Born from a playlist that became a live night and a radio show helmed by website GRM Daily’s Caroline Simoniescu-Marin, New Gen provides a snapshot of London’s fast-moving urban scene, where grime meets R&B. It’s a compilation that doesn’t merely compile; these tunes were laid down specifically for the project, taking cues from US trap sounds as well as London’s Caribbean forms. You might have heard of smooth crew WSTRN, here with Loose, but the MCs steal the show. Kojey Radical lights up Fuck Your Feelings, while the reflective Life Support (feat Bonkaz and Tiggs Da Author) belies grime’s surface obsession with noisy macho posturing in favour of space and calm.
