DATE ARCHIVES : April 2019

Rad – ‘Universe’

Rad is the musical handle of 24-year-old Brooklyn-born rapper and producer Radames Duran.

Currently residing in Queens, Rad preoccupies himself with writing and producing music with ethereal lyrics and subtly bass-focused beats and latest single ‘Universe’ is a case in point. Dreamy, laid-back and dripping with melody, ‘Universe’ is a hope-filled tale of inspiration and positivity, carefully crafted, it is heartfelt and honest, and not preachy. It slowly shuffles along with a breezy vibe and exuding a smooth and soulful aura with vocals from Duran and guest vocalist Chelsea Joy Cabrega adding another level of beautiful chills and thought provoking contemplation. An absolutely wonderful slice of dreamy blissfulness and one that will render you powerless to resist its allure.

Tune into ‘Universe’ below:

Winter – ‘Bonsai’

Winter are an LA-based foursome fronted by Brazilian born songwriter Samira Winter, who’s love for guitar music and nostalgic imagery inspires their dreamy cuts of pop perfection.

Together, they delight, excite and enthral with their shoegaze-meets-dream-pop sound – something born out on their 2018 album Ethereality. Almost exactly a year on from it’s release, Winter are back with new single ‘Bonsai’ which leads the way for forthcoming EP, Infinite Summer. ‘Bonsai’ is a woozy daydream delight propelled along a bubbling bassline, meandering through a blissful, beautiful and shimmering haze awash with dreamy pop hooks, irresistible melodies and effortlessly effervescent. It is charming and beautifully crafted dream-pop delight that should have get you salivating at the prospect of the new EP.

Check out ‘Bonsai’ and the Ambar Navarro directed video below – and keep an eye out for the EP on April 13.

Tokyo Tea Room – ‘Forever Out of Time’

Tokyo Tea Room is the psych-pop lovechild of Canterbury natives Daniel Elliott and Ben Marshall.

With the pair on guitar and bass respectfully, they are joined by four of their closest friends and fellow musicians; on vocals and keys, Beth Plumb, on drums, Sam Teather, on guitar, Ryan Debling and on synth, Graham Nunn.

This fellowship of friends has a preference for dreamy and psychedelic sounds, marrying melodic bass lines, hypnotic guitar riffs and dreamy synths together to form a seductive sound with a soulful personality – and their latest single is just one such example. Exploring the concept of holding on to the past, feeling an imbalance in life while trying to move on, ‘Forever Out of Time’ is an imaginative and colourful psychedelic pop song with layers of shimmering synth, frazzled electronics, fuzzed-up guitar and gritty bass tones. It is a song with the air of summery breeze as Plumb’s soft but euphoric vocals flutter above the glittering floods of surging psychedelia which veer off into a cascading mesh of experimental, spaced-out sounds. A beautiful and woozy cut of cosmic psych-pop – utterly divine.

‘Forever Out of Time’ is out now via Easter Island Records / Painted Halo Records – tune in below:

TOLEDO – ‘Some Samurai’

Revolving around the Brooklyn-based pairing of Dan Alvarez and Jordan Dunn, TOLEDO have have drip-feeding us charming delights from their debut EP, Hot Stuff over recent months, and bewitching us in the process.

The long awaited EP has now arrived and is led by ‘Some Samurai’ which, unsurprisingly, is quintessentially TOLEDO – it is a sweet, heartfelt and melodic indie-folk delight. It is a hazy, shimmer of sweet indie-pop lightly dusted with fuzz and dripping with melody that flutters and flickers as lilting vocals flow gently on by. ‘Some Samurai’ is a lush heartfelt beauty, glowing with richness and warmth, and once again proving Toledo the masters of hook, harmony and heart. An absolute beauty, ‘Some Samurai’ will leave you powerless to resist its allure but all the better for it.

Tune in below and if ‘Some Samurai’ is to you liking, why not try out debut EP, Hot Stuff, over here?

Arms That Fit Like Legs – ‘My Mind is Going’

Arms That Fit Like Legs are an electronic instrumental-rock foursome from Dublin, comprised of Mark Lynch, Gordon McCaughley, Michael McCaughley & Mike Mahon.

Taking their cue from the likes of El Ten Eleven, Redneck Manifesto, Fridge, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Aphex Twin to name but a few, these electronic experimenters leave quite an impression with their immersive and hypnotic genre-blending, majestically blurring the lines between exhilarating electro and propulsive Krautrock leanings. It is a description which aptly fits the Irish outfit’s latest single lifted from album Legwork, entitled ‘My Mind is Going’. Just shy of six minutes, this dynamic and pulsing electronic life-force is spearheaded by a spectacular succession of swishes of looped bells and chimes which eventually become consumed by waves of crunching beats, liquid blissfulness and boundless flourishes of crystalline percussion. Lush, glistening and elegant, ‘My Mind is Going’ is a futuristic, vividly imaginative and unique, shapeshifting sound.

Listen to ‘My Mind is Going’ below and if that is to your liking, get a load of their latest album Legwork, here.

Retro Kid – ‘Sweet Nothings (ft. BRN & Christiane)’

Copenhagen-based outfit Retro Kid have endeared themselves to us with a series of irresistible electronic productions over the past 18 months or so.

Preferring a place between indie-music-to-dance-to and electronica, stylistically their work brings to mind the likes of Caribou, Hot Chip and Mount Kimbie, and with latest single ‘Sweet Nothings’ Retro Kid repeat the trick. Featuring BRN & Christiane, ‘Sweet Nothings’ is an exquisite piece of indie-electronica that is somewhere between club land and chilled electronica. Propelled through the atmospheric haze by an infectious deep house groove, it moves with a glacial elegance amid an ever increasing winding intensity with murmuring synth, samples and succession of slick beats. Intense yet chilled, ‘Sweet Nothings’ is treated to one final coat of gloss by the graceful (and soulful) vocals of Luke Byrne and Christian & Christiane Karoline Kjærgaard.

Listen to ‘Sweet Nothings (ft. BRN & Christiane)’ below now:

$KELETON CLUB – ‘JENDALL KENNER’

Montreal trio $KELETON CLUB strut their way into our lives with a rootsy late-’60s / early-’70s inspired sound.

‘JENDALL KENNER’ is the first single from the Canadian outfit’s forthcoming debut album Death, Love, & Money – expected in August of this year. ‘JENDALL KENNER’ is heavy on the retro ’60s/’70s vibe as is gently grooves along with rumbling chords and basslines, sweetly sang vocals and to-die-for 60s-style pastoral pop harmonies. What we are left with is divine, a place where slo-mo glam-infused rock can coexist on a sonic pasture of zoned out dreamy, psych filled pop. This is the sound of three musicians loving their craft and enjoying themselves in the studio, unperturbed with trends and concocting a timeless and utterly brilliant track in the process.

Listen to ‘JENDALL KENNER’ below:

AB001 and Avid Dancer – ‘Anything’

AB001 and Avid Dancer are a collaborative pairing with a penchant for woozy, swirling and seductive bouts of psychedelia.

AB001, the moniker of musician & producer Alessandro Buccellati has joined forces with Jacob Dillian Summers, better known as Avid Dancer, for new single ‘Anything’ – and it is a dreamy, psychedelic feast. A washed-out, psych-dream, ‘Anything’ is fuelled by a propulsive rhythmic surge and meaty basslines that wind their way through a spiralling world of trippy effects and cosmic reverb. It is ever so hypnotic a haze, especially the whispery vocals sails above in a woozy free-floating manner. ‘Anything’ manages simultaneously to be dreamy, ethereal and grunt with a serious power – no mean feat; this is one of the most seductive bouts of swirling psychedelia you are likely to hear this year. Utterly brilliant.

Listen to ‘Anything’ below now:

Orouni – ‘Former Lorry Driver’

Parisian indie pop collective Orouni are back with a new single ‘Former Lorry Driver’, and oh my, it is a beauty!

This should comes with little surprise as the French outfit have proven with a number of records already, they are no novices. In fact they are virtuoso’s when it comes to classic, melodic guitar pop music, and on April 19, Orouni will be adding another LP, called Partitions to their burgeoning collection – of which today’s focal point is lifted.

‘Former Lorry Driver’ is playfully buoyant with an effortless ear for melody – it is the embodiment of pure pop perfection. It is charming and fizzes with an infectious, melodic energy as it skips along snapping drums, a smattering of 8-bit style synth and sprightly, buzzing keyboard creating a whimsical wonderland of pop for the dueting Antoni Collins and Sofia Bolt’s vocals to add a final layer of lushness. ‘Former Lorry Driver’ elegantly flits between melancholic and beautiful, the subject not withstanding – a man who survived a cancer scare after being told he only had six months to live – at times bittersweet, it is buoyed by hope.

Partitions is out on April 19 but you can get acquainted with ‘Former Lorry Driver’ below now.

Dorvin Borman – ‘I Punch The Clock’

Dorvin Borman is a LA-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and producer whose penchant for glorious, colourful sound collage is heavily influenced by strokes of psych and dream-pop.

As one-third of the hazy dream-pop trio Mama Kokomo. Borman charmed us with sublime singles ‘Primavera Feel’ and ‘Valley of Heat’ before stepping out on his own with woozy psych-pop gem ‘In A Field So Far Away’, last year. And it is his solo guise which draws our attention once again, and new single ‘I Punch The Clock’, which captures the aesthetic perfectly. Dreamy, melodic psych-pop soaked in a woozy mesh of gentle, laid-back and calming sounds marry gently distorted guitars, effortless melodiousness and gently undulating, atmospheric effects. It is three-and-a-half-minutes of dream inducing, melting instrumentation, exploring through an elegant sound of cascading frazzled electronics and twinkling synth. This elegant combination is filtered through a haze of dreamy textures and layers of mild fuzz and topped off with breezy but steadfast vocals. An elegant, hazy and sunkissed meander that is vulnerable yet confident and simplistic yet stylish; and one that will have you reaching for repeated plays.

Listen to ‘I Punch The Clock’ below now: