First proper earworm I’ve caught off Monstercat in a minute. Lose It All runs a big pop-leaning topline from Kaya Vitalis straight into a drum and bass drop that’s heavier than the vocal ever lets on, and that collision is the entire appeal. Vitalis has one of those voices that can go from fragile to belting inside a single line, and [IVY] wisely just steps aside and lets her carry the front half. Then the drop lands and the whole mood flips from bedroom to warehouse without losing the melody on the way. It’s the Monstercat house style done well: clean, bright, engineered within an inch of its life, but with a real song holding it together instead of a placeholder hook. There’s a little vocal chop in the second drop that pitches Vitalis up into something almost cartoonish, and it has no business working as well as it does. A lot of this label’s roster runs together lately, and this one has a fingerprint. Play it once and you’ll be humming the chorus an hour later whether you meant to or not.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.