Watch: Chalk by Antony Szmierek

Opening with a deadpan vocal and a low swagger of bass line, Chalk is the latest release from Antony Szmierek.

Depicting a game of 8-ball, there is a startling, poetic vividness to Szmierek’s description. Small references to a stack of 20ps (that’s twenty pence pieces, to non-Brits) and the line, ‘The chalk’s just there for comfort’ encapsulate perfectly the feeling of dingy pool and snooker halls.

The story telling is combined with a kind of electronic post-punk. Square 808s provide a pulse to Szmierek’s stress-inducing delivery as he says, ‘Everyone can face a crisis, but not everyone can make it home’. Akin to a moment of clarity, cool synths wash the song as our protagonist enters the zone, stating ‘I’m on the edge’. The song pings back into its darker origins, elastic bass bouncing like the balls on the table as he takes his shot.

Overall, Antony Szmierek has created one of the most cinematic yet naturalistic pieces of music I have heard in some time. It’s a thrilling and light stylised experience. Check it out below.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

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Listen: Have I Been Good to You by Ian Cobiella

Opening with a cinematic pulsing bass line that evokes the movies of Tony Scott, LA-based musician Ian Cobiella’s single, Have I Been Good To You, has a pulse quickening magic from the very beginning.

That bass line quickly dissolves, however, giving way to bright piano chords and percussion that takes influence from the artist’s Cuban-Bolivian upbringing. The result is an intimate, sexy tribute, Cobiella’s vocals layered and stumbling gracefully over one another, full of excitement and boy-ish energy. Soft edged processing on elements of those layers creates a playfulness in the delivery. Like a conversation with one’s own emotions, we can hear Cobiella egg himself on, as he embraces his sense of affection.

The overall song comes together as a beautifully frenzied piece, a blur of colour and anticipation that reflects the destabilising loss of perspective that comes from falling for someone. As the song nears its conclusion, there is this brief-yet-wonderful jazz piano moment. It is like a rush of blood to the head, captured in this tiny little vamp.

All of this energy is deliberate, as Ian explains:

‘I wanted to make a song that moves because I want people to dance. The drum groove is built on a salsa clave, a pattern from Cuban music with this constant, almost obsessive forward momentum — which felt right with the lyrics. The song is sexy and manic, and I loved getting there in the writing and recording. This song is meant to feel like a tornado.’

Have I Been Good To You is the first single from Ian Cobiella’s forthcoming debut EP, All I Have To Give. Check it out below.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

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Listen: Prizes by Narium

Opening with something akin to a speed garage rhythm played by a hardcore rock band, Prizes sits with a gritty little dark heart, the centre of attention on a tear-streaked dance floor.

Taking her inspiration from 2010s indie and alt pop, from M83, the 1975, Daughter and Lorde, Narium’s sound is a romanticised take on the mid-digital era of Tumblr. Berlin based, Narium’s sound is deliberately edgy-yet-playful, pulsing bass and electric guitars contrasting with the vulnerability of her vocals.

What Prizes achieves is an aesthetic that accentuates the dramatic, coming of age style it is shooting for. The grimy bass and drums propel a song that resonates with the energy of animated gifs, subtweets, heartbreak, and a veil of aloof shame once it is all done.

Prizes is the second single to be lifted from Narium’s forthcoming debut album, following on from the crisp and dark song Nosebleed.

In addition to listening in the post, you can find almost all the music BlackPlastic covers on the music player of your choice. Add the dedicated playlist below:

Apple Music Spotify

Listen: Put the Fries in the Bag by Nesya

Born in Nebraska and raised the daughter of a preacher, Nesya’s youth was spent hiding her sense of self — an embrace of the gothic — whilst surviving sexual abuse, infidelity, and social isolation. A move to Sacramento at the age of 12 saw her find the alternative and darkwave scenes that felt like they reflected something she felt inside.

Having garnered attention via TikTok, her single Delulu was a breakthrough moment that arrived against the backdrop of the breakdown of Nesya’s abusive marriage and a split for her label. Now with the new label Double Down, formed by Evan Lipschutz in partnership with Virgin Music, Nesya is gearing up for a forthcoming album.

Put the Fries in the Bag is the lead single from that album, and it charts a path through a mixture of dark pop and EBM. Shimmering black synths provide a glossy background for Nesya’s vocals, as hollow bass tones create a robotic-yet-organic aesthetic. Produced by Kill Dave, the song is a deliberate attempt to recast trauma as absurdity:

‘I wrote it in the middle of a messy divorce and betrayal. The song turned that chaos into something fun. It’s proof that the 'dumbest' idea can be the thing that makes you want to dance again—or just eat some fries.’

Deadpan vocals create an acerbic, cutting narrative, as Nesya claims her place as a black alternative artist operating at the rare intersection of post-punk stylings combined with house and R&B sensibilities. The result is bold and infectious.

Watch: Button by Hockitay

On hitting the play button on Button, the latest release from Hockitay, I found myself really back in the headspace I occupied when I first heard Clairo’s beautiful, heartbreaking song Bags. Claire Cottrill has since gone on to become the kind of artist they would sell in a supermarket if people still bought music. Which isn’t to necessarily create a similar pressure on Hockitay.

All of which is to say, Hockitay’s new single occupies a certain loose and hungover space. Guitars are strummed, but only gingerly, baggy drums kick more or less to time, and Hockitay’s layered vocal feels compressed, two plates of glass smearing his emotions into a microscope slide for your inspection.

I have a playlist for this sort of music, called Loose and Losing, full of this kind of beautiful emotional freewheeling. It’s the sort of thing I would listen to on the way to a self-help group for people who feel things too much. Which, for the record, is me.

Born in Guatemala, Hockitay is now based in Montreal. Button concerned with our age of AI, where the sense self feels under threat, sees Hockitay observing, and asking us, ‘The task of living is all consuming, don’t you find that I’ve consumed enough?’