Electric Feels: Your Electronic Music Recap feat. SG Lewis, Hi Life, Elohim + 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. Follow the column's official playlist below (or HERE), or check out Pilerats' homepage for more brilliant music and news.

SG Lewis & Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Again

Two consistently brilliant electronic musicians in 2018 are SG Lewis and Australian favourite TEED (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs), who have been slowly drip-feeding work from their new pieces (a three-part concept album and what is believed to be a second album respectively) over the past eleven months. Again sees the two Brits come together for the first time and it's a slow-burning epic, with a stretched-out, airy introduction pathing the way for one of the year's most electrifying electronic collaborations. It's the best of both worlds; SG Lewis' expertise in pop-esque songwriting brings bright, energetic melodies while TEED's characteristically addictive house pulse and distorted vocal gives it this larger-than-life sound you can't escape. It's not the high-flying house thumper the single could've been, but it works an absolute treat at showing the strengths of both SG and TEED as they simultaneously become some of electronic music's best producers and songwriters.

Hi Life - Slide

It's been a while since Hi Life's quirky PC electro-pop caught our attention two years ago (with So Good - their debut single on Sidechains' second club compilation - and the twisted When I Get To The Club), but now, with only two months left in the year, they're set on making their comeback. Slide is the culmination of two years in the studio for the Sydney-via-Canberra duo and it's a glistening single more focused on their pop mannerisms than their warping, left-field club, with Harvie's guest-featuring vocal soaring above the single's playful production, which swerves with saccharine synth melodies underneath Harvie's bright hooks. "We wanted to make a universal track with a relatable message," says the duo on the single. "There's a sweetness to it, but it's also vulnerable." The single's punchy, sweet melodies and emotion-driven vocal brings these worlds together perfectly, and apparently, it's just the start - they've got a big 12 months or so ahead.

Elohim - Connect (w/ Skrillex)

In case you're unaware of the name (honestly, get out of that rock you're living under), Elohim is an exciting LA-based musician mixing "energetic electronic pop" with some pretty personal topics such as mental health, offering a realistic, relatable, and well-welcomed breath of fresh air to the international electronic scene. The arrival of her self-titled debut album earlier this year put her further onto the map internationally and Connect, her first single since, is here to follow it up, with the ever-incredible musician matching her accessible and radio-friendly vocal with a production co-created alongside the recently toured Skrillex - who hosts the single on OWSLA. "My goal as an artist is to connect. I not only strive to connect with other humans but to connect other humans to each other," she says on the single. "I want to create a world, an atmosphere, an experience that is inclusive to anyone with a loving heart. This song is that world. It is an electric moment of joining together." Here's hoping that the single will push Elohim further onto Australia's radar, and maybe, get promoters keen to bring her down for her debut AU tour.

Close Counters - Way Out feat. Au Dré

We've come across Melbourne-via-Tasmania electronic duo Close Counters a couple of times now, most notably in the build-up to their debut album SOULACOASTA towards the start of this year. Now they're back, joining The Kite String Tangle's Exist Recordings (which also boasts Golden Vessel and Lastlings) with an incredibly soulful number titled Way Out. Featuring the R&B-leaning vocal of Au Dré, Way Out is a brilliant masterclass at their soulful electronica, with Au Dré thick vocal joining Close Counters Kaytranada-esque production, which further amplifies the soft soulful groove in Au Dré's vocal thanks to its swelling synth grooves and snappy percussion. "First and foremost we want to get people moving, but also want them to be captivated by the melody, lyrical content and production," says Close Counters on the single, and this time around they've totally nailed it - it's a bit of a stomper that would go down a treat in summer, but the strength of the guest-featuring vocal means you just got to pay attention.

Peach Body - Dream feat. Hyara

If you recognise the name Peach Body, it's either because you caught his stunning debut single Body In Love a few months back or, by chance, you know him as one-half of down-tempo electronic beauties Leisure Suite. Either way, the Melbourne-based musician is making incredible music right now, and with the Hyara-featuring Dream doing nothing but supporting this, it's important you pay attention before it's too late. Like Body In Love before it, Dream is a percussive, house-tinged moment of beauty from the quickly rising musician, who combines a punchy production thick with snare and chiming, Bonobo-esque melodies with the soothing vocal of Hyara, who although not someone we're really too familiar with, does an absolutely spectacular job. Stay tuned for more news on his debut EP, which is set to bring some more lush tones when it arrives sometime soon.

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