NIMKISH‘s collaboration with ASCXNSION, ‘YSB’ (Young, Sick, Broke), is about the need for healing, freedom, and to be heard.
The Canadian indie-pop artist explains further of the release: “This song is about feeling like you can’t get ahead, and specific issues that we as Indigenous women work through on a daily basis. Our generation has been left to deal with trauma and we are continually fighting for equity. It can feel exhausting to constantly try to be truly heard.”
Nimkish has made quite an impression on the scene with her 2019 debut album, ‘Heartbreak On The Coast’, which was charted at #1 on the CiTR Discorder Charts within a week of its release.
Check out the powerful single below, produced by Darren Metz of Snotty Nose Rez.
Montréal-based alternative R&B and neo-soul artist, MAGI MERLIN‘s single, ‘To The Beach’, the latest installment of a larger body of work titled Weather Music. The full collection comes as a deconstructed album with each release marking a different season, this particular piece being the one of spring, a time of growth, change, and catharsis.
Underpinned by an uncompromising introspection while exploring themes surrounding her own racial identity, love, and personal growth, the FunkyWhat-produced single follows on from her recent EP, Drug Music, and a string of standalone singles which have found her opening for the likes of Chiiild, R.A.P Ferreira and the cyborg rapper, Orrin. Merlin’s music ties together a diverse set of influences, spanning from the likes of Childish Gambino and SZA to Radiohead’s In Rainbows, Hyukoh’s 23, and Tim Maia’s World Psychedelic Classics, Vol. 4 knotting together this scintillating web of syrupy R&B and experimental electronic textures.
Magi uses her music as a way of processing deeply personal emotions, it’s a method of catharsis with this particular single also marking one of her more intimate cuts. “I tend to overshare through my music, I use it as a tool to process the more important moments in my life,” she explains. “‘To The Beach” is the perfect example of that creative process. I’ve always had a difficult relationship with my father. I wrote this song after deciding I no longer wanted to speak with him. This track allowed me to sing my way to catharsis.”
Watch the official video for the single, directed by M A Ï L I S
KIM KAZEE‘s single, ‘Live with It’ is a personal, raw statement about the struggle of feeling alone with your thoughts, and it’s vast and skillful creation paired with Kimi’s melancholy and poignant lyricism make this single an instant standout for the up and coming pop artist.
Although she may be a fresh, new artist, Kimi Kazee has a unique sound all her own and is crashing into the music industry. With her background in audio production, Kimi creates every beat from scratch and developed her craft during her post-secondary education. Kimi started her career in 2017 and her songs always come back to identity, individual growth, complicated relationship dynamics and mental health.
Hailing from Northampton via Luton, BXKS is a sonic breath of fresh air in the UK rap scene. Her astonishingly quickfire bars and a slick, sharp assurance alongside genre bending and experimental beats full of dreamy samples are all heard through her single, ‘Menace’ produced by P-rallel.
Speaking on ‘Menace’ BXKS says: “Menace is a story about me. It’s about me being aware of my abilities and doing what needs to be done to accomplish my set goal – “please don’t play me”. It’s also a rhetorical question to the listeners :). The artwork (by cocoa juice) is based on “neon genesis” the anime.”
‘Menace’ forms part of BXKS’ debut mixtape ‘Full Time Daydreamer’ released on Friday, 11th June via Marathon Artists. Including previous singles ‘Packed In’ and ‘Work Like ft. KISH!’ which were widely supported by i-D, Target, Mary Anne Hobbs, Jamz Supernova and Rinse FM (playlisted twice), ‘Full Time Daydreamer’ is an eclectic eight-track “playful playlist” crafted mainly with producers TK and P-rallel, lyrically covering everything from rap brags to being broke, all with a bouncy, deft ease to her delivery, mirroring the fun escapist world BXKS wants the tape to represent.
Here’s your first taste to the mixtape; have a listen to ‘Menace’.
UK-based hip-hop collective THE HIGH BREED make their return to the scene with single “Forgiveness”, their first release of 2021. The track showcases the collective’s unique hip-hop style, effortlessly blending conscious, relatable lyricism with hypnotic, trap-infused production.
‘Forgiveness’ starts with an organ-inspired synth that instantly connects you to the song’s biblical theme, with the rolling drums and piercing hi-hats giving the song the punch it needs to deliver its weighty philosophical message.
Speaking more on the track, The High Breed say, “‘Forgiveness’ is an honest dialogue about what forgiveness truly means to the individual who has done wrong in a world full of self-denial. It is an expression and an acceptance of the ‘shadow self’, a vulnerable confession about the darker nature of our humanity and a poetic discourse on the morality of the human soul, highlighting the battle between virtue and temptation that no person throughout any age has ever been free from.”
Having gained traction with a string of releases last year, such as ‘Star Dwellers’ and ‘Meet the Gods’, and receiving support from BBC Introducing, the independent DIY collective are set to continue their momentum with single ‘Forgiveness’, now on all platforms.
New Lease Music 