James Massiah & aloisius — Hot Winter (Dreaming About Being Closer)

JUL 01 2025 · 12:00

James Massiah & aloisius — Hot Winter (Dreaming About Being Closer) (2025) Era: Post-Internet Underground London (2023–2025) - DIY lo-fi visual culture emerging from London's experimental poetry/music underground; recorded 2023, released February 2025 on life is beautiful records. High curatorial value as a document of the 2023–2025 South London experimental underground, capturing the intersection of spoken-word poetry, DIY jazz production, and anti-spectacle visual aesthetics on a micro-label. Its formal radicalism — a single uncut 227-second shot with near-zero motion — makes it a strong exemplar of the visualiser-as-artwork trend. The limited 397-copy vinyl pressing and self-contained collective infrastructure of life is beautiful records give this release significant archival weight as an artefact of London's post-internet underground economy. Context: Released in early 2025 on life is beautiful records — a London-based gesamtkunstwerk label and collective founded by aloisius — 'Hot Winter (Dreaming About Being Closer)' sits within a thriving South London experimental underground that bridges jazz poetry, spoken word, and electronic production. James Massiah, a South London poet and musician whose work explores sexuality, mortality, and hedonism, is a central figure in this ecosystem, with ties to Dean Blunt's Babyfather collective, NTS Radio, and institutional poetry venues from the Tate Modern to the Houses of Parliament. The track was recorded in 2023, placing its creative origins in a period of prolific activity following early collaborative shows at Ormside Projects. The visual treatment — a single, near-static, dark, sepia-toned shot — reflects the anti-spectacle ethos of the life is beautiful collective and the broader post-internet underground's rejection of high-production music video conventions. Director notes: No production documentation for the visual component of this release was found in any searched source. The video's extreme formal restraint — a single uncut static shot of 227 seconds with near-zero motion — is consistent with a self-directed or collaboratively produced lyric/visualiser rather than a commissioned director-led production. The track was recorded in 2023 and released as a digital single on 7 February 2025 ahead of the limited 397-copy 7" vinyl pressing on life is beautiful records (18 March 2025).