Introducing... Russo - (Lights Are Off mixtape)

We like 25 year-old Brixton lass Russo a lot. You know that awkward intermediary period between Christmas and New Year, when we all get back to the hum and grind of daily life? It's when you're desperate for something exciting to break the monotony of the largely house-bound days, and this year, that came in the form of Russo's brilliant free mixtape Lights Are Off.

The Lights Are Off tape comes as a fast-paced collage of electric intensity that excels because it not only sounds genuine, and well-conceived, but chiefly because it's exciting. Contained on Lights Are Off is not just the makings of an up and coming singer, but a handful of pop hooks so brilliantly good they're positively bursting.

The mixtape is also an impressive address-book of connections; there's guest raps from Scrufizzer (who recently featured on Oh My!'s brilliant Dirty Dancer), Sincere and most notably, Dot Rotten; one of the most hyped new-comers for 2012. Lights Are Off is alive with the buzz of what might come from it, it feels alive with a youthful vigour that's not only fundamentally charming, but feels vital and essentially radio-friendly.

You've Changed Me is a grinding, industrial behemoth - another class vocal dripping over a trembling dubstep backing. As with so much of the tape, the track spits attitude, a fuck-you don't-mess-with-me confidence that is alluring powerful for such a new artist. It's there too in Russo's previous single release Fool: 'You want a woman? Then grow up. Cos being dumb seems your occupation. I'm tired of having relations with a dick-head.' - this is a girl you simply don't mess with.

One of her best tracks, We Believed is a headlong collision between old-skool garage influences and sci-fi robo-vocals. It's a simmering, bubbling cauldron of potential that hints at the star burning bright at the heart of Russo. The fierce carpet-burn rawness of Bad Tonight makes for another highlight, and in its fantastic drum'n'bass Shock One remix format has been garnering frequent Radio 1 airplay.

With the British charts never more receptive to urban sounds than they are at the moment, Russo could very well become this year's Katy B - the perfectly balanced go-between bridging the gap between disparate popular tastes and genres. One thing's for sure - Lights Are Off is exceptionally good.