Tei Shi is the moniker of 26-year-old artist Valerie Teicher. We fell in love with her in her early-career with the release of “Nevermind The End” and “Bassically”. We also had the chance to see her live in Brussels’ Beursschouwburg some years ago and it was sublime. We’re more than happy that everything has turned global for this artist as she deserves it.

In the Bradley & Pablo-directed video of “Say You Do”, Tei Shi is a femme fatale. She is sexy, succesful and confident and divinely executes a sensual choreography in a limousine. As Tei Shi explained to NPR, which premiered the video, the track and video were inspired by MTV. The TV channel has kind of shaped her perception on “how to female pop star”.

Funny fact: the song starts with a recording of her as a kid. At that time, she thought she was a bad singer and she wish she could become like Britney Spears. Of course, the path to reach “Baby One More Time”‘s singer sales numbers is still long, but on the talent race, she seems to have surpassed her teacher.

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“Say You Do” is taken from Tei Shi‘s album “Crawl Space”, out now via Arts & Crafts in Canada and Downtown/Interscope Records in the rest of the world.

Follow Tei Shi over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and as a bonus, listen to BOYBOY‘s remix of “Say You Do” below.

Vancouver-based rapper Tommy Genesis delivers a fierce new banger with “Tommy” and proves she can offer so many things that others can’t. Her flow, which is loaded with attitude and sounds like a role play, perfectly fits the dark production the artist got us used to. About this new single, Tommy Genesis detailed:

[su_quote]’Tommy’ is a song I wrote about one half of my split personality,[…]It’s become the way I represent myself in most social situations. It’s just a rap song, but it’s also a pure representation of Tommy without Genesis (you’ll meet her later). [/su_quote]

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We are not sure if the previously-released track “Empty” will be featured on her new album to be published via Downtown/Interscope but we are certain that this new single will make waves during her European tour! Check her itinerary below:

Oct. 31 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg
Nov. 1 – Brussels, Belgium – Botanique
Nov. 3 – Paris Pitchfork Festival
Nov. 5 – Cologne, Germany Köln at Gebäude 9
Nov. 6 – Hamburg, Germany Nochtspeicher
Nov. 7 – Berlin – Panorama Bar at Berghain
Nov. 9 – London – Birthdays

Keep it up with Tommy Genesis via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

“Dear To Me” was self-produced and recorded in Los Angeles. Even if it still keeps these vintage 70’s and 80’s vibes that were already present in their first release, the single seems to abandon the “over-produced” feelings that some people were reproaching them on their Danger Mouse-produced debut. The track is bare, abandons a part of embellishment [that was never a problem for us as it was beautifully executed], and simply sounds more authentic while not taking too much distance from their original soulful synth-pop style.

About “Dear To Me”, Electric Guest‘s frontman Asa Taccone explained:

[su_quote]This is possibly my favorite song from our new album. It came from the heart. Matthew (my bandmate) had a job at this studio in LA that had all of these old synthesizers from the 70s and 80s lying around. I came in one afternoon for just a few hours and we played around with as many of the instruments as we could, then recorded most of the rest of the song in my bedroom. One of the HAIM girls lives down the street from me, so one day all three sisters came over with some other friends of mine and after hanging out for a few hours we went into my little studio and recorded the chorus vocals. I recorded them on one mic. It’s easy with them because they’re been singing together for years so they blend super well.[/su_quote]

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“Dear To Me” is featured on our daily-refreshed Spotify’s playlist: DAILY DOSE FOR MUSIC JUNKIES.

Connect with Electric Guest on Facebook and Twitter.

It’s roughly evenly split between dance-rap songs and more R&B tinged electronic pop songs. Her rapping style and choice of beats certainly point to influences from dance-rap OG Azealia Banks as well as the colorful sonic palette of M.I.A. Unfortunately, unlike those rappers, she lacks the sense of that incredibly forceful personality that almost seems to bleed off the tracks.

While Tkay Maidza is a technically gifted rapper, her lyrics and flows on her album “Tkay” are almost entirely forgettable.

Despite having listened to the songs many times, almost no lyrics have managed to stay in my head. To paraphrase Roger Meyers, Jr., she’s got no attitude, she’s barely outrageous and I don’t know whose face she’s in but it’s not mine. Pretty much the most important thing a rapper can have is their personality, whether they’re obnoxious, lewd or lyrical, you should get some impression of their character. Tkay Maidza leaves very little resonance in this respect. It almost seems like she’s holding back on her raps and that with a better vocal producer she might be able to come through little more forcefully. This isn’t some axe-to-grind I have against pop-rappers though. A rapper of this ilk can be ridiculous and even stupid but being forgettable is a terrible sin. Listen to rappers like Rae Sremmurd and you will hear charisma in their rhymes, even if it’s only about money and sex.

The most effective tracks on this album are still, however, the rap songs. The one-two punch of “Tennies” and “Monochrome” is easily the album’s strongest point. These are both up-tempo dancefloor-ready rap songs that show Maidza at her best. When her raps are dancing so skilfully over the beat at this tempo, you almost don’t notice that she’s talking a lot without saying anything. “Tennies” is propelled by a brilliantly muted 808 kick that would sound fantastic on a packed dancefloor with big enough subwoofers.

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The album’s final track, “At Least I Know”, is an interesting change of tack that suggests a slightly more unique position for the album. It combines an almost PC Music-ish vocal cut-up with dreamy verses that could’ve come from Grimes‘ “Art Angels“.

Tkay Maidza doesn’t have a great ear for a hook so the pop songs generally leave fairly little impression. The strongest of these tracks is either “House Of Cards” or “Castle In The Sky”. The latter’s strength comes mostly from its Flume-like chorus synth which is vaguely reminiscent of his remix of Lorde‘s “Tennis Court”. “House Of Cards” could almost be one the future-garage R&B crossover tracks from SBTRKT‘s eponymous debut. Unfortunately, tracks like “Follow Me” are wholly forgettable and make up the majority of the rest of the album. What is important for most of these songs are the uniformly strong beats which generally combine elements of currently trendy producers like the aforementioned Flume or Diplo. These well-produced beats are often the best hooks in the songs.

Saying all of this, I feel that hip-hop is an insanely difficult avenue to get into for a female artist. It seems that many promising female rappers seem to be goaded into following-up exciting underground releases with mediocre pop material (Angel Haze being a great example). Other rappers like Tink seem to be far less popular than they rightly should be with the talent they have. And if you do succeed to become a successful rapper, like Nicki Minaj, people will consistently overlook your talent in favor of your looks. Tkay Maidza feels like she is on the first step to making some interesting music but whether she will fulfill this promise is anyone’s guess.

The performance of the video was captured at the National Sawdust in Brooklyn in October 2015. The black and white video was directed by Bill Kirstein, who worked several times with Beyoncé.

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The band has currently one track charted in the HighClouds30: “Downtown” is N°2 this week! Check on the full charts here.