Really enjoyable music – a refreshing injection of creative originality amidst a style that’s nostalgic and well-grounded. After Eight let unique songwriting shine a distinct light on a timeless approach, with the meandering rock intensity and vulnerability of The Reach.
EPs
Colourful ancestral jams blend live musicianship and infectious tropical rhythms with a variety of voices, melodies and skilful refrains. Sharon Katz and The Peace Train collaborate with Afrika Mamas, for a brilliantly uplifting and fiercely unique new project.
The Blues Guy himself, promising the live seduction of a full-band set that’s intimate and soulful. Guy Renardeau drops an EP of seven modern blues tracks, with sultry grooves, guitar solos and warming keys, all backing up a high-class gathering of talented vocalists.
Letting go of things that no longer serve you – from relationships to ambition, work, self-identity. Creative alt-pop songwriter Lily Franc delivers on both depth and design, with the subtle charm, genre diversity and lyrical brilliance of The Fitting Room.
Translating as Shadow Under Dominion, this four-track EP is driven by a fascination for the life of the soldier, and features programmed marching rhythms, huge vocal chants, patterns and crescendos, that blend something like tribal folk and Celtic refrains with intense drums, gritty declarations, and evocative chord patterns.
Conceptually focused but musically brief, a driven encapsulation of surviving the apocalypse, striped with humour and loaded with rebellion, depth, and distinct riffs. Red Head Redemption make fine use of a limited timeframe, with the alternative rock songs of their EP Sunny With A Chance of Fallout.
Dolce Wang quite cleverly intertwines melancholy and optimism throughout this album, a subtle sadness countered by a subtle level of excitement from one song to the next. This represents both the limitless and uncertain qualities of traveling really well, in my view.
For The Love Of Trees is an instrumental, neo-classical folk project, following intimate and organic live cello arrangements, occasionally with piano and other strings, through serene, sometimes melancholic, always evocative and beautiful melodic expressions.
Smooth production, mellow grooves and lush, intimate vocals create a melodic and calming tropical vibe, as Naija Luna delivers a four-track EP designed to soothe and connect people with one another.
Deeply evocative songwriting and arrangements, a sense of rising passion that’s heart-breaking and poignant, performatively unique and ambient – soulful and extraordinary. Denver creative Donaven presents an intoxicating level of introspection and melodic escapism, with the depth and poetry of brand new EP meet the beast (a love letter).
Representing everything that made rock and roll so impactful, timeless, and popular – DownTown Mystic continue their quest as one of the the genre’s hardest working ensembles, with the launch of yet another EP. Mystic Highway Road Trip compiles six original songs, and features a tightly woven group of talented musicians, to promise a playlist … Continued
You get addicted to this progression, these repetitions, the soulful peaks, and it feels like something born of influences ranging from Moby and Massive Attack to Fatboy Slim and Gnarls Barkley. In my view, Joshua Milú reaches the pinnacle of memorable production here, and A Home is quick to assert itself as an outstanding modern track.