Since plunging into the electronic music scene in 2016, Serbian-born, Chicago-based producer Kryptogram has immersed listeners in a state of bliss with his groovy concoctions. Emigrating to the US from war-torn Serbia in the early 2000s, kryptogram (born Igor Loncar) grew up in a musically fruitful household. Drawing influences from Chicago house, 90s UK garage, and early-2000s disco-house, he has developed his artistic sound as an intricate combination of inescapable house grooves, crisp production, and soothing melodies.
Following the release of krypt. vol2, the second installment of his exploratory mixtape-style EP series, kryptogram returns with his new single “Taste.” The Serbian producer’s style of music is one you can take anywhere, meticulously crafted and tailored for refined sonic palates and house music purists alike. Out now, “Taste” is a worthy addition to his growing catalogue.
“I loved making ‘Taste,’ it came randomly during a remix production session. I loved its simplicity and I wanted to make some timeless house. I started the dub mix when I was mixing the original and I let the 90s MAW / Kerri Chandler influence take it where it needed to go. That guitar solo was one take of me foolin’ around on the Roland EM2000.” – kryptogram
“Taste” lures listeners in with a tasteful combination of snazzy synth progressions, world-beating UK house drums, and a pulsating, fat bassline. It’s playful and high-energy, a sign of times in the modern dance music world. Emerging in an era during which artists draw inspiration from styles new and old, kryptogram’s refusal to be confined into a single genre is notable and well-timed. Refined in nature but dangerously addictive, “Taste” has the power to light up any dance floor.
Following the release of his latest track “Breathing,” emerging producer Kharfi emerges with encouraging new single “Hold Back My Heart” featuring Mercedes. Out now, this bubbly progressive house tune is brimming with promising cadence, melodic piano synths and boogie-inducing beats. “Hold Back My Heart” is the fourth song to be released off Kharfi’s debut album, AQUARIUM arriving in January 2022.
“Hold Back My Heart” is the main single from my debut album “AQUARIUM,” which will be released in January2022.I teamed up with Mercedes, a young and talented songwriter from Hicksville, NY. The goal is to create a vision for those Dance tracks who are also very deeply emotional, with dark pitched vocals and sad chords. – Kharfi
Composed of delicate chord progressions and captivating claps, “Hold Back My Heart” exemplifies Kharfi’s signature addicting sound by harrowing in on his crisp sound design and ambient breakdowns. Fervent chorus is supported by steady drums, picking-up the pace by introducing spirited synths and funky vocal chops. Submerging listeners in a serotonin induced state with prosperous vocals and a pulsating baseline, “Hold Back My Heart” is a certified pick-me-up.
Though ILLfest had to push back their festival until 2022, the lineup they released promises to be worth the wait. Eager to give fans a unique festival experience, ILLfest returns to the Travis County Expo Center in Austin, Texas, on February 18th and 19th. Attendees can expect to throw down with special guest Liquid Stranger and catch a rare b2b with RL Grime and BAAUER. Dance the night away with Malaa, Peekaboo, Borgore, Mr. Carmack, and many more for two days of music and one-of-a-kind art installations.
To celebrate, we’ve teamed up with ILLfest to give one lucky RTT reader 2 VIP tickets and a meet and greet with Nitti Gritti.
Really looking forward to playing ILLfest for the first time! Austin, Texas has become one of my favorite cities to play over the past few years so I’m super stoked to come back this February.” -Nitti Gritti
The contest ends December 13th, and the winner will be contacted by December 15th. Peep the full lineup below, and don’t miss this chance to party in Austin, Texas. Enter to win now.
Despite the fact that NGHTMRE and Zeds Dead haven’t collaborated on a song in over five years, “Shady Intentions” brilliantly showcases each artist’s strengths, resulting in an outstanding track. For the better part of the year, fans have been waiting for the formal release of their latest single after hearing about it on social media, and the wait was well worth it.
Tori Levett’s soothing vocals open the three-minute piece, which is flawlessly transitioned to a heart-pounding crescendo of strong bass. NGHTMRE and Zeds Dead alternate between dreamy melodic interludes and bass-driven breakdowns, building to a gratifying drop that envelops listeners in an intense blend of snappy sound design and booming drums. “Shady Intentions” is undoubtedly the epic collaboration that fans have been anticipating all year.
Rich Delinquent first caught our attention last year thanks to his impressively catchy ‘Cocaine Late Nights’ single. Since then, the LA-based artist has continued to take his inventive electronic-pop sound to new heights, releasing a slew of exceptional singles before finally dropping his debut album, Sadboi. In the wake of his anticipated LP, Rich is clearly showing no signs of slowing down as we’ve now received the official music video for the title track, ‘Sadboi.’ As you’ll see below, the visuals depict the artist in a chaotic prison as he channels all the true sadboi emotions we’ve come to love from the album. See what we mean by streaming the video below and be sure to bump the album via Spotify as well.
Rich Delinquent – Sadboi (Official Music Video) | Stream
Back with another single from his upcoming EP, Daniel Allan recently put his newest single “Feel Like That” with Idarose. The second look into his Overstimulated EP, “Feel Like That” is marked by Allan’s engaging and signature gated bounce style, continuing the sentimental and personal in a dynamic way.
Allan has recently emerged as a pioneer of sorts in the evolving web3 space. Bringing his project to life by non-traditional means, the planned project was crowdfunded using crypto via Mirror – raising 50 $ETH, or approximately $190k in a day from his community earlier this year.
The details of the full campaign can be found here.
While this was undoubtedly a boon for his career, the funding allowed Daniel to truly focus on music for the first time in his life. Without the vast array of distractions that being an independent artist entails, Overstimulated began coming to life.
“Feel Like That” is crisply produced and as honest of a tune as they come. Residing at the cross section of dance and pop music, Daniel Allan has a knack for mixing the best of both worlds and not leaning too heavily into either side. What we’re saying is: this dude’s music is damn good.
San Diego-based house/techno producer Burko released a heavy edit of the viral hit from ACRAZE, “Do It To It” earlier last week. The edit takes gives the track a darker spin, making it a fit for late nights at the warehouse function.
LICK‘s upcoming album continues to be a doozy. He’s already show how versatile he is by the variety of each single that’s come off of the record. His latest offering “ELIMINATE” sees him go back to his bass heavy roots and deliver an absolute banger. If you like what you’re hearing, don’t worry there will be more soon as the Arizona based artist has tweeted out that his album is done.
Rising artist JVNA has finally unleashed her anticipated debut album, Hope In Chaos. As you’ll hear below, the 12-track project is a deeply moving listening experience as the classically trained musician takes us on a beautiful personal journey through grief, love, determination, and other resonant emotions she’s faced over recent years. Employing a melting pot of sonic influences ranging from electronic, pop, and rock, this eclectic LP is captivating from start to finish; not to mention jam-packed with meaning and passion that will leave you feeling inspired and genuinely touched. On the heels of Hope In Chaos, JVNA will be hitting the road for an album-themed tour starting on February 19th. We had the pleasure of sitting down with the artist herself to talk about the inspiration behind this impressive project; check it out below and be sure to blast the album as well.
JVNA – Hope In Chaos (Album) | Stream
RTT: Taking on writing, singing, and production duties for an entire album is impressive. Whatwas that creative process like for you and how did it influence the final product?
JVNA: Thank you! I truly enjoy being able to express creativity in all aspects of my music – production, melodies, lyrics, and music videos. I think because I’m doing all of this, I’m telling a genuine story from my heart that translates to the listener as authentic as it can be. The creative process can be very frustrating as I can be very perfectionist about really minuscule details that most people wouldn’t even notice if I didn’t point out. However it’s all worth it at the end when I’m able to listen back to a song and feel a sense of ease because everything is in the right place I envisioned it to be.
How has being a classically trained musician informed your approach to producing electronic music in 2021?
Composition in classical music is very different from Electronic music and especially pop. A full orchestra can be composed of 100 players and each of them are playing a very specific detailed composition that all together creates one sonic texture. With electronic music, you have to worry about things not sounding too “muddy” whereas it is a completely different approach in classical music. I struggled with that a bit when I first started producing electronic music because I would have 20 melodic ideas that I wanted to fit into 2 bars of music. I also studied film scoring in
college, so I think that has translated some cinematic elements into my own electronic music. I like to have lots of slow sweeping evolving builds and tell stories with them sonically.
