DATE ARCHIVES : June 2019

Green Buzzard – ‘I Don’t Want To Be Alone’

Green Buzzard is the moniker of Sydney’s Paddy Harrowsmith who, judging by latest single at least, has a Midas touch when it comes to sweet and charming slices of sugar-spun psych-pop.

‘I Don’t Want To Be Alone’ is his first new material in two years and it is an absolute delight. It’s fusion of dripping melodies, bright hooks and catchy singalong chorus leaves you powerless to resist its hypnotic allure, as the sweet guitar jangle and popping percussion are coated in a warm blanket of fuzz. It is bright and breezy, sun-kissed and summery, and finds a perfect balance between sweet pop and crunchy indie and hypnotic psych. It is an engrossing sub three-minute masterclass adorned with some of the catchiest, most compelling pop hooks in the known universe. Dreamy and melodic, it’s charm, allure and delight is hard to resist.

Tune into ‘I Don’t Want To Be Alone’ below:

Menik – ‘Long Distance’

Menik is a producer with a preference for music that is colourful, ambient, melodic and driving, and drawing inspiration from everything from blues, rock and hip hop, jazz, house and techno, and everything in between.

Menik introduced himself with the seductive, dreamy and wide-eyed ‘Brothers’ and having released debut album Story Time this month, he’s lifted another single from it ‘Long Distance’ unfurls with poise, shuffling along a soft and seductive hip hop inspired beat. Dripping with melody, it slinks on its merry mellow way through a sea of soothing sounds and dreamy undulations only to be shaken from its slumber by intermittent bouts of frazzled electronics. It is warm and washed-out, chilled and soothing but the beatwork entrusts it is not only transfixing but also infectious.

‘Long Distance’ is below and if you like what you hear, you can listen to the entire album here.

The Spiral Electric – ‘Swamp Type Thing’

San Francisco psychedelic rockers The Spiral Electric released their self-titled LP in March, produced by Steve Kille (Dead Meadow) and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Ian Brown, The Mars Volta), it is a psych-rock powerhouse.

The Spiral Electric’s sound is built upon a number of key ingredients; a brutal rhythm section, soaring melodies, raucous face-melting guitar, potent danceable grooves and a heavy dose of west coast psychedelia – and latest single ‘Swamp Type Thing’ is of a similar vein. It delivers a dark, ominous and heavy affair powered by a brutal rhythm section injecting a potent groove to the doom-laden squall of meaty riffs, screeching guitars and hazy psychedelic swirl to furnish a rampaging wall of psychedelic sound. A phenomenon in its own right, ‘Swamp Type Thing’ is dark and ominous beast, one of bludgeoning brute force than of subtlety but one of gargantuan proportions.

Tune into ‘Swamp Type Thing’ below and if that is to your liking, check out their self-titled album here.

Sulkin’ Raven – ‘On The Beach’

Sulkin’ Raven aka Kevin De Nicolo is an electronic music producer, composer, and DJ hailing from North Hollywood, California.

Sulkin’ Raven’s intricate and delicately woven, glitchy atmospheric electronica flows from a well of ambient sounds and splashed with subtle grooves and melodies, and charming computer game synths and 8-bit sounds – fine and fascinating fare lavishly showcased on recent EPs; Summer Flowers 1.0 & Strange Days + Other Voices. Sulkin’ Raven is back again with a suitably gorgeous single ‘On The Beach’.

A bout of beautiful escapism, this is one to get lost in, as it whisks us away on dreamy trip through ethereal, atmospheric textures. Elegant and lush, ‘On The Beach’ is ushered gently forward on a pillowy bed of soft beats, seductive groove and bubbling synth. It is warm, seductive and hazy, as dripping melodies coalesce with distant parps of brass that drift through like a refreshing breeze on a sweltering summers days to leave us utterly transfixed and relaxed in a world of tranquillity.

Listen to ‘On The Beach’ below:

Honey Moon – ‘Magic’

London jangle-pop outfit Honey Moon have made a habit of crooning their way way into our hearts with heartfelt, hazy and lackadaisical slice of indie-pop goodness.

This prodigious talent for crafting three minute plus pop gems is evidenced by last year’s wonderful Four More From… EP, and 2019 single ‘If I Could Only Dream’, and they are at it once again. Honey Moon’s latest single ‘Magic’ has liberal dusting of just that. Their trademark doo-wop and crooning enchantment is given a more lavish flavour, one of more grandiose proportions. It is a rich and colourful confection, it is bright and breezy,and swelling with elegant strings, sinuous melodies, lilting hooks and jangly guitars that will please your ears and melt your heart. This is another enchanting and whimsical illustration of classic pop-craft, Honey Moon have got a right knack for creating tunes the right side of familiar.

Listen to ‘Magic’ below – it is exactly what it says it is.

Orla – ‘Breathe’

Orla is an 18 year old Irish musician and producer from Co Meath who has a preference for dreamy, elegant and atmospheric sounds; flashed with exquisite finesse on her debut single ‘dream’.

With new single ‘Breathe’, Orla sticks to this familiar formula for ambient, atmospheric and downtempo sounds. ‘Breathe’ is an elegant, shimmering delight with bags of charm. Striking a delicate and subtle balance between electronic elements with organic instrumentation as lush flowing synths, jovial beat and chiming guitar converge with an entrancing bass line. Subtle and unassuming, warm and alluring, dreamy and intoxicating; ‘Breathe’ will make an indelible mark your soul, and leave you all the better for it.

Listen to ‘Breathe’ and it’s shimmering majesty below:

Blacktop Freak – ‘majordepressivebipolarocdillallowyou’

Blacktop Freak is the alter-ego of Michigan-based musician Nick Marinelli.

Marinelli’s reverb-clad soundscapes are derived from parts woozy dream-pop, swirling psychedelia and whirring shoegaze, a penchant outlined on recently released debut EP, Ibidem. The EP climaxes with ‘majordepressivebipolarocdillallowyou’, which charts the steady, then complete breakdown of a relationship.

Musically, the song is one of constantly rising in tension. Beginning life with a gentle melodic strum, it meanders for a time in a dreamy slumbering wonderland, gradually swelling and before enveloping all in its wake with an increasing hiss, off-key strum and feverish atmosphere as a mesmeric hypnotic pattern emerges as it spills and sprawls over one another in slo-mo fashion. It reaches its peak and then its gone. It is equally beautiful and jarring; raw yet refined; it is a powerful and seductive sound – no mean feat.

Listen to ‘majordepressivebipolarocdillallowyou’ below:

Omaloma – ‘Dywarchen’


Welsh artist Omaloma (aka George Amor) has eked out a rather special place on the musical landscape with a series of singles confirming his standing as a reliable source of blissful, spacey psych-pop.

Latest offering ‘Dywarchen’ is Omaloma’s first release since the magnificent ‘Bubblegum’ last year and it, and b-side ‘Europa B’, continue this predilection for lush, sophisticated cosmic-pop. Conceived during a trip to the Snowdonian lake of the same name, ‘Dywarchen’. Radiating warm summer vibes, ‘Dywarchen’ gently drifts by with a carefree and blissful aura. An alluring blend of mildly funky keys, gushes of lush synth and woozy psych brush strokes, fashion a seductive and dreamy underbelly for Amor’s soft, soothing and alluring vocals to charm you entirely. B-side ‘Europa B’ – a theme tune to an as yet unrealised sci-fi series – is every bit as beguiling. Breezing gracefully by with twinkling electronics and shimmering synth illuminating our way through an ethereal universe of tranquillity; it is a woozy four minute sojourn through a spellbinding interstellar paradise. Two stunning additions to a sublime catalogue and yet further evidence Omaloma brilliance and unique talent.

‘Dywarchen’ is out now via Cae Gwyn Records, tune in below.

MIYNT – ‘Peaches’

Having returned from hiatus with a gloriously rich and sultry slice of ‘riviera pop’ in ‘Vacation With Bond In South Of France Part 2′, Swedish artist MIYNT has another lush, smooth pop song for us with ‘Peaches’.

Channelling hazy psychedelia, ‘Peaches’ is second single lifted from her forthcoming as-of-yet untitled second EP. It is lush, dreamy and suave, warm and sun-kissed it conjures the lucid sound of summer as it slinks along a sultry, seductive groove, ushered onward by a propulsive and throbbing bassline. It weaves its way through a dreamy atmosphere with its hazy synths, frazzled electronics and playful wonky guitar tone, overlaid with MIYNT’s lavish honeyed vocals which whimsically wanders along at a similarly slinking pace. ‘Peaches’ is utterly divine and lush psych-pop that will warm the heart of even the grimmest among us.

Listen to ‘Peaches’ below.

GotSome – ‘Plastic On Acid ft Roxanne Shante’

Bristol’s GotSome, aka Adam Gorsky, is a producer & DJ with a flair for recontextualizing the sounds of various dance sub-genres – disco, dubstep, house, and more – and blending with hip hop influences into hip-house leaning sound.

Gorsky’s latest single ‘Plastic On Acid’ is a floor-filling banger that features the vocal talents of New York musician and rapper Roxanne Shante. Unadulterated fun, it is an uptempo drum-heavy, bass-led retro-fixated house excursion that embraces Shante’s skill for sliding effortlessly between rapping and singing, jacking the propulsion where necessary. It is utterly addicting and danceable as squelchy acid licks, pitch-screwed bass, blurred synth chords and house basslines transfix and get your body grooving (and no doubt dancefloors moving).

‘Plastic On Acid’ is just great, simple as. Listen to it below.