately mesmerized by the brand new single from Skar de Line. New Silhouettes opens with subversive lyricism in line with the soundscape of the song. The journey is high octane and immersive, cohesive with Skar’s wider discography and yet unique in its own identity.
We learn that New Silhouettes is the second chapter in Skar de Line’s new autobiographical suite of music. Musically, it builds on the breath from Reset, but where it before was vulnerable and lonely, it now turns into a powerful hook.
With the music video taking off right where Reset left off, it starts with Skar de Line touching the dirt in his hand, the dirt that he crawled through to get up into the light. Shot in strong saturated sunlight to visually remind us of a modern western, it follows the journey of a man in full control. With the feeling of the sun on his back and in the palm of his hand, he can choose his past and his future, letting his shadow fall wherever he wants, and populate the world with his own fingerprint.
Sika Valmé – Mango
Setting the tone with intricate production and tropical detailing, Sika Valmé opens her single, Mango with a Caribbean energy and atmospheric vocals singing poetically, “Patience is sweet when the urgency is gone…”
We learn that with Mango, Sika “unveils the entanglement between familiarity and discovery, grim and well-being, nostalgia and renewal”. We appreciate her wise and self-realized lyricism and vocal timbre.
Sika Valmé is a contemporary Creole-Canadian musician, performer and illustrator. Born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, she currently resides between Montréal, New York, and Mexico. She has been creating artwork, and making music for almost two decades, during which she has crafted an alternate artistic vision and particular style. Her music and her graphic universe give rise to an immersive combination of synergizing sonic and visual stories.