It was hot but not in a good way.

For a month that includes the cold loneliness of Valentine’s Day for some, February was certainly peculiarly warm. Whilst your posh mates are away skiing in The Alps, your weird mates are sunbathing in East Sussex and your environmentally conscious mates are shitting themselves.

You on the other hand, though, you’re about to reflect on all that was good in 2019’s shortest month, as this 28-day-long period made up for its lack of total earth spins with some fine new music releases. As always, we have scanned Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube for the latest releases in our own Offie Mag microclimate and delivered you our favourites.

Let’s start with our top picks…

Our Pick of the Month is an entirely unbiased selection from our own city, Brighton & Hove.

Nokia Mansion is the MC duo of Sly Fieri and RAF, two energetic artists who have been shelling shows and working hard in the studio since we met them. Consisting of only two tracks, ROLLING/RIGHT is beautifully Soundcloud in it’s aesthetic and in the nature of which it was released.

With very little warning, these two bangers with Fieri-led hooks and slapping production from RLAXD appeared on the music site and everyone tuned into Brighton’s bubbling rap landscape quickly hit the links in the necessary bios. Furthermore, the blurriness of the pirated artwork is quintessential SC, acting as an economical and aesthetically pleasing choice from the Nanshen boys.

For its minimalism, lyricism, (that singing ‘ooooh’ adlib on the second track) and for leading the way with a breath of the freshest air felt in Brighton’s so-called rap scene, this espresso shot to the veins of an EP is our Pick of the Month.

A new feature, we wanted to begin to shed some light on the visual arts as well as the music, for photography and videography are integral to what we do at Offie Mag.

We were spoilt for choice when trying to decide which would take February’s Video of the Month, with the likes Bone Slim and Dropped Milk providing a cinematic visual for the Nine8 man’s new track (featured below), as well as Loudhouse taking control of Clbrks returning raps in Red Snapper.

However, we had to push these two videos aside for the Cult of the Damned movie that was premiered this month. Directed by the geniuses at Broken Antenna who have done engaging visuals for the likes of Trellion, Wiley and Footsie and more in the past, this film-shot one-take video of every verse of COTD’s Nicole is beautiful.

From the colours to the pre-shot planning that must have gone into making sure Barebase drives at the right speed to deliver a mid-verse Milk to an awaiting Black Josh, it is a masterpiece and brilliantly British. Hedges, houses, tarmac and astroturf provide the setting, in what was our standout choice for our very first Video of the Month – you can listen to us audio describe it on the new podcast.

As we mentioned above, choosing our favourite video was tough and choosing our favourite track was even tougher.

We could have gone with the mellow brilliance of Willow Kayne, the disturbed delicateness of Gemini Aaliyah or the raw delivery of Mister Green. But in the end, we decided to go with the suave delivery and infectious confidence of Clbrks.

An apparent enigma in London’s most underground of underground hip-hop circles, Clbrks returns after some time without a release, sounding like someone who has been busy in the shadows. He doesn’t waste a single lyric in this one, decorating a beat from dylantheinfamous with nonchalant excellence.

Tuck into Red Snapper, won’t you…

Elsewhere, here’s our Soundcloud and Spotify picks. Follow us on both SC and Spotify, maybe?