Electric Feels: Your Electronic Music Recap feat. The Kite String Tangle, Mickey Kojak, Lupa J + more

The world's electronic music scene moves quickly. Every week, we're treated to a horde of different singles, remixes, albums and more from the genre's vast sub-genre umbrella and often, it's hard to keep up. Here's where we try to bring you up to speed, covering five of our favourite electronic releases from the week just gone. Check out Pilerats' homepage for more brilliant music and news.

The Kite String Tangle - P()L4R

The Kite String Tangle is an artist that never stops. In the years since his sound-defining debut album back in 2017, the Queensland musician has continually grown and evolved, diversifying his sound and showing moments of evolution as he goes from strength to strength with every release he's put out since - whether it be one-off singles, a beautiful collection of songs that made up his second long-form release - In A Desperate Moment - or collaborations with names including Bag Raiders. P()L4R - one of two songs released by the ever-growing name on Friday - is a single that continues to showcase this growth, giving a glimpse of his new sounds and songwriting style as he works on more new work and continues his work on Exist. Recordings. It's something a touch darker and anthemic, uniting Kite String's signature, soothing vocal with one a touch more menacing and festival-ready, throwing a bustling, percussive production underneath. It's something notably new and different from the songwriter, moving out of his comfort zone as he attempts (and nails) new sounds and flavours. Here's hoping that he continues to show this evolution through the year.

Mickey Kojak - It's Gonna Be Okay feat. Jake Stone

Mickey bloody Kojak does it again. Over the last few years, the long-time Australian house don has stepped forward as a musician doing something unique to the local dance circuit, throwing it back to the mid-00s as he blitzes together darting laser-synth on the acid-house-throwback All That Acid or subtle vocals with productions a touch softer and tender, like on his steaming commercial crossover Get Out. With every release, he's repurposing long-time favourite sounds and bringing them forward to the future, uniting these nostalgic qualities - whether it be acid-house synth or this band/electronic Cut Copy-esque fusion - with things that bring it into 2019. His new one is much of the same, teaming up with Jake Stone of Bluejuice fame for It's Gonna Be Okay, a single that welcomes the latter end of 00s dance with its Midnight Juggernauts-esque combination of glitzy synth and melodies more organic and 'instrumental' for the lack of better word. It's a real breath of fresh air - something we find ourselves saying with every Kojak release - and his next EP Together (due out in April) is set to deliver much of the same (hopefully).

Lupa J - The Crash

Sydney-based artist Lupa J is someone we've talked our fair share about over the years, with her warped take on glistening electro-pop winning us over time and time again - whether it be on releases like her seven-track 2016 EP My Right Name or the accessible, yet slightly left-field 2018 single You're In My Headphones, which combined these bright pop hooks with a menacing production that glitches and twists itself around the vocal. She's releasing her debut album Swallow Me Whole later this year, but over the last few months she's been teasing it with a range of different singles that show the many sides of the sophisticated, multi-faceted musician, and The Crash keeps the momentum going in great, great style. It's a single that's a touch quicker and perhaps hectic than those thus far, with this quick-firing synth melody meeting rapid, crashing percussion and lush layering to create this very maximalist, in your face kinda vibe. "I wrote The Crash just over a year ago now, at a time when the album’s themes were really starting to crystallise for me," she says on the single. "Much of Swallow Me Whole is about a previously untapped queer desire demanding to be felt; presenting itself as an escapist fantasy from a failing long term straight relationship. This track is about how that left me at a standstill - longing for something really significant or destructive to happen, so that my situation would be forced to change because I couldn’t do it myself."

Rainbow Chan - Love Isn't Easy

It's hard to believe that we've been following Rainbow Chan for what's been around six years now, but when she's always been one step ahead of the rest, it's not hard to grapple her longevity in our scene. Rainbow Chan is a musician who has always been about pushing the boundaries of electronic, pop music, and the place where they intersect, celebrating her Chinese heritage and culture as she intertwines it with her in-depth knowledge of pop songwriting and production - something that she's shared time and time again, and will no doubt continue to as she paves the way for her long-awaited sophomore album, out in a few months time. Love Isn't Easy is the album's next tease and it does nothing but reaffirm he position as one of Australia's best - if not overlooked - songwriters and musicians. It's a moment a bit more low-key and down-tempo, with soft synth work and glistening melodies paving a platform for her haunting vocal, which gently floats over the top with tall-standing confidence you'd only expect from someone so talented in the game.

L D R U - Lay You Down feat. Muki

Australian beat-king L D R U is set for a big year ahead, with a load of new music (and live shows) on the way after a relatively quiet 2018 - filled with only a handful of releases after a big 2017 with his debut Sizzlar EP. Lay You Down is the first tease of the aforementioned big year planned and it sets him off on the right foot, enlisting saccharine sweet pop queen Muki for a fiery release that really captures the strengths of both parties, whether it be L D R U's high-octane and synthy productions of Muki's captivating vocal, which this time around, soars with this big-star confidence a fair throw from the bubbly and playful pop of her own work. There's a lot to come and if Lay You Down is just the start, then consider 2019 L D R U's year.