Alter egos creating dark rock, the return of Halls, and extreme glitch pop that will leave you floored, What’s Good is filled with heavy hitters this week.
Cassandra Violet – Dead!
Writing through an alter ego of an Old-west woman who lives on the edges of society, Venice Beach artist Cassandra Violet provides herself with the space to allow her unique creative process to run freely. Dead! entails her alter-ego dealing with a double-crossing romantically, rising slowly with a wave of quiet anger that quickly turns loud and hysteric, slaying her lover for his actions and ultimately being pursued by the law. It’s an enthralling track, that sounds like a masterfully produced short, but the notion of gun violence hasn’t been lost on Cassandra Violet, as for the first two months (until November 27th) of Dead!’s release, 100% of the proceeds will go towards Everytown for Gun Safety.
Halls – The Gift
Halls filled most of my late teenage years with remorse and self-isolation that provided me with an extreme level of comfort through the emotional explosion that is leaving your teens to be recognised as an adult. Now five years since his second LP, Sam Howard has shared news of his third LP “Infinite Loss”, with the release of lead single, ‘The Gift’. Detailing the different feelings experinced after suffering a loss, Halls goes from quick firing, r’n’b fused piano keys, to sombre, echoing gospel pop; capturing the desire to move on, while equally being stuck in a sense of depression after such a life changing event.
Rondo Mo – Cinema EP
Robbie Redway, aka Rondo Mo, is a London born producer and teacher whos work extends across the entire spectrum of his musical knowledge. Utilising his skills as a trained trumpeter and cellist, Rondo Mo places his classical training together with r’n’b infused electronica, caught somewhere between trip-hop and deep house, creating illustrious displays of contemporary EDM throughout his “Cinema” EP. Carrying a sombreness throughout his work that helps project the professional quality of his standards across its four tracks, Rondo Mo will happily find himself positioned between SOHN and James Blake on the merits of “Cinema”.
The Policy – Changes (ft Tessa Rose Jackson)
Dutch duo The Policy, create dark ‘art-house’ that will find the heaviest of house-heads vibing and smiling along to the hypnotic beats of ‘Changes’. With vocals from Tessa Rose Jackson of Someone, the Rotterdam duo utilise Jackson’s vocals to further amplify the dark yet upbeat sound of their work, with each layer added switching between being potentially gloomy and downbeat to energetic and uplfiting. ‘Changes’ creates a visceral mirror of the world, reflecting the good and the bad, aptly reaching balance between the two by consistently shifting from both ends of this spectrum.
Xuan Rong – Lay Apart
Strap yourself in as Queens based Xuan Rong is about to take us all on the ride of our lives with her latest single, ‘Lay Apart’. The Taiwan born, NY resident finds herself tucked into the realms of electronic-malfunctions and glitch-pop styles of Grimes, Alice Glass or FKA Twigs with her avant garde style of r’n’b. ‘Lay Apart’ begins rather steadily, slowly corrupting from it’s recognisable pop formula, like a cheerleader from any 90’s teen film suddenly beginning to glitch, before totally erupting into a malestrom of bass heavy pixels, igniting the heart racing music of Playstation 1 gaming that filled your childhood with adrenaline fuelled anxiety.
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