Browsing Tag

Retro Pop

Magenta Dusk has made his retro synth-wave debut with ‘Give It Up’ featuring Sevda B.

Posted on 17 April 2021

For their retro pop debut, Magenta Dusk teamed up with Sevda B and released the synth-wave track, ‘Give It Up’. It’s exactly the kind of track that you’d want to be born in the wake of a global pandemic. It fits the mood with almost serendipitous accuracy; within the reverb-laced progressions, you’ll feel a sense of deep longing, reflecting and trepidation-infused hope.

The Nottingham-based synth-pop producer who seeks to find harmony within dark textures is sure to make waves with his debut single. He pulled plenty of soul-awakening harmony to the surface with Give It Up while simultaneously creating the perfect platform for Sevda B’s tentatively optimistic vocals that will undoubtedly speak those with a tendency to lean towards existentialism.

Give It Up is available to stream and download via Magenta Dusk’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Emporers introduce themselves in no uncertain terms with ‘We Are The Emporers’

Posted on 10 April 2021
Emporers

Well, all of a sudden the 1980’s turned up, kicked in the door with a lacy sleeve-cuff and some Adam Ant eyeliner, popped their pixie-booted feet up on the table, and announced their intention to stay with a New Romantic frock-coat thrown firmly onto the back of the sofa. And, with ‘We Are The Emperors’, what an entrance it is; a three-piece electro-pop beaut writ large in gated, reverb-heavy snare beats, chocky guitar, and driving bass.

Drawn together by legendary Killing Joke bassist Martin ‘Youth’ Glover (producer for everyone from Bananarama to Pink Floyd, Edwin Collins, Siousxie and the Banshees, and The Verve), there’s some serious writing skills and musicianship behind the frills and blusher; touches of Pet Shop Boys and Yazoo electronica mixed with Spandau Ballet, Kate Bush, Gary Numan, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and The Human League, but there’s some serious pop sensibilities too – Bananarama, again, Fun Boy Three, Go West, A-Ha, and Duran Duran, for sure. You get the picture – a United Colours of Benetton picture, framed in Black Ash and lit with neon, at the same time bang up to date and spectacular, pop-driven, and absolutely explosive. Make no mistake – there’s a retro-tinged influence here, for sure, but this is no simple regressive homage to the past; it’s cutting edge, stellar, and absolutely right now – with a superb video to match, ‘We Are The Emporers’ is simply a fabulous pop record.

Check out Emporers on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

River Mara brings us the ‘Lockdown Love’

Posted on 4 April 2021
River Mara

Eighties-inspired, funky soul pop with a jazzy bent; if Paula Abdul and Quincy Jones got together to produce a nascent, ‘Holiday-era’ Madonna it might sound something like ‘Lockdown Love’ by Romania’s River Mara. Fun, flashy, with an immensely danceable groove and deliciously catchy hook, it’s evocative of big hair, sequins, and glitter-balls, a time of velvet-roped night-clubs (remember those?), Ray-Ban Wayfarers, and ecologically dangerous amounts of hairspray.

A classically-trained pianist and composer, Mara is currently studying classical composition at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but that’s still left her time to garner a collective 350 Million YouTube views for her songs ‘Sweet Dreams’ and ‘Lie To Me’ for Andra, one of Romania’s biggest singing stars. On the basis of ‘Lockdown Love’, with its insane little ear-worm chorus and effervescent upbeat enjoyment , it’s really not hard to see why.

Check out River Mara’s website here.

Review by Alex Holmes

Project Rod Williams have released their synth-driven 80s pop serenade ‘Spin Me’

Posted on 24 March 2021
https://soundcloud.com/projectrodwilliams/project-rod-williams-spin-me-feat-ben-dial-mixb-master-1?in=projectrodwilliams/sets/spin-me

‘Spin Me’ is the latest track to be released by Washington-based electro dance-pop outfit, Project Rod Williams, any fans of the 80s retro vibe won’t want to let the euphorically animating track pass them by.

The disco and synth pop fusionists succeeded in bringing a fresh slice of lascivious pop to the airwaves while allowing their sensual synth-driven serenade to pay ode to acts such as Dead or Alive and Wham. The single is a promise of big things to come from Project Rod Williams in 2021 and beyond.

Spin Me is now available to stream via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Danni Jackson opens up on ‘Too Much’

Posted on 7 March 2021

Opening up with some gentle picked electric guitar before the vocal and full-on musical arrangement kicks in, ‘Too Much’ is a perfect pop song, a mix of modern dance-able R&B with some older indie-rock stylings and a clever little set of pop sensibilities.

Recognisable from Comedy Central’s ‘Bad Cramps’ (which she writes and stars in), ‘Too Much’ is the follow-up to Jackson’s 2016 debut EP which included the BBC Introducing ‘track of the day’ ‘We Ain’t Got Love’. ‘Too Much’ is an honest, truthful first-person narrative on the problems of mental health, social pressure, and body image, an empathetic and open storytelling vibe in the style of Lily Allen or Anne-Marie, with maybe a little of the bounce and groove of Fergie thrown in for good measure. It’s fresh, vulnerable, and uplifting all at once.

Check out ‘Too Much’ on Spotify; follow Danni Jackson on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Slip away from the monochrome present-day with Georgia and the Vintage Youth’s single ‘Colour Blind’

Posted on 5 March 2021

We can’t fast-forward 2021, but we can escape it by delving into the past, Georgia and the Vintage Youth’s latest single ‘Colour Blind’ is the perfect aural TARDIS to jump into. While you’re consoled about the state of present-day, the comfort from the anachronistically styled soul will abstract you from it.

Anyone lucky enough to hear it will be able to better understand their own lockdown-inspired feelings after hearing Colour Blind. With lyrics as strong, meta and almost serendipitously astute as ‘I don’t wanna die, I’m just tired of feeling colour-blind’, Colour Blind isn’t a track which you can listen to half-heartedly.

Unlike many retro-inspired singles, Colour Blind isn’t a tea-stained faded photograph of the past. Georgia’s vocals carry the same grace as a 50s chanteuse. Sure, there’s a nod to Winehouse in her sound, but her sound stretches right back to the roots of dreamy blues pop. It’s the kind of track I could imagine Dolly Parton having on her playlists.

Colour Blind is available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Violette – Eos: Ukulele-led Retro Americana Pop

Posted on 1 January 2021

The very talented Violette Remington – daughter of a musical family from Orange County, California – is a 19-year-old singer-songwriter with a penchant for vintage dresses, rockabilly stylings, ukulele, and guitar. With ‘Eos’, her third single, she delivers a cute little slice of retro Americana set to ukulele, but the star of the show here truly is Violette’s voice; lilting, soaring, and sing-song, with maturity and timbre far belying her tender years, Violette’s delivery is clearly honed by her years performing in musical theatre and performing for friends and family.

Listing influences as diverse as Linda Ronstadt, Debbie Harry, and Aretha Franklin, and taking inspiration from the 1950’s rock ‘n’ roll scene and the 1960’s musical revolution, ‘Eos’ is an absolute delight, a touch of the unique and genuine in a world of carbon-copy dance-pop and manufactured X-Factor bands.

Check out ‘Eos’ on Spotify, and follow Violette on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Lance Houck swings back to the 60s with their single ‘With All My Heart’

Posted on 1 January 2021
https://lancehouck.bandcamp.com/track/with-all-my-heart

Upbeat, poppy, light and airy, with a distinct sixties/seventies vibe, carried in on a wave of woo-hoo-hoos and jingly clean guitar, comes ‘With All My Heart’, the new single from Californian singer-songwriter Lance Houck. Sunny, uplifting, and full of those happy West Coast vibes, ‘With All My Heart’, from Houck’s seven-track album ‘Unborn’, is a gem of a single, catchy, vibey, with as-you-might-expect elements of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and The Lovin’ Spoonful.

There’s some nice guitar work too, Houck playing all instruments as well as taking on vocal duties, pushy drums, and a cute little rolling bassline, Houck’s vocal is well-delivered and tuneful, the track overall a proper little summery ear-worm which might be a nice little antidote to current UK Tier 4 Lockdown restrictions.

You can hear ‘With All My Heart’ on Bandcamp, and follow Lance Houck on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Jeffrey Chan proves why he’s a worthy contender for breakthrough artist of the year with his single ‘Try’

Posted on 15 December 2020

‘Try’ is the latest sultrily slick, amorously entrancing Pop single from singer-songwriter Jeffrey Chan which follows on from the release of his instant 2020 hit ‘Glow’ which garnered over 100,000 streams shortly after the release.

Many artists had their worlds turned upside down during the lockdown, but with their soulfully resolving approach to punchy danceable Pop, it’s no surprise that so many people were drawn to the magnetism within Jeffrey Chan’s sound.

Timelines converge in Try as the romanticism of 80’s Synthpop coalesces with the futurism in the Australian artist’s signature sound. It is so much more than a meeting of past and future, it’s a testament of ingenuity and the artist’s ability to get dopamine pumping as hard as the rhythmically ensnaring beats. With their distinguishably seductive vocals and euphorically-crafted sound, Jeffrey Chan definitely has what it takes to be the breakthrough artist of the year.

You can check out Try for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Martin – the haunting acoustic ballad “Depth Over Distance”

Posted on 21 August 2020

Starting off with crystal clear fingerpicked chords, ‘Depth Over Distance’ is the second single from London singer-songwriter Martin, the follow-up to debut ‘Summer Haze’. Where ‘Summer Haze’, though, was synth-driven alt-pop, ‘Depth Over Distance’ pits Martin’s soulful falsetto over nothing more than a haunting solo acoustic guitar.

It’s a tough thing to do, the sparse instrumentation leaving no space for a performer to hide, but here the result is powerful and touching, a very personal break-up ballad filled with the heartbreak of a relationship which has died. Sure, there’s an easy James Blunt comparison, or maybe in this instance the early Ed Sheeran of ‘The A-Team’, but in reality, Martin’s voice is reminiscent of Annie Lennox on ‘Walking On Broken Glass’ or ‘Why’ mixed with, maybe, a touch of Justin Vernon – a plaintive falsetto, questioning and heartfelt without being cloying, and it matches the song perfectly.

Martin’s debut EP ‘Home’ is out later this summer; you can keep up with him, and listen to ‘Depth Over Distance’, here.

Review by Alex Holmes