Electric Feels: Your Electronic Music Recap feat. Whethan, KLP, Yaeji + 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.

Whethan - Radar feat. HONNE

While he's always had a knack for crafting intoxicating electronic, the last twelve months have seen LA-based producer Whethan really up his game, signalling an entirely new era with a run of collaborations with Broods, Oh Wonder and now, HONNE. Following suit from the irresistibly catchy Be Like You and Superlove, the musician's latest single is a warm and festival-ready track with a bit more of a house-like twist than his past work, showcasing his production versatility with a charging bass section, pulsing synth work and the bright vocals of HONNE, which perfectly combine with the single's generally quite upbeat and summery production. "This is the first song off the Life Of A Wallflower project," says Whethan on the single - perhaps hinting at a larger release due later in the year. "It's a great representation of the sound I've been inspired by and I'm thrilled to finally show the world this song with HONNE." Catch Whethan at his first Australian shows this summer, with slots at ORIGIN Fields, Field Day and NZ's Rhythm & Vines fest over the New Years break.

KLP - Venus x Mars

2018 has been a big one for Australia's KLP, with the master-of-all-trades really focusing on her music project with a heap of brilliant singles so far this year, including collabs with Milwaukee Banks, Stace Cadet, Sharam Jey and a few solo ones on her own. Venus x Mars is her latest single and it's a return to her more club-focused sound, replacing her catchy pop hooks and bright sound with a dark and menacing bassline and a repeating vocal chant for a single which is far more darker and deeper than much of her work thus far. Arriving alongside an Australian tour that'll see her calendar filled up until mid-December, Venus x Mars throws a bit of a curveball in our direction, reminding us of the brilliance of KLP when she dives into the more club-orientated side of things - not that her recent pop-centric work is anything but great either. It's also said to be a tease of a more significant body of work to come soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that when it arrives soon.

Charli XCX - Focus (Yaeji Remix)

Following off the success of her enchanting break-out EP2 last year - which welcomed us into the world of New York's Yaeji via singles such as the unstoppable raingurl and drink i'm sippin on - this year has been a touch quieter for the rising electronic star, with Yaeji instead choosing a more tour-intensive year while she works on her much-awaited follow-up. A new remix of Charli XCX's bubblegum-pop-brilliance Focus is her first release since the EP and it reminds us exactly why we fell in love with Yaeji in the first place, twisting and distorting Charli XCX's original vocal and adding a percussive house beat underneath that oozes with Yaeji's signature smoothness - a sure-fire reminder of her production brilliance while we wait for next moves. She'll be playing Meredith Festival and a few club shows in her debut Australian tour later this year, so be sure to jump on that.

Emerson Leif - Twenty2

After teaming up with names such as Golden Vessel and MUTO over the last year or two, 2018 sees Emerson Leif put his own project first, bursting out the gate with a swooning Golden Vessel collaboration, Hesitate, earlier this year. Now he's back with single number two, stripping things back even more for an intimate and cozy solo release Twenty2. Twenty2 is a soft and emotive return from Leif, who places his woozy vocals in the limelight as they stride over a percussive beat rich with punchy synth work, giving the track this smooth, yet quite warm track that signals a new age for the rising musician. "Twenty2 is a feel-good, care-free reflection of a cool summer’s night out, capturing a moment in time during that night, ’twenty2 minutes to midnight’," he says on the single. "It’s also a small milestone for me as an artist. I have worked on a number of collaborative releases over the previous year, and Twenty2 is the first of many solo releases that I have in the works." Here's hoping the solo releases keep coming.

Mickey Kojak - All That Acid

It's been a big year for Mickey Kojak thus far, and we're loving every minute of it. After his 2017 EP Surrender gave us more of an electro-pop side of the Sydney-based beat-maker, 2018 has seen Kojak throw right back to the mid-00s for a nostalgic pair of singles, the first of which - Get Out - showcasing the more radio-friendly side of things while also debuting a more traditional, live instrumental sound - one we were keen to see further explored with its release. It arrived with a thumping, 2007-era club edit of the single, which with his new single All That Acid, is a sound he's further fleshed out, giving us some straight up The Presets-esque vibe with its chanting vocal line and that all-too-recognisable, acid-house-like synth line. It's an absolute thumper that really solidifies Kojak's name as one of our favourites, and we're hoping it'll do the same too. Also, revisit our recent Live Session with Mickey Kojak HERE.

Spotify Playlist: