Crawling with sin and damnation, ‘Sincerity’ (feat. Gilan & Lefty), is a testament to the uniqueness of vision that London producer Zaflon is quickly getting a reputation for. Flanked by steely guitars twanging hauntingly throughout the song, Gilan’s hook is eerie, both conveying a deeply disquieting nocturnal mood, and supplying the song with its infectious refrain, while Lefty’s bars take it back to the harsh realities of the streets. Filmed in Zaflon’s neighbourhood of Kingston, the accompanying video is an almost Lynchian cut, conveying an impending sense of terror beneath the veneer of a civilised city.

Zaflon is a producer songwriter who’s quickly garnering praise for his unique production approaches, lending his engineering hand to Jamie Wood, Royce Wood Junior and a few others along the way. Having first played in bands since he was thirteen and then having produced his own tracks since sixteen, Zaflon’s approach centres on the use of live instrumentation in his tunes (although sometimes it’s heavily abstracted).

Recently, his exploration has tended toward the use of sampling and field recordings, old school drum breaks, and his own twisted synth patches. Having vowed to release a song for every month of this year, Zaflon finds himself taking on frequent collaborators to further flesh out his sound. “To me the music you make is a reflection of the life you lead and the people you meet along the way. There’s something so much more real about working with people you chance across in life.”

Zaflon’s last EP LDP 1 attracted rave reviews and comparisons to Darkside and Massive Attack. Now Zaflon’s trajectory is picking up pace. As intriguing and expansive as Bonobo, and as ambient as early Aphex Twin, Zaflon’s pioneering futuristic trip hop is both nostalgic and indicative of the innovation still left to find in electronic music. His task for the coming year is ambitious, but there is little doubt he’ll be running out of ideas any time soon.

Rising alt-pop/hip-hop artist K.Flay has released her brand new single, ‘High Enough’, taken from her highly-anticipated second album Every Where Is Some Where- out April 7th via Night Street / Interscope Records.

On the single K.Flay explores the power of lucid self-acceptance and delivers one of the soon-to-be-released album’s most blatantly upbeat tracks. Matching her seamless flow with sing-song melody, ‘High Enough’ fuses breezy rhythm and bubbly guitar lines into a hopeful meditation on keeping clear-headed.

Talking about the single, K.Flay (real name Kristine Flaherty) declares “there are so many songs out there about getting fucked up,” she says of the song’s inspiration. “I think a part of me was asking the question: ‘What if I’m already high enough? What if I don’t need anything but what I’ve got?’ There are many moments in my life—whether it’s because of a person or a place—that I don’t want to feel altered or high or buzzed. I just want to feel exactly what I’m feeling”.

For her second full-length Every Where Is Some Where, the L.A.-based singer-songwriter delved deeper into introspection while adding an element of political commentary. The result is her most deliberate and dynamic work yet, a thrillingly vital album that channels the frenzy and anxieties of today’s world but ultimately exhilarates. According to Flaherty, “each song on the record is about creating a different kind of meaning out of a different kind of something,” she explains. “Even the dark places are places. You’re still somewhere.”

Every Where Is Some Where features production from some of pop music’s heaviest hitters, including Mike Elizondo (Regina Spektor & Twenty One Pilots) and Tommy English (Ladyhawke), amping up the album’s defiant spirit with a densely textured yet gritty sound. “After Life As A Dog, I was listening to so much late-’90s/early-’00s rock,” says K.Flay, referring to her 2014 full-length debut. “I was absorbing the energy of people like Karen O, Shirley Manson, and Emily Haines and feeling totally inspired by it, so there’s lots more live guitar, bass, and drums on this record.”