#postedbyjudy

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Big Boy // Payday 

This fun diss track takes you on a little carnival carousel. The album art is exactly as you’d expect: throwing up neon while your iPad charges in the wall socket in the bathroom. Payday is gonna be the next Billie Eilish. We’re so happy that Future Classic is still out here bringing the freshest new artists to the fore. 

#payday #big boy #new music #trash rap #diss track #pop hip hop #postedbyjudy #youtubers #tiktok #tiktok music #future classic #millennial

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3:15 (Breathe) // Russ 

"Who doesn't like toxic?" A friend told me this the other day in a moment of reflective vulnerability. The constant highs, zapping from one moment to the next like cut-screens... What we really miss is the range of emotions, the stimulus that keeps us feeling and experiencing the moment. 

At the far range of this, is what I've been craving. The comfort of waking up and knowing that you're on the minds of others. A mental hug, which is a little more than what we have access to these days. 

They say love's a song for fools who are wise enough to sing along

Russ is a rapper with as much swag as he has sentiment. A player with heart. Songs that scream speed and go slow. And he works hard - he has released so many new tracks throughout these past cursed years that I can't even blink between emotional rollercoasters. Go ahead, wrench your heart out and wring out that throat with one of the slow tracks (I recommend Take You Back feat. Kehlani) and then neutralise it with one of the bumping tracks like Guess What feat. Rick Ross. 

#russ #rapper #rap #r&b #breathe #3:15 #new song #new music #hiphop #postedbyjudy #emo songs

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Butterflies // Skrillex, Starrah & Four Tet

Wouldn't it be beautiful to experience the feeling of falling in love, over and over again? The little dizzying sensation of having your heart in all places of your body, pulsing away, making you feel alive. These moments are yours alone. The stolen glimpses to take in all of another's being, the extra care that is extended to every touch, the chaos that is in your mind.

This song is exactly that interstitial emotion on repeat - including its abrupt ending. I remember this vividly, in a forlorn way of time past.

#skrillex #starrah #four tet #collab #edm #house #dance music #postedbyjudy #trending #SoundCloud

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Submarine // L’Impératrice

Aren't we all going a little crazy these days, with a year into the pandemic?

My mind in quarantine Body made of plasticine I don’t need to say goodbye Do I?

Throughout this time, I had rarely found anything new and noteworthy. In fact, my Spotify Discover playlist was so unremarkable that The Pudding's Spotify AI playlist assessment had judged it to be hip-hop by TikTok. Yep, all of the things that brought this blog back down from taste-making scene to music diary. L’Impératrice was one of the only discoveries I had been introduced to - the old school way - from word of mouth by an excitable friend who shared a love for Dua Lipa.

L’Impératrice (Italian for "the empress") is a blast from the past, something familiar and calm. Submarine is as quietly incisive as it is a cushiony soft landing of current events. When we're in a funk, the least we could be doing is bopping to something funky.

#submarine #l'imperatrice #new music #music #music blog #pop #funk #dream pop #music review #postedbyjudy #Spotify

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Eleven:Eleven // Sandunes

Ahead of DGTL Bengaluru, a major discovery has been native Mumbai producer Sandunes and her multi-layered, cross-genre explorations into atmospheric lo-fi and jazz. Eleven:Eleven or 11:11, is the title track of Sanaya Ardeshir’s recent EP, which seems to start out as a cassette tape clicking its way into a meditation session. Have you noticed the time, it seems to ask, or are you lost? Lazy vocals mumble their way into a beat, seemingly reciting pages from a dream. As the lilting running melodies take you on a journey to contemplate the powerful angelic connection, you’re anchored by the freestyle drum beats that have seemed to have their own solo this whole time. 

What I loved most about Sandunes was just how much her production work around all the different elements of percussion-chords-melody-vocals is tight and controlled. It is maximalist, while being restrained and pared down. Slybounce, a tune from 2015 (five years ago!) is a swing-infused glitch-pop track that has the timeless quality of Glass Animals x Chet Faker.

Of the entire line-up for this weekend, Sandunes is the one I’m most looking forward to catching (besides Cats on Crack - Singapore represent!) and Manchester-based Youngr, a multi-instrumentalist whose energy will no doubt be the greatest contrast to Sandunes. 

And yes, a quick update that this blog has now crossed countries and is now based out of Delhi, India. Irregular, not quite on the running beat anymore, but still inspired and overturning sand whenever we can. 

#sandunes #sanaya ardeshir #mumbai producer #mumbai music #indian producers #female producers #edm #electronic #lo fi #atmospheric music #chill #chill pop #music #postedbyjudy #new music

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you should see me in a crown // Billie Eilish 

The amount of pop culture catchet accorded to pop music’s most unwilling princess Bilie Eilish, by virtue of having an entire music video done by THE Takashi Murakami, is insane. Steeped in Pan-Asian absurd contemporary art vibes (i.e. Japanese anime meets Tim Burton), the music video captures Billie’s attitude as the character wearing her Blohsh streetwear merch while retaining Murakami’s signature flowers. The music video starts out with some Para Para Dance fancy footwork, and then Billie is possessed by her hoodie, transforming into a a monster that leaves the town infected. This is what happens when Billie Eilish leaves her Tron pod to explore the world. It’s her world, and we’re just living in it. 

(Shoutout to Junyun for sending me the full video of Billie performing this entire track at Coachella 2019). 

#coachella #billie eilish #you should see me in a crown #takashi murakami #music video #postedbyjudy #new music #pop songs #dance pop #electropop

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Gimme // Banks 

Banks is a mood. Pair with sauvignon blanc, RBF, phone battery at 20%, 89 unread messages, trippy neon lights and cucumber vape. Drink up, and pick any part of the song to follow through before hitting repeat - Banks’ honeyed voice and distorted chorale taking turns to engage one another in conversation. This one particularly reminds me of early Britney’s sultry but innocent attitude. We know and love Banks, and this new chapter in her consistent, witchy image is just what we’ve been waiting for. Gimme more, right away please. 

#banks #gimme #new music #witch pop #synth pop #dark pop #postedbyjudy #spotify #soundcloud #music review

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Say It // Maggie Rogers 

I could almost swear that I’ve heard this tune in a past life, which - incidentally - is the title of Maggie Rogers (of Alaska fame)’s new album. As corny as that sounds, I could almost swear that this could be a Sara Bareilles track, with added filters, and a groovy pop break-down. While it’s not the introspective, quietly unconventional follow-up to Alaska that we’d all hoped for, pop isn’t dead. 

#maggie rogers #say it #heard it in a past life #postedbyjudy #pop music #new music

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Weight In Gold // Gallant (On Planets Remix) 

Sam Smith meets Disclosure, but make it jazz. Frenzied and intense, this song swings. Pulling you along are the vocals - breathy and peaceful - buoyed by the urgent trumpets, the cleverly placed tinkles, and then the house influences sweep you to your feet right after a false start (where is the drop?) - no matter. It’ll push you further and then a satisfying, minimalist trappy beat takes you to a room that is just you, the band, Gallant and echoes for days. We love it. Now lets see Vancouver-based producer On Planet do a b2b with Lido. Who’s with us? 

#weight in gold #gallant #on planets #remix #jazz #house remix #edm #electronic music #postedbyjudy

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Bad at Love // Halsey (Autograf Remix)

You know the original hit song by Halsey, and it’s about to get about 100 times more complex with this utterly mindboggling remix by Autograf - a masterful piece that simply reworks the story into one that’s lived and experienced as a tumultuous relationship.

The myriad elements of this song are in the liminal space between water and the top of a pool cover, wafting in and out of a tricky back-and-forth with the deep house bass line, trappy beats and tinkering countermelodies. This rework gives Halsey a struggling quality; it’s like she’s gulping for air trying to walk away from bad decisions, but getting sucked in where the adrenaline rush of the instrumental drowns her out. While Halsey has come to terms with her string of lovers as a series of bad decisions, this remix casts doubt on that self-awareness - she’s not found a way out, and remains trapped in this bubble of jealousy. That is not at all comforting to her person of interest she’s singing to “I know that you’re afraid I’m gonna walk away / Each time the feeling fades”.

#bad at love #halsey #autograf #remix #edm #deep house #electronic music #emo pop #electropop #postedbyjudy #music discovery #future bass

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Don’t Look Back // Kotomi & Ryan Elder (Rick & Morty) 

The season finale of Rick and Morty’s fourth season was a sucker punch to the gut of fans. Close to tearing up, Rick has never been so human and so vulnerable to his feelings. Morty and Summer have not been so close as bickering siblings. And Beth, kicking ass and making choices of her own, is the free fighting independent woman guided by ethics, whom we all aspire to be. 

But enough with the storytime, the closing song is devastating. Tragic and wistful, it’s all we needed to unlock all of the feelings. It’s the catalyst we had hoped for to dig from deep within during these times of the pandemic lockdown, and cautious reopening: bottled up anxiety, feeling like we’ve been in the dark, the physical isolation. Tomorrow’s one day we know will be the same as the many that have passed, often with little memory, and we won’t be getting it back. 

As the soundtrack to our lives during this time have been the bouncy bops of Doja Cat, Melanie Martinez no longer sounding cutesy psycho killer, and other tunes now made popular by Tiktok, Kotomi (Lauren Culjak) and Ryan Elder have harkened back to an older time of ethereal underwater synth pop a la 2016-2018 hey days. Remember Goldfrapp, Mitski, Marika Hackman? As much as I’m digging the body positivity of throwing it back, can we really say we would prefer not to look back? 

#dont look back #rick and morty #kotomi #ryan elder #soundtrack #new music #synth pop #new song #postedbyjudy #pop

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#0000FF // Jasmine Sokko

Named for the hex colour blue, #0000FF is a deliberate work.  From the references to ocean, eyes and the sky, to the carefully sung whispers and intricate production of tropical angklung-like tinkles and glitchy dub samples, this song is a deliberately slow burn. I was initially annoyed by the slow bpm after training my ears to listen to podcasts at 2x speed or faster, but this song got me to slow down. It’s restrained in building the tension, sometimes letting the line trail off and generally taking its time to get to the eventual bubble over in the bridge with some techno - what I’d been expecting this whole time from Jasmine Sokko after the bumpin’ house track from last year, 1057. And it is this deliberation that’s exactly presented in the music video, which otherwise plays like a fall/winter party lookbook, as a couple that was happy taking its time to just be together and somak in one another’s presence. 

So here’s a reminder to turn down the fast-forward on life, listen to something in real time for once, and enjoy how even then a post-modern, filtered aesthetic, can be realistic. 

Check out more of Singaporean singer-producer Jasmine Sokko on Spotify for more heavy-pop/quiet parties, especially her delicious pop earworm 600D (named for the Canon camera, duh). 

#jasmine sokko #singapore music #producer #bedroom producer #13 orphan records #0000ff #indie pop #emotions #quiet house party #postedbyjudy #new music #music video #local music

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Copycat // Billie Eilish

Took me a bunch of sponsored Insta posts on “Best of 2018″ lists to find this 15-year-old bundle of talent and even less time to hook me onto one of her tunes. Still young and writing music with her brother, Billie’s en pointe vocal work and sense of self sees no shortage of admirers and fellow potential teen posse members - the origin of this clapback song against the people tryna “cop her glamour”. But I’m glad that at least she hasn’t let the clones win her ego over - she’s said in this Genius interview with some fairly convincing self-deprecation that “[she] doesn’t even like [herself]”. Mad props for trying to bring back ‘psych’ tho... 

Copycat hooked me onto Billie with her sass, rhythmic grace and deep bass - it reminded me of the dark world of Banks, attitude of 2014 Charli XCX and production a la the late Made In Heights. Little did I know that this was more of an outlier in her discography so far; the rest of her songs are a sheen of milennial pink and pastel notes like a cross between Birdy and Lorde. Check out her dance performance video for the dreamy indie pop hit Ocean Eyes - an emotional, vulnerable side to her: 

#copycat #bilie eilish #impersonators #teens with talent #indie pop #dark pop #ocean eyes #new music #music #postedbyjudy #soundcloud

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Righteous // Hippie Sabotage Whatever happened to these guys, I wondered as I looked up Hippie Sabotage, suddenly overcome with nostalgia over their hit Stay High flip of Tove Lo’s breakout tune, Habits. After struggling to really find their sound in the midst of all the EDM DJ duos with hype crowds and Righteous is totally mellow. It’s taken a chill pill, stayed away from drugs and gotten clean after some therapy and hung out with Chet Faker. It’s moody and introspective, throwing down some serious bluesy bass lines and ripping it up with a mad guitar fervour. This song harkens the duo’s return to classic rock and raw instruments, and tosses in a modicum of electronica for the feels - but no, it doesn’t want you jumping and breaking out in a shuffle, a humble headbob is all that it seeks to evoke. Sometimes less is more, and we’re definitely liking the greater emphasis on ‘hippie’. Laneway Music Festival, are you paying attention yet?

#hippie sabotage #comeback #soundcloud #country rock inspired #chet faker #laneway #indie electro #electronica #postedbyjudy #new music #righteous #guitar instrumental

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All The Lights // Alexander Lewis & Brasstracks

Earlier this week, I found myself having to justify why I’d turn down any invitation to karaoke in a heartbeat, no questions asked. What’s not to love about listening to oldies getting butchered by friends and acquaintances singing too close into the mic with a B-grade instrumental track that might even be a MIDI recording? 🤔 Unsatisfied with an answer that revolved around a personal preference “I’d rather listen to live music” and “I’m picky about music”? You’ll have to make do with the subtext that I’m a music snob just because I run a music blog and pride myself on having impeccable taste and ears that are far too discerning to listen to your amateur bathroom performances without outwardly cringing.

But really, while that may be true (/sarcasm?), I’m like to share the method of my ways: how I find music alluring and worthy of being shared, often at the cost of seen-and-no-reply messages to my enthusiastic listen to this!!!! links. Alexander Lewis and Brasstracks’ tune All of the Lights is an archetype of the type of music that stirs a little something within me, fully layered with big brassy instruments, powerful bass-hi hat combos, all-consuming synths and all without vocals. My ears love being tickled and tricked into breaking up a piece of music into its individual scores, before it savours it altogether as a cohesive piece (check that outro reprise near the end where it gets all stripped down but still swooningly intricate). And all this, a rework of a Kanye West megacollab of the early 2010s that had a totally different vibe. Impeccable work, h/t to the big band gods at Brasstracks and future bass powerhouse Alexander Lewis.

Of course, I am sometimes taken in by catch earworm refrains, witty lyrics, and interesting samples or easter eggs - but one thing is for certain, I like being able to find novelty in a song I know and love from how it is composed, arranged and sometimes, in how it is delivered.

#brasstracks #alexander lewis #all of the lights #kanye west #rihanna #fergie #john legend #rework #remix #tbt #throwback #hiphop #future bass #brass bands #big band #jazz #postedbyjudy #good music

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Louder // Snowlab After a first gruelling week in a new office environment and getting absolutely smashed with responsibilities and opportunities, no song more perfectly captures exactly how I feel about entering adulthood. Snowlab's Louder starts off slow and atmospheric, swelling and drawing you into what feels like a showreel - you know you're in for a ride. And then it begins to build. Boss badass beats successively take over at lightning speed - faster than your brain can recognize any distinguishable motif - and there are hints of the epic vibes that is to come. Perfectly on trend with EDM music festivals that are now, more than ever, visual spectacles of light and pyrotechnics, this tune is a soundtrack that flows with your own showreel memories of the highlights of your week. For me, the ebbs and flows represent a dynamic, fast-changing landscape of a career newly found, once familiar and altogether a dream I haven't quite realized is reality yet. Louder has done best what EDM has to offer - an escapist choreography with just enough elements constantly switching up, but also borrowed drops, builds, instruments and sample packs that you're not too disoriented.

#snowlab #louder #edm #new music #music #discovery #festival beats #soundcloud #postedbyjudy