Singapore Playlist

Singapore's club scene is leaning hard into internet-born sounds. Hyperpop, sextrance and underground internet music are the currency at raves, and the crowds at independent nights like Hyperfocus are chronically online, bonded by a shared internet culture more than by a single genre. Skrillex still gets the biggest roar on HQ's upper floor, but the sets are moving toward Esdeekid and Crystal Castles, and Global South club sounds, from Philippine budots to Brazilian baile funk and South African gqom, are turning up in the mix. SCUMBOYS, the four-member collective, sit in the middle of it, with chaotic live shows and aggressive sonics that run from hyperpop and digicore to pop-punk and EDM.

This month the WorldWidePop playlist took in one new video: SCUMBOYS' yuki, added in October. Cream Capsule is already on the page, so the list is small and tightly focused on this one city, with no attempt yet to cover the whole country's sound.

Listeners are reaching the page from India and Malaysia, so it is already travelling a little past the Singapore border. Watch SCUMBOYS next. Their second album, exHUME, brings a more personal theme of grief and healing to its EDM and pop hooks, and jumble says the group is turning further toward EDM, citing STARKIDS and newer SoundCloud artists. The band also says Singapore is a small place for publishing and distribution, which makes pushing past the city the real test ahead.