This time of year always brings back the best melodies and memories combined. A fresh twist on the classic dynamic is more than welcome, and Eddie Wang’s version of It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas is a genuine pleasure to let play this season.
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Classic hard rock blends passionate vocals and heavily distorted riffs, alongside unrelenting energy and a catchy, concise hook resolve – Bulletproof reignite the guitar-rock intensity of the eighties, with No More Lies.
There’s a certain humility and authenticity to On This Day, which blends wonderfully with the strength of songwriting and the absolute skill and substance of the leading performance. An