News / melodic
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1 min read
The Afterglow
Read more . . . →Everyone left. The music is still going. 1. Maribou State - Blackoak (Myd Remix) The original Blackoak was already a slow-dissolve kind of track — patient electronic music that trusts you to stay with it. Myd took that and added a pulse underneath, just enough kinetic energy to turn a headphone record into something you could almost dance to if the room were empty and nobody was watching. Released on Hallucinating Love Deluxe ten days ago, which makes it the newest track in this entire summer run. Ninja Tune holding this one until late August was the right call. It...
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1 min read
Lynxie, Pat - LABELS
Read more . . . →Found this soundtracking a stranger’s gaming clip and had to go hunting for the ID, which is the exact path NCS was built to send you down. “LABELS” pairs Lynxie and Pat on a bit of melodic, future-bass-leaning electronic that’s more emotionally invested than the copyright-free-music tag usually implies. The vocal — one of them, or both, hard to tell in the stacked harmonies — carries a genuine ache under the polish, all longing about being defined by other people’s names for you, which the title spells out plainly enough. The drop trades screech for melody, supersaws swelling up into...
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1 min read
Lost Sky, Chris Linton - Heaven & Hell
Read more . . . →NCS tracks carry a reputation for being wallpaper behind gaming montages, and Lost Sky spent years being the exception people pointed to when they wanted to argue the label was more than that. “Heaven & Hell” keeps the argument going. Chris Linton sings it with more grit than the copyright-free lane usually attracts, a slightly frayed edge on the top notes that sells the push-pull the title is promising, so the whole thing feels lived-in rather than session-perfect. Lost Sky builds around him with that clean, melodic drop-pop that made “Fearless” a hundred-million-play monster, except this one has a darker...
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1 min read
HESTER - Brighter Days
HESTER's 'Brighter Days' is NCS uplift with real spine under the piano and pitched vocal chop. Perfect gateway drug, no snobbery here.Read more . . . →Get the tee →Support the blogSome shirts are statements. This one is a verdict. -
1 min read
Loboski & Elipsa - Another World
Loboski and Elipsa's melodic dnb has a snare crack I keep rewinding just to hear again. Tighter and more ambitious than either alone.Read more . . . →Get the tee →Support the blogMade for people who left the room during Yellow. -
1 min read
Andrew Bayer & Vancouver Sleep Clinic - Burn For You
Andrew Bayer lets Vancouver Sleep Clinic's falsetto carry a 2am comedown record home. Patient, pretty, and it never wears thin.Read more . . . →Get the tee →Support the blogIf you wear this and someone hugs you, that's a real friend. -
1 min read
Last Light on the Terrace
Read more . . . →You’ve got an hour before the sun’s gone and these three records are exactly the right length. Summer’s best music is the last thing playing before the night takes over. 1. Sasha - Hollow Sun 25 Seven minutes and the acid line only fully arrives at the halfway mark. The rest is buildup — not the big-room kind, the kind where you realize you’ve been holding your breath and the track hasn’t even started pushing yet. This is the 200th release on Sasha’s Last Night On Earth label. Two hundred records, and he saved the acid for the anniversary. 2....
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1 min read
Five Records the Playlist Editors Missed
Read more . . . →How many of the 2026 releases in your library actually got finished? The full album, the whole EP, side B included. Summer buried some of the best electronic records of the year under festival playlists and seasonal mood tags, and five of them deserve better. 1. Joris Voorn - Horizon (Melatonin Version) Voorn premiered his ambient album Melatonin in a 360-degree planetarium in Amsterdam for an audience of 320. A nice stunt. The record is better than the stunt. This version of Horizon strips everything to pads and a pulse that barely qualifies as a beat — about four minutes...
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1 min read
AVELLO - LOST IN YOU
Read more . . . →Had this on walking home last night and the drop hit exactly as I crossed an empty intersection under a dead streetlight, which is about the most on-brand way to hear it. AVELLO’s “LOST IN YOU” is melodic trap that leans harder on the melodic than the trap, all glassy synths and a vocal chopped into heartbreak confetti over skittering hi-hats. It’s the kind of track Trap Nation built an empire on, that emotional-but-still-hits sweet spot for people who want feelings and 808s in the same package. The drop pairs a big detuned synth lead with a bassline that punches...
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1 min read
Garnic - Wake Up
Read more . . . →If you spent any time gaming in the last ten years, you already know the NCS sound in your bones even if you never learned the label’s name. Garnic’s “Wake Up” is a clean shot of exactly that: melodic, big-hearted electronic music engineered to soundtrack a montage. The vocal is anthemic and just vague enough to be about whatever you need it to be about, which is half the genre’s trick. The drop is bright and driving, built on a plucky lead that lodges in your head on the very first pass. It’s unpretentious to the bone and completely unbothered...
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