Bloggers have been hedging their bets on Los Angeles artist Tepu for quite a while now since making his electronic-pop debut ‘crywolf’. Not one to succumb to the people’s demands for more, Tepu made us wait a whole year before the release of ‘plastic wizard’; a bombastic track inspired by riding rollercoasters and legendary gaming character Sonic the Hedgehog. Thankfully for us, the West Coast musician had come back quicker for his third release ‘darkside’, which once again displays a penchant for playfulness with video game samples, 80s synth-pop combinations and an overall impressive production. Tepu is purposeful with these nostalgic signatures, for example the carefully arranged verses are each time broken by a pause to pin-point just one game noise - it’s like a musical level-up. As the track progresses, Tepu surprises keep coming as he subverts the electronics with Indian-style strings and percussion. ‘darkside’ is an impossibly fun track that will keep you engaged and moving from start to finish. - HT