Косметика (Kosmetyka) by Тощо (Toshcho)

Making the rare dark alt pop record that genuinely charts new territory and employs exciting, fresh sounds, Ukrainian group Тощо (Toshcho) with their new album Косметика (Kosmetyka) makes alternative party music for a time and place with nothing to celebrate. The vast array of samples and influences, from 2000s American pop bangers to old Soviet synth melodies, give the album an eerily nostalgic feel even as the music energetically chugs along. These energetic hip hop beats coast along as a bouncy homage to the brief period of inter-recession prosperity in the late 2010s, but unlike in much of the music of that time, darkness now lurks around every corner. Chaotically layered backing tracks lead us through confusing, rapidly evolving song structures, catching us up to the present day in which even the most basic assumptions of security and prosperity fall away, leaving behind the zombie of consumerist excess lumbering on off the momentum of an increasingly narrow ruling class.