On the cover of her new album Phases, Moonchild Sanelly makes visual what is inherent to her as an artist: she is a multitude of things all at once. Though she had well established herself as an icon in her home country’s underground, South Africa’s Moonchild Sanelly has seen significant
We’d never have imagined that we’d be covering a Drake album here at The Playground, but for all accounts, Honestly, Nevermind feels significant. No one could have anticipated that the Canadian hip-hop superstar would pivot toward dance music, and with little warning at that. It makes Honestly, Nevermind one of
afropop / Baltimore club / highlife / Hip-Hop / hip-house / House / jersey club
The chemistry that Philadelphia’s Moor Mother and New Jersey’s DJ Haram have concocted together as 700 Bliss is alchemical. The two make for a near perfect creative partnership; feeding one another’s ambitions outside of their usual scope so that together, they create work that feels as playful as it is
Bass / experimental / Hip-Hop / IDM / Industrial / post-club / rap / trap
In Carnatic music, a raga is performed by a vocalist singing improvisations in the corresponding register, in turn leading a small band of tabla, sitar, and violin to follow their patterns and rhythmic gymnastics. It’s like jazz being led by scat, but somehow more regimented despite its largely improvisational nature.
For all PC Music’s influence on the current direction of pop music, the London label / collective have released surprisingly few compilations. Rather, label head and producer A.G. Cook has been focussed on a steady output of once-off singles and EP’s from his guard of pop agitators, flooding the genre
acid rave / bubblegum / bubblegum bass / experimental / hyperpop / Pop / Synthpop / Techno
Over the past decade, Bristol’s Batu has been making a name for himself as one of the most forward thinking club music producers in the UK. His sound, an amalgamation of influences from techno, to grime, to UKG, is entirely future focussed. With the nebulous techno of releases like 2021’s
ambient / Bass / breaks / Drum'n'bass / experimental / IDM / Techno / UKG
The electronic music that comes from the North of Europe has always been distinct, as if echoing the terrains of its point of origin. Icy and ethereal, there’s a sort of primordial mysticism that can be felt in The Knife or Jenny Hval, or the pitch perfect emotional alchemy of
Few debuts are as striking as Kelly Lee Owens’s 2017 self-titled album which, simply put, was a revelation. The Welsh producer/songwriter introduced herself to the world with a sound not easily defined, but traceable. Brewing minimal techno and hazy dream-pop with atmospheric, new age ambient and even touches of caustic
ambient / experimental / IDM / Industrial / NOISE / Techno
“How’s the weather?” is one of those questions that’s become a means toward trivial banter, an autopilot prompt for small talk in the ranks of “where are you working now?” or “how’s the family?” No one seems to be taking the question too seriously, except maybe for Loraine James. Following
ambient / Breakbeats / experimental / IDM / improvised / neo-classic / trip hop
On last year’s Reporting From Detroit, minimal techno visionaire Terrence Dixon mapped a portrait of the city that made him. Like sonic cartography, the music on Reporting echoed the architecture of his home city, both physical and social. Sparse, spacious, yet simultaneously dense, Dixon notes how his ‘Detroit techno’ comes
