TRF. Posted December 17 Posted December 17 HONESTLY, 2024. Took ATRL a minute but... we're here! Every year is a good year for music — that is a given. That said, for a long period of time in this year 2024, there were many albums, EPs, mixtapes and so on that I liked, but the music that I had a very special connection to was comparatively not much. Basically — a lot of music I found good, not a whole lot of music I thought was great. Obviously that changed throughout the year, many musical moments that have etched onto my brain permanently, some of them right away, some of them took their sweet time to. I'm not sure if anyone cares about some random person's year end lists but even if I'm shouting to a void this is always pretty much The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, so I will always enjoy to share these. Some of the lists you'll be seeing here: Top 100 Songs Top 50 Albums Top 20 EPs Top 20 Music Videos Top 12 Mixtapes Maybe something else? We'll see along the way. 1
Mr. Loco Posted December 17 Posted December 17 Feel the same as you, I didn't connect this year that much with songs as other years still perched to see what those lists look like
TRF. Posted December 19 Author Posted December 19 On 12/17/2024 at 10:35 PM, Alldeezy said: Keen to see your list as always On 12/18/2024 at 12:29 AM, JGibson said: So excited to see what is on it all. Thank you both! On 12/17/2024 at 7:45 PM, Mr. Loco said: Feel the same as you, I didn't connect this year that much with songs as other years still perched to see what those lists look like Yeah it kind of took a minute for me to connect but once things got going they got going. First update in a little while!
TRF. Posted December 19 Author Posted December 19 #12. Aziya Bambi Genre: Post-Punk Revival, Alt-Pop From: London, UK || Label: Atlantic At this point I kind of find a lot of "indie sleaze"-adjacent stuff to be just kind of boring. So it's nice to hear someone that does something kind of fun and different inspired by that era, with goth-y sounding guitars and a few hard-hitting electronic beats it definitely hits harder than the average Snow Strippers ripoff. Listen to: "Bambi" || If you like: Santigold, Interpol, Purity Ring #11. Denzel Curry King of the Mischievous South vol. 2 Genre: Trap, Hardcore Hip Hop From: Carol City, USA || Label: Loma Vista Denzel Curry is one of those artists that I generally like but kind of find hard to connect with his records in full. That said, King of the Mischevious South vol.2 is pretty much what I like of him condensed into one project — the influences of Southern and Memphis rap, the stellar production and overall consistently great features, definitely one of my favorite releases from him so far. Listen to: "Hot One" (with TiaCorine and A$AP Ferg) || If you like: Clipse, Lil Ugly Mane, BbyMutha #10. Theodora Bad Boy Lovestory Genre: French Pop, Pop Rap, Alt-Pop From: Switzerland / Saint-Denis, France || Label: Maison Neptune Theodora's song "Kongolese Sous BBL" is blowing up on the Francophone world — and while listening to such a fun song it does makes sense, her mixtape Bad Boy Lovestory paints a fuller picture of her artistry. Borrowing from post-hyperpop aesthetics as well as from genres like drum and bass, Caribbean buoyon or Brazilian funk, it's an incredibly fun collection of pop/rap/dance-adjacent songs that prove her potential to be a global star. Listen to: "FNG" || RIYL: Doja Cat, Rosalía, Coco & Clair Clair #9. NMNL ##PaKBaileJerk2k24##45*16 Genre: Jerk From: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic || Label: self-released At this point, the kind of post-post-ironic post-SoundCloud rap characterised by distorted/hyperactive beats and audacious lyrics isn't new to Latin America. However, Dominican rapper NMNL's ##PaKBaileJerk2k24##45*16 mixtape is one that feels very creative and frankly surprising as a development for the genre — sampling latin pop and bachata hits onto insane instrumentals, it always makes you feel surprised and anticipating whatever's coming next Listen to: "Creo en el ##LEAN" || RIYL: xaviersobad, AgusFortnite2008, Sa!koro #8. Doechii Alligator Bites Never Heal Genre: Southern Hip Hop From: Tampa, USA || Label: TDE It's been very interesting