This is bigger and sadder than an NCS release has any right to be. Lynxie’s “Nothing Left To Lose” landed on the gaming-soundtrack label everyone knows from a decade of Fortnite montages, and it comfortably outclasses the format around it. The vocal is the centre of gravity, a real performance with grit in it rather than the anonymous topline these tracks usually run on, selling the title like she means every word of it. When the drop hits it goes full melodic-bass, wide synths and a beat that punches without turning brittle, and it never loses the thread of the ache underneath. NCS gets written off as content-farm background music, and every so often the pipeline turns up a genuinely affecting song like this one that makes the smugness look cheap. The production is clean to a fault, maybe a hair too polished, but the song underneath is strong enough to carry the shine. Worth far more than the algorithm will ever pay it.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.