Browsing Tag

electronic pop

Shea delivered sultry, dynamic and utterly unforgettable dancehall-infused pop with CARTERTHEBANDIT with ‘U Mine’

Shea’s latest hot and steamy RnB pop track, U Mine, is a rhythmic aphrodisiac that invites you to lose yourself in its intoxicating groove. Collaborating with Peckham’s own CARTERTHEBANDIT, the track is a masterful exhibition of raw synergy and explosive musical chemistry. Shea, with his background in theatre and performance, brings a performance to the track that’s both glittery and soulful, encapsulating the essence of his queer and devilishly evocative artistry.

Between CARTERTHEBANDIT’s fiery bars that add a palpable heat and the meticulously stylised production choices, which set the verses up like foreplay to tantalise and tease before erupting into the climactic choruses, U Mine is a red hot remedy for the heart, libido and soul.

U Mine not only sets the mood but embodies it, from the rhythmically charged beats to the intoxicating vocal deliveries. It’s a testament to Shea’s versatility as an artist who can hold his own alongside the gritty authenticity of a rapper like CARTERTHEBANDIT. This track stands as a shining example of what independent artists can achieve, echoing Shea’s accolades and experiences from his performances at Pride festivals to his recognition on BBC Introducing. It’s a song that captures the essence of a night out—sultry, dynamic, and utterly unforgettable.

Stream U Mine on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hanley showed us the future of the pop ballad with ‘So Much for Being Real’

After the success of the 2022 EP, ALIVE, the up-and-coming artist Hanley has shown us the future of pop ballads with the celestial timbres within their latest piano pop score, So Much for Being Real. Through the sequence of crescendos which punctuate the plaintive piano keys beneath the pure yearning within the vocals, you’ll feel your soul stir as much as the instrumental arrangement which emanates the kind of radiant enlightenment which only comes via acceptance and emotional intelligence.

Promises becoming little more than empty platitudes is one of the greatest betrayals we will ever experience in life, there’s little solace to be found in the bitterness of naivety after being swept up in an idea of perpetuity, but Hanley’s latest composition which was delivered with superlatively spacey compassion hits the mark of solace with perfect precision.

So Much for Being Real was officially released on October 27; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Laura Loh illuminated the airwaves with her latest installation of alt-pop, City Lights

Laura Loh’s latest alt-pop single, City Lights, co-produced with MUNBOI, has already been picked up by BBC Introducing; given the earworm appeal of the release from the Hampshire, UK-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, the question is, can they put it down?

With nuances of ambient leftfield electronica oscillating in the atmosphere of the scintillating single which pays an ode to the magnetism of metropolises and their tendency to keep pulling us back with the promise of limitless potential, City Lights is a compellingly immersive release, which stands as a testament to how honed Laura Loh has become since making her debut. Synthesising instrumentals which stand a chance of complimenting her naturally compelling vocal range is discernibly no easy feat.

As she’s veered away from her classical vocal, piano, and violin training and jazz music background, Laura Loh has audibly moved towards commercial appeal while never letting her folky alt-pop edge betray her authenticity.

City Lights will illuminate the airwaves on November 9th; stream the single on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zach Haselow brought purity to passion in his synth-pop hit, Rent Free

Get hooked on the reverb-heavy retrowave synth lines in the latest electro-pop hit, Rent Free, from the Alaskan icon in the making, Zach Haselow.

With a soundscape that finds the middle ground between the Weeknd and the Midnight, it is all too easy to get into the lush electronic grooves of Rent Free, which soulfully pays homage to the phenomenon of all-consuming romantic obsession while traversing the insecurities that desire can forcibly manifest.

The humbly sweet hit couldn’t be purer in its passion or more polished in its production; the melodies seem to effervesce around the funk-dripping basslines that will arrest your rhythmic pulses and refuse to let go until long after the fadeout. After spending over a decade perfecting the art of songwriting and producing, Zach Haselow has achieved a sonic signature that is as honed as it is distinctive.

Rent Free made its debut on August 18th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

tonka._.b has made her bedroom pop debut with the sticky-sweet indietronica single, Me & U

The bedroom pop artist tonka._.b has made her debut with the indietronic pop hit, Me & U. Right from the prelude you will be invited into a dreamy, almost ethereal electronically crafted universe, which shares a few proclivities with the tracks orchestrated by the likes of Shiny Toy Guns, Metric, and Kill Hannah. Just when you think the single is about to border on twee, bassier dance elements work their way into the progressive mix that delivers a barrage of curveballs to keep you on your toes right to the outro.

It may be rough around some of the songwriting edges in some parts, and transitions between the verses and chorus could be smoother, but the up-and-coming artist clearly has an ear for a melody, and there is no telling where it could take her in the future – stay tuned and keep her on your radar.

Me & U was officially released on August 21; stream it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

House of Asha broke through silence and stigma with her debut dream-pop single, Talk About It

https://youtu.be/Z27jssfBhsU

With her diaphanous debut single, Talk About It, the alternative singer-songwriter, House of Asha, broke the silence and stigma which often stifles the conversation around mental health in South Asian communities.

It is one thing to be candid when there will be no negative consequence or connotation, it is quite another to defy culture to break the cycle of generational trauma. The mellifluous dream-pop synthetics are a sublime pairing for the harmonically poised bleeding vocals, which effortlessly coalesce with the shoegazey dream-pop layers that will leave your rhythmic pulses on a plateau while the lyricality leaves you grounded.

Talk About It is the first single to release from House of Asha’s debut LP; it set the bar for what is to come, although, our faith is well-placed in the elevated grace of the songstress who scores her melancholically demure tracks around influences from the likes of Imogen Heap, Billie Eilish, Hozier and Young the Giant.

You can check out the debut single, Talk About It, from House of Asha via SoundCloud or stream the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Positronic signed, sealed, and delivered a 80s synth-pop postcard with his latest single, A Long Goodbye

Positronic

With an edge of 80s synthpop sharpening the future-embracing textures in the ardently dreamy release that picks up plenty of visceral weight from the crooned harmonies, the latest single, A Long Goodbye, from Positronic will warm even the most sub-zero souls.

Odes to the 80s can often sound trite at best – there was never any danger of that with the reminiscences to icons of aural cool such as Editors, noted through the harshness of the snares, the chillier timbres and the sheer depth of emotion in the vocals.

The unassimilated gravitas of A Long Goodbye starts to make infinitely more sense with a glimpse at the artist and producer’s biography; the solo artist has been in the synth-pop scene since 1988, spurred on by the love of The Pet Shop Boys, OMD, Erasure and Depeche Mode. The Cali solo artist is just as talented as the artists he pulled inspiration from.

A Long Goodbye will officially release on March 31st; hear it on Positronic’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tom P Buckley pushed the boundaries of Avant-Garde electronica with his latest single, Try

If you like your leftfield electronica soaked in theatrical autonomy, you would be hard-pressed to find more originality than what floods the mix in one of the recent releases from the Maine-based artist and producer, Tom P Buckley.

Try is just one of the 8,000 songs penned by the prolifically creative artist, who has also put his name to 51 novels and received accolades for his visual art. The extended 7-minute release drifts through everything from cutting orchestral strings to intense electro build-ups that break with a flood of euphoria to lift you from the sonic monotony that is tragically prolific on the airwaves. While we can’t say we’ve ever heard anything like it before, who is to say that’s a bad thing?

Try was officially released on March 2nd; catch it on YouTube.

For more info on the artist, head over to his official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rae Larz drifted into the 5th dimension in her spacey synth-pop debut, Tea in the Stratosphere

Here to warn us that reality isn’t what we think it is, is the up-and-coming experimental artist Rae Larz, who could give Bjork a run for her Avant-Garde money with her introspectively spacey hit, Tea in the Stratosphere.

Stirring her artfully psychedelic single with a heavy dose of futurism ensured that she established herself as an orchestrator of soul-emancipating sonic remedies, which take us far beyond the maladies of the 21st century.

The decadently soft synth lines lustfully collide with the trip-hop-y percussive fills and the nuanced slithers of jazz timbres and other world music elements that heighten this elevated hit to the nth degree.

Every aural inch of Tea in the Stratosphere was written, performed, produced, and engineered by Rae Larz herself. Evidently, the Brooklyn-based originator will become an unreckonable force in the industry.

Tea in the Stratosphere was officially released on February 3rd via Jupiter’s Luck Records. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Madishu is a contemporary electro-pop cut above the rest in her hypersonically redemptive single, Naïve

Madishu

The Austrian electro-pop artist, Madishu, is off the sonic Richter scale in her latest single, Naïve. The piercing RnB-tinged electro-pop aesthetic will ensnare you from the first melodic hook, while the lyrical vulnerability pushes you deeper into the soulfully disarming hypersonic world, which will be a hit with any fans of 8 Bit-adjacent music.

If any artist can relinquish you from the shame of being naïve, it is Madishu with this addictively vindicating earworm which effortlessly demonstrates the beauty in sincerity when there’s such a scarcity.

“The song is about a toxic friendship I broke free from, and the journey I took in learning to value myself enough to no longer tolerate people who constantly take from me without giving back.”

After achieving viral renown via her collaboration with MOONBOY on the track Need U and off the back of her own original work, the Austrian singer-songwriter is a vision of visceral colour in a drab and dark world.

Naïve will officially stream across all major platforms on February 3rd. Hear it here.

Follow Madishu on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.