Astral Realm: An Alternative Roundup #22

CLASH Deputy Editor Shahzaib Hussain navigates the cosmos of the newest, most essential alternative releases in this Astral Realm feature; a liminal space for those seeking mood music beyond the mainstream. Each roundup features a Focus Artist interview, a Next Wave artist spotlight, and a curated selection of the month’s noteworthy releases.

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Focus Artist: Babymorocco

Babymorocco – real name Clayton Pettet – is the brawny, brash club interlocutor undergoing a metamorphosis on the sticky, sweatstained dancefloor. Debut album ‘Amour’ is a new beginning for the London musician, one that reinstates him as an after-dark pop star treating the genre as a blank canvas for his own screwball, but always accessible, compositions.

For as fragmented and deafening as this carousel of proto-EDM, trap-pop, 4-Beat, and Euro-dance can feel, the prevailing mood is one of redemption and communion, of a self-doubting protagonist pressing the pleasure-seeking button without fear or shame.

In conversation, Babymorocco talks embracing the fullness and replenishing effects of pop music, his neurotic nighttime tendencies, and why ‘Amour’ is ultimately a love letter to self.

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Let’s start with Babymorocco’s origin story. You gained notoriety in the late Tumblr era and on IG with these exaggerated self-portraits. During the pandemic you began making music under this moniker. Who was Babymorocco then and who is he now? 

I think I’m still the same. Chemically, I’ve changed, but if you look at the photos, I’m still the same – my smile is too. I also don’t consider my Tumblr swag as real because I deleted all my photos from there. So now, I’m just Babymorocco, musician.

What three albums by other artists – within the pop and electronic sphere – best capture who you are as an artist? 

Space Cowboy – ‘Digital Rock’, The Velvet Underground – ‘The Velvet Underground’ (specifically the song ‘Murder Mystery’) and Lady Gaga – ‘The Fame Monster’. 

Your work historically, and especially this era, is about the many dimensions of the club experience. What experience as a club goer shifted made you want to dedicate your artistry to capturing the spark or frisson of clubbing? 

I don’t think it’s so much about the club itself, it’s about the night. During the day, light allows for all kinds of colour schemes, but the night acts like a blanket, a uniform darkness that creates a kind of open space for anything to happen. There’s a unique energy at night; it’s louder, more charged, with a sense of desire and possibility. Clubs, in a way, are like cathartic heterotopic spaces where these energies can manifest freely, almost like their own little worlds. I like how the night gives rise to clubs, and I also like seeing them shut down as the day starts. But day clubs? I can’t stand them. They make me feel sick.

With that in mind, what about London’s nightlife do you love and loathe? 

I hate that there’s no good clubs above the ground. I love when I’m dancing in a club and im high.  

You embrace and toy with digital ephemera in your work. What about the internet and online spaces appeals to you and makes you want to create within that realm? 

Online has been my only consistent friend. I have poured my whole heart out online. So I guess it’s the only thing I really know. 

What’s been a career highlight thus far? 

I actually didn’t have one until recently. I care so much about my album ‘Amour’, so it’s probably releasing that. I genuinely feel like I’ve given birth to something. Like you know when a women has a baby and she changes her bio to Mummy of one. I feel like that with my album. Mummy of ‘Amour’.

Tell me a bit about what your debut EP ‘The Sound’ represented in the context of your career? Did it serve as a kind of prelude to the full-bodied excess of ‘Amour’? Does it feel like a distant entity?

Honestly, I don’t really like talking about ‘The Sound’ anymore. I don’t have many great memories of making it. ‘Amour’ was very, very stressful to create, but it was also much more thought out. I cared about it deeply and I didn’t sacrifice anything. ‘The Sound’ wasn’t truly me, so it wasn’t a prelude. ‘Amour’ is my debut as Babymorocco.

Why did you settle on ‘Amour’ as the title to the his re-introduction? 

“Love” and “Amour” are words that are used in advertising a lot. Also, who doesn’t love, love. Amour also looks great as a shape. 

You set the tone from the get go with ‘Club Amour/Intro’, which centres this communal space of new epiphanies with these vibrant characters and voices…

I love intro tracks so much. My label wanted me to maybe take it off, but I think intro tracks can set the tone and start the story. I’m always around posh girls, or at least girls who sound posh. They saved my life, so I wanted to pay homage to them. They saved me from Bournemouth.

And these collaborators add heft and dimension to the club experience? Talk me through your creative orbit on this album.

I love the Femcels. I can’t wait for everyone to hear their music. Also, iKeda is on my label, Phatboy. She’s got the prettiest voice, so I made her say ‘cunt’ which sounded properly angelic. I mean, Frost Children are some of the most insane people to work with. They have no ego and are some of the most talented musicians I’ve ever known. So many people in music have wack and mean personalities but they are some of the best people I know. So that’s what they brought, I guess.

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Tell me a bit about how the proto-protagonist Jean-Paul came to be? I’ve seen an image of him online, I feel I know who he is…

To explain Jean Paul properly, he is the remnant of every question in my life: my sexuality, the ending of friendships, whether I’m a good or bad person. He’s more like a split version of me and someone I could have been when I was 18 spending a lot of time in Paris. I think he’s the more comfortable version of me, the person who doesn’t look to my peers for support but feels it from his dancing and his girlfriend, whom he lives with in the 18th. I do have this weird fixation on what I could have been if I hadn’t been constantly seeking validation. Jean Paul is that person.

Partway through ‘Amour’ you venture to France and reunite with Jean-Paul. What does this segment of the album represent? 

‘France’ is a track about how good France makes me feel. Every time I go back, I feel like I belong there. The part where I say ‘How do you say?’ and use phrases you’d find in a French translation book reminds me of when I was younger and my dad would have that book with us. I wanted the track to capture that feeling. Because, honestly, they don’t really appreciate my swag and my dance moves here, but in France, they love it. That’s real shit.

Who and what inspired your sharp, staccato sing-rap delivery, especially on tracks like ‘Ear Archerrr’? Did you pull from the UK rap realm at all? 

No, that’s just the Rocco speaking voice. I’m always kind of singing/speaking when I’m having sex or angry with my friends. If anything I probably was looking at Pet Shop Boys as a reference, that’s where a lot of my influence comes from in terms of the way I deliver my lyrics. 

The sheer sonic breadth of this record is what elevates it beyond other pop pastiche meets club-skewed records. It’s disorienting but also uniform. What is the through line? What remains constant? 

Thank you for saying that. It genuinely means a lot if it’s sincere. I think if the character behind a record is fully-formed and strong, the record can bounce between genres and production styles. Throughout ‘Amour’, you always feel like you’re holding my hand and/or Jean Paul’s through it. The theme is me. 

‘Amour’ wears its pop influences on its sleeve. I particularly love Space Cowboy/Nadia Oh synthetic-pop homage throughout. Pop is a fluid and deceptive genre. What about it makes you want to be part of the tradition but also reinvent the wheel? 

Pop music is a beautiful world. It feels almost religious to me. It is my religion, to be honest. For me, making music is like writing notes in my own personal bible of pop. I don’t like being seen as someone trying to emulate a specific era; it’s just that a lot of my inspiration isn’t around me right now. I’m learning from history. Melodies are so important to me, I feel like I’m always discovering more about them. I have no interest in the underground, and I definitely don’t want to be so ‘cool’ that I swag myself into oblivion. Pop can be long-lasting and incredibly culturally shifting. The idea of an underground, of alt music, doesn’t really hold the same meaning anymore. Everyone’s in the sewers: I want the sky, I want the stars/with the pop stars.

The self-titled track ‘Rocco’ is one of my favourites on this record. The beat knocks so hard! What’s the sonic reference here and what are you declaring with this track given it’s self-titled?

Even though it seems like I’m obsessed with myself I actually have a lot of bad feelings for myself which are bad. My friends have to see it a lot. iKeda told me that I should be more aware that I am worth something, especially when people online and around me make me feel the opposite. ‘Rocco’ is my braggin’ track. It’s an ode to myself to believe in my own swag. The sonic reference is Nadia Oh for sure. 

What’s the emotional centrepiece of ‘Amour’ and why? 

‘No Cameo’. Relationships ending for me are the saddest thing a boy can go through. 

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Next Wave: 95ANTNY

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Emerging from Accra’s countercultural music scene, 95ANTNY has unveiled his low-lit, downtempo debut EP, ‘LIMINAL SPACES’. With its muffled sonics, yearning melodies and searching interior monologues, 95 wrestles, at times unflinchingly, with his calling as a musician. Over opaque production, courtesy of a tight-knit group of collaborators, he hypnotically recites and repeats lyrics like a mantra – manifesting, and internalising, his future aspirations in real-time.

For CLASH, 95ANTNY opens up on widening his musical net beyond localised influences, the motif of water that courses through the EP, and why he needed to probe deeper and stretch his vocals to give voice to the darker recesses of his being.

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I came across you soon after I covered your peers, SuperJazzClub. The Ghanaian underground continues to impress me. Tell me a bit about your entry into that world and what sparked your love of music? 

My journey into music began in church, where I was deeply inspired by a lady’s powerful and graceful ministry. I found myself learning the song she sang; trying to sing it just like her. One day in school, while I was singing it to myself, a classmate complimented my voice and encouraged me to join the choir. That small moment gave me the confidence to explore music more seriously.

Growing up, most of my friends were instrumentalists – “shabo boys”, who played from church to church. It wasn’t until high school that I took music seriously, joining the choir, discovering artists like Mali Music, and experimenting with songwriting. I formed a band with a fresher who played guitar and we wrote songs and performed at school functions. Our first recording was hilariously DIY: we used phones for the guitar and vocals, then pieced it together with Audacity.

In college, music became even more central. Jam sessions with instrumentalists turned into songwriting and performances. I dabbled with the guitar but later shifted to learning production because I couldn’t find beats that matched my vision. This was music inspired by Mali Music, Labrinth, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Miguel, Ty Dollar$ign, Frank Ocean, 6lack, Bryson Tiller, Eli Sostre, Isaiah Rashad, Kanye West, Travis Scott.

Through an artist friend, Jeff Ottis, I connected with Cozyshrt and together, we built something unique. But life had its challenges, and at one point, I almost gave up. That’s when Cozy and Ansah Live stepped in, encouraging me to give it one more shot. From that moment 95ANTNY was born, and with their support, I released my first official single ‘5Star’. It’s been an incredible journey ever since. We’ve gone on to start our collective, ALL MY COUSINS, with some of the best artists and people I call family. I haven’t looked back since. 

What scenes and subcultures birthed in the fringes in Accra helped catalyse your artistry? 

Meeting Cozy around 2017, I found myself in a space where a lot of young Accra creatives were experimenting and finding their medium of expression. You could see people trying out photography, directing, fashion, DJing, raves, and skating. It was a special period and place that I’m grateful for – a space where you’re allowed to be yourself and create what you want to create because that’s your taste.

You’re not told to change your style to fit a certain mainstream sound because you’re from Ghana. It’s crazy how things have turned out, to have the creative scene grow to this extent where our stories are being told around the world. It’s scary what’s happened in this scene but also very fulfilling.

What three albums by other artists best capture your musical tastes?

This is a hard one because I’ve been a student of a lot of great albums. If I had to choose, I think these albums pretty much helped me develop my taste: ‘Px3’ by PARTYNEXTDOOR, ‘Kaleidoscope Dream’ by Miguel and ‘The Life Of Pablo’ by Kanye West. 

I’ve delved into your earlier releases between 2021-2023. There’s a discernible shift between your output then and your debut EP. In what ways have you evolved and grown?

With regards to evolution, I can say on my debut EP I’ve been able to get to a point where I’m able to look within, get vulnerable and I’m able to talk about very personal experiences. I was able to unlock new ways of expressing myself, getting as raw as I can get. But I’ve always stayed true to my approach of experimenting and exploring my range as an artist. These new songs are true to me because I’ve been making songs of this type of mood and groove way before I changed my artist name from Tony Bryte to 95ANTNY. Those who’ve been around since the beginning know there isn’t much difference between me now and SoundCloud Tony Bryte. 

You’re a natural fit for this Astral Realm feature because my taste largely exists in between genres; the “liminal zones” which could crudely be summarised as mood music. In the context of your career and the sound you’re developing, what is a ‘LIMINAL SPACES’?

With regards to my career and sound I think of it as the horizon. As you might be aware, there’s a theme of water and ocean on this project. I want to be as expansive as I can be. I take inspiration from the horizon to remind me I can stretch far and wide. In those liminal spaces, fresh ideas are created. 

The song ‘CURIOUS CAESAR’ was one of the early primers we got from the EP. Tell me about the production process creating this track and what you’re expressing lyrically?

‘CURIOUS CAESAR’ was produced by my friend and longtime collaborator @yokothemoon, also known as cozyshrt the photographer. He sent me the beat with the name “Curious Caesar” which stood out to me. I asked myself what Caesar was about? That took me to the Bible and a passage where Jesus was asked if they should continue paying dues to Caesar. He replied saying they should give unto Caesar what is due him and unto God what’s due him.

In this song, Caesar is me but the self I aspire to be by putting in the work so that we can all enjoy the dream we want for ourselves. The premise is that the longer you wait for the future you want the less time you have to spend in it. Hence, not allowing procrastination, fear and doubts to cheat myself out of the life I want.

There’s a downtempo rap but also a rock influence coursing through the EP. Who were you listening to, what art were you consuming and inspired by during the recording of ‘LIMINAL SPACES’?

This period was when I started DJing, so I was listening to loads of new music just through crate digging. I wasn’t listening to one particular artist but Conan Mockasin’s guitar did influence the lush underwater feel of ‘THE TIDE’. I came across André 3000 reels, where he talks about the importance of doing you and what you feel is right in your body. The premise for the song was also born from a reel I saw that actually put things in perspective for me and in turn inspired the storyline of it.

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Equally what was happening in your personal life that informed the recording experience?

Man, a lot was happening – a lot I wasn’t happy about even though good things were happening also in that same period. I’ll say I was in a space where I had to make a decision between whether I was going to build shit or bullshit. It felt like I had grown so much in a few years that I just had to shed skin. I had to sort through old narratives and new ways of thinking; sort through past traumas, family relationships, my own identity, my religious background, my love life and things I needed to change about myself. It was about having conviction to give this music thing my blood, sweat and tears while foregoing a career in actuarial science for music. In all of this, I learned to trust the process. This project is a reminder to myself that it gets better.

The song ‘PHASES’ is a brooding piano piece with filtered vocals that tug at the heartstrings. Would you say this one is one of your most exposed and vulnerable pieces to date? 

Yes, it’s one of the most honest works I’ve done, even though so little is said through. It’s in the repetition that everything is communicated. This record came as a surprise to me because I’ve never expressed myself like that before. All of that was one take. I knew there was no way I could re-record that again and get the same kind of unfiltered emotion. It’s a very special song and I’m grateful to Selassie and Nebyou Alias for blessing me. Nebyou gave the beat to Selassie, and he brought it from Berlin with his verse already recorded. He gave it to me when I asked him if I could have it because it fit this EP so well. 

You possess a voice that flits between a feeling that’s distant and remote, and one that packs an emotional punch. Talk me through the development of your voice and the art of singing over the last few years? 

I started out making RnB-esque songs and learnt early on how to deliver a laid back, whispery, mid range vocal that sits right there in the songs; that allows the listener to go on that smooth nightdrive journey through the soundscape. With time, I became more comfortable employing more edgy expressions, using comical tones to create variety in certain songs. All this happened as I was learning from artists that inspire me and taking note of how they switch up their vocals from chest voice to falsetto, or a smooth blend of both. 

It’s also having an understanding of keys, and the range I’m most comfortable letting my voice sit in. All this is to say, I’’m growing as an artist and I’m understanding myself more with regards to what I can do best and what I can’t. It’s about putting the song first, giving it what it needs and not getting too attached to songs that make the cutting room floor. 

What lyric from this album best represents where you are in your journey as an artist today?

Are you with the tide?
That’s  where i am now
Remember to take it easy and just let things take their course. It does get better

With ‘LIMINAL SPACES’, what do you want the listener to discover about you at this point in your career?

That no matter the phases of confusion and times when your only wish is to give up and leave your body, there is that little voice that says it gets better. Trust the process and surrender to the currents as it will lead you to new beginnings. I’ve learnt that it’s fine to scream it out of your system to find ease in your body. It’s also about learning that my mistakes don’t define me and that I should extend grace to myself and do so for others as well.

Which artists are you enjoying right now?

I’m really digging Jean Dawson. I listen to a lot of Lord Apex and Wu-Lu, some Okay Kaya and Narah too. Kwabena Dennis, the artist featured on ‘TIDE’, is also someone whose sound I really love. I can’t wait for all the songs he’s been working on to be out there in the world. There are a lot of acts in Accra that I have on rotation like Valid, Questo, Zotto, Anabel Rose, Baabaj Malaika and there’s this Kenyan artist called  capespring. He’s so fire. 

Have you thought about your next creative steps or do you want to give this EP time to breathe and ferment a bit?

‘LIMINAL SPACES’ is just the beginning. I made a promise to myself to build my catalogue with the best of music I can churn out of the depths of myself. That’s what I’m committed to so there’s more music and projects lined up. I really want to do this for a long time, travel the world with my music, serve my community, create work and be proud of it. I want to be a driver of the art and at the same time be driven by the arts; whether it’s my projects or working with my collective, ALL MY COUSINS. The journey ahead is amazing and it gets better. It’s so up! 

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Release Radar: 

Judeline – ‘Bodhiria’ 

“It’s about longing, being very ambitious and wanting to be somewhere else… It’s a metaphor for the moment I’m going through, everything is blowing up fast and I’m detaching myself a bit from reality”.

Madrileño artist Judeline solidifies her promise on debut album ‘Bodhiria’ which brings to life the (dis)embodied character of Ángela who exists between planes of existence – between reality and ghostly apparitions. Coming up on Madrid’s experimental fringes with the likes of Ralphie Choo and Rusowsky, Judeline’s tremulous, treated voice wafts over a desolate landscape of dembow-esque dirges, trancey sound waves and avant-classical passages, all threaded together by a distilled melancholy. 

Qendresa – ‘Londra’ 

‘Londra’ is the next DIY experiment from Northwest London artist Qendresa, a feverish tribute to London afterhours. Lo-fi flourishes course through songs like ‘Sticky’ and ‘Whatever You Like’, which exist in the realm between ‘90s RnB slow jams, quiet storm and boudoir funk. Qendresa’s desire, delivered in scrappy, mordant and sometimes blunt notes informed by her city girl-street soul origins, elevates this brisk and bright project beyond the rudderless songs on mainstream radio. 

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Magi Merlin – ‘Bip / 9volt’ 

Split-screen anthemics – one more dreamy, the other more delirious – from the rejuvenated Montreal musician. 

Cavalier, Child Actor – ‘Sojourn’ 

A space-jazz sound collage from the Brooklyn-born rapper and his collaborative project with the underground beatmaker. 

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Barkley Bandon, Parking Big, pig$ – ‘You Decide’ 

Bubble Love (Ross From Friends), Jeshi, Cameo Blush – ‘Close Your Eyes’ 

Amber Mark – ‘Destiny’s Child’ 

Yazmin Lacey – ‘The Feels’ 

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