Browsing Tag

electronic pop

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

Posted on 1 September 2023

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

Posted on 29 August 2023

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

Posted on 16 May 2023
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

Posted on 31 March 2023
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

Posted on 14 March 2023

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

Posted on 23 February 2023

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

Posted on 3 February 2023
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.

Spotlight Feature: Tontine elevated UK alt-electro-pop with his dynamically soul-rendered debut EP, ‘I’

Posted on 9 December 2022

Alt-electro-pop artist, Tontine grabbed a pack of matches and set hearts alight with his debut EP, I. For all the diehard romantics out there, come and feel the heat of this evocative triumph of a 3-track release which radiates stylised soul.

The opening single, If I Could, goes in heavy on the exotic euphoria in the uniquely layered single. As the bass oscillates around the reverb-heavy synth lines and soft angular guitar work, the romanticism within Michael Walden’s vocal lines elevates the release to transcendent heights.

In track two, NIFE, Tontine revolutionises and reforms the pop ballad with the ethereal textures, flurries of intricate piano keys and yearning vocals that meld into the blossoming synthetics to prove the beauty in vulnerability. Grief is a deeply personal experience, but the losses mourned in NIFE share a universal resonance.

The concluding single, Only the Once, is a glitchy avant-garde dream-pop lullaby that allows soul to simmer through the complex chord progressions and lyrics, which crave a repetition of an act never destined to become a reprise.

“This is the first of three EPs I’ll be putting out over the next 12 months consisting of music I’ve been working on for a few years now. I want to showcase what I can do as an artist who writes, records, produces, and mixes everything themselves. This first collection of songs is centred around the theme of loss in various forms, and is a taste of bigger things to come.”

Tontine’s debut EP was officially released on December 9th. Catch it on SoundCloud & Spotify.

Follow Tontine on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tokyo’s Sumi has made her dark electronic debut with the hooky anxiety exposition, Closing In

Posted on 10 November 2022

Tokyo-based singer-songwriter Sumi made a strong debut with her dark electro-pop single, Closing in. By utilising metaphors that expose the most insidious aspects of anxiety in the imaginatively amalgamated soundscape that blends her sonic roots into the contemporary moody pop trends, Sumi became one of the most promisingly individual artists on the airwaves.

The emotions in Closing In may be intimately inspired, but in 2022, Sumi is speaking for the masses as we battle with the sharp claws of imposter syndrome and the claustrophobia of reality closing in, leaving our dreams in the rubble of the cortisol spikes.

Before making her solo debut, during her stint in LA, Sumi played with several bands and collaborated with artists and producers to create songs on network shows such as Naked and Afraid, Teen Titans Go and the Ellen Degeneres Show. We can’t wait to see how far her solo career takes her.

Closing In was officially released on September 21st and is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Classic pop meets dark EBM in Shards’ latest single, I Know You Feel the Same

Posted on 16 October 2022

The up-and-coming solo alt-pop artist, Shards, became the voice of melancholic reason in his latest spacey electro-pop track, I Know You Feel the Same, which contrasts dark EBM-style beats with classic pop harmonies as it cries out for mutuality.

The line “I’m so in love I don’t want to be alone” is a poignant testament to his inhibited approach to lyricism, an approach that will undoubtedly see him go far with his romantically scorned fans.

While there is some room for improvement on the mastering of the single and the synergy between the vocal melodies and the beats could be improved, I Know You Feel the Same is still a hard hitter of a single that is powerful enough to test your soul’s capacity to feel.

I Know You Feel the Same is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast