After focusing on the new UK urban music I thought I’d change trajectory slightly and cast my eyes and ears across a different genre.
Synthwave, Coldwave, Synthpop – take your pick. When looking at both of these artists, I think Synthwave captures it best.

Jessy Lanza – Oh No

Jessy Lanza came to prominence on Kode9’s Hyperdub label, which at the time I thought was an odd choice but as the label developed its sound and moved into more experiemental areas of music it makes perfect sense.

I love Jessy Lanza; her ethereal vocals stretch long over this album. In my previous post, I looked at Francis Inferno Orchestra’s Veranda Culture, thinking about understanding music as art vs music for the club. I think that across the album Jessy hits all of these notes, never afraid to slow things down on deeper tracks like ‘New Ogi’ or ‘I Talk Bb’ or turn it up with ‘It Means I Love You’

She successfully and carefully channels 80’s pop and melodic tones and the result is honest, beautiful music

Boy Harsher – Careful

On the other side of the coin, we have Boy Harsher coming through, with deeper darker synths.

Described as ‘danceable gloom’ this sounds like it could have been made around the early 1980’s, following up from their acclaimed debut album Yr Body is Nothing’ They continue to create a deeper dark atmosphere that works just as well on the dancefloor as it does for an isolated listening experience.

If Jessy Lanza is an early morning sunrise, Boy Harsher are closer to a 3am trip round the ring road.