Browsing Tag

Jazz Pop

Find the silver lining in A-Mar’s bluesy indie single, Raining in New Orleans.

Posted on 20 September 2021

Even though using the weather as a parable for complex emotions isn’t exactly novel, independent bedroom pop artist A-Mar’s single, Raining in New Orleans, proves there’s still plenty of poignant poetry to be pulled from our stormy, unpredictable weather systems.

Vocally, there is plenty of reminiscence to the likes of Jack Johnson, but it is in the instrumentals where A-Mar truly comes into his own. His soulful infusion of indie, blues and jazz in the cathartically laidback single sets him leagues apart from his contemporaries and icons alike. If this is what he can achieve alone in his bedroom, we’re all too eager to hear where the future takes him and his tender, instantly magnetic expression.

Raining in New Orleans is now available to stream along with the artist’s debut album, Around El Mundo, via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Transcend expectation with Lucy Burke’s jazzy blues pop single, Deaf Ears

Posted on 15 September 2021

With the style and soul of a 1950s chanteuse, Lucy Burke looks through the eyes of iconic female singers in her arcanely arranged jazzy blues pop single, Deaf Ears, which reveals the inner bliss available if you succeed in transcending societal expectation.

Britney Spears’ mental breakdown and subsequent censorship battle inspired Burke to explore the melancholy behind Marilyn Monroe’s glamour and find parallels with the harrowing journey of Amy Winehouse. Deaf Ears also offers an alchemic gaze into the pitfalls that dichotomies present to artists as they choose between modesty and sexuality and conformity and revolution.

With the Sydney-based singer-songwriter’s influences ranging from Eva Cassidy to Portishead to The Beatles to Norah Jones, her dynamic sound never allows you to anticipate what is coming next. But something tells us, we haven’t heard the best of Burke yet, she’s firmly affixed to our radar, we suggest that you follow suit.

Deaf Ears is due for release on September 15th, 2021; you can check out the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Acme Corporation present their sublime musical take on T. S. Eliot’s He Do the Police in Different Voices.

Posted on 31 August 2021
He Do the Police in Different Voices by Stephen Nunns

‘He Do the Police in Different Voices’ is the stellar album-musical adapted from T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land by composer, theatre director and co-founder of the Acme Corporation, Stephen Nunns.

For those previously unacquainted with Eliot’s iconic ground-breaking work, He Do the Police in Different voices explores T. S. Eliot’s rocky relationship with his wife, Vivian.

The jazzy noir pop single, A Handful of Dust, brings Eliot’s fiery account of frustrated passion to life with the finesse that you’d expect from an accolade-decorated Broadway director. O’Malley Steuerman’s sultry vocal timbre holds no prisoner while resonating through perfect pitch over the instrumental arrangement where synths, electric sitar, and lap steel notes bring a gritty atmosphere synonymous with the beat generation. Ironically, Nunns emanated the air that Eliot was always considered too grandiose for.

He Do the Police in Different Voices is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

For more info, visit The Acme Corporation website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lucy Burke has released her hauntingly intimate ambient acoustic pop single, Please Stay.

Posted on 30 July 2021

It is practically a given that any artist drawing influence from Radiohead, Portishead and Norah Jones and pouring the inspiration into an ambient acoustic pop-jazz soundscape is going to leave you floored but Lucy Burke’s latest single, Please Stay, surpasses all expectation.

The haunting grip of the intimate single breathes through the entire duration. The gentle melodic guitar and piano notes cradle the Sydney-based singer-songwriter’s succinctly urgent vocals that hit with bruising evocative impact.

Please Stay is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ludy doesn’t need no ‘Favors’

Posted on 25 June 2021

You can take the girl out of the Midwest, it seems, but you can’t take the Midwest out of the girl; what you can do, however, is mix that with the palm trees and art deco stucco of Miami Beach, and end up with a fiercely independent, upbeat and upfront sound and bold, bright production. Marrying smooth deep cuts jazz, stylish vocal harmonies, and old-skool beats and bassline, all backing Lucy’s silky smooth, vocals and fresh, feisty lyrics.

‘Favors’ is that perfect mix of souful, poppy, R&B with a little dash of hip hop and some smoky jazz-club cool, all married to some seriously stylish, glamourous visuals. It’s a perfect cocktail – cool, smooth, and over way too soon.

Check out Ludy on YouTube and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Nelda – A perfect pick-me-up with ‘If It Wasn’t For Your Love’

Posted on 17 June 2021

Coming in with some lusciously tasteful piano, jazzy, uplifting, and mellow, ‘If It Wasn’t For Your Love’ is a gorgeous ‘thank you’ to family and childhood nurturing, all wrapped up in a mix of jazz, blues, and gentle pop, singer songwriter Nelda Kuzuma’s soulful vocal and keys mixing with Artis Aleksejevs’ tasteful brushed drums and clarinet and brother Arturs’ wandering, laconic bassline and synths. Think old-school club, all smoky noir and tabletop tealight candles, twenties-style cocktail dresses and zoot suits, and you won’t go far wrong.

It’s beautifully played and arranged, restrained yet lively, thankful and joyous and oh so, so good, Kuzuma’s smooth, syrupy delivery absolutely soothing and caressing, sultry and sensual and seemingly effortless, leaping over the rolling tempo changes and that tight-but-loose rhythm section groove. At a point where the world feels just ever-so-slightly over-ridden with negative uncertainty, ‘If It Wasn’t For Your Love’ is, simply, a glorious time-out; an absolute upswing of positivity, laid-back, chilled, and delivered with such utter charm and feel it’s impossible not to feel just a little bit brighter for listening. It’s a perfect pick-me-up prescription.

You can check out ‘If It Wasn’t For Your Love’, and its accompanying video, on YouTube. And you really, really should. Right now.

Review by Alex Holmes

Chris Sunfield goes in for the kill with his latest avant-garde production, ‘Predator’

Posted on 9 June 2021

With the dark sensuality of a She Wants Revenge single, theatrically macabre lyrics, and cinematic film noir feel, Chris Sunfield’s latest single, Predator is an intoxicating mash of baroque folk, pop, jazz, electronica and hip hop.

Just when you’re starting to think that you’ve got the soundscape figured out, Predator throws fierily slick rap verses from Ya Favorite Lightskin into the mix that will be a hit with any fans of Banks and Steelz. With avant-garde instrumentals contorting free from constraint under the bars, Predator absorbs you just as much as you absorb the soundscape.

Predator is one of those tragically rare singles that you could listen to a thousand times and still feel assured that you would take something new from the next listen. The artistry on exhibition here is practically unparalleled. We can’t wait to hear what Chris Sunfield unleashes next.

The official music video to Predator premiered on May 28th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Edi Aztec has made Dusty Springfield’s ‘Spooky’ even more psychedelic than before

Posted on 9 June 2021

24-year-old Greek guitarist, songwriter and producer, Edi Aztec showed his virtuosic stripes in his latest single, Spooky, featuring Sofia Hole. Reworking a classic and rekindling the same magic is a rarity, but this Dusty Springfield cover is just as indulgent as the original.

The Brighton-based artist’s cover carries the same mesmeric marks as Dusty Springfield’s original, but with the faster tempo and even more kalaedoscopic psych elements worked into the sultrily iconic single, he well and truly made Spooky his own.

If Spooky gives you a newfound infatuation with Edi Aztec’s ability to add finesse to the already flawless, you will want him on your radar for his upcoming album release.

Spooky is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lara de Belder has made her Jazz Pop debut with ‘Turn it Over’.

Posted on 29 May 2021

Lara de Belder’s debut single, Turn It Over, is easily one of the most promising debuts made in 2021. Discernibly, the British-American artist brought plenty of her experience in the theatre to her jazzy debut single that reflects upon themes of obsession and desire.

With a voice as mesmerising as Cher’s and the endlessly enlivening instrumentals bleeding euphoria with every progression, Turn it Over is consistently captivating. The single allows you to mentally contend with the dark side of obsession as the jazzy instrumental arrangement finds a way to absolve any guilt you may be harbouring from obsessive behaviour. We have all been there.

Turn it Over is the first single to be released from Lara’s upcoming concept album that explores relationship breakdowns. Needless to say, we’re already stoked to hear it.

Turn it Over is now available to stream on Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

About ‘Last Night’ – Beatnik drop us some deep cut soulful grooves.

Posted on 10 April 2021

There’s an immediate familiarity around Beatnik to anyone who’s ever whiled away their entire teenage school holidays playing the old coin-op road-race game ‘OutRun’ over and over, or spent, say, 29 hours straight watching 70’s cop-show re-runs on Paramount. Not that we’ve done either, of course. Heaven forbid. But it’s exactly that sort of jazzy, funky, 70’s disco-tinged soulful chill that leaps out of the speakers when hitting ‘play’ on ‘Last Night’; a deep-groove old-school funk-pop dance track, all wandering bass, off-beat drum fills, syncopated Nile Rodgers-style guitar chords, Rhodes piano, and stabs of perfect, jazzy brass, all underlying keyboard/vocalist Peter LaBarge’s awesome soulful vocal delivery.

It’s an absolute killer of a track, a bouncy, beach-and-palm-tree infused love letter to South Florida wrapped up in Acid Jazz Brand New Heavies Chic-meets-Jamiroquai catchiness; we’ve been humming the chorus refrain from ‘Last Night’ all day since first listening to the track, and – given the amount of music we get to review – there doesn’t get much higher praise than that.

‘Last Night’ is taken from Beatnik’s ‘Night Shift’ EP, due for release on April 1st. You can pre-save ‘Night Shift’ through BandCamp now, listen to ‘Last Night’ on Spotify, and follow Beatnik on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes