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Asia

Farkhad Khudyev’s Orchestral World Fusion Masterwork, The Sounds of Eternity (Dedicated to World Peace), Quietened Existentialism Through a Reckoning of Cultural Memory and Catharsis Through Crescendo

Posted on 7 May 2026

Just as the Golden Age of Cinema is synonymous with high production values and narrative clarity, the same can be said for the live recording of The Sounds of Eternity (Dedicated to World Peace) by Farkhad Khudyev as he commands the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra. There’s a filmic, arcane grace to the composition, which draws you away from the trappings, gloss and excess of modernity towards the strife, beauty, loss and triumph our lineages have suffered through to arrive here, where The Sounds of Eternity rings like something you’ve forgotten to remember, but has always been there.

It’s the ultimate antidote to existentialism; how could you possibly question the meaning of life as the symphonically filmic veracity of the score affirms existence and obscures the surface noise through the spatial command of orchestral instrumentation as it cries, caresses and kindles catharsis.

There’s a revolving tableau of emotions in the 25-minute duration, which allows each crescendo to feel more visceral than the last; it’s a call to something primal, spiritual, historically rooted. With mugham singer Alim Qasimov, naghara virtuoso Natig Shirinov, kamancha master Imamyar Hasanov, and dancer Laman Hendricks folded into the orchestral vision, Khudyev realises his long-held ambition of bringing Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the West into one rapturous space.

Born in Turkmenistan, of Azerbaijani origin, and later shaped in the United States, he channels that cultural breadth into a work devoted to peace and the ever-embracing power of love.

The Sounds of Eternity (Dedicated to World Peace) is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

 Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tokyo’s RAINBOW BELTZ built a monolithic monument of ethereal visceralism in their shoegaze single, 246

Posted on 11 March 2026

‘Sonorous’ hardly scratches the surface of the full-frontal production in 246, the latest single from the Tokyo-based powerhouse RAINBOW BELTZ. The track arrives as a colossal surge of sound, pushing its momentum forward with a pulsating, oscillating energy that feels almost physical in its impact. The production asserts itself with monolithic force, creating an atmosphere that floods the senses while still allowing the song’s melodic core to shine through the haze.

Even the most impermeable walls of sound raised by shoegaze pioneers would struggle to match the intensity of 246. The release thrums with kaleidoscopically hazed momentum, allowing indie dream-pop harmonies to ascend above the intrinsically melodic tumult. Those harmonies glide across the arrangement with diaphonous elegance, hovering above the surging instrumentation while the rhythm section drives the track forward with relentless propulsion.

The way the sound resounds, the way the release becomes greater than the sum of its parts, and the way RAINBOW BELTZ establish their own viscerally ethereal sonic signature all contribute to a listening experience that exhibits a band with a cultivated approach to scale and texture. Their ability to turn dense arrangements into something almost surreally luminous is something not easily forgotten.

246 is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Japanese Alt-Rock Band, The Submerged, Revved Up Britpop in ‘Green River’

Posted on 9 March 2026
Fabrica by The Submerged

Nothing was lost in translation when the Japanese alt-rock outfit The Submerged embodied the 90s Britpop sound in their standout single, Green River, paying a visceral ode to the melodicism of Oasis while dousing the hooky choruses with the crashing carnage of hyper-distorted guitars.

Green River allows you to imagine what it would sound like if Oasis leaned into shoegaze instead of accidentally erasing the legacy of it when they reigned supreme in the 90s. The track unfolds like a cross-continental parallel universe, where Manchester’s guitar heritage collides with Japan’s alt-rock urgency. Above the walls of cultivated noise, the vocals swagger soul straight through the tight-as-a-straitjacket arrangement, cutting through the distortion with the kind of emotional directness that fans of heart-in-throat, emotion-driven alternative rock will immediately latch onto.

As a proud Mancunian, I can wholeheartedly say there’d always be room on Manchester’s stages for The Submerged with their fiercely electric edge and ability to annihilate with evocative alchemy.

The Submerged bring their own modern twist to the alt-rock conversation through an unusual performance space. Much of their live presence unfolds inside VRChat venues, where the band performs for digital crowds and builds community around virtual gigs. Alongside these shows, they organise the Halley’s Comet Night event series and champion the wider VR-based music scene through collaborative compilation releases that highlight other artists working within the platform.

Green River is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Bandcamp and Apple Music.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jafar Curry turned disco-dripped RnB nostalgia and rap-shot conviction into the luxe sonic labyrinth of ‘Dangerous Love’

Posted on 4 March 2026
Dangerous Love by Jafar Curry

RnB, hip-hop, funk and pop all find their place within Jafar Curry’s Dangerous Love, a swanky groove-soaked single that radiates soul as soon as the arrangement begins to unfold. The Thai genre-fusionist has built a reputation for weaving eclectic influences through his catalogue, yet nothing about his approach feels forced or experimental for the sake of spectacle. Everything moves with organic melodic momentum and sonorously rich passion, giving the impression that earworms such as Dangerous Love exist as natural extensions of Curry himself.

The track wraps listeners in the warmth of nostalgia while still carrying the exhilaration of discovering an artist capable of making familiar textures feel freshly minted. There’s a strange thrill in imagining what the Bee Gees might have sounded like had they steered toward disco-dripped contemporary RnB, punctuated with a rap verse that strikes the production with sharp conviction, acting as a contrasting juxtaposition against the dreamy hues of the RnB instrumentation, creating a tension that keeps the groove alive The production itself feels massive, a labyrinth of layers that gradually reveals its depth the longer you sit with it. Synth accents, rhythmic flourishes and velvet vocal harmonies ripple through the mix, building a luxe sonic environment that rewards attentive listening.

Curry’s broader body of work reflects the soul of a musician raised on blues, jazz, funk and rock alongside RnB and alternative hip-hop. As a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist with international performances behind him, he carries a musicality that flows through his piano work and vocal delivery. Dangerous Love captures that full spectrum, pairing rhythmic drive with storytelling sensitivity in a way that resonates to the nth degree.

Dangerous Love is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Bandcamp. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

HAZUE the Kid blurred the lines between lust and devotion in his hypnotically hazed RnB single, For the rest of my life

Posted on 29 November 2025

HAZUE the Kid’s sonic world is one of colour, hypnotic cadence, and caressive melodies. If he fails to break through to the mainstream with his standout single, For the rest of my life, lifted from his ingeniously titled album Amourphous, it will be safe to assume the mainstream has sealed itself off entirely. Within his steamy, urgent vocals lies a bilingual duality that seduces without pretence; there’s an exoticism to his sound that draws you in, holds you close, and refuses to release its grasp even after the final hazy-hued note dissipates.

As far as unflinching declarations of passion go, For the rest of my life captures sincerity rarely heard in contemporary RnB. The production glows with an almost liquid intimacy, wrapping his voice in soft reverberations that amplify every breath, every confession. The track glides, shimmering in the tension between restraint and indulgence, devotion and desire. HAZUE’s phrasing carries a quiet self-assurance, as though he’s performing in the half-light between dreams and reality.

Born in Vietnam and now based in Korea, HAZUE the Kid has been shaping his sound since his early teens, weaving threads of hip-hop into RnB’s emotional fabric. For the rest of my life feels like the point where experimentation and instinct finally align, signalling an artist entirely attuned to his own sensual wavelength.

For the rest of my life is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ride-or-die romanticism burned through Chiron Loxton’s alt-hip-hop sermon of the soul, Pure

Posted on 1 November 2025

Desire runs deep in the alt-hip-hop hit, Pure, from the rising rap artist Chiron Loxton, created in collaboration with Truent. Around syncopated trap beats, minor-key piano melodies amplify the sincerity in the genre-fluid declaration of unflinching passion. It’s a melting pot of electronica, RnB, and hyper-pop motifs, as the vocals prove to be just as chameleonic through the consistently shifting form of the track, which shows that die-hard romantics are still committed to their ride-or-die ethos.

While the moody RnB pop harmonies carry you through the choruses, the introduction of the grimey rap bars delivers a broadsiding juxtapositional contrast that leaves a lingering imprint. It’s the kind of track that will haunt you until you finally give in and add it to your playlists for repeat hits of the romanticism rendered through pure talent.

Now based in Thailand after a snowboard season in Japan, Chiron Loxton drew from a new emotional register inspired by a powerful connection made in unfamiliar terrain. Fuelled by genre-hopping, festival energy, and the impact of cultural diversity, he channelled that kinetic spark into this release.

Pure is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

CR Srikanth Lit a Celestial Fuse Beneath the Dancefloor in the Hyper Pop Anthem ‘Dancing in the Dark’

Posted on 1 May 2025

CR Srikanth, one of the most fearless sonic explorers, goes beyond traversing uncharted ground; he builds new intersections between symphonic harmony and synth pop to invite his ever-growing army of fans into mind, body, and soul-melting vehicles of escapism.

As one of the rare affecting architects of hyper-sonic pop, none of the emotion is diminished through auto-tune in his latest single, Dancing in the Dark. Visceralism weighs heavily in the euphoria of the dance-worthy anthem, which lifts you to one of the highest plateaus you could ever hope to reach through sensory experience alone. The track is so much more than a tour de force of genre fusionism—it’s constraintless expression delivered through the desire to rush body beats with serotonin.

With Dancing in the Dark, CR Srikanth expands his VS Pop™ vision—his self-defined cinematic crossover genre where orchestral scores collide with ambient and electronic pop aesthetics. Since launching the project in late 2024, he has earned global traction with FM and digital radio spins across seven countries, over 100,000 venue placements through playlisting networks, and a growing Spotify audience. His background as a composer and producer, backed by a catalogue of over 30 orchestral works and a growing presence on YouTube, makes each release more than a standalone single—it’s a signal that the future of genre boundaries is already dissolving.

Dancing in the Dark is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Asa Winasis Built an Acoustic Lifeline Between Hope and Heartbreak in ‘Just for Now’

Posted on 30 April 2025

As a talent never destined to linger in anyone else’s spotlight, Asa Winasis shines when given the reins of creativity. He went in for the evocative kill with Just for Now, a humble plea for sanctity, comfort, and connection in the moment; it’s quite literally a mindfulness meditation, providing an exposition of how important the present is, to be given another chance to taste something you want to savour forever.

Through gentle melodicism and even more euphonic vocals which contend with the arcane harmonies in Low and Death Cab for Cutie, Just for Now unravels as an artfully quiescent, orchestrally scored indie chamber pop ballad for the modern era when we’re all searching, yearning, aching and never quite reaching.

The Indonesian artist, previously known for his session guitar work across Southeast Asia and contributions to film soundtracks, strips his sound back to the raw bones of emotional storytelling with Just for Now. Mixed by UK-based engineer Chris Brown, who has worked with Radiohead and Muse, the single carries a sonic clarity that mirrors the tender vulnerability embedded in the stripped-back acoustic arrangement. Singing straight from the heart, Asa Winasis transforms simplicity into profound resonance, embracing a more reflective side that exposes the turbulence of heartbreak and the desperate clutch for one more fleeting moment of connection.

Just for Now is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Whit2Boi’s Progressive House KPop Earworm, ‘Set the Vive’, Pulses Through the Cracks of Reality

Posted on 8 April 2025
Whit2Boi

Whit2Boi threw out the rulebook to make room for an innovative recalibration of electronic music with his KPop-laced house anthem Set the Vive, featuring the exhilarating vocal presence of Estelle. While Western EDM producers cling to worn-out formulas, Whit2Boi architects an entirely different experience—one that abstracts your senses from material reality and relocates you into the textural transcendence of his sound.

Set the Vive is a slamming EDM house release that hypersonically injects euphoria into every drop. The builds, however, are where Whit2Boi’s signature hits hardest. Meditative textures ripple through the structure with spiritual and naturalistic ambience, dialling back the intensity just long enough to let the anticipation simmer into something more divine than mechanical.

Where other artists are happy to build club tracks for disposable escapism, Set the Vive constructs a world beyond imagination and delivers you straight into it. This isn’t an anthem for losing yourself on the dancefloor. It’s full-body escapism from an artist who understands how to make the synthetic feel sentient.

Discover Whit2Boi on SoundCloud. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

BOMiN’s ‘Mirror’ Holds Listeners in a Chokehold of Bittersweet Reverie

Posted on 16 March 2025

BOMiN’s seminal single Mirror from her sophomore EP, Again, by Accident, delivers a filmic piano ballad while commanding attention with an emotive energy rarely found in the genre. The chanteuse vocal lines beguile the seraphic piano keys, creating an intoxicating contrast between fragility and power. The brass section and basslines rise like a tide, lifting the melancholy from the piano and vocals, allowing the composition to wade between sorrow and solace without ever losing its elegance.

BOMiN’s versatility as a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger has led her across some of the world’s most revered stages, from Seoul to New York, where she has performed at Nublu, Williamsburg Music Center, and Silvana Harlem. As a collaborator, she has worked with the UN Symphony Orchestra and played alongside artists like AKMU and Sam Ock.Her academic background, including a Master’s in Jazz Studies from the Manhattan School of Music, has been complemented by prestigious accolades like the ASCAP Foundation AAPI Songwriter Scholarship.

With Mirror, she continues to redefine the intersection of jazz and contemporary pop. The precision in every note ensures that no second of its runtime is wasted—each meticulously placed shift in instrumentation brings a cathartic resolve, making it impossible to pull away.

Stream the Again, by Accident EP on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast