Written by Elijah P. In the crumbling digital landscape of the production’s sonic palette, we hear producer-singer’s jhl and their haunting presence linger in the distance, moving away from the destruction and ultimately building a kind of paradise in the penultimate 2025 single “All Up in Your Head.” Their latest single “Everything you want” harnesses the epic collage maximalism to its core and trades it for a more destructive, deconstructed club approach, meshing and glitching with the risers of trance’s past. At certain points, jhl knows when to tug at your heart through orchestral passages, channeling the seething energy of infatuation and the kind of colliding explosions that wipe the slate clean by the end. Moreover, “Everything You Want” and its R&B inflections make up for the track’s destructive atmosphere, where the former acts as a saving grace from the production’s more self-serious tendencies. As the New Zealand-Filipino creative looks toward working with the Minnesota Orchestra as one of their dream collaborations, their latest single helps channel their inner selves and their craving for physical contact through verse and melody. The chorus resists easy reading, splintered into multiple sections and buried under layers of a complicated composition. Still, there is beauty behind jhl’s madness, and somewhere in the noise, a sense of control. “Everything You Want” lands as an impressive collage club track. With New Zealand in the middle of a wider resurgence in electronic and experimental music, jhl stands out by staying unpredictable. There are too many DJs chasing the same lane, but artists like jhl feel harder to pin down. Support the art & the artist:
Tag: Electropop
TRACK REVIEW: JRRD – Thrill
Written by Louis Pelingen Since last year, JRRD has been in a constant process of finding himself in the music that he makes. He started things off with an alternative pop sheen on his debut album, ‘001,’ that might have the queer longing and well-structured melodies out the door, but his production flair is something to be desired. Sounding limitedly thin, dulling his musical capabilities for the most part. But five months after that project, he immediately found his calling through embracing hyperpop and electroclash soundscapes, a range of sonic aesthetics that he explores further through his next few records, such as ‘POP.MP3’ and ‘Yuck!’—piling upon as much enticing flash and passion as he possibly can through their brief runtimes. He doesn’t completely stop his tracks, however, as he continues to push himself further in 2026 with an eye for sharpening his craft. Through his second single that he put out this year, ‘Thrill’ displays a level of refinement. JRRD’s affinity for detailed production is better emphasized, allowing their blubbery tones to carry more spark, and his vocal melodies capture the attraction interspersed in the lyrics, centered around being enticed by a romantic thrill that he keeps at a distance, letting that tension feel simultaneously thrilled and wary. It creates a balance of thinking realistically and thinking indulgently, an approach that may ask more questions than answers, but it lets things simmer down before heading off to decide if he should chase that affection. While buffing his production does become a double-edged sword – the textures, while flashy, also end up sounding muddy in the mix – JRRD clearly gains more confidence and spark with this song. He carries more strengths that he can further embrace in the future. For now, JRRD languishes in his own thrills, one that’s alluring enough to experience long-term. Support the art and the artist:
ALBUM REVIEW: NEW LORE – grief cake
Written by Gabriel Bagahansol In late 2024, the band formerly known as No Lore released its final single under that name: a cover of Callalily’s 2006 classic “Magbalik” transformed into epic synthpop. Towards the end of the track, we hear frontwoman Tita Halaman deliver a rap verse on letting go of a troubled past and moving forward, adding an element of progression to a song of someone hopelessly saving what’s left of a dysfunctional relationship. By this point, No Lore was at a crossroads. Their music seemed tangled between the band’s roots as a guitar-based indiepop duo—and the organic but staid identity that comes with it—and a whole new lineup as a trio moving towards something else. With new creative impulses that appear to be at odds with the limiting nature of the band’s origins, letting go was something Tita Halaman, along with new members Kim and Carole, needed to do in order for them to fully embrace the ethos they now want to embody in their art. With a crashing crescendo that petered out into synth tones and beeps, No Lore was no more. Eight months later, after subsequently re-emerging as the electropop band NEW LORE, the three-piece would release their debut album ‘grief cake.’ Now operating from a clean slate, the members of NEW LORE paint glossy electropop soundscapes across this new batch of songs. The bright synths and saturated textures illuminate Tita Halaman’s straightforward and dynamic lyricism on navigating adulthood and its many tricks while drawing strength from the sincerity and frankness of one’s inner child. If the “Magbalik” cover was the death and burial of something that had run its course, the opening track “OH MATURITY” is the first step in rebuilding oneself. Free from the limited palette No Lore’s artistic identity afforded, the music bursts with a renewed sense of energy, as though a floodgate had been opened for a creative catharsis that is heard all throughout the album. That’s not to say there aren’t any growing pains, though: while Tita Halaman is eager to reflect on her past and become more optimistic and self-aware in her relationships, in the chorus, she laments the slow pace of these changes. On the breezy synthpop track “LOVING, HURTING,” Tita Halaman acknowledges that love can last in the belief that people can move past the mistakes they’ll inevitably make to each other. With the sound of a band that has immediately succeeded in working with their new sound, these two songs are a welcome introduction into the world of NEW LORE. NEW LORE’s embrace of electropop means they can now let the music add dimension to the stories they tell. On “DIRTY” and “GOODSIDES,” a pair of songs that tell contrasting views on trust and acceptance, the instrumentation is clear, dynamic, and colorful. This new approach helps us get a glimpse inside Tita Halaman’s mind as she tells these tales, particularly on “GOODSIDES,” where sweeping synths swell over an R&B beat that intensifies her wail of disappointment over someone she thought she knew well. Another example of the chemistry of words and sound that NEW LORE successfully blends throughout this album is “TRAFFIC,” where minor and major keys weave together as Tita Halaman sings about dancing to the radio with a lover while stuck in a traffic jam. Meanwhile, on the album highlight “WHO HURT U,” Tita Halaman’s words for an adversary are complemented by a dance punk groove that gives the song power, urgency, and fun. If the previous track sought an escape from lethargy, this one is the gas pedal push that’ll help you face your toughest moments headfirst with a sneering brave face. But the thread of life’s dualities continues to run through the album, and it culminates on the title track and album closer “GRIEF CAKE.” Here, Tita Halaman weeps for the end of a relationship she had fought so hard to keep alive. After trying to seek maturity, and now having gone through a bitter split, Tita Halaman has come to the realization that she is “just a kid,” making this one-half of a pair of songs — with the same key and tempo and all — that bookend this album. With ‘grief cake,’ the members of NEW LORE have given a nuanced take on growing into the many sides of adulthood, leaving no definitive answers when it comes to dealing with negativity, and instead calling on you to just have fun and never hold yourself back. It just makes sense why this album is named that way, and it also makes sense why the serious, sedate stylings of No Lore had to be forsaken for the urgent burst of freedom in NEW LORE. In early 2025, the band unveiled their new identity with “AMBITIOUS,” later the penultimate track on this album. It was the right way to kick off NEW LORE’s new story: its lyrics about shifting into new and exciting shapes, with an optimism punctuated by a sunny synthwave beat, is the ethos with which this remarkable re-debut was successfully built on. Reinvention shouldn’t have to come at the expense of your whimsy. In fact, it may just be the very thing that’ll get you there. SUPPORT THE ART AND THE ARTIST: