Quio

Rising out of the Berlin club scene, Quio releases her second full-length album, Phiu, on solo artist Antye Greie’s (AGF) label, AGF Produktions. In fact, Phiu is produced by AGF and mastered by Vladislav Delay, so the sound, much like AGF and VD’s work together, is built upon a very skeletal rhythmic structure contrasted with sultry, breathy vocals that don’t always make lyrical sense. The exploration of various riddims — dub step, ragga made with minimal techno drum machines, drum & bass — leaves Quio’s sound warmer than AGF’s, a style that sometimes sounds like the clanging, nonsensical chaos of an urban cyber-punk dystopia. Her freestyle sounds a bit like Lily Allen and contrasts with the 16-year-old falsetto vocals of Lise on "Grow Together” (one of a few tracks she guests on), which mixes beats with guitar picking, accordion and string synths. Portuguese MC Edu K is featured on "Minha Mira,” where the beats are composed of a mélange of samples, from symphonic strings to flamenco. Also guest MCing on this album are Nicolette and Al Haca. There’s even a secret dub step track at the end.