We Speak Music
AKIRAH’s “Mamacita” Is a Genre-Bending Riddim Tour de Force
AKIRAH’s latest single, “Mamacita”, is a high-octane thrill ride through the streets of riddim, dubstep, and grime. Right from the Latino UK drill-inspired intro, there’s a cheeky swagger in the production that feels playful yet undeniably powerful. It’s the kind of track that grabs you by the shoulders and doesn’t let go.
The drops hit like freight trains, merging heavy riddim basslines with crisp, fast-paced drum & bass breaks. AKIRAH shows off his ability to balance aggression with groove, creating a track that feels alive in the best possible way. There’s chaos here, but it’s carefully orchestrated chaos, the kind that invites you to throw your hands in the air and lose yourself in the energy.
What makes Mamacita stand out is its concept. Inspired by AKIRAH’s gaming sessions in GTA: San Andreas, the track channels the energy of the Los Santos Vagos gang into sound. The Hispanic-infused motifs give it an unexpected cultural flair, adding personality and colour to a style often dominated by sheer heaviness. It’s audacious and fun, yet the production never sacrifices intensity for novelty.
Listeners will also notice AKIRAH’s attention to detail. The layering of synths, the timing of each drop, and the rhythmic interplay all highlight a producer at the peak of his technical ability. Every element feels intentional, and every moment has impact, whether it’s a subtle build or an earth-shaking wobble.
Mamacita positions AKIRAH as both a tastemaker and an innovator. It’s aggressive, inventive, and impossible to ignore, capturing the raw energy of riddim while pushing its boundaries. For fans of heavy bass music and genre-hopping production, this is a track that commands attention and rewards repeated listens.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
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