Tuesday 15 March 2016

New Music: Mura Masa - What If I Go?


If the late great John Peel was still with us, I wonder what he would think of music today? In particular, as a champion of non-professional ‘bedroom musicians’, making music just for the pleasure of it, the highlight of their ‘careers’ being a play on his show, would he have been excited about the way that technology has enabled virtually anyone with a laptop to have a go? After all Peel always found the near amateurism of many of the acts he played charming – something that set him apart from all of his peers.

Somewhere back in the past that’s where Alex Crossan aka Mura Masa started. Just a kid with some technology, possibly in his bedroom, living on an island not particularly known for its huge musical heritage (Guernsey), working out what to do, what worked, what he liked and then developing it. Peel would have liked that part. 

But now Mura Masa is way beyond that. He’s had over 20 million streams on Soundcloud, appeared on plenty of Ones To Watch 2016 lists including Breaking More Waves own, the BBC Sound of 2016 (5th place) and the Blog Sound of 2016 (1st place). Peel wouldn’t have been bothered about any of that for sure, but still I’d like to think that he liked where Mura Masa had come from.

Now here's a new tune from Alex. What If I Go? finds Mura Masa defining his sound further; it’s a track that skips, struts, jumps and then fully bounces its way across the dancefloor full of immediate cocksure goodness. Add in a neat soulful hook sung by Bonzai (who you’ll find on his own label Anchor Point) and you’ve got yourself a tune that’s good enough to satisfy the cool kids who want their music to have enough exotic interest for a deeper listening experience, but also for those who just want to get off their faces, have a good time and dance dance dance. 

Mura Masa - What If I Go?

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