Browsing Tag

Experimental Pop

Glitchy art rock meets alt urban pop in Jacobi.e’s latest single, Rcv

Posted on 17 July 2022

Since his 2020 debut, experimentalism has been at the forefront of Jacobi.e’s alt bedroom pop sound. With his aptly dark, melodically off-kilter and tumultuously glitchy first single of 2022, Rcv, the Jamaican American artist and producer, currently residing in LA, fused his rock background with contemporary flavours of the originators, Dominic Fike, Kanye and Yeek.

While some artists manage to make exploring alternative sounds a contrived act of pretension, Jacobi.e instantly affirms that the alchemy came organically through his affinity for a plethora of genres. Pulling all of the contrasting textures together, his vocals are a sticky-sweet vocal point in the wavy track that stands as a testament to his flair as a producer that continues to amass gravitas.

RCV is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Marcel Schechter has released his decadently dark pop single, Circle.

Posted on 24 March 2022

Ahead of the release of his third album, Circle, the German artist and sound engineer, Marcel Schechter, has released the title single. it intriguingly sets the euphonically pensive tone and welcomes new listeners to Schecter’s bold arrangement style that effortlessly resonates as artfully distinctive without needing to veer into the Avant-Garde territory.

With hints of Echo and the Bunnymen and New Order in the melancholic cascading progressions, and the plaintively dynamic vocals atop the mash of dark, fluid aural alchemy, this moody yet intrinsically hopeful single doesn’t fail to hit the evocative spot.

The single also features the revered artists Ben Jud (bass), Jan-Philipp Wiesmann (drums), Thomas Langer (guitar) and Andreas Pohr (lead vocals).

The single, Circle, is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

West Ingston brings the Jekyll and Hyde vibes in his alt-pop hit, Bone Apple Tea.

Posted on 29 September 2021

Houston-born, Chicago-based alt-pop artist West Ingston’s standout 2021 single, Bone Apple Tea, is just as ingenious as the inventive title implies. His melodic hooks are just as clever as the conceptuality of his music.

With spoken word increments that are rough enough to make Iggy Pop’s vocals sound polished around the artist’s RnB pop vocals, Bone Apple Tea tells a story of duality that you can’t help but be hooked in by. The Jekyll and Hyde vibe adds an incredible dynamic to the tender jazzy indie-pop track that serves as an incredible testament to West Ingston’s boundary-breaking avant-garde expressionism.

You can drink in Bone Apple Tea by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Transcend our 3D reality with Michæl Augustine’s ambient experimental hyperpop single ‘goodbye’

Posted on 18 February 2021
Michæl Augustine

Experimental hyperpop artist, Michæl Augustine, is set to release their latest entrancingly avant-garde ambient single ‘goodbye’, if you want to slip away from our three-dimensional world, goodbye will gladly hand you the ticket.

The soundscape was written as an aural transcription of the mental and emotional journey of the average human being. With so much misguided focus on mental health, it is easy to see any amount of emotional turmoil as a life-long issue or an affirmation that we’re ‘broken’. Goodbye is a serene reminder that pain is part of the human condition whilst allowing the vibrant colours to decorate your mind with catharsis.

Needless to say, we’re floored with Michæl Augustine’s astute approach to experimentalism.

Goodbye is due for releasee on March 14th, you’ll be able check it out on SoundCloud. In the meantime, check out their former release.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ideaad6 – Renaissance: Meet Your New Alt RnB Pop Earworm

Posted on 18 January 2021
Ideaad6

Ideaad6 broke into the Pop scene in 2019, as 2020 drew to a close, he dropped his experimentally conceptual album, 35MM, which gives a panoramic view of his all-encompassing approach to production.

The standout track, Renaissance, is the perfect introduction to Ideaad6’s raw, compelling and intimate sound. With classical strings weaving ethereal atmosphere in the trappy electronic track which pulls in gritty nuances of Alt Rock and RnB, Renaissance may be a genre-defying track, but the accessibility was never compromised in the entrancing hook-laden hit.

Describing a track as hard-hitting and soulfully hypnotic should be a paradox, Ideaad6’s alchemic approach makes it a transfixing upraising reality.

Ideaad6’s album 35mm is now available to stream via their official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Wally Hoak has made their viscerally experimental Alt Urban Pop debut with “Complicated”

Posted on 31 October 2020
https://soundcloud.com/wjoaquin9/complicated

Usually, you’d have to turn to Dreampop or Shoegaze to hear guitar tones as tantalising as the ones you will find in Wally Hoak’s Alt Urban Pop single “Complicated”.

The experimentally indulgent soundscape is a collision of culture, seasoned by the frustrative grief which can sour the sweetest of relationships.

While there’s a fairly wistful and melancholic air to the former verses, with the following verses, Wally Hoak starts to project the visceral contempt which usually manifests when romantic partners unnecessarily push and blur boundaries leaving us unaware of where we stand but all too aware that we look like an idiot.

With the amount of resonance in Complicated, we can’t wait to hear how the artist serves up his soul in his sophomore release.

You can check out Wally Hoak’s debut single Complicated by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kaia Black – Really: A Piano-Led Ode to Pain

Posted on 19 September 2020
https://soundcloud.com/user-168590831-505180188/really

Starting with a simple, four-note repeating piano phrase, ‘Really’ by Kaia Black is the simplest of songs, a one minute eleven seconds ode to pain and a lack of understanding, the final refrain a plaintive ‘I don’t think you’re sorry’.

The piano part carries the track, and, admittedly, the vocal leaves a little to be desired, the attempt at nonchalance coming across instead as perhaps lacklustre and unsettled. That said, there’s an interesting concept, the simplicity of the track itself a challenge and a change from the over-instrumented, over-produced mainstream that often counts for ‘alternative’ music.

Kaia Black is on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Howevever brings the bass-drenched synth lines in their seminal single Movie Night

Posted on 13 September 2020
Howevever

Australian Electronica artist Isaac Lee has worked under many guises in his almost decade-long career, this time, he’s gracing the airwaves under his new moniker Howevever and set to unleash their entrancingly soulful Alt-Electronic Pop track “Movie Night”.

If Fidlar jumped from Stoner Garage Rock to spacy synthy experimentalism, you’ll get an idea of what to expect when you hit play. Movie Night may be a little overly reverb-drenched, but there’s no denying that Howevever delivers pure distinction in this droney kaleidoscopically indulgent track.

You’ll be able to check out Howevever’s track Movie Night for yourselves from September 18th via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Head down the rabbit hole with Winter Rae’s new Alt Electropop single “One of Us”

Posted on 13 September 2020

Atlanta-based Pop artist Winter Rae has invited you down the rabbit hole with her latest single “One of Us”. With a touch of archaic experimentalism within the infectiously fresh Alt Electropop mix, you can’t help but be immersed in the ingenuity which boasts quaint nuances of cabaret. Yet, One of Us stands as one of the most stylistic Pop drops of 2020.

“Fuck you but have a good day” may just be my new favourite lyric of all time. Winter Rae’s sound exceeds expectation on every single level. The authenticity, the alluring vocal timbre, the witty sass-dripping attitude in the lyrics, the commitment to ensuring that a song like One of Us has never been on the airwaves before, it’s all there. Watch this space.

You can check out One of Us on all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rowanna Chown – Cry My Art Out: Feistily Infectious Alt Pop

Posted on 30 August 2020

If you think the title to up and coming artist Rowanna Chown’s latest single “Cry My Art Out” is ingenious, wait until you hit play on the fiercely punchy feat of Alt-Pop. Rowanna Chown makes Lady Gaga sound positively tame.

By taking influence from both 80s Madonna-style Pop and Backstreet Boys-style 90s Pop and weaving them into a danceable high-octane mix Cry My Art Out dripped with commercial potential. The radio-ready hit which dropped on July 27th is sure to see Rowanna Chown propelled from the underground. If she doesn’t have what it takes to be a household name, I don’t know who does.

Without any hint of exaggeration, Rowanna Chown exudes pure Queen energy in Cry My Art Out. You can bask in the feisty regal grace of the single by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast