Browsing Tag

Debut Album

Contemporary Indie Pop Chanteuse EASAE Soulfully Summons Satan in ‘Pretty Little Devil Song’

Posted on 1 January 2023

Buffalo, NY-hailing indie-pop singer-songwriter, EASAE, exhibited the extent of the bewitching dynamism in her vocal range in the standout single, Pretty Little Devil Song, taken from her intimately powerful debut album, Not Sure I Love It Here Yet.

With the grace and finesse of a 50s pop chanteuse, the spellbinding soul of Stevie Nicks and the contemporary kick of Maggie Rogers, EASAE effortlessly carves a niche with her strident approach to indie pop. With the dirty bluesy guitars around her glassy vocal timbre, it is impossible not to be enraptured by this progressively fascinating release, which walks you through confessional introspection that gives her the girl-next-door-edge while her talent sets her so far apart, she’s metaphorically on another plateau from us mere mortals.

Pretty Little Devil Song was released on December 16th; hear it on Spotify with the LP, which navigates loss while stoking the fires of lust for life.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Square Pyramid sang the post-punk blues in their grungy hit, Run Down Dirty Soul

Posted on 26 December 2022

Taken from the eponymous debut album from Square Pyramid, the standout single, Run Down Dirty Soul, is a progressively exhilarating mash of era-spanning alternative culture. From post-punk to blues to grunge, it’s all on the table in this enlivening intrinsically originated hit that has what it takes to unite music scenes once and for all.

With atmospheric hints to Echo and the Bunnymen in the chorally cold rings of the guitars in the intro along with bluesy harmonica blasts before the track slams into a grungy revival of off-kilter alt-90s and college radio rock tones, clearly, each of the three members of Square Pyramid came to the outfit with their own influences and inclinations. And therein lies the blisteringly experimental alchemy within Run Down Dirty Soul. It is a sonic amalgamation that no other outfit has brought to the table.

There’s nothing quite like allowing multiple parts of your personality to meet each other in the space of one song, and that’s exactly what Run Down Dirty Soul achieved for me.

Check out Run Down Dirty Soul on Apple Music and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Outside Kids call for salvation in their grungy pop-punk visceral earworm, Hey God

Posted on 15 November 2022

With their Sub Pop record deal-worthy dynamic edge, The Outside Kids made us suckers for their cutting-edge nostalgic kicks through the lead single, Hey God, from their debut LP, Dirty Faces.

By implanting Green Day-style pop-punk hooks and a little RHCP melodicism in the 90s Seattle sound, the alt-rock duo found the perfect formula for earwormy infectious appeal in the contemporary rock scene. Sparked by a shared influence of Against Me! and Frank Turner, the duo’s symbiotically tight propensities entwine with their socially conscious edge to make their sound that little bit more soulfully gripping. The original icons of pop-punk got plenty right, but with evasive morality, the records will always resonate as bitterly juvenile; The Outside Kids brought the maturity the scene has always been deprived of.

The loud reprise of “can you hear me now” paired with the title of Hey God is a powerful allusion to the frustration we all feel when we forget that the world isn’t happening to us, we just happen to be here for the ride. Embrace the chaos with this perfect hit.

Hey God is now available to stream on Spotify with the rest of The Outside Kids’ album, Dirty Faces.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tin Zelkova achieved the heart-in-mouth and jaw-on-the-floor affect in their rock single, Soul Shaker

Posted on 31 October 2022

After the launch of their debut self-titled album, the three-piece rock powerhouse, Tin Zelkova, became one of the most refreshing names in the genre. The standout single, Soul Shaker delivers a tight rhythmic furore, complete with extended guitar solos and a sense of soul that has been scarcely seen since Soundgarden.

Steven Thompson’s melodically hook-rife vocal lines as a bright and intimate contrast to the murky and overdriven guitars is a mesmerising combination that will be an instant hit with any fans of Highly Suspect, Royal Blood and Badflower.

After writing more than 30 songs by the summer of 2021, the Louisville-based outfit distributed their demo EP and started gracing stages in their hometown. But my god, there’s nothing local about the gravitas in their sound.

Shortly after the release of their first studio-recorded single, they were airing across a plethora of radio stations and performing with the likes of Tantric, Texas Hippie Coalition, Local H, Resist & Bite, Native Sons and many others. If the music industry is still capable of crating iconic acts, my money is on these guys.

Soul Shaker was officially released on September 30th. Check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Expectation meets self-preservation in Aleandro Valente’s blissfully tropic indie pop hit, Not O.K.

Posted on 25 October 2022

The up-and-coming NYC-residing pop artist Aleandro Valente tore off his façade in spectacular fashion in his single, Not O.K. to expose the duality of his determination of being what others perceive him to be and staying true to himself.

The angular indie jangle pop guitars around the sun-bleached tropic RnB pop keys create the perfect platform for the high dynamic stretches of Aleandro Valente’s smooth vocal timbre that pulls you right into the battle of self-preservation and will.

It is Ariana Grande meets the 1975 in this vulnerable earworm that will see the Italian artist and his candour go far. It will undoubtedly be resonant for plenty of his listeners that feel the expectation to amplify their true nature to tick boxes that we never agreed to fill in the first place.

Not O.K. is now available to stream along with the debut album it was taken from, Bite on a Lemon, on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Softest Sound explore cyclical torment in their slowcore anti-folk single over again

Posted on 10 October 2022

The Dayton, Ohio duo, The Softest Sound, unveiled their debut album, an idea can’t just go away, on August 26th and simultaneously introduced the airwaves to a brand-new manifestation of slowcore anti-folk experimentalism.

The standout single, over again, delivers vocals which find a timbre between AJJ and Jack Johnson, while the instrumental arrangement mashes up the melodiously soft guitars in the desert-y atmospherics with discordant electronic effect as an all too efficacious exposition on the turbulent ennui of cyclical torment and having an intangible relationship with identity.

It’s a spacey resonant-soaked release for anyone that has ever felt at odds with their own mind. Given that we’re in 2022, that demographic should make up the majority.

over again is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Ella Hayes sold soul-pop sanctuary in her debut single, Recovery

Posted on 18 September 2022

Essex soul-pop singer-songwriter Ella Hayes paraded her vanquished skeletons and shared her growing pains in her debut EP, Colour Me In, which follows her through her journey of addiction, awakening and expressive creativity.

The standout single, Recovery, was a means of catharsis for the artist, which she extended to the airwaves as a powerfully inspiring affirmation that addiction doesn’t have to be a life sentence. The pop-rock orchestral layers set the perfect tone for her candour, which leaves few stones unturned around the epiphanous lyrics, which resolvingly prove that sanctuary is always in reach, despite how low your rock bottom feels.

“All my life I’ve been terrorised by the lies my head tells me” is one hell of an opening lyric; one that sets the bar she continually transcends throughout Recovery.

Recovery is now available to stream on Spotify

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Elisa Winter – Summer Spent Dreaming: orchestrally apocalyptic post-grunge resonance

Posted on 9 July 2022

While many artists desperately wrestled with their creativity during the first lockdown only to reveal trite lyricism the performer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and baroquely phenomenal recording artist, Elisa Winter foresaw the new normal before the modern plague was on our door.

Finally, her debut album, Summer and Smoke, which was officially released on Summer Solstice 2022, is here to spill orchestrally apocalyptic post-grunge resonance. The LP tracks across the tensions between truth, reality and gaslighting, with the engrossingly stunning highlight, Summer Spent Dreaming.

Lush yet tumultuous. Visceral yet encompassing the detachment we all felt in some capacity, Summer Spent Dreaming is the most authentic aural depiction of the frustration and entropy I’ve heard yet.

Everything changed, in a way it is almost impossible to put in words. I say almost because Elisa Winter discernibly succeeded with “speak to me please, what has happened to you? Searching for you in your eyes, you won’t let me in.” There’s been a disconnect that we’ve kept our heads in the sand about. Thankfully, Elisa Winter is here to vindicate the confusion in our alien relationship with reality and each other.

Elisa Winter’s latest album, Summer and Smoke, is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Spectoral wonders if the intentions are pure on ‘LOVESICK’ (ft. Megadead and Tusanxmi)

Posted on 6 July 2022

After two years of building up his debut album that will feature 15 unique artists, Spectoral shows us what quality music sounds like in 2022 with ‘LOVESICK‘ (ft. Megadead and Tusanxmi).

Spectoral is a Melbourne, Australia-based SlideUp Records-signed music producer and singer who has released 3 EPs and is now taking the next step in his career.

”The plants thrive off the music, and my creativity thrives off the plants, so we have somewhat of a symbiotic relationship.” ~ Spectoral

With soothing vocals, relatable lyrics, and a busting beat that you will inevitably find hard to forget, Spectoral might be one of the most lively artists to come out of Australia for ages. There is so much to like here as our minds are taken to the moment that will determine if we let our heart out of its safe box, or let it fly free like a curious bird looking for a permanent nest.

‘‘I also consider myself a collaborator at heart, which is why I’ve got so many underground names featuring alongside me on the album.” ~ Spectoral

‘LOVESICK‘ (ft. Megadead and Tusanxmi) from Australian-Mauritian-Slovakian producer and singer Spectoral is a superb track that will pulse the very core of your veins. A story for all those who have slight trust issues after being let down before is on offer here and shall thud your whole soul awake. Sung with a heightened velocity and filled with excellent features throughout, this is a reminder that we need to be extra careful who we let into our lives.

Sometimes, people want us for their own selfish reasons after all.

Listen up to this hot new single on Spotify and see more news on the IG page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Eldad Ben Naim has delivered his hypnotic electro-jazz fusion score, Welcome Night

Posted on 13 February 2022

With a score that feels like a jazzier and smokier version of Bladerunner’s aural phonoaesthetic, Eldad Ben Naim’s seminal single, Welcome Night, is a hypnotic introduction to the jazz fusion virtuoso’s gift when it comes to laying down beguilingly elegant arrangements.

The electro-jazz instrumental soundscape puts a polyphonic spin on the blazing solos that you’d expect to blast from a sax or guitar, giving the score a playfully eccentric edge, but never compromising on the high-brow alchemy which keeps flowing your way throughout the entire duration of the 6-minute release. If you’re not left entranced by the outro, you should be pretty worried about the state of your soul.

You can check out Eldad Ben Naim’s single, Welcome Night for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast