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new music

Adam Ford is head over hesitation in his latest cocktail of rhythmically toxic RnB, She Wants to Love

Posted on 26 May 2023
Adam Ford

Subversively leaning on the phenomenon that we all want what we can’t have, Adam Ford released an irresistible rendition of hot and heavy RnB with his latest single, She Wants to Love.

The Floridian up-and-coming icon has been on the airwaves with the candourous expositions of his life experiences since 2017; he has moved from strength to strength by orchestrating his discography, and now he’s proving he has what it takes to be the heavy weight of commercial potential.

At some point in all our lives, we’ve felt the chokehold grip of hesitation when someone lays it all on the line while baring their soul; She Wants to Love is a seductive vignette of that very same turmoil. It may not be your average love song, but it is all the more raw and real for it.

With the alchemic cocktail of melodic mesmerism, vocal lines that border on the celestial, and fervent lyrical themes which flash a warning signal of indecision and incompatibility, She Wants to Love could never have known any other creator.

“She Wants to Love was inspired by a recent relationship with someone ready to dedicate her life to me; in my mind, I wasn’t the perfect match for what she needed. This song came from a real place, even though, at this moment, I can’t give her what she wants; I know it won’t always be like that. I just hope I’m not too late when I’m ready.”

She Wants to Love will be available to stream on all major platforms from May 26. Check it out via this link & follow Adam Ford on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Timothy and the Apocalypse pushed the boundaries of apocalyptic perception with his ambient trip-hop LP, All Busted Up 

Posted on 19 April 2023

Since 2021, the Australian artist and producer Timothy and the Apocalypse has been taking over the ambient trip-hop scene; the cinematically lush layers in his downtempo discography soundtrack society as we cling to the precipice of our destruction. In his fourth album, All Busted Up, written between the dystopian motifs are memorandums of what it means to be human on the edge of blind capitalist collective masochism. 

After track one, Speed of Life, which mournfully ponders how much sand stands between our demise, inspired by the loss of his mother, the LP slams into the sexier than The Deftones groove-driven piece, The Reckoner. The angularly harbingering guitars and fervid breakbeats cloaked under reverb definitively prove that visceralism isn’t out of the producer’s remit. 

Track three, When You Dream, lays the barely lucid psychedelia on thick as the Lynchian soundscape drifts through its arrestingly jarring progressions that distort jazzy timbres and soul-soaked ethereal female vocals. In all sincerity, it is enough to make Portishead sound pedestrian.

Track four, Driving Me Crazy, lends itself well to the titular illusion; the dreamy descent into surrealism drifts through subversively glitchy progressions in the extended piece, which keeps you hooked into the artfully experimental beguile. If any soundscape on the LP will make a meal of your rhythmic pulses while vindicating your own insanity, it is this sonic gem. 

Track five, Saved, introduces some darker ambient industrial tones while still scribing the sonic signature that the preceding singles have allowed you to become accustomed to before Beautiful Chaos melodically exhibits the relenting capacity of awe in times of mass disillusion. With nuanced Eastern flavour worked into the kaleidoscopic rhythms, Timothy and The Apocalypse broke the monocultural mould to deliver his staunch fanbase from entropy.

Dreaming When You Hold Me could only be described as a leftfield electronica dream for the way the transcendence binds with the experimental gravitas permitted by the strobing synths, a sonic theme which continues through to track eight, Only You; the deliciously distorted soundscape is a meditation in tranquil obscurity. 

By closing the LP on Nothing Forever, Timothy and the Apocalypse sealed the album’s fate, allowing it to resonate as one of the most seminal ambient electronica records of the year. It’s the ultimate audial space for reflection on all the instrumental introspection that preceded it. If you want to push the boundaries of your apocalyptic perception, take a dive – you won’t regret it. 

All Busted Up will officially release on April 14th; catch it on Spotify & SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast 

 

Spotlight Feature: EM$o turned on the bright lights in his redemptive reggaeton release, Dark Rooms

Posted on 10 February 2023
EM$o

The candid uncut nature of EM$o’s debut LP, Differences, was a promising sign of more expositional visceral hits in the pipeline. He more than delivered with Dark Rooms. The rhythmically disarming reggaeton single strips the glorification from self-destruction and glamourizes growth. You can’t afford not to have him as a role model. In 3-minutes, EM$o takes you on the emotional journey of a lifetime.

After growing up in one of the most dangerous cities in Europe, EM$o knew he had to break away from the past, but distance and growth weren’t enough to cut the haunting ties forged through anxiety, depression, and addiction. His latest single, with the accompanying music, video artfully unravels his redemption arc. From insular isolation to embracing gratitude and willingness to make the most out of his life, the bright lights were turned on. Dark Rooms shows you how to find the switch.

“Dark Rooms is a tribute to a very special woman who went through hell trying to prevent me from doing something stupid and fatal. After my past life in the streets, I was severely depressed. Days would pass I did little more than drink in my house to numb the pain.

She walked into my life, everything became easy and moments of happiness were achievable – while sober. She empowered me to get healthier, better, stronger, and more resilient. As much as this is a tribute, it is also an ask for forgiveness and acknowledgement that she walked through the fire for me, despite the burns from her past.”

The song was written, recorded and mixed in EM$o’s home studio and mastered by Slade Templeton at Influx Studios. The official video was shot and produced by Tec. and Film.

The single and the official music video will release on February 10th. Check it out on all major streaming services via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Raelle transformed grief into grace in her orchestral RnB Jazz Fusion, Cruel Nostalgia

Posted on 2 December 2022

Following her phenomenally successful single Grace, the London-based breakthrough artist and producer Raelle is here with a gleaming fusion of jazz and orchestral RnB, Cruel Nostalgia.

After losing a close friend to suicide at the start of the year, Raelle was locked in a spiral of grief, where nostalgia was the only comfort and reprieve. Anyone who has ever suffered loss will know how impossible it is to envision anything but the wrenching depression that alienates you from everyone else that carries on in their on-kilter world.

Without the context, Cruel Nostalgia is a stunning score of soul, complete with cinematic flourishes which embrace the fleeting beauty of the bitter world through the live orchestral arrangements and acid-style percussion. In context, it radiates even more beguile by resonating as a sonic redemption story and definitive proof that even if you have to look to the innocence of youth to feel joy, it is still there for the taking.

Cruel Nostalgia will be available to stream from December 2nd. Check out the sensuous single via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Templemind reached the pinnacle of life-affirming alt-rock anthems with, More to This Life

Posted on 29 November 2022

I don’t make a habit of head-banging alone at home but I’m only human, and when Templemind’s latest single, More to This Life, flooded the room with visceral energy and hooky guitar riffs, getting caught up in the cathartic momentum was non-optional. The meditative yet rhythmically arresting propensities of the monolithic alt-rock track started to make a little more sense upon learning the single was tuned to 432Hz, which is proven to lower heart rates and heightens perception.

Starting with a disconcerted scratchy prelude that threw me right back to my teen days obsessing over Linkin Park’s raw introspection and catapulting into an alt-rock soundscape which raises the vibe with funky angular guitar chops around the massive synth lines and grittier tones, More to This Life is a life-affirming lesson in vindication.

I’m going to throw professionalism out of the window and confess to fucking ADORING Templemind. Although I guess I’m not alone. After his 2022 debut, the mastermind behind the project, Philipp Schardt, amassed over 500,000 streams.

More to This Life is now available to Stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Interview: Marshall Stain Teased What’s To Come in His Debut EP and Spoke on Creativity

Posted on 4 November 2022

Ahead of the release of his debut EP, VILLAIN YOU LOVE, A&R Factory caught up with the dynamically contemporary world music artist, Marshall Stain, to discuss inspiration, creativity and the cutting-edge releases making their way to the airwaves.

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Marshall Stain, welcome to A&R Factory! We loved your latest single, ZOMBIE; would you say you found your signature sound with this release?

“I wouldn’t necessarily say Zombie is my signature sound, to be honest, but it’s definitely inspired by the sounds I’ve been taking in, particularly Amapiano, and you kind of hear that with the use of the “log drum” on the hook.”

What is your songwriting process?

“It varies, some records start as a random melody that’s in my voice memos, and some are written according to where the instrumental takes me. I’m in between pen and no pen; it depends.”

Is there anyone else involved with the production of your music?

“Of course, mainly my engineer/producer who helps me steer the music typically in the postproduction phase to a whole new sonic direction. That is why I call every song I record an idea.”

And how would you describe your lyrical style? We’ve noticed you go dark with your song titles.

“Honest. The music will always reflect the place I was in when writing the song. So, when it’s all rainbows and sunshine, the titles will be parallel.”

Which artists had the greatest influence on you as an artist?

“A bunch, to be honest, because I used to rap, but it’s mainly been Burna boy, J Hus and Frank Ocean.”

Aside from other artists, what inspires you to write music?

“Artists always inspire me. I’m an athlete at heart; everything and anything can be competitive. I’ve written some of my best records after hearing a song and wishing I wrote it. I apply my own experiences as subject matter, but it all stems from the artists.”

What should we expect from your upcoming releases that are in the pipeline?

“Zombie is the lead single off my EP, which by the time this is published will be out. My debut EP, VILLAIN YOU LOVE, is out on the 4th of November, and I’m pretty gassed to share it with the world. The next EP is ready too. So, let’s see how soon it needs sharing.”

Interview by Amelia Vandergast

Maella brings the house down in her sultry alt-pop earworm, Tudu Tudu Tu

Posted on 10 October 2022

Prague-born, London-based Alt-Pop artist and producer, Maella brought a smorgasbord of Eastern European flavour to her latest single, Tudu Tudu Tu, which merges juxtaposing nostalgic sonic textures to allow a new wave of retro to crash across the 90s dance percussion and seductive bass.

It is as cinematic as any Tarantino cult hit, and a poignant exposition on a chapter of her life that closed the book on difficult breakups, unfulfilling romances, and the claustrophobia of lockdowns. If Shiny Toy Guns wrote Seven Nation Army, the earworm wouldn’t be a million miles away from the electrically serpentine rhythms that will leave you dying to come back for more. Empowerment never sounded sweeter.

Tudu Tudu Tu, which is part of the Slow Burn EP, is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ariana Molkara showed us the epitome of country-pop class in her coming of age debut single, Birdies Gotta Fly By

Posted on 3 June 2022

With all of the class and arcane beguile of a Parisian Chanteuse, the alt-country pop singer-songwriter Ariana Molkara has made a theatrical yet intimately captivating entrance with her debut single, Birdies Gotta Fly By.

Cinematic scarcely covers the luminous production, which comes complete with pianos that would leave Ben Folds weak at the knees paired with infectiously upbeat percussion and orchestral strings to amplify the bitter-sweet coming of age sentiments expressed in the profoundly flawless single.

If this is her coming of age single, Ariana Molkara has a seriously bright future ahead of her.

Birdies Gotta Fly By was officially released on June 3rd. You can hear it for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lucifers Beard is flawlessly frenetic in his alt-rock hit, Shake on the Floor

Posted on 4 April 2022
Lucifers Beard

Shake on the Floor is the latest scuzzed up and writhing alt-rock hit from the UK based artist, Lucifers Beard, AKA Christopher Barnes.

With its filthier than Eagles of Death Metal feel and energy that makes you want to throw away every façade you’ve ever known, there’s no denying that Shake on the Floor is an addictive earworm from the first hit.

I always find a deep sense of irony in how the true power of autonomy is quashed by culture and its oppressive associations – even amongst alt scenes; there’s always an element of conformity. Shake on the Floor refreshingly proved that I’m not alone in this social dissection. So much of our modern anxieties stem from fear of judgement. How much saner would society be if we refused to subjugate to the banality of normativity?

Shake on the Floor will officially release on April 4th. You can check it out for yourselves via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tanisha Sharma has made her euphoria-breeding debut with her single, Ecstasy

Posted on 28 March 2022

Tanisha Sharma made her prodigious dance-pop debut earlier this year with the release of the progressive indie synth-pop hit Ecstasy, which definitively proves that style and soul against substance is always a winning combination.

When anyone creates music for any reason but the true love for it and the inclination to breed positive sensation within the listener, it’s as disappointing as it is notable. Sharma finds a way to let her intent effortlessly resonate in the dance-worthy hit that more than has the capacity to fill a floor.

Tanisha Sharma has been honing in on her songwriting craft since the age of eight years old. It more than shows in the way Ecstasy doesn’t falter after making euphoria a theme; it resounds in every energised progression. We can’t wait to hear what follows.

Ecstasy is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast