Author: Sam Moore

NME

In partnership with DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions

The return of DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions — a grassroots music initiative that aims to accelerate the local to global journey of three emerging artists — for 2023 is being made even more special by the return of gold-selling record producer Hannah V. The Berlin-born creative played a pivotal role in the initiative’s hugely successful launch last year, providing guidance, mentoring and production for our three lucky inaugural winners at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

“I can’t wait to go back in with this year’s winners,” Hannah tells NME ahead of returning to Abbey Road. “This is the second year I’ve done DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions, so in a way I’m more comfortable, I know what we need to get out of it and I know what the artists will get out of it. I’m really excited to get the winners in, listen to the songs, produce them up, brainstorm, bring in [outside] musicians. It’s going to be incredible [but] hardcore: that’s part of the learning experience. We’re there to work and we’re gonna work hard! But it’s going to be a celebration of music.”

As well as previewing this year’s initiative, Hannah also told NME about her own journey to the top, what advice she’d impart to budding producers and why it’s more important than ever to support grassroots music.

NME: What path did you take to music production?

Hannah V: “My path was slightly unusual. I decided that I wanted to study jazz, so I came to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. After graduating, I realised that you can’t make a lot of money playing jazz unless you’re one of the best in the world — which I wasn’t! A few years later I was asked to play keyboards at a session and I took to it quite naturally, which kick-started my career as a pop session musician. I played with Sugababes, Anastacia, Jason Derulo and Taio Cruz, before I was then asked to be Rihanna‘s [live] keyboard player for a year: that was amazing, because you get to play with the best musicians in the world and travel the world. I was then Jessie J‘s keyboardist for three years, so I was on the road for about eight years.

“I was always producing on the side, but not particularly seriously. Whenever I was travelling with producers on tour I’d sit next to them, watch them produce and pick up a few  tips: that’s how I learned production. I felt like I needed a change after eight years on the road, which was pretty crazy because I was on top of the game — I absolutely could’ve done that forever. But I got tired of hardcore travelling: the tours I was on meant you were away from home for eight months, and home becomes an illusion. Something in me just said, ‘I’ve done all the main stages I’ve wanted to, I’ve seen the world and done some amazing things. Is the rest of my life just going to be behind another pop star?’ As amazing as it was to play Wembley Stadium, it was never a dream of mine: my dreams were playing the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. So I decided to take the plunge by quitting session playing and getting into production.”

What was your first big break as a producer?

“I got signed by Sony as a producer/artist, so I had enough of an advance to survive for six months. I realised very quickly that, in the studio world, no-one cared about my life story. So as amazingly as I’d done on [the live circuit], in studio world people were like, ‘Cool that you played with Rihanna. Have you produced for her?’ And I’d have to say no. ‘Who have you produced for?’ I’d reply: ‘Well, no-one’. So I had to build myself from the bottom, which is a bit humbling when you’re not 19 any more. This is now my eighth year as a full-time producer, and it’s absolutely the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. It took three-to-four years to establish myself as a producer, but my main artist, JP Cooper, got me my first top 10 UK record and my first plaques with his 2017 debut album ‘Raised Under Grey Skies’. Doors opened after that: it got me working at Abbey Road for the first time, and as the artists I was working with became successful, that added to my stripes.

“I adore my job. I’ve worked with all kinds of different artists, including established artists. But I adore working with artists who are at the beginning of their journey, because I feel like the hunger is still there and they don’t know the rules yet, which is great. There’s a certain amount of creativity and wildness there that I don’t want to tame, but preserve instead.”

What are your top tips for any budding producers out there?

“You have to be really good at your job! It’s a cutthroat industry and there’s a lot of people wanting to [produce], so it goes without saying that you have to have a certain technical ability, and the only way you can become good [at producing] is by doing it again, again and again. There are no shortcuts to becoming good: you just have to show up and make music, if you’re in the position to, every single day. We all have years and years and years where you don’t do anything else: you just eat and sleep music. That’s what sharpens your instincts, makes you learn how to deal with artists, deadlines and delivering tracks, not to mention working on days where the inspiration isn’t flowing, because nobody cares about that. If it’s your hobby, then cool, don’t do it on that day. But if it’s your job, you’ve got to find that creativity somehow, no matter how tired, jet-lagged or hungover you are! You need to study every day. I’m still learning new things, watching tutorials, making sure I’m on top of my technology and getting advice from friends every day.

“As producers we’re in a very privileged position where artists trust us with their stories — it’s more than music. They’ll come into the studio and 30 minutes later be telling you their deepest, darkest secrets. That’s what we’re trying to do here, write honestly about real-life situations and stories. As a producer, our job is to make the artist comfortable and feel safe, as well being open to their stories to turn them into a song. It’s something that people don’t talk about a lot: how as a producer you can get the best out of your artists [this way]. Away from the technical abilities, the human element is so, so important to our jobs.”

How much have you enjoyed being part of DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions?

“I love it. Like I said before, I love working with artists at the start of their journey, and being able to invite those artists to Abbey Road brings me the deepest joy. I’m obsessed with working at Abbey Road! I remember how nervous I was when I walked in there for the first time, thinking, ‘Little old me, I don’t deserve to be here’. I couldn’t sleep for days! Then you walk into the building and you realise that, instead of being overwhelming, the legacy of the place is inspiring. The engineers there are so on your side, it’s amazing: they’re the best in the world. It all helps it become less intimidating, and it’s just there for you to be creative. I love sharing that experience with artists who are coming to Abbey Road for the first time, and let me be there while you walk through these hallowed halls and into these studios thinking, ‘Wow’. There’s something so confidence-building about working at the most famous studio in the world and being like, ‘I’m just doing music, I’m doing what I do but I’m just doing it here’. It’s life-affirming. I’m really excited for this year’s artists to experience what I experienced, basically.”

Any fond memories of working with the 2022 winners at Abbey Road?

“100%! It’s quite hard to describe, but there’s something that’s so special that happens when you make music together. There’s a bond between the creators, and it doesn’t matter how many cameras are there or where the studios are, there’s just something special that happens when we make music together. I’m still in touch with Mo Othman, Rosie Charles and Kohzee all the time, they’re my artists! That’s part of being a producer: my phone blows up all the time with my artists, and that’s fine because it’s a strong bond that’s never broken, even if we don’t have the chance to be work together again. What we had and what we shared was such a special experience, because making music is such a special experience!”

How important is it that initiatives like DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions exist to support and champion grassroots new music?

“It’s so important on so many different levels. On a tangible level, you get a track that’s recorded, mixed and mastered at Abbey Road that you can put out: that’s incredible. You’ve got a song that’s been made in the biggest and most famous studio in the world! But more than that, for me, the experience is really special. You walk into Abbey Road and you’re treated with total respect by the whole team there: the engineers will treat anyone like they treat Noel Gallagher. There’s something that happens to your confidence after walking in and being a bit unsure of whether you deserve to be there, and then just being treated like an artist and a musician [by the engineers]. The boost all the artists get from it, that’s what surpasses music.

“After you’ve spent three-to-four days at a place like Abbey Road — where everyone is there to support you and doing it for genuine reasons — and being taken that seriously in a place that special, that’s seen so many incredible musicians come through, makes you stand and walk taller. That experience is something that will last for a lifetime.”

You can find out more about DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions here.

The post Hannah V on DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions 2023: “The experience of recording at Abbey Road lasts a lifetime” appeared first on NME.

NME

In partnership with DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions

The return of DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions — a grassroots music initiative that aims to accelerate the local to global journey of three emerging artists — for 2023 is being made even more special by the return of gold-selling record producer Hannah V. The Berlin-born creative played a pivotal role in the initiative’s hugely successful launch last year, providing guidance, mentoring and production for our three lucky inaugural winners at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.

“I can’t wait to go back in with this year’s winners,” Hannah tells NME ahead of returning to Abbey Road. “This is the second year I’ve done DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions, so in a way I’m more comfortable, I know what we need to get out of it and I know what the artists will get out of it. I’m really excited to get the winners in, listen to the songs, produce them up, brainstorm, bring in [outside] musicians. It’s going to be incredible [but] hardcore: that’s part of the learning experience. We’re there to work and we’re gonna work hard! But it’s going to be a celebration of music.”

As well as previewing this year’s initiative, Hannah also told NME about her own journey to the top, what advice she’d impart to budding producers and why it’s more important than ever to support grassroots music.

NME: What path did you take to music production?

Hannah V: “My path was slightly unusual. I decided that I wanted to study jazz, so I came to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. After graduating, I realised that you can’t make a lot of money playing jazz unless you’re one of the best in the world — which I wasn’t! A few years later I was asked to play keyboards at a session and I took to it quite naturally, which kick-started my career as a pop session musician. I played with Sugababes, Anastacia, Jason Derulo and Taio Cruz, before I was then asked to be Rihanna‘s [live] keyboard player for a year: that was amazing, because you get to play with the best musicians in the world and travel the world. I was then Jessie J‘s keyboardist for three years, so I was on the road for about eight years.

“I was always producing on the side, but not particularly seriously. Whenever I was travelling with producers on tour I’d sit next to them, watch them produce and pick up a few  tips: that’s how I learned production. I felt like I needed a change after eight years on the road, which was pretty crazy because I was on top of the game — I absolutely could’ve done that forever. But I got tired of hardcore travelling: the tours I was on meant you were away from home for eight months, and home becomes an illusion. Something in me just said, ‘I’ve done all the main stages I’ve wanted to, I’ve seen the world and done some amazing things. Is the rest of my life just going to be behind another pop star?’ As amazing as it was to play Wembley Stadium, it was never a dream of mine: my dreams were playing the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York. So I decided to take the plunge by quitting session playing and getting into production.”

What was your first big break as a producer?

“I got signed by Sony as a producer/artist, so I had enough of an advance to survive for six months. I realised very quickly that, in the studio world, no-one cared about my life story. So as amazingly as I’d done on [the live circuit], in studio world people were like, ‘Cool that you played with Rihanna. Have you produced for her?’ And I’d have to say no. ‘Who have you produced for?’ I’d reply: ‘Well, no-one’. So I had to build myself from the bottom, which is a bit humbling when you’re not 19 any more. This is now my eighth year as a full-time producer, and it’s absolutely the best decision I’ve ever made in my life. It took three-to-four years to establish myself as a producer, but my main artist, JP Cooper, got me my first top 10 UK record and my first plaques with his 2017 debut album ‘Raised Under Grey Skies’. Doors opened after that: it got me working at Abbey Road for the first time, and as the artists I was working with became successful, that added to my stripes.

“I adore my job. I’ve worked with all kinds of different artists, including established artists. But I adore working with artists who are at the beginning of their journey, because I feel like the hunger is still there and they don’t know the rules yet, which is great. There’s a certain amount of creativity and wildness there that I don’t want to tame, but preserve instead.”

What are your top tips for any budding producers out there?

“You have to be really good at your job! It’s a cutthroat industry and there’s a lot of people wanting to [produce], so it goes without saying that you have to have a certain technical ability, and the only way you can become good [at producing] is by doing it again, again and again. There are no shortcuts to becoming good: you just have to show up and make music, if you’re in the position to, every single day. We all have years and years and years where you don’t do anything else: you just eat and sleep music. That’s what sharpens your instincts, makes you learn how to deal with artists, deadlines and delivering tracks, not to mention working on days where the inspiration isn’t flowing, because nobody cares about that. If it’s your hobby, then cool, don’t do it on that day. But if it’s your job, you’ve got to find that creativity somehow, no matter how tired, jet-lagged or hungover you are! You need to study every day. I’m still learning new things, watching tutorials, making sure I’m on top of my technology and getting advice from friends every day.

“As producers we’re in a very privileged position where artists trust us with their stories — it’s more than music. They’ll come into the studio and 30 minutes later be telling you their deepest, darkest secrets. That’s what we’re trying to do here, write honestly about real-life situations and stories. As a producer, our job is to make the artist comfortable and feel safe, as well being open to their stories to turn them into a song. It’s something that people don’t talk about a lot: how as a producer you can get the best out of your artists [this way]. Away from the technical abilities, the human element is so, so important to our jobs.”

How much have you enjoyed being part of DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions?

“I love it. Like I said before, I love working with artists at the start of their journey, and being able to invite those artists to Abbey Road brings me the deepest joy. I’m obsessed with working at Abbey Road! I remember how nervous I was when I walked in there for the first time, thinking, ‘Little old me, I don’t deserve to be here’. I couldn’t sleep for days! Then you walk into the building and you realise that, instead of being overwhelming, the legacy of the place is inspiring. The engineers there are so on your side, it’s amazing: they’re the best in the world. It all helps it become less intimidating, and it’s just there for you to be creative. I love sharing that experience with artists who are coming to Abbey Road for the first time, and let me be there while you walk through these hallowed halls and into these studios thinking, ‘Wow’. There’s something so confidence-building about working at the most famous studio in the world and being like, ‘I’m just doing music, I’m doing what I do but I’m just doing it here’. It’s life-affirming. I’m really excited for this year’s artists to experience what I experienced, basically.”

Any fond memories of working with the 2022 winners at Abbey Road?

“100%! It’s quite hard to describe, but there’s something that’s so special that happens when you make music together. There’s a bond between the creators, and it doesn’t matter how many cameras are there or where the studios are, there’s just something special that happens when we make music together. I’m still in touch with Mo Othman, Rosie Charles and Kohzee all the time, they’re my artists! That’s part of being a producer: my phone blows up all the time with my artists, and that’s fine because it’s a strong bond that’s never broken, even if we don’t have the chance to be work together again. What we had and what we shared was such a special experience, because making music is such a special experience!”

How important is it that initiatives like DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions exist to support and champion grassroots new music?

“It’s so important on so many different levels. On a tangible level, you get a track that’s recorded, mixed and mastered at Abbey Road that you can put out: that’s incredible. You’ve got a song that’s been made in the biggest and most famous studio in the world! But more than that, for me, the experience is really special. You walk into Abbey Road and you’re treated with total respect by the whole team there: the engineers will treat anyone like they treat Noel Gallagher. There’s something that happens to your confidence after walking in and being a bit unsure of whether you deserve to be there, and then just being treated like an artist and a musician [by the engineers]. The boost all the artists get from it, that’s what surpasses music.

“After you’ve spent three-to-four days at a place like Abbey Road — where everyone is there to support you and doing it for genuine reasons — and being taken that seriously in a place that special, that’s seen so many incredible musicians come through, makes you stand and walk taller. That experience is something that will last for a lifetime.”

You can find out more about DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions here.

The post Hannah V on DHL FAST-TRACK Sessions 2023: “The experience of recording at Abbey Road lasts a lifetime” appeared first on NME.

NME

You might think that you’ve never met Aaron Jerome before, but you almost certainly have. The British musician, producer and DJ has likely been on heavy rotation on your streaming service of choice, record player and even your iPod since 2010. Furthermore, he’s worked with a plethora of big names over the years: Drake, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, Sampha, Jessie Ware, Caroline Polachek and Little Dragon have all nestled their way into Jerome’s contact book since his SBTRKT project took off nearly 15 years ago.

After dropping two acclaimed and guest-heavy studio albums (2011’s ‘SBTRKT’ and 2014’s ‘Wonder Where We Land’), Jerome, who was also known then for donning his mysterious SBTRKT mask, decided to take control of his narrative. Opting to go independent before dropping his 2016 project ‘SAVE YOURSELF’, Jerome then retreated from the limelight for over half a decade – a period during which, he estimates, he made over 1500 songs. “I sent 400 tracks to the label!” he tells NME from his London home. “They were like, ‘We think you’ve got to decipher for yourself what you want to put out’. As I’m my own manager and A&R, I then had to be like, ‘OK, I’m going to try [and make an album]’. I got it down to 22 in the end.”

Those 22 tracks comprise ‘The Rat Road’, the richly ambitious and wonderfully accomplished third SBTRKT studio album, which arrives on Friday (May 5). Featuring guest turns from the likes of Toro Y Moi, Teezo Touchdown (“his voice reminds me of André 3000 thanks to its Southern vibe”) and “legend” D Double E, Jerome is cautiously optimistic that this record will be enough to put SBTRKT firmly back on the map.

As well as the extensive journey to this new record, Jerome tells NME about the struggles of breaking even as an independent touring artist, DMing Drake and a missed opportunity to work with Tame Impala.

How does this pre-album feeling compare to when you made your comeback with your single ‘Bodmin Moor’ last summer?

“I’m excited, especially at the fact that I’ve managed to complete an album! There were definitely points where I was wondering whether I’d ever get to an end point, or what I was making was valid enough to bother releasing. I’m always challenging myself musically: with ‘Bodmin Moor’, I wasn’t naturally going for a people-pleasing song where I was like, ‘Hey everyone, I’m back!’. I was ultimately going, ‘I don’t really follow rules, and I want to challenge myself and do things that I find interesting’. I liked seeing how people reacted, [and] whether they would continue to follow my music and be excited to see what I come up with next.”

Do you think you could have released ‘The Rat Road’ any earlier than now?

“I definitely couldn’t have. I feel that I’ve grown as a musician, artist and songwriter in that time away, sitting in the studio learning different skills that I didn’t have before. You don’t necessarily have the skills to do everything that’s in your head unless you literally grind, or use other people to do it for you. But I’m very much an introvert who sits in my studio plodding away on my own until I finish something. I rarely sample: I’ve only ever really sat there with all my synthesisers and keyboards. If I like a sound, I’ll spend three years trying to work out how to create it! It takes time, that process.”

You’ve drawn up another strong guest list for ‘The Rat Road’. What was the process of selecting your collaborators for this album?

“I’m always scouting for vocalists and new people, be it on Spotify’s Release Radar, YouTube, SoundCloud or a random DJ mix. I don’t just go for big artists: it’s specific voices I’m more attracted to. I had a two-pronged approach: at one point I was working with established artists like Feist, Steve Lacy and Toro Y Moi, but on the flipside I met Leilah, a newcomer who is on a lot of songs on the new record. The latter was more me putting my faith in someone who I really believed in from hearing one demo, and then spending three years songwriting with her with no real end goal. But the main thing I like to do is work with people who are as ambitious and able to get outside of their own box as I am. The one thing I always hate is doing a collaboration with someone who only wants to make a song that sounds like something they’ve already done, because then it’s like you’re a producer for hire. I want [my collaborators] to be like, ‘No, let’s make something fresh’.”

Sampha has appeared on every SBTRKT project to date. What’s the secret behind your creative partnership?

“I don’t think there is a secret. It’s testament to Sampha’s own skills that he’s very adaptable to being on records, as you can tell from his other collaborations: he can go into studios, lay something down and people will like it. In respect of my music, it’s more that it’s quite fluid and it always has been since we started working together. There’s never been a point where a track’s been difficult to make. I think sometimes when he collaborates with other people it’s very much like he’s written a song and then it gets put into that context, whether it’s ‘Too Much’ with Drake or ‘Saint Pablo’ with Kanye West. Mine are much more intertwined, I suppose: our parts would fall apart without the other, you know?”

Speaking of Drake, he previewed your recent song ‘Forward’ in the video for his and 21 Savage’s ‘Jimmy Cooks’ back in October after you DM’d him the track. What happened there?

“I heard [about it] after the fact from their team. The thought was that it would then be on their album, but it didn’t appear on there so I was like, ‘Oh, so this opportunity’s now disappeared!’ I still talk with Drake on DMs, so potentially there may be something down the line, you never know. The music industry is a funny beast in terms of how things work. There was a very positive side, though, with the amount of new followers who heard ‘Forward’ through that context. There were loads of people finding out about [my music] through YouTube comments or on TikTok. Fingers crossed that one day, something does appear as a finished version.”

Since going independent, you’ve shed the anonymity behind your SBTRKT persona. How do you look back on your journey to this point as an artist?

“The funny thing for me is there isn’t really much difference between then and now. I always say that you don’t ever get into the positions you’re in unless you’re doing all the work yourself anyway. Back then, being anonymous had a real message for me, in that I was focusing on the music and not allowing the need to have a personality or some sort of face as the thing which sells what you do.

In this day and age, especially the way that social media is, I feel that I need to bring the ownership of my own identity to the front, and having a mask or an anonymous persona was only hindering that. A lot of people thought I was voiceless, you know? As a mixed race South Asian musician, I didn’t really see anyone like me when I was starting out. This isn’t some sad tale of woe, but since I’ve been kind of ‘revealed’ as such, I’ve seen some people taking pride in the fact that there’s someone they know who’s doing quite well at something, or being involved in a place that they would love to be. I feel like there being more visibility is always important, and it encourages people to be doing things that I’ve achieved myself through being hidden.”

You tweeted recently that you’re “looking at losing money” with your upcoming shows in LA and New York City. How difficult are you finding it to tour in the current climate?

“We’re in a very difficult place. We were in a place where music could possibly earn you money, and I think that, it doesn’t matter what era you’re from, you have some expectation that it definitely gets worse as time goes on. With touring, in terms of the cost of living crisis and everything else, the fees aren’t getting any better. No-one’s willing to pay any more to go to a gig, but unless you’re Beyoncé and people pay upwards of £100 for your shows, anyone at my level is like, ‘Well, £20 is about the going rate’. Even at that you can’t scale up, so it’s tough to make it work. When you’re in 800-to-1500-capacity venues on a tour like mine, you’re in loss-making [territory] – you can get quite close to being in quite large trouble if you’re not very careful about those margins.

All I can hope for is that this record takes off and my fans really engage with it, and therefore it helps me be able to tour to a larger scale. The touring costs don’t change depending on where you play, it just means that you don’t earn as much.”

Despite those difficulties, are you still looking forward to playing live?

“I’m excited! I used to be super-nervous about doing a live show, because it’s such a major challenge to get right. A lot of producer peers of mine will just go on stage and literally play back their songs, maybe hitting the odd snare drum on a sample pad. That’s one way of getting away with it, especially if you have a big screen behind you.

But the flip side of that is either doing something like The Chemical Brothers, where there’s so many masses of synths and it’s very electronic-based, or you can go down the semi-live route, which suits what I do because it’s what I do in the studio. For me, it was like, ‘Can I translate that and have fun with it on stage?’ I also wanted the fear that if I stop playing on stage then nothing happens, there’s silence: that’s what a band is. The one issue is that because I’m not a band – I’m a bit like Kevin Parker and Tame Impala – I have people who play with me. But we haven’t played together for like seven or eight years, so I’ve got to rebuild that rapport.”

Speaking of Kevin Parker, could there ever be a SBTRKT and Tame Impala collaboration?

“I did hit Kevin up actually on this campaign, but he was very, very busy. I love his work, and he’s got that new track with Thundercat, which is really sick.”

What does the future hold for SBTRKT and Aaron Jerome?

“My first album was made in two years when no-one was paying attention, while my second, like all second albums, was made under pressure after finishing two years of touring the first record. I was like, ‘Agh, I need to put something out within three years or it’s getting late!’ This album has been a much longer process, and I’ve got way more material to work with going forward than I’ve ever had at any other point, even before my first album. I’m definitely feeling the pressure of having to rebuild a little bit to get back to even having people know that I exist, but hopefully I can deliver good, quality stuff at a slightly quicker rate than before.”

SBTRKT’s new album ‘The Rat Road’ is out now

The post SBTRKT on his comeback and the mask coming off: “A lot of people thought I was voiceless” appeared first on NME.

NME

Last week saw the release of ‘BABYLON IX’, the latest EP from the rising Malaysian-Irish dance producer and singer/songwriter Yunè Pinku. Promising to take her listeners to a “weird, cyberpunk world” after drawing inspiration from AI, the metaverse and WALL-E, Pinku’s resulting record is an aptly otherworldly collection of future-facing space-rave bangers.

‘Heartbeat’, an ethereal electro-ballad, was the final song to be released from the EP as a single, and the track lands straight on the NME Radio A List this week. It’s joined there by fellow new additions from The Last Dinner Party – billed by NME recently as “the best new band you haven’t heard yet” – and King Nun‘s ‘Selfish’.

Elsewhere, fresh tracks by the likes of Mac DeMarco, SBTRKT and Beabadoobee have jumped onto the NME Radio playlist this week, as have two heavyweights collaborations: Thundercat and Tame Impala‘s ‘No More Lies’, and The Weeknd and Future‘s ‘Double Fantasy’.

Check out all of the new additions to NME Radio 1 and 2 below:

On the A List

King Nun – ‘Selfish’
The Last Dinner Party – ‘Nothing Matters’
Yunè Pinku – ‘Heartbeat’

On the B List

Adanowsky & Beck – ‘Chain Reactionary’
Mac DeMarco – ‘20200817 Proud True Toyota’
Militarie Gun – ‘Very High’
Spirits of Saturn – ‘Feelings Agency’
Thundercat & Tame Impala – ‘No More Lies’

On the C List

Beabadoobee – ‘Glue Song’ (feat. Clairo)
SBTRKT – ‘L.F.O.’ (feat. Sampha and George Riley)
Sir Chloe – ‘Know Better’
SuperJazzClub – ‘Too Early’
The Weeknd – ‘Double Fantasy’ (with Future)
Treeboy & Arc – ‘False Objects’

Want to listen to NME Radio? Here’s how you can.

The post NME Radio Roundup 1 May 2023: Yunè Pinku, Thundercat and Tame Impala, Beabadoobee and more appeared first on NME.

NME

Yunè Pinku is throwing a rave in space, and everyone’s invited. Fresh from releasing one of 2022’s best debut EPs in ‘Bluff’ – a hypnotic yet introspective dance record that felt equally at home booming out of nightclub speakers or filling your headphones on the last train home – the south London-based electronic producer, singer and songwriter is now blasting off from her bedroom studio to a “weird, cyberpunk world”, her transfixing techno-meets-garage sound very much on board.

• READ MORE: Yunè Pinku: bedroom producer carving out time to chill in the rave

Pinku’s second EP ‘BABYLON IX’ thematically draws from a curious collection of influences: ancient myths, Pinku’s own self-described “deep dive” into AI’s potential spirituality (robot-penned Oasis album aside, no doubt) and, er, WALL-E have all been namechecked by the Malaysian-Irish artist in the run-up to its release. Fortunately, neither an informed understanding of the metaverse or Disney/Pixar’s filmography are prerequisites for delving into this EP – not when there’s a six-pack of effervescent, future-facing dance tunes to devour.

“Can you make it make more sense to me?” Pinku airily asks in the opening line to ‘Trinity’, the EP’s fizzing introduction, as a mesmerising array of synths and samples coalesce to set the tantalising tone for its creator’s newfound sonic setting. There is some frustration, then, that following track ‘Heartbeat’ doesn’t quite help the EP ascend to its next natural level. Still, given that it unfolds into an ethereal electronic ballad that vividly describes “painting the doom”, it’s still an entirely compelling part of Pinku’s otherworldly collection.

As the electrifying ‘Sports’ – an “angry version” of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’, according to Pinku – booms out, though, the party really gets started. An unshakable synth bassline and a shuffling rhythm section initially serve as a call-to-the dancefloor, before gigantic breakbeats ring out to end all doubt about this track’s euphoric intentions. “Hey, what’s up / TV’s boiling over, love,” Pinku eye-rollingly sighs to a screen-obsessed companion, simultaneously calling out anyone who might dare to disengage from Pinku’s party with some idle scrolling.

‘Night Light’ and ‘Fai Fighter’, both released as singles prior to ‘BABYLON IX’’s arrival, follow the ambient trance of ‘Blush Cut’ and add to Pinku’s growing canon of stratosphere-shattering bangers. The former takes just seven seconds to burst into life with wobbling synths and pummelling, garage-indebted beats, while its digital-lovestruck lyrical narrative sees Pinku forlornly note “everybody’s saying that we’re in love / For what that’s worth” before eventually coming around to the idea that “you make it better / Better together, better forever”.

Closing track ‘Fai Fighter’ opens with a shattering scream that practically echoes across the universe, before laser-zapping synths and more brilliantly disaffected lyrics (“Do you endeavour? / My head you sever / Oh babe, whatever!”) up the ante even further. It’s a fittingly bombastic close to an EP that shoots for the stars and succeeds – given that it was the work of Yunè Pinku, mind, it was never going to miss.

Details

• Release date: April 28, 2023
• Record label: Platoon

The post Yunè Pinku – ‘BABYLON IX’ review: futuristic space-rave for the ages appeared first on NME.

NME

Yunè Pinku is throwing a rave in space, and everyone’s invited. Fresh from releasing one of 2022’s best debut EPs in ‘Bluff’ – a hypnotic yet introspective dance record that felt equally at home booming out of nightclub speakers or filling your headphones on the last train home – the south London-based electronic producer, singer and songwriter is now blasting off from her bedroom studio to a “weird, cyberpunk world”, her transfixing techno-meets-garage sound very much on board.

• READ MORE: Yunè Pinku: bedroom producer carving out time to chill in the rave

Pinku’s second EP ‘BABYLON IX’ thematically draws from a curious collection of influences: ancient myths, Pinku’s own self-described “deep dive” into AI’s potential spirituality (robot-penned Oasis album aside, no doubt) and, er, WALL-E have all been namechecked by the Malaysian-Irish artist in the run-up to its release. Fortunately, neither an informed understanding of the metaverse or Disney/Pixar’s filmography are prerequisites for delving into this EP – not when there’s a six-pack of effervescent, future-facing dance tunes to devour.

“Can you make it make more sense to me?” Pinku airily asks in the opening line to ‘Trinity’, the EP’s fizzing introduction, as a mesmerising array of synths and samples coalesce to set the tantalising tone for its creator’s newfound sonic setting. There is some frustration, then, that following track ‘Heartbeat’ doesn’t quite help the EP ascend to its next natural level. Still, given that it unfolds into an ethereal electronic ballad that vividly describes “painting the doom”, it’s still an entirely compelling part of Pinku’s otherworldly collection.

As the electrifying ‘Sports’ – an “angry version” of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’, according to Pinku – booms out, though, the party really gets started. An unshakable synth bassline and a shuffling rhythm section initially serve as a call-to-the dancefloor, before gigantic breakbeats ring out to end all doubt about this track’s euphoric intentions. “Hey, what’s up / TV’s boiling over, love,” Pinku eye-rollingly sighs to a screen-obsessed companion, simultaneously calling out anyone who might dare to disengage from Pinku’s party with some idle scrolling.

‘Night Light’ and ‘Fai Fighter’, both released as singles prior to ‘BABYLON IX’’s arrival, follow the ambient trance of ‘Blush Cut’ and add to Pinku’s growing canon of stratosphere-shattering bangers. The former takes just seven seconds to burst into life with wobbling synths and pummelling, garage-indebted beats, while its digital-lovestruck lyrical narrative sees Pinku forlornly note “everybody’s saying that we’re in love / For what that’s worth” before eventually coming around to the idea that “you make it better / Better together, better forever”.

Closing track ‘Fai Fighter’ opens with a shattering scream that practically echoes across the universe, before laser-zapping synths and more brilliantly disaffected lyrics (“Do you endeavour? / My head you sever / Oh babe, whatever!”) up the ante even further. It’s a fittingly bombastic close to an EP that shoots for the stars and succeeds – given that it was the work of Yunè Pinku, mind, it was never going to miss.

Details

• Release date: April 28, 2023
• Record label: Platoon

The post Yunè Pinku – ‘BABYLON IX’ review: futuristic space-rave for the ages appeared first on NME.

NME

Yunè Pinku is throwing a rave in space, and everyone’s invited. Fresh from releasing one of 2022’s best debut EPs in ‘Bluff’ – a hypnotic yet introspective dance record that felt equally at home booming out of nightclub speakers or filling your headphones on the last train home – the south London-based electronic producer, singer and songwriter is now blasting off from her bedroom studio to a “weird, cyberpunk world”, her transfixing techno-meets-garage sound very much on board.

• READ MORE: Yunè Pinku: bedroom producer carving out time to chill in the rave

Pinku’s second EP ‘BABYLON IX’ thematically draws from a curious collection of influences: ancient myths, Pinku’s own self-described “deep dive” into AI’s potential spirituality (robot-penned Oasis album aside, no doubt) and, er, WALL-E have all been namechecked by the Malaysian-Irish artist in the run-up to its release. Fortunately, neither an informed understanding of the metaverse or Disney/Pixar’s filmography are prerequisites for delving into this EP – not when there’s a six-pack of effervescent, future-facing dance tunes to devour.

“Can you make it make more sense to me?” Pinku airily asks in the opening line to ‘Trinity’, the EP’s fizzing introduction, as a mesmerising array of synths and samples coalesce to set the tantalising tone for its creator’s newfound sonic setting. There is some frustration, then, that following track ‘Heartbeat’ doesn’t quite help the EP ascend to its next natural level. Still, given that it unfolds into an ethereal electronic ballad that vividly describes “painting the doom”, it’s still an entirely compelling part of Pinku’s otherworldly collection.

As the electrifying ‘Sports’ – an “angry version” of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’, according to Pinku – booms out, though, the party really gets started. An unshakable synth bassline and a shuffling rhythm section initially serve as a call-to-the dancefloor, before gigantic breakbeats ring out to end all doubt about this track’s euphoric intentions. “Hey, what’s up / TV’s boiling over, love,” Pinku eye-rollingly sighs to a screen-obsessed companion, simultaneously calling out anyone who might dare to disengage from Pinku’s party with some idle scrolling.

‘Night Light’ and ‘Fai Fighter’, both released as singles prior to ‘BABYLON IX’’s arrival, follow the ambient trance of ‘Blush Cut’ and add to Pinku’s growing canon of stratosphere-shattering bangers. The former takes just seven seconds to burst into life with wobbling synths and pummelling, garage-indebted beats, while its digital-lovestruck lyrical narrative sees Pinku forlornly note “everybody’s saying that we’re in love / For what that’s worth” before eventually coming around to the idea that “you make it better / Better together, better forever”.

Closing track ‘Fai Fighter’ opens with a shattering scream that practically echoes across the universe, before laser-zapping synths and more brilliantly disaffected lyrics (“Do you endeavour? / My head you sever / Oh babe, whatever!”) up the ante even further. It’s a fittingly bombastic close to an EP that shoots for the stars and succeeds – given that it was the work of Yunè Pinku, mind, it was never going to miss.

Details

• Release date: April 28, 2023
• Record label: Platoon

The post Yunè Pinku – ‘BABYLON IX’ review: futuristic space-rave for the ages appeared first on NME.