Mura Masa – Needja with Ledbyher
Mura Masa has teamed up with Scottish-Indonesian rapper Ledbyher for “Needja”, out now on his own Pond Recordings imprint. It continues the club-leaning direction he’s been pushing on recent releases “Curve 1” and “Curve+1”, built this time around chopped and reworked vocal samples pulled from Ledbyher’s own voice.
The GRAMMY-winning producer has coined a term for where he’s landed: “emo-breaks”, hard-hitting breakbeats paired with the kind of emotionally loaded production that doesn’t usually sit alongside them. “Needja” leans further into that heavier, break-driven sound while still keeping one foot in classic club reference points.
The release lands during a busy stretch for Mura Masa, who’s been expanding his Curve Club event series alongside developing The Pond, a new Peckham-based label, creative hub, and arts space built to support emerging artists. Curve Club heads back on the road this summer, with North American dates kicking off in Dallas on July 3 before the tour moves to Japan in September.
For a track built from chopped-up vocals, “Needja” still feels surprisingly warm. That’s the part I didn’t expect going in.