to follow Doechii's career trajectory throughout this couple years, and while for years it's been like she's neglected, Alligator Bites Never Heal feels like everything coming into place for her an as artist. A very fun and consistent project that showcases everything the Florida rapper/singer initially showed potential for. If anything else, I'll take this over Katy Perry features any day of the week. Listen to: "Nissan Altima" || RIYL: J.I.D., Lauryn Hill, SZA #7. Mysie Controlla Genre: UK Funky, Alternative R&B, UK Bass From: London, UK || Label: oneRPM One of the last additions to the list and one that if I had spent more time with would've probably ended up higher. I'm a sucker for different genres of UK-adjacent dance music, i.e. dubstep, UK funky, drum and bass and so on, with beautiful vocals and pop melodies wonderfully laid over them — and Mysia's debut mixtape Controlla surely has a lot of that. It's retro without being derivative, it's very high-energy, overall just a lot of fun. Listen to: "Phases" (with £MONZO) || RIYL: Kelela, Katy B, Rochelle Jordan #6. Jawnino 40 Genre: Experimental Hip Hop, Grime, UK Hip Hop From: London, UK || Label: True Panther Another record inspired by London electronic and dance music, but while the previous record on the list was more upbeat and summer-y, Jawnino's 40 has a darker, colder feeling to it. Jawnino's mostly apathetic vocals and introspective lyrics over instrumentals that can feel ethereal or super hard-hitting — sometimes both at the same time — definitely evoke a very nocturnal vibe that feels quintessentially London in all its good and bad. Listen to: "It's Cold Out" || RIYL: fakemink, JME, Mumdance #5. 454 Casts of a Dreamer Genre: Trap, Cloud Rap From: Orlando, USA || Label: self-released Casts of a Dreamer is an hour long project by the Florida-born, New York-based rapper and producer 454 that expands on a lot of what I liked about his mixtapes: the high pitched vocals, the clever lyrics, fast beats that sound like the midpoint between plugg, nightcore and drum and bass. Allegedly these might be throwaways/rejects? If so, excited for whatever proper Project with capital P is coming next. Listen to: "Cirque du Soleil" || RIYL: Evilgiane, ZelooperZ, Babyxsosa #4. Doly Flackko Piola vago Genre: Detroit Trap From: Rio Gallegos, Argentina || Label: self-released Straight from the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz in Argentina, Doly Flackko sounds as a cold as that region's weather. Piola vago, made in collaboration with producer Emirsito, is absolutely inspired by Detroit trap, but even among other Spanish-speaking artists working in that genre his effortless, dynamic flows and memorable lines stand out. Also I'm a simple man — huge fan of the artwork, you can never go wrong with that reference. Listen to: "Piola vago" || RIYL: Veeze, Muerejoven, (good) Babytron #3. Jackzebra 王中王 (Wang zhong wang) Genre: Trap From: Chengdu, China || Label: 626company If you came across Jackzebra's music at all, it is not unlikely that you've unfortunately crossed posts calling him "Chinese Bladee". While maybe at first glance you could sorta kinda hear it, the more you dive into this music the more you realize how reductive and frankly inaccurate (and also kinda racist but that's neither nor there) that description is. And you can definitely dive into a lot of it on 王中王 (Wang zhong wang). This 35-track, 75-minutes long behemoth is truly insane, a clearly ambitious project from the Chengdu-based rapper that's a great introduction to his work. Listen to: "百年孤独" || RIYL: BloodzBoi, prblm, Izaya Tiji #2. Merely & Malibu Essential Mixtape Genre: Ambient, Chillout From: Stockholm, Sweden/Paris, France || Label: YEAR0001 Swedish musician Merely's first project in collaboration with French artist Malibu, Essential Mixtape, is undoubtedly ambient music. The use of percussion is quite sparse, the artists' voices perhaps don't take a leading place and one can easily get lost in all the sounds — that said the influence of EDM, trip hop, new age and more is still present, still palpable. This project feels like a spiritual successor of Malibu's United in Flames radio show, and the artists complement each other very well on a musical level. While what they do sounds relaxing for most of the time, it always has some tension that makes it rather more appealing. Listen to: "idle citi" || RIYL: Enya, Grouper, Dream Dolphin #1. Lazer Dim 700 Injoy Genre: Dark Plugg From: Atlanta, USA || Label: self-released Apparently, Atlanta rapper LAZER DIM 700 is polarizing. But where others hear a gimmick or a novelty, on Injoy I hear one of the most interesting mixtapes of the year, and for some reason, overall one of the rap releases from this year that I found myself returning to the most over and over again. Blown-out plugg beats that are heavy in distortion accompany the rapper's erratic flow, the music sounds noticeably raw, and not just because the mixing (ohh the mixing!) is basically non-existing in his music, but also because to me, in the world of (kinda?) underground rap music this last year where more stuff seems not very genuine, this guy feels like a breath of fresh air, in some way. To be honest though, I really do understand why LAZER DIM 700 is divisive. And I'm not quite sure why this hits my brain the way it does, but listening to the best tracks on Injoy, I'd just rather be on the side of "this goes hard". Listen to: "injoyable" || If you like: Squillo, Yeat, OsamaSon
Alldeezy Posted December 20 Posted December 20 Denzel ooo Aziya looks promising I might give that song a listen
Mr. Blue_Shirt Posted December 20 Posted December 20 Denzel and Doechii mixtapes are soo good. Truly one of my favorites this year
TRF. Posted December 21 Author Posted December 21 On 12/19/2024 at 11:06 PM, Alldeezy said: Denzel ooo Aziya looks promising I might give that song a listen 21 hours ago, Renzo_ said: Aziya sounds really good. Need to check more from them. Y'all should!! It's honestly a really fun project, also her song "Atomic" which isn't in this project is really good. On 12/20/2024 at 7:10 AM, Mr. Blue_Shirt said: Denzel and Doechii mixtapes are soo good. Truly one of my favorites this year Definitely! As far as rap projects go def some of my highlights. --- Update coming in a few!
Mr. Blue_Shirt Posted December 24 Posted December 24 Eusexua, Not Like Us & AOMD in the top 3 There's something about Diet Pepsi MV that feels so nostalgic to me cause those early 2010s Tumblr would eat it up every single frame nnn
TRF. Posted Tuesday at 11:57 PM Author Posted Tuesday at 11:57 PM #20. Guada Cuero Genre: Baguala, Avant-Folk From: Buenos Aires, Argentina || Label: raso A sort of companion to her 2023 self-titled album, former Operación Triunfo contestant and experimental pop artist GUADA's (a.k.a. Guadalupe Alvarez Luchía) latest project, Cuero, explores the traditions and songs of present-day Northern Argentinian genres rooted in Indigenous Andean cultures like baguala, vidalita or huayno. Some tracks feature maximalist, accessible production, but the highlights are the stripped-down moments, where you might hear just a charango or eerie, industrial percussion. These elements, while not necessarily "futuristic," remain unique and forward-thinking. Listen to: "Tonada de verano" || RIYL: Marina Herlop, Mercedes Sosa, Feli Colina #19. Cecile Believe Tender the Spark Genre: Alt-Pop, Electropop From: Montreal, Canada || Label: ambient tweets Canadian artist Cecile Believe has emerged as a key figure in alternative pop music, starting with her contributions to SOPHIE's iconic album Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides and featuring in the works of Shygirl, A. G. Cook, Caroline Polachek, Sega Bodega, etc. Her recent EP, Tender the Spark, showcases her artistic strengths with brilliant, colorful electronic production, memorable hooks, heartfelt lyrics, and excellent vocals, solidifying her status as a household name in her own style. Listen to: "Red Brick" || RIYL: Oklou, Caroline Polachek, PinkPantheress #18. Fatboi Sharif & Duncecap Psychedelics Wrote the Bible Genre: Experimental Hip Hop, Drumless From: New Jersey, USA || Label: Fused Arrow I've always appreciated the music of New Jersey rapper Fatboi Sharif, but Psychedelic Wrote the Bible, produced by Duncecap, is probably one of my favorite projects of him to date. These 11 minutes of music feel uniquely dense, in part because of its heavy lyrical content, but also because despite being mostly "drumless", it still sounds very intense, like an influence of industrial and noise music that permeates throught the project that gives it an additional dark and eerie layer. Listen to: "Boundaries of Regret" || RIYL: Dalek, billy woods, cLOUDDEAD #17. Kissen Homesick Genre: Alternative R&B, Downtempo From: London, UK / Berlin, Germany || Label: Mansions and Millions The debut EP from UK-born, Berlin-based artist Kissen sounds very much inspired by 90's chillout music, downtempo, trip-hop, ambient and so on. And while that style is making a comeback and she's far from the only artist working on it, the influences from modern pop, R&B and club music that can be heard throughout it make it much more memorable and enjoyable. More than just nostalgia, it's the natural evolution of a style that's much-deservingly slowly beginning to be back in fashion. Listen to: "Homesick" || RIYL: Kelela, a.s.o., HTRK #16. Bassvictim basspunk Genre: Electropop, Electroclash From: London, UK || Label: FMIF How soon is too soon to bring a genre back from the dead? London-based duo Bassvictim tackles early 10s EDM, witch house, dubstep, and late 00s pop, suggesting the time for it is now. Singing/rapping in Polish and English, their EP Basspunk is kind of like a love letter to all things London, complete with references to its multiple neighborhoods, its style and music scene, even its figures and pop hits — it's far more entertaining than anything "indie sleaze"-adjacent stuff you could find for sure. Listen to: "As Long As" || RIYL: Crystal Castles, Dev, Benga #15. Tove Lo & SG Lewis HEAT Genre: Dance-Pop, Euro House From: Viken, Sweden / Reading, UK || Label: Pretty Swede While initally a skeptic, Swedish pop girlie Tove Lo slowly won me over with her equally bold and heartbreaking music. HEAT, a collaborative EP with producer SG Lewis, is basically the former. Four hard-hitting dance tracks that sound like the soundtrack for a very sweaty, very intense night you won't remember much of the night after. It's just pure fun that will be essential for gay clubs all over the world for years to come. Listen to: "Busy Girl" || RIYL: Robin S, Kylie Minogue, Utah Saints #14. Paira EP01 Genre: Breakbeat, Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Alternative Dance From: Belo Horizonte, Brazil || Label: Balaclava The mixture of breaks or experimental electronic music with rock is not new at all. But Belo Horizonte band Paira make do with their debut EP, aptly titled EP01. It's an exciting mixture of these styles, that beyond the novelty of combining seemingly disparate music genres, like Midwest emo and dream pop with breakbeats and drum and bass, still manages to shine through due to strength of their songwriting and their hooks, which they've got for days. Listen to: "Musica Lenta" || RIYL: They Are Gutting a Body of Water, Error Vanessa, Sweet Trip #13. Mel V Chapo Chapolations Genre: Trap, Hardcore Hip Hop From: Houston, USA || Label: self-released Kind of adjacent to dark plugg, Chapolations, the debut EP from Houston rapper Mel V Chapo — or just Mel V — shines above many rap projects I've heard this year in my opinion. There's plenty of memorable lines (Kickin ****, with my dog, I feel like I'm Bruce Lee! / Yea I'm skinny, but back there that baby fat, Kimora Lee!), beats that hit like tons of bricks to your head, despite the fact that the project and its 11 tracks are rather short it's more than enough to leave a strong impression on you. Listen to: "Bruce Lee" || RIYL: Lazer Dim 700, OsamaSon, Bktherula #12. Verraco Breathe... Godspeed Genre: UK Bass, Latin Electronic, UK Funky From: Medellín, Colombia || Label: self-released On Breathe… Godspeed, his debut for Bristol-based label Timedance, the Medellín-born producer Verraco gives some of his most aggressive, attention-demanding club music yet. Equally inspired by underground European heavy techno, British bass music and Latin club rhythms, the music on this EP sounds bold, kinda keeping you on your toes, like a DJ set you're truly enjoying but you can't guess what's coming next. A true highlight for dance music this year, and probably the artist's most defining project to date. Listen to: "0∞" || RIYL: Koreless, Objekt, TAYHANA #11. Yves I Did