Dancing Astronaut’s 5 Under 5k: Vol. 21

by: Toby Reaper Jun 13, 2017

5 Under 5k is a feature on Dancing Astronaut dedicated to spotlighting talented upcoming and undiscovered artists who we believe deserve more exposure. Each edition of 5 Under 5k will highlight five artists from a wide variety of genres with under 5,000 followers on SoundCloud (at the time of writing).

Xie (4,314) is a woman of many talents, though she is particularly talented at producing and singing if her new collaboration with V!RTU is any indication. Amazingly, “Just Like Me” marks the first original release by the songstress. If she keeps releasing music with as much emotional, harmonic, and sonic depth as this, she is bound for meteoric rise over the next couple years.

Continuing the spacey soundscapes heard tone set by Xie, French producer Mark Höffen (4,996) delivers a spiritual melodic techno track fittingly titled “Life Is A Journey.” Richly layered atmospheres filled with elegant synth lines and ethereal vocal samples are underpinned by a pleasant percussion groove.

Keeping with the theme of deep atmospheres, Descender (1,400) takes the listener down a darker path — much darker — with his track “Desolate Plain.” Low, heavy, steady, “Desolate Plain” conjures imagery exactly as the title states, and would be right at home on the soundtrack for a movie like Blade Runner or The Terminator.

Shifting gears from dark and heavy to funky and heavy, Maddy O’Neal (3,770) enlists the help of some friends for a fresh take on Salt-N-Pepa’s “None Of Your Business.” Original vocals, sax, and bass complement the top-notch glitch-hop production, making this track a likely favorite of those who enjoy artists like Big Gigantic, Gramatik, or GRiZ. In fact, O’Neal is playing with Big Gigantic this fall for their annual Rowdytown weekend at Red Rocks in Morrison, CO.

Without skipping a beat, Tortuga (1,772) continues the journey into classic funk and hip-hop-inspired electronica. As is the case with Maddy O’Neal, the duo hail from one of the biggest — if not the biggest — hub for glitch-hop: Denver, Colorado, where their funky live instrumentation, hip-hop vocals, and heavy analogue-style synth design fits in perfectly.