Canada produces amazing music. From Metric to The Weeknd and all in between. The music scene there is something to be proud of. However, it’s just about to get a hell of a lot better and it is all down to one man- Dirty Beaches aka Alex Zhang Hungtai.

Many critics have labelled his music as “lo-fi” and maybe, he is. However I’d just say that he is astounding. There is NOTHING like his music around right now, and I doubt anything like this has been done before. Honestly, music like this makes me glad to not me deaf. Outrageous comment, I know. But it’s a Sunday, and Sundays are dull for everyone. So I thought..oh, never mind.

Personally, when I listen to Lord Knows Best I imagine someone floating up to Heaven, or just someone at complete and utter peace with themselves and all around them. It’s a highly emotional song, the sample of the piano on a loop is so hypnotising and angelic. I can’t help but wonder why music like this isn’t dominating charts and winning over hearts. There is so much feeling and honesty in music like this. There is a severe lack of passion in pop music these days. I on;y want to listen to music that has meaning and depth. Music that makes me feel that nothing matters. That’s exactly what I get from Dirty Beaches.

Badlands is 2011’s hidden gem. It’s the album that you have stupidly slept on. If you haven’t heard it, you are missing out. If you haven’t heard it, please go out and buy it. There’s a brilliant 1950s feel to the album and to Dirty Beaches’ voice, especially on the track Horses where he does sound scarily like Elvis. I’m not really a fan of Elvis, but this is just remarkable. It makes you feel like you are in some kind of Western being chased, it’s just fantastic. He makes music that frightens you and takes your breath away, sort of like a David Lynch film.

My hero, John Peel once said, “I just want to hear something I haven’t heard before.” I understand completely. With Dirty Beaches, I’ve never ever heard anything like this before. It’s just mind-blowing and perfect. Coincidently, it was John Peel’s son, Tom Ravenscroft that got me into Dirty Beaches when I heard him on his show. It is mind-blowing that one person is making music like this. But hey, if you’re on your own- you have no one to answer to and for no one to say that you cannot make music that sounds like this or that. Thank goodness for artists like Dirty Beaches.