Genre: K-Pop, Contemporary R&B From: Busan, South Korea || Label: Paix Per Mil Out of all the post-LOONA projects, Yves' is probably the one I root the most for. She's already shown some potential for greatness on her previous EP LOOP, but her follow-up I Did is pretty much what I wanted from her. While its lead single "Viola" sounds like something out of a Hannah Diamond album, the rest of the project is moreso focused on R&B and more of a lush, somewhat acoustic-sounding instrumentation, that also lets Yves' display her singing abilities well enough. It's a very short, yet coherent project that makes me excited for whatever's next for her. Listen to: "DIM" || RIYL: SUMIN, Erika de Casier, Amaria
TRF. Posted Wednesday at 12:15 AM Author Posted Wednesday at 12:15 AM #10. Roro 2 Heaven Genre: UK Bass, Deconstructed Club, Experimental Hip Hop From: Buenos Aires, Argentina || Label: self-released Argentina is going through an excellent, or at the very least incredibly prolific moment as far as pop, dance and club music goes. Yet one of the most interesting releases that have caught my attention the most was that of Roro, a somewhat mysterious — yet very present on TikTok — artist who might not even be old enough to go to clubs yet. But listening to his debut EP 2 Heaven, he's got his artistic voice quite clear — as his post-PC Music/post-post-club sound inspired by Jersey club, grime, dembow, industrial rap and more manages to surprise with almost every track. An EP with a lot of replay value for me, it display a big amount of potential that I hope to see what's next of soon. Listen to: "Still & Alert" || RIYL: Shygirl, Estratosfera, Snow Strippers #9. Dawuna Southside Bottoms Genre: Alternative R&B, Ambient Pop From: New York, USA || Label: PTP A record from a few years ago that I found very much captivating as a grower was Glass Lit Dreams, the debut solo album from Brooklyn-based musician Dawuna. On that record, he merged his beautifully sung R&B-tinged compositions with extremely detailed microbeats, that often put the music on it at almost a status of ASMR. That is extended on the mini-album Southside Bottoms, described as "a concept album about the characters and times that occupied Dawuna's life years ago in Southside, Richmond". In only five tracks and a little over twenty minutes, he is able to transmit a very intimate-sounding — at times a little too much so — look into his life experiencies, with a very-well textured accompanying production that feels soothing, but never really stops from feeling a little tense. Which may be part of what makes Dawuna's music so special. Listen to: "Bottom Energy" || RIYL: Jai Paul, More Eaze, Kelela #8. JHL & Jett Mucicca Swansong Genre: Art Pop, Epic Collage From: Philippines/Auckland, NZ / Portland, USA || Label: Katharsis Swansong, the collaborative effort between Philippines-born, New Zealand-based artist JHL and Portland-based artist Jett Mucicca, was one of the most surprising releases of the year for me particularly. First thing that jumped to me was the immaculate sound design constantly present on it, extremely detailed effects that sink deep inside your ears and reach your brain with ease, that can sound adjacent to glitch or noise music but still somewhat maintain a structure. And yet part of what steals the show are the vocals, the fact that beneath all of it there are amazing songs that kind of sound like 90's adult contemporary radio stuff, equally style and substance. Listen to: "Time" || RIYL: S280F, Björk, serpentwithfeet #7. Kassie Krut Kassie Krut Genre: Glitch Pop, Deconstructed Club From: Philadelphia, USA || Label: Fire Talk By the time math-rock band Palm broke up in 2023, Kassie Krut, a project started by its former members Kasra Kurt and Eve Alpert, had already put out 3 songs. And they were already showing a lot of potential to their sound by then — I remember describing their song "Copycat" on a tweet as "if Panda Bear instead of building his own thing on 60s/70s psychedelia did so on the UKF Dubstep YouTube channel uploads circa 2011". And their self-titled EP does not stay far from that — the characteristic UK post-dubstep/post-club sound is very much present through it, their roots as a New York experimental rock band is palpable still, on song structures, percussion, it sounds incredibly dense and almost overwhelming at times, but it's probably still the right direction for them go in. Listen to: "Blood" || RIYL: Body Meat, Jam City, Katy B #6. Irmãs de Pau Gambiarra Chic Pt. 1 Genre: Funk mandelão, Ballroom, Hip House From: Barueri, Brazil || Label: Tratore While initially sort of a counter-cultural movement that came out of the favelas in Rio, Brazilian funk has extended not only throughout the rest of Brazil, in which each region kinda has its own version of it, but also the world. And in the latter scenario, often times, losing its edge and grace. However, you won't find that in Gambiarra Chic, Pt.1, the latest EP from duo Irmãs de Pau. With lyrics that are incredibly fun, sexually-charged and light-hearted yet still inherently intertwined with their identities as Afro-Brazilian working-class trans women, they merge the most electronic, aggressive-sounding subgenres of funk with house and other dance/club music genres. While featuring productions from some of Brazil's most forward-thinking producers, like Brunoso or Mu540, it's Isma and Vita's magnetic and distinct personalities that turn Gambiarra Chic, Pt.1 into one of the most charismatic funk projects of the year. Listen to: "Brasileirinhas Cunty" || RIYL: Crizin da Z.O., Linn da Quebrada, Arca #5. Lucy Bedroque Fête de la Vanille Genre: Digicore, Indietronica, Art Pop From: London, UK || Label: Autosarco Musique An album from last year that I returned to and grew a lot on me this 2024 was Lucy Bedroque's debut album Sisterhood, released under the name Lostrushi. Initially associated with terms like "digicore" or "sigilkore", that project saw the artist slowly move away from that into more electronic-leaning styles. Lucy Bedroque's most recent project Fête de la Vanille solidifies that change more than ever. Marked by a heavy presence of guitars and electronics, influenced by Shibuya-kei, shoegaze and 90s video game soundtracks, it's a very exciting change of pace for the artists with some of the catchiest songs Lucy has worked on — but also does not leave the heavy 808s and SoundCloud rap (for lack of uh, a better term) the project was initially known for far behind, just expand on it further. Listen to: "Knot Me" || RIYL: Ecco2k, Parannoul, Jane Remover #4. nusar3000 3000 Genre: Latin Electronic, Deconstructed Club From: Madrid, Spain || Label: Rusia-IDK My introduction to the music of Spanish producer nusar3000 was a Jersey club-inspired remix of Rosalía's global hit "Despechá", which was so good the star had to add it to her live show's setlist. Shortly after I became hooked into his productions and anticipated what a project from him might be like. Now a member of the rusia-idk collective alongside fellow avant-pop auteurs Ralphie Choo or Rusowsky, nusar3000's debut project 3000 released in June. 3000 feels like a wonderful-yet-chaotic-sounding collage of many sounds from all over the world, converging in Madrid due to their growing influence or internal/external migration waves, like Afro-Caribbean dancehall and reggaetón, Argentinian RKT and cumbia villera, Brazilian funk, North African raï, Andalusian flamenco and more, painting an image of the city and its music scene as a very much cosmopolitan one. Listen to: "Mufasa" (feat. Six Sex) || RIYL: Ralphie Choo, Elysia Crampton, Kamixlo #3. Lua de Santana GINGA Genre: Funk mandelão From: Natal, Brazil / Vigo, Spain || Label: self-released Lua de Santana first came to my attention last year with "Piri Piri", a song that started out as an atmospheric, beautifully sung ambient-like R&B song in English, that suddenly shifted into a maximalistic, hard-hitting Brazilian funk banger sung/rapped in Portuguese. That sort of represented a change for the artist — the Vigo-born, Brazilian-Galician artist started out in the former style as LUADSANT. But Lua's definitely at home in this one too, and her debut EP GINGA is proof of it. Singing in Portuguese, English and Spanish, GINGA is a collage of all of her musical and cultural influences all merging into funk, from more experimental-leaning club music to abstract R&B and even a tiny bit of samba, tango and flamenco, it's a very strong first statement from a rising artist — and that makes me even more invested in it. Listen to: "Piri Piri" || RIYL: LYZZA, Teto Preto, Urias #2. Six Sex Satisfire Genre: Eurodance, Hard Dance From: Villa Tesei, Argentina || Label: Dale Play If you've known me at all in the past two years, you've seen or heard me mention Six Sex. And how could I not! Ever since first hearing her breakthrough EP Area 69 from 2022, she's easily become one of my favorite artists to come out of Argentina and the Buenos Aires music scene. While her work was mostly characterised by the presence of twisted reggaetón beats, influenced by cumbia villera and RKT as much as by electronic dance music, her latest EP Satisfire goes all in on the latter. But while productions by people like King Doudou, Merca Bae, Tayhana or DBBD are very much influenced by hardcore rave music and eurodance, Six Sex's performance and relentless sex appeal still feel reminiscent of nostalgic, early 00's reggaetón, while also having the energy of a main pop girl. Satisfire is an invitation to your nearest club/party to just go off as hard as possible. Listen to: "FuckU" || RIYL: Cobrah, Shygirl, Marixa Balli #1. Marina Satti P.O.P. Genre: Neoperreo, Greek Folk Music, Balkan Pop-Folk From: Athens, Greece || Label: Golden One of the albums that most caught my attention in 2022 was YENNA, the album by Greek artist Marina Satti, and despite having limited knowledge of Greek music at the time, it connected almost immediately. On that album, the singer-songwriter and producer fused the sound of her roots on the island of Crete, in the Mediterranean Sea, and Sudan, in North Africa, with a modern, experimental and electronic pop and R&B sound, introspective and sentimental, earning many comparisons to Rosalia's now iconic album El mal querer, but with a sound quite distinctive and all her own. This seemed to catch the attention of many other people in Europe, as this year she represented her native country in this… incredibly unfortunate Eurovision edition, with her song "Zari", which had a more mainstream, danceable style, close to reggaeton, yet still sounding characteristically Greek in every way, singing in her native language and using influences from tsifteteli, a local dance style. Marina goes all out with that same sound on her latest EP, P.O.P. While YENNA was a more somber project musically, P.O.P. sounds more upbeat, drawing inspiration from both Greek and Balkan rhythms such as laika, sousta, Bulgarian chalga and more, as well as Latin American dance music, with Dominican dembow, Brazilian funk and Argentine RKT making an occasional appearance. All of this and even more strongly collides in the project's centerpiece, the ten and a half minute long track "Mixtape", and in all its chaos and maximalism, it sounds closer to the intense, industrial collages of Vicki Leekx-era M.I.A. than anything else in mainstream pop. P.O.P. is a rather unique project, which in 27 minutes manages to condense a numerous amount of influences and feels like something much needed within pop globally, and Marina Satti will probably be the one to bring her language and culture to more ears than almost ever before around the world. Listen to: "Mixtape" || RIYL: Irene Papas, Vicki Leekx-era M.I.A., Kali Mutsa
TRF. Posted Wednesday at 12:18 AM Author Posted Wednesday at 12:18 AM 19 hours ago, Mr. Blue_Shirt said: Eusexua, Not Like Us & AOMD in the top 3 There's something about Diet Pepsi MV that feels so nostalgic to me cause those early 2010s Tumblr would eat it up every single frame nnn The fact that it references an obscure 60's experimental film... oh Artist Rae you will always be loved --- Merry Xmas to all you who celebrate btw
Suilen Posted Wednesday at 02:20 AM Posted Wednesday at 02:20 AM Cecile and Tove I'm going to listen to Six Sex and Roro based on the similar artists.
Mr. Blue_Shirt Posted Thursday at 01:08 PM Posted Thursday at 01:08 PM MARINA SATTI Truly one of my favorite project this year. So glad i watched Eurovision this year! I Did, HEAT and Tender the Spark also have a lot bops too. I'm obsessed!
MP2K Posted Friday at 12:55 PM Posted Friday at 12:55 PM Have to check some of these out. Kissen and Theodora sound interesting.
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