From Leicester
Recommended if you like Bladee, Osamason, Clams Casino
Up next A self-produced album, plus live shows in the UK
Snoa is prolific even by underground rap standards: the 19-year-old from Leicester has released 71 singles so far this year, as well as three albums. But while some of his peers casually toss any old friend into the sea, knowing fans will still feast, Snoa maintains his quality at a remarkably high level.
The ethereal beats of producer 444Jet on Snoa’s July album, 2il de4th du 7art, make it a classic of the cloud genre, while the bass he tends to rap over, maximally pulsing in red distortions, feels a bit in line with the names of the tracores. But one track he’ll sound like Bladee addressing existence, the next like Giggs Gruffly slinging his enemies, and this shifting flow and his equally varied selections of beats (some self-produced) mean you can’t miss any sound.
His home city is rarely documented in rap, so it’s nice to have local details, whether sarcastically upbeat about the drug trade on Plan (“Welcome to Leicester, it’s popping here / K2, whip, e-scooters are profiting”) or morose on City: “It’s like talking to a brick wall when you in Leicester… Race wars, postcodes, 25 sides, everybody so divided.” He sounds like an excellent club-ready talk about one Grime Classic at 1NE after another, while Dodecahedron is like a Lo-Fi Neptunes beat made for a secondhand Toyota Yaris. “How long do I have to wait before I explode?” he complains about the latter. In this form, it shouldn’t take another 71 tracks. Ben Beaumont-Thomas
This week’s best new tracks
Jennifer Walton – Sometimes
Plucked strings set a steady beat on this masterful ballad for fans of Julia Holter and Caroline, while drum drops and noise frame Walton’s pondering of self-direction. BBT
Claire M Singer – Gleann Ciùin
Building from mournful softness to heavenly maximalism, the new recording of a piece written in 2019 showcases her sensitivity with the instrument, encompassing ambient stars of the cover and the grandeur of Kali Malone. [Not on Spotify: listen here .] Ls
Blue Bendy – Poke
The London post-punks turn a calamity into a typically vivid, vibrating chorus that actually sounds quite catchy: “Ten days here just end in disaster / WhatsApp me back, can’t get there fast enough.” Ls
Ebbb – eyes
There are shades of everything to the latest single Spirited from the art-pop trio signed tune ninja, with a vocal melody that frolics over head-racing synths and chugging drums. BBT
Fino – Portal
The Danish artist—and graduate of the Conservatory of Rhythmic Music—splits the difference between disappearing into you, the dazzling folklore of Joanne Robertson, and the impressionistic blues of Fiona Apple, tucked in with the dreamy recorder. Ls
Jjjjjerome Ellis – Vesper Sparrow (Ft Haruna Lee, James Harrison Monaco, Ronald Peet and Starr (Busby))
The New York musician who hurt his stutter in his work returns with a stunning jazz ballad: voice, sax and piano held in orbit with the lightest magnetic forces, before burning into static. BBT
Rafael Toral – Vida Fácil
The Jazz Standard, made famous by Billie Holiday, gets a stunningly imaginative cover played on guitar, clarinet, and other Portuguese-made instruments, the song’s chords spreading like molasses on polished marble. [Not on Spotify: listen here .] BBT
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