November: Six artists you need to check out this month

Dubliner and ardent softboy Kojaque has gained plaudits for his warm, immersive and weird sound (think early Tyler, the Creator with Irish flourish) accompanied by mind-bending visuals. In 2017 he won the RHA School Graduate Studio Award for exhibition ‘Love in Technicolour’. Last year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize-nominated LP ‘Deli Daydreams’ imagines a week in the life of a deli worker, swerving from the mundane to the magical.

Oslo-based Sunni Lindgaard’s music as Sassy 009 exists somewhere between the club and the bedsit and proves that not all Norwegian electronic music sounds like the cosmic disco championed by Prins Thomas. Sounding like Chromatics on a stroll with Smerz, EP ‘KILL SASSY 009’ is the first since the group became a solo effort. Subaquatic ambient excursions ripple against r’n’b-tinged odd-pop and a smattering of bassy late-night rollers. She’s on murderous form.

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Manchester-based, Birmingham-hailing artist LayFullStop has previously made music as part of Roots Raddix and Cul De Sac, while quietly developing as a solo act. With a sound reminiscent of Erykah Badu’s experimental r’n’b, her latest EP ‘Cherries’ contains some impactful rumination on the complexities of evolving as a woman. Lay’s cashmere-soft voice flicks between languid hooks and authoritative raps on what is her most assured work yet.

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Raised in London but based in the purgatorial town of Livingston between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Liam Doc has developed into one of the finest DJs emerging from the country with residencies at prestigious nightspots Sub Club and Cabaret Voltaire. He’s also a multifaceted producer having founded Eyeangle Records, through which his glossy, jungle-infused EP ‘Sweet Ride M8’ recently landed. An edits EP is up next on Denis Sulta’s Silver Service outlet.

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Transplanted Canadian singer/producer Rhi (aka Rhiannon Bouvier) is moving into the fast lane with eerie leftfield r’n’b. New album ‘The Pale Queen’ is a triumph of economy, built around punchy skeletal rhythms, simple chord patterns and deceptively cutting lyrics. Like the thought-out jumble of notes on a detective’s wall, her words somehow morph beautifully into songs. Recent single ‘Plain Jane’ is nonchalantly delivered but it still has plenty of bite.

[Photo: Ariel DaSnapper]

Brothers Mark and Rob Brandon’s pop-tinged electronica is part George FitzGerald and has a Jon Hopkins-esque attention to sound design. Growing up in Essex, their piano teacher mum introduced them to Mozart and Chopin while their dad played them disco and Chicago house. Songs start life on the piano before Rob chops them up with IDM and avant-garde techno influences. ‘Ketones’ (2018) has 750,000+ views on YouTube, and new tune ‘Beta’ is getting regular radio play. ‘

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