The brilliantly unsettling nature of Ophelia Moon in Avatar: Encryption Code is what perfectly captures our present day. This smooth, filmic song seems a caution in a beautiful package, a kind of cautionary story concerning artificial intelligence that is conveyed with the help of ethereal vocals that radiate above shimmering arpeggios and this tight cyberpunk beat. It is that type […]
EDM/Review Eylsia Nicolas – Glitter and Glam
Something about Eylsia Nicolas and her song “Glitter and Glam” is a glittering merriment that is almost pure celebration, but the fact that she has surmounted so much to create it makes it all the more luminous. The song is literally glowing with smooth EDM-pop, throbbing bass, and shinning synths that form this beautiful soundscape. It is the scream of […]
R&B/Review Eylsia Nicolas – Wake Up In The Morning
Something about Eylsia Nicolas and her song Wake Up In The Morning is incredibly touching that is more than just soulful R&B vitality. The awareness of the path to it, the wounds, the severe illness, the voice loss that came almost to stop her permanently, imposes this unbelievable burden on every word she utters. This is not just a song […]
Pop/Review Tracygirl – LA State of Mind
The LA State of Mind by Tracygirl has this beautiful aura that oozes out of the speakers. These glittering synths strike you at first, alongside this moving beat that gives you a push in actual motion. The very first bars make it clear that you are presented with something special- it has the hookiness of an instant hit- one that […]
Hip-Hop/Review Noah Zayden – No Sale La Luna
Something eerie about Noah Zayden and his track No Sale La Luna is something that lingers with you even after the song ends. It strikes with this air of intimacy and vastness simultaneously, and it draws you in this moody nocturnal world with the very first note. The production is spacious in the most desirable fashion so that each element […]
EDM/Review IurisEkero – Come To Me , I’m A Man
This is the undeniable vitality of IurisEkero of “Come To Me, I’m A Man” that just reaches into your guts the first time you hear the beat. It is a smooth high-energy dance slice that definitely knows what it is–the type of song that makes you want to dance, and you even don’t have to be conscious of the reason […]
Pop/Review Eylsia Nicolas – You’re My. Baby 2
It has that beautiful retro feel that is exuded by the Eylsia Nicolas in her song, Youre My Baby 2 that leaves you smiling immediately. It combines this clean groove with enthusiastic and emotional vocals that are nostalgic and entirely new at the same time. The fact that Eylsia has been through the international tennis court to finding her voice […]
R&B/Review Rodney Banks – Love you for a lifetime
The feel of the song by Rodney Banks, Love You for a Lifetime, is smooth and heartfelt and you cannot help but get sucked into the song at the very first note. It is crystal-clear and at the same time, it is not over-polished, which is the exact right balance, making all the sounds professional yet still possessing that beautiful […]
EDM/Review Adai Song – River Run
It is something really exciting about the song of Adai Song, River Run, that hits you the moment you hear it. It is overflowing with this fullness of energy–shiny synths over a sounding percussion–that is both fresh and simultaneously eternal. It is one of the songs in “The Bloom Project” album, which has also been nominated for the Grammy Award […]
Pop/Review David Raine – Pollack Splash
There is a pleasantness of David Raine in his Pollack Splash that simply envelops you at first. It has this indie heart beating in its heart, but a brightness is overlaid on it making everything somehow light, and making it feel very introspective and tenderly optimistic at the same time. It is, according to Raine himself, not to face the […]
ROCK/Review Purbeck Temple – Emptiness In Paradise
Something crude and so painfully stimulating about the “Emptiness In Paradise” by Purbeck Temple that catches your ear already with the first note. This is the weight in the voice of Paul Gill; it is gravelly and soaring, pained but persistent, which makes one believe every single word the man is singing. It is not smooth studio production, it is […]
Hip-Hop/Review R.T. & The Styles – Mr. Trump
Mr. Trump that strikes you in the face. It is a hip-hop song full of confidence and energy, and it is supported by clear production that is smooth and does not lose its momentum. The very first bars make you realise that this is intended to catch your eye and keep it- and it does. The vocals are also clear […]
R&B/Review BFLICKK – Oh, That’s My Baby, My Girl
There has to be something so lovely in BFLICKK’s ” Oh, That’s My Baby, My Girl” that you feel like hugging it like an old jumper. It is pure neo-soul comfort–in the personal, honest, nonchalantly easy, everything-is-all-right ways. Right at the beginning, you are immediately drawn in to these small, colourful vignettes that are truly personal and sincere, the kind […]
Rock/Review The Bar Pilots – Box of Bows
The Bar Pilots have something brilliantly nostalgic about their Box of Bows that instantly transports you to the hazy days of the 90s with the alternative rock, but with a sharper and more modern touch. The instrumentals are moody, immediate, which is power pop with actual muscle in it, reminding you of bands like Matchbox 20 or Sponge, but dusted […]
Pop-Rock/Review David DeSantis – The Light You Know
This is the contagiousness of the energy of David DeSantis in the opening of his song The Light You Know that grabs your attention at the very beginning. You can feel that guitar riff right at the beginning–catchy and self-assured–it echoes the vocals in the verse in this witty yet natural manner, which is both intentional and natural at the […]
Folk/Review Laurenicole – Here With You
The Here With You by LaureNicole has a small serenity that is like walking to your front door after a tiresome long day. Those gentle acoustic guitars and the coy piano do not play, they embrace and envelop you, like a blanket still in the dry clean shop. And finally Lauren starts singing. It is so intimate and sincere, as […]
Pop-Rock/Review Sean MacLeod – Romeo
The manner in which Sean MacLeod writes his songs is so wonderfully intimate, and this song, Romeo, is an excellent example of it. Based on his extensive musical background, those early days with the legendary Dublin-based Cisco, and his experience with the former producer of U2, Paul Barrett, MacLeod has made a song that is reassuring and at the same […]
Metal/Review Gutlock – Warden‘s Grip
Once a metal band has gone on a creative hiatus and returns to swinging, you can generally tell both whether they have been sharpening their vision or simply biding their time. Gutlock evidently opted to the former. Warden’s Grip was written with the kind of focused aggression that only artists who truly missed making heavy music return with a strong […]
Pop/Review Micki XO – Power Outage
Micki XO has hit something that we can all relate to with Power Outage- that particular brand of being exhausted as you are, overloaded with media and loving everything that is going on in the world and somehow still expected to show up and work. The genius of this song is that it does not merely narrate that feeling but […]
Pop/Review Katie Belle – Bad Dreams
It is somehow paradoxical and beautiful that Katie Belle created a song about bad dreams, when she makes the tiresome fact of insomnia turn into an irresistible escape into the realms of electro-pop. Here, the Atlanta-based artist has created something special; a song that recognizes the restless, twisting-and-turning nights that we all had and at the same time provides three […]
Dark Pop/Review Tralalas – Burns
This is hypnotic about music that is not in a hurry and Danish dark-pop project TRALALAS knows that. The second single by Morten Alsinger, the songwriter of the upcoming debut album, is a three and a half minute meditation on how flexible emotions are, how loss and gain, friendship and love exist in a state of continuous, dynamic opposition. After […]