You’re channeling a lot of powerful emotions on Hope In Chaos, in particular grief. Talk a bit about how your life experiences have influenced the making of this project.
This album is written about a time of instability where I was going through so many rapid changes at once – breakups, death of father, graduating from college, entering the entertainment industry. I’m now at a pretty mentally stable part of my life and in a way, writing this album is my way of processing my journey to adulthood.The overall theme of this album is about the story of Pandora’s Box. The Greek tale follows the goddess Pandora who opens a forbidden box out of her own curiosity, thus unleashing chaos, diseases, and sins into the universe. The one thing that was left behind was hope. This album is about reaching into the unknown, fighting chaos against all odds, and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
I staged my tracklist in a similar fashion to the stages of Grief. In the first song “Chaos (Prelude)” my last spoken lyric says “I’ll soar among the chaos”. That is why the last song of the album is called “Fly”. The songs “Where You Are”, and “Ghost” are songs about breakups and wanting them back in your life. “Breakdown” and “Sins” are angry songs dwelling on the situations that have happened. “Sins” hold very dear to my heart because I wrote it about the regret I have for having my last conversation with my father be a fight. The drop of “Sins” sounds like pans and dishes clashing – a memory of my divorced parents fighting. “18” is about my female story. The song that has the most emotion behind it is probably my song “18”. This song is about the dangerous box of impurities that come with turning 18.
You are immediately legally able to be sexualized by others. My lyrics ‘ Will you cut your face just to be pretty?’ is about the plastic surgery industry and the unrealistic beauty standards that many young women like myself have wanted to attain. ‘You say I want to be naughty’ is a really direct line about the cringe messages I’ve gotten in my DMs as a high schooler from older men. It is an overall song about how I felt transitioning into adulthood as a woman and also a turning point in the album. “Bullseye” is taking action and reaching for ambition to turn your life around. “Hope” is the interlude from the emotions of Chaos to Hope. From here on, the album becomes more hopeful and bright. “At least It was Fun” and “Dystopia” are songs about accepting your past, and current conditions. “True Colors” and “Fly” are about my experiences of happiness and resolve coming out of this journey.
Has opening up and being vulnerable on this album been therapeutic for you? What advice would you give other artists who are trying to express themselves authentically in this way?
When I wrote this album, I was in a very emotionally unstable part of my life. My early 20’s were full of changes and my journey into adulthood was very impacted by the death of my father. I wanted to tell a healing story to my audience that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Writing this album in a sense was also a healing process for me to cope with my understanding of all the changes I was going through. My advice to other artists who want to express themselves in an authentic way would be to write about specific personal stories. I think a lot of people dismiss their stories as not being ‘deep’ or ‘interesting’ enough but that is just their own personal impostor syndrome speaking. Every emotion each human being goes through is a story worth telling and if it’s able to be translated into art, that will be one of the purest and most beautiful things that can exist from the artist.
You’ve reached a huge career milestone in releasing your debut album. What’s the next goal for JVNA, what would you like to accomplish next?
It’s been two years since GRiZ and Subtronics dropped “Griztronics,” one of the hottest collabs to hit our speakers. Today we’re finally getting the sequel, and it’s everything we could’ve asked for and more. The perfect track for bass heads to unleash their wild side, “Griztronics II (Another Level),” is a mind-melting extravaganza that smacks in the best possible way. Keep an eye out for this one at fests and stream their latest collab now.
GRiZ & Subtronics – Griztronics II (Another Level) | Stream
The Krewella ladies have officially returned, bursting back onto the scene with a genre-bending new single in ‘Never Been Hurt.’ Collaborating alongside
Asian-American duo BEAUZ, the sisters come through with an intoxicating blend of pop and deep house, a clear departure from their traditionally hard-hitting sound. As expected, Krewella impress all over this track, but especially when it comes their vocal contributions; from the sultry lyrics to distorted chorus there’s not a moment on this record that’s not captivating. Stream ‘Never Been Hurt’ via Spotify below and join us in hoping this means more fresh Krewella tunes are coming in the near future.
Kaytranada is back with his first dedicated project since the release of his GRAMMY Award-winning album Bubba. This time around, we’re treated to a wavy three track EP showcasing the producer’s iconic style from front to to back. The features on this release are also incredible, as we’re treated to collaborations with H.E.R., Thundercat, and Mach-Hommy. But enough talking – stream Kaytranada’s new Intimidated EP via Spotify below and let us know your thoughts in the comments section as well.
Perk Pietrek has been making waves across the industry and the young talent is showing no signs of slowing down. Today the rising Singapore act has unleashed his latest effort in ‘Don’t Mind,’ an intoxicating melodic cut boasting inventive sound design and an ethereal vocal topline. It’s one of the more tasteful electronic records we’ve heard this year and we wouldn’t be surprised if this one makes it’s way onto a ton of Spotify playlists. Pietrek mentions, “Don’t Mind is the epitome of everything I’ve done that has led me here” and we couldn’t agree more as this record is clearly a testament to the artist’s growth, as well as where he might be headed next. Stream the single below.
After winning a remix competition, Stylust takes the stage on this stacked remix compilation for Riot Ten and Young Buck’s “Mawlee.” Continuing the single’s original theme of left-field bass, Stylust delivers an energetic facelift that is sure to get a reaction from its listeners. Riot Ten does a remarkable job of balancing this package with selections from key genres within the dance niche, consequently allowing none of these remixes to fall on death ears. Standing out from the noise, Stylust makes his presence felt with this heavy adaptation that is suited for rail riding and headbanging. Featuring a mirage of skull-shattering bass, Stylust might be one to keep an eye on. The entire “Mawlee” remix EP is out tomorrow via Dim Mak and features tracks from Dr. Fresch, Godlands, Stylust, Chassi, Typhon, Jiqui & Dr. Ushuu.
Ship Wrek has finally released their banging house heater, ‘Stimulate’; a track made during quarantine but 100% made for the dance floor. This duo is known for their high energy house tracks that contain hypnotic bass and infectious synths, and this track is unlike any other. While creating this track they also had a plan in mind, Ship Wrek stated, “We were itching to get back on the road and knew we had to make something fresh for when shows came back”. This track is as fresh as it comes – echoing vocals, a prominent percussion line, and a crazy funky beat; it’s what Ship Wrek is all about. Accompanied by an equally stimulating visualizer, make sure you have enough space because this track will have you grooving!
The Kill Romeos decided to pivot to full-time electronic production and boy are we happy that he did. Today, the talented artist has come through with an impressive electro-pop single in ‘Crossover.’ Featuring intoxicating vocals courtesy of Nevve, this stunning new record boasts soaring synths and an incredibly clean mixdown making for quite the memorable listen. The producer’s expressive sound is on full-display here and we’re excited to see what he has coming up next. Stream ‘Crossfire’ via Spotify below and read what the artist himself has to say about the inspiration behind this single.
The Kill Romeos – Crossfire (feat. Nevve) | Stream
The Kill Romeos explains the single “started out as a musical piece I was gonna write for someone else.It was just bare bones. More of a mood than a song. I totally forgot about it. A month later I came across it and couldn’t believe I had written that. I fell in love with it instantly. I was going through some emotional heartache and transformation at that time and found myself very connected to it. I became obsessed with pouring my heart into the music.”
He continues, “When I finally got to a point where I felt it was ready for a vocalist, I knew I had my first musical piece and wanted to continue to write an EP and officially start my journey into music production. I teamed up with Nevve, whose brilliant words and vocals caught something so special. I was truly moved. I’ve never been so proud of a piece of work like I am of this song. I think it’s a great way to start my journey and I look forward to others joining me.”
Once again teasing fans with the promise of their highly anticipated album, Adventure Club are back with one more single. “Never Surrender” offers a nostalgia trip to the glory days for the powerhouse duo. Meshing harmonizing soundscapes with bass, Adventure Club crush it once more. Bringing along talents such as Codeko and Sarah De Warren along for the ride, this star-studded collaboration has us thirsting for the full release of the Canadian’s upcoming album release.
