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Cenzontle’s fusionist sound is sweeter than ‘Nectar’ in their latest seminal Latin folk release.

Posted on 18 November 2023

After enchanting audiences under the GlowStone Leaf Orchestra banner and producing 13 albums that weave a tapestry of profound narratives and complex harmonies, the delectably talented Berlin-based artist, Jorge Hernandez, who has been honing his rhythmic and raconteurial crafts for over a decade stepped into a new ensemble when he assembled the three-piece Cenzontle with Lucie Nana and Kim Kong in 2019.

Monikers don’t come much more apt than Cenzontle, which translates to “400 voices”; it is a nod to the Mexican heritage of Hernandez and the multi-layered essence of his work, which breaks the monocultural mould while proving music is a universal language.

The eponymous LP, which hit the airwaves earlier this year is an opportunity for immersion in a captivating fusion of traditional Latin American Folk and electrifying Rock, delivered with a digital twist. Whether you delve into the vibrant recording or witness the emotional and innovative depth via the live performance of the standout single, ‘Nectar’, you’re sure to be stirred by the spiritually transcendent experience which solidifies Cenzontle’s position at the forefront of genre-bending music exploration.

Stream the Cenzontle LP on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emilie Thorsby drenched her latest single ‘Ocean’ in a sea of artful tranquillity

Posted on 12 November 2023
Emilie Thorsby

Capturing the calmingly vast natural beauty of the ocean which allows us to feel part of something bigger than ourselves within a soundscape couldn’t have been an easy feat, but the Danish singer-songwriter, Emilie Thorsby, resoundingly succeeded in her artfully alternative single, Ocean.

Through saturated almost shoegaze-y guitars, an electronica arrangement that breaks down cultural barriers as fluidly as the ocean moves without constraint, and vocal lines that resound with a sense of serenity and spirituality, Emilie Thorsby lived up to the hype that her countless accolades signify.

After releasing six singles, Emilie Thorsby has been recognised by EGW Magazine, several of her singles have gone into rotation on US radio stations, including NBC, and she was also nominated as the female artist of the year in 2022. We can’t wait to see the strides she makes in 2024.

Ocean will be available to stream on Spotify from November 11; stream the scintillating single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Juracán reached the epitome of caressive seduction in his downtempo trip-hop track, Ya Te Olvidé

Posted on 12 November 2023

Trip-hop’s sultriest evocateur, Juracán, allowed raw emotion to pour into his most sensually sublime single to date, Ya Te Olvidé. If the intimate Spanish vocals don’t leave prickles of heat under your collar as they sweep across the mellifluous guitars, glitchy percussion, and trumpets, the caressive seduction in the trip-hop instrumentals will turn up the heat.

Ya Te Olvidé injects a brand-new context into the adage “gone but not forgotten” by alluding to how memories made with ex-romantic partners fade like old Polaroids, regardless of how much we want to cling to some of the sweetest moments in the bitter-sweet dichotomies that relationships inevitably traverse.

If you’re looking for solace after experiencing the obsoletion of inside jokes and watching pictures lose all meaning, you are sure to find it within Ya Te Olvidé. Either that or you’ll start a new sonic love affair with Juracán.

Ya Te Olvidé was officially released on November 3rd; stream the single on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

trueandtrue dialled up the rancour with their seductively clever post-hardcore single, Blindfold

Posted on 11 November 2023
trueandtrue

After a prelude of grungy no-wave with a spoken-word delivery of deadpan poetry, the latest single, Blindfold, from the post-hardcore outfit, trueandtrue, dials up the rancorous momentum that hits with the same impact as some of the most seminally unforgettable singles from Alexisonfire and At the Drive-In. The visceralism is one thing, the seductive way the instrumentals overlay their progressively exhilarant melodicism between the stripped-back interludes and tumultuous crescendos is another entirely.

Blindfold will officially release on November 10th ahead of the forthcoming debut EP, Back Into the Quiet. If the rest of the EP shares the intricately clever juggernautic volatility of Blindfold, trueandtrue has exactly what it takes to hold dominion over the post-hardcore scene.

The Norwegian post-hardcore powerhouse said:

“Blindfold is a catchy yet energetic song that has continually grown during recording and production. Here, instrumentals and vocals go hand in hand to guide you through an emotionally charged lyric about getting people or situations right up your throat. From emotional lines like ‘How do I keep up when it’s empathy I lack?’ to the aggressive chorus ‘Drown me in your words,’ you are taken through the narrator’s emotions and mood swings.“

Stream Blindfold on Spotify, and follow the band on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with the drop of the EP.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Basil Babychan cast a spectral shadow over his latest filmic score, Insentient Nature

Posted on 10 November 2023
https://soundcloud.com/basilbabychan/insentinent-nature/s-Zo5Ovv7zuQl?si=5165905864934628a4c17bc22fe9047c&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Insentient Nature is the latest cinematically sombre neo-classic score from the avant-garde ambient composer Basil Babychan, who has garnered international critical acclaim for his phantasmally affecting work, which entwines futurism with touches of classical orchestration to create profoundly reflective sonic spaces.

The darkly compelling minor key progressions against the spectral shadows cast by the classical strings and glitchy synths lead the instrumental soundscape into a brand-new depiction of dystopia; one which allows you to see the beauty beyond the consternation. Harbingering the age of the machine and a sense of detachment from the organic world, Babychan taps into our fears, while demonstrating everything has its place and a right to belonging and freedom.

Insentient Nature is due for official release on November 10th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Speaker Cabinets unleashed euphonically augmented sci-fi escapism in their alt-indie sophomore LP, Tales from New Babel

Posted on 9 November 2023

For their sophomore LP, the Barcelona trio Speaker Cabinets spun ‘Tales from New Babel’ over an indie aesthetic that will ricochet you right back to the 00s alt-indie rock era with reminiscences of Kasabian, The Futureheads, and The Courteeners.

With an additional layer of Euro folk in the opening single, Ghost Town, there will be little deliberation as to whether Speaker Cabinets stamped down a distinctive sonic signature within the anthemics of their dance-worthy and constraintlessly daring concept EP. When you’re not ensnared in the hooks, you’ll be immersed in a sci-fi tale of retribution. The standout single, The Fall, is a straight-up space rock attest to the imaginative ingenuity of the powerhouse, who will seemingly go to any mind-altering length to deliver euphonically augmented escapism to their fans.

The band’s electro-heavy sophomore LP was released on October 20 along with a 6-episode podcast, which shares the story of their zany creation. Delve into the sonic sci-fi franchise, you’re unlikely to regret it.

Stream the Speaker Cabinets sophomore LP by heading to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

J.MYSTERY granted the permission to ‘Breakdown’ in the ethereal catharsis of his artfully raw alt-electronica score.

Posted on 9 November 2023

‘Breakdown’ is the latest innovatively polished and artfully raw electronica score by the Portuguese virtuoso and genre-melding alchemist, J.MYSTERY, who has garnered an accoladed reputation over the last few years with his command over ethereal ingenuity.

After a strong yet wavy reminiscence of John Grant in the intro which puts J.MYSTERY’s honey-timbered croons atop oscillating synthesised turbulence, echoes of the darkest Arctic Monkeys album start to manifest in the reverberance before the single veers into intersections of atmospheric soul, which will captivate any fans of Hozier and George Ezra.

Given the strength of his discography, crafting his most powerful single to date was no easy feat, but inspired by the grief shared with his wife following the sorrow of a miscarriage, J.MYSTERY found the necessity to extol the virtues of breaking down and refusing to listen to ‘be strong’ commands. Unless your soul is cast in stone, you’ll find tears to shed over this overwhelmingly vulnerable release.

Breakdown was officially released on September 29; sink into the soulful avant-garde electronica by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Verge struck all the right raw, protestive and empowering chords in ‘Keep the Head Up’

Posted on 8 November 2023

If you fused the ferocity of Rage Against the Machine or Bikini Kill with the rhythmic pull of Guns n Roses and threw in augmented layers of down-and-dirty blues rock, you’d be left with a cocktail as aurally visceral as the seminal single, Keep the Head Up, from the underground’s most indomitable outfit, The Verge.

The Parisian powerhouse has been cranking up the overdrive on their guitars since 2014; since banding together they haven’t failed to establish themselves as an unmissable live act and an ensemble which knows exactly how to infuse that energy into their records.

With melodies and riffs that will tattoo themselves across your synapses from the first spin and the way the vocals pull you right into the core of their boisterously bluesy hits, their provoking emotional depth knows few bounds. In Keep the Head Up, they demonstrate their ability to strike the right raw, protestive, and empowering chords.

The official video for Keep the Head Up is available to stream on YouTube.

Keep up to date with the latest aural antics from The Verge by heading over to their official Facebook page.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Melancholia spills into the cosmos with Sub Caesar’s melodically progressive tech house cocktail Into the Oblast (When Will You Be Home) ft Brunetti

Posted on 4 November 2023

Some EDM anthems drop, others make a collision that will make an ever-lasting impression; Sub Caesar’s latest orchestration, Into the Oblast (When Will You Be Home) ft Brunetti, is luxe enough in meaningful momentum to scorch the airwaves on its arrival.

The dark and melancholic anthem, which is drenched in enough yearning and desperation for security and sanctity that it spills pensiveness into the cosmos, pulls together with a cohesion that makes it impossible not to surrender to the mellifluous instrumental layering and the searing soul in Brunetti’s glassy vocal lines. If her timbre sounds familiar, you may have heard her in her tracks featured on Netflix shows, including Selling Sunset, Love is Blind, and The Circle.

By exploring the most elemental trappings of melodic house & techno and progressive house, Sub Caesar produced an evocatively energising Tour De Force, which should necessitate the removal of the ‘sub’ affix from his moniker.

The independent Dutch producer, Sub Caesar, said:

“The inspiration for this track came from one of these heart-breaking clips of soldiers returning home, hugging their children. Amongst all the terrible news and images of war and war victims, his clip touched me deeply. A strong emotion is a good basis for music! The word ‘Oblast’ means region or province in Ukraine. In this track, it stands for any harm a loved one could be in while also being far away from home and the anxiety and special kind of longing that this causes. Having said that, yes, you can hear the actual Kiev air siren in there, pitched down a semitone to match the musical scale.”

Into the Oblast will officially be released on November 3rd; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gain a lesson in virtue with Cagri Raydemir’s Absence of Patience

Posted on 25 October 2023

Taken from the four-track EP, Absence, which extolls the virtues of patience, candour, courtesy and tolerance, the opening single, Absence of Patience, featuring Julian Hesse on trumpet, is some of the Munich-based singer-songwriter and producer, Cagri Raydemir’s finest work to date.

After teasing a post-punk atmosphere in the intro, exotic folk nuances begin to weave their way into the progressively avant-garde production before Cagri Raydemir’s vocals become a magnetic centrepiece in the sonic pool of beguile. Imagine Serj Tankian turning his talents to folkish prog rock, and you will get an idea of the organic alchemy caged within this exemplary feat of artistry.

12 LPs and 7 EPs down, it is safe to say the qualified recording engineer and artist has honed his sound and his ability to bring lyrical concepts which explore the human condition to life within his soundscapes. We can’t wait to hear what he conjures next.

The Absence EP was officially released on October 16th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast