Guitarist and composer Hear The Colors – an artist with a defiantly unique approach to crafting audio soundscapes and other-worldly ventures that consume audiences – delivers a profound and powerful instrumental album this year, with the magnetic and mighty Rebirth.
USA
‘A journey through betrayal and healing’ is precisely what we can experience with this song, and it suits the listener’s needs, thanks to the deeply personal but still poetically vague lyrics that can naturally be made your own.
Creatively unusual, strangely enthralling music – a rare trait to stumble upon, in this case balancing an intense organic drum pace with dreamy waves of shoegaze guitars and indie bass; something like manic weight and ethereal melodies uniting across a sub-two-minute plain of expression.
Dreamy guitar play, smooth vibes, live drums and enchanting harmonies – Captain Highside sets the vibe beautifully, with the organic and impassioned I Can’t See.
This fusion of the upbeat and the delicate is key to this project, and continues throughout the more EDM-driven pace of Pass The Beach. If you want the music to energise you, turn it up loud, and it will. Conversely, if you need to relax or gather your thoughts, the familiarity of the rhythm and the essential pulse of the music provides the perfect ambiance.
Original music fearlessly blending genres, for an eclectic twelve-track album that’s consistently shifting – Eternity the artist lights up the space with the heavy bass and soul-funk of You Are My Groove, before we head further into the depths of Find Me.
Funky guitar rhythms and riding bass lines, a female vocal distantly mixed for a kind of pop-rock meets shoegaze recording aura, later evolving through something of a traditional folk to rock fusion of styles – Lady King & The Aces roll with the creative punches, for Smooth Sailing.
Perfectly encapsulating the implications of its title, and seamlessly blending the ferocity of metal with the essential embrace of rhythm, concept, character and even melody, Death Culture fires up a brand new album with a powerful opening track, and proceeds to impress throughout the intense and addictive Man and Machine.
Poetic contemplations, seamlessly intertwining modern production tools and traditional acoustic folk music – KAI delivers an intimate reflection on romantic longing and desire, with Another Life.
Continuing to perfect the modern AI dance-pop creative corner, FunkTheAI delivers a full-length album, this time loaded with summer gems that seamlessly blend funk and dance production with smooth, catchy vocals and hooks.
Beautifully introspective songwriting, piercing truths poetically delivered, to feel both intimate and broadly relatable at the very same time – Aftereye set a moody soft-rock vibe, with sleepy vocals and compelling lyrics, for Someday.
These aren’t the usual lo-fi ambient backing tracks we stumble upon, this album hits with sincere and unignorable impact, in everything from the production to the bars, the tone of voice, the passion, and – most importantly – the vulnerability and sharp, smart framing of the lyrics.