Artists You Need To Know About Right Now
Wake up. Brush teeth. Partake in state-permitted daily exercise. Go home. Go to bed.
Here at Slow Motion Panic Masters, we want you to break your quarantine routine, and we're willing to show you exactly how. We're all stuck indoors for the foreseeable future, so here's your prescription: 5 underground artists just waiting to provide the soundtrack to your seclusion and become the next big thing.
But first, make sure to follow our spotify playlist here and tune in on April 1st to see what our favourite tracks of the month were - spoiler alert, it's gonna include a few tracks from some of the bands below...
The Crudes are the real fucking deal. Hailing from Los Angeles, California, this band has fused together their influences to fashion themselves at the forefront of a new G-Funk revival sound. We featured their track 'W.C.E.L.' in last month's SMPM playlist, and were hoping to get a review out before the 'rona attacked, but suffice it to say that The Crudes are a band that you cannot afford to miss out on right now.
Self-recording (!!!) their tracks in a grungy DIY studio somewhere in the bowels of their city, The Crudes punch you in the face with screaming vocoders, thick basslines and impressive rap delivery - check out Chooch Castro and Van Ham absolutely ripping their verses on 'W.C.E.L.' right now as a clear demonstration of how good they really are.
Amazing band that we're desperate to hear more from. 'W.C.E.L.' is one of our favourite songs of the year so far, and if their next songs are anywhere close to that level of quality then we're in for an incredible 2020. Listen to them right now.
Flow state flows: JON. has one of the coldest deliveries out there. 2019 proved a prolific period for the Bristol MC with the artist releasing two EP's, a single and a mixtape. JON.'s creative output was frankly absurd last year, and 2020 doesn't look to be any different.
Releasing two-song project Is It Too Early? this month the rapper demonstrated everything there is to love from his style. Check out 'Satin Flows' here to experience JON. and the exceptional Reppatwa at work over a sample of Noname's 'Ace'. It will be on our monthly playlist, because it simply is that good. Don't sleep on 'For The Taking' though, with the other song of JON.'s project featuring excellent wordplay and an absolutely *disgraceful* beat switch.
JON. deserves to take the next step and he has all the tools to do so, but be careful listening to this artist. His flow is insidious, and listening to just a few of his songs will be enough to suddenly finding yourself re-enacting his bars over and over again in your head.
"Normal civilian but I write brilliant." Flames.
I wasn't gonna talk about JON. without properly mentioning Reppatwa. The other half of 'Satin Flows', the two form a Bergkamp/Henry level partnership on the track: clinical, creative and ice cold. Go back a couple years to 2018 and listen to this artist's sophomore full-length project A Collection to hear a deeply unique voice among UK hip-hop. Emotionally open, Reppatwa layers rhymes on top of each other with effortless ease. His bars melt together, flowing into one another like a lyrical waterfall, but never feeling confused or rushed.
Check out 'Self Control' from this supremely talented rapper here for a brief glimpse into the overwhelmingly talented mind of Reppatwa. Bouncing on top of another Noname/Smino-tinged beat, the artist has a playful demeanour that perfectly suits his style. Listening to this guy is infectiously entertaining half the time and admirably introspective for the rest. Complete package.
It doesn't really feel right to call Honey Lung a 'one to watch'. They've already been around for some years, touring with names as huge as Basement and JAWS, but some of you still haven't heard of them yet - and you should be ashamed. It's ok though, you can make up for it right now by jumping on this (soon-runaway) hype train, and getting yourself familiar with their catalogue as soon as possible.
New single 'Juggle' will be finding itself on our monthly playlist next week, and sounds like a wonderful fusion of Guided By Voices and Car Seat Headrest, all mixed together with some guitar tones that would've easily slid surreptitiously into The Bends. It's great. Honey Lung are great. Everything's great- oh shit, international pandemic. I almost forgot.
Joining Grandma's House as another of our very favourite punky noise-makers from the South West, Ratbags make grimy tunes absolutely bursting with character. Sat somewhere between the irrepressible energy of Buzzcocks and the cock-sure confidence of X-Ray Spex, this trio sound like a group that somehow slipped through the cracks of NOW That's What I Call The Anti-Establishment!.
This band would sound perfectly in place on punk mixtapes from whatever era you could possibly name. They are a truly versatile group and are already demonstrating incredible promise as a band that has learnt from the best to bring punk back. When this corona business is done, let's all go see Ratbags and get proper cross-contaminated in the endearingly sweaty mess that is the Bristol punk rock scene.
Ben Wheadon is editor and founder of Slow Motion Panic Masters. He is a Welsh musician and English Literature student at King's College, London and he should be writing a dissertation instead of creating a blog.
Thanks for reading! Slow Motion Panic Masters is a music, arts and culture blog created and edited by Ben Wheadon, a literature student and musician based in London, England.
Subscribe to our mailing list below to be alerted every time a post is published on the site.
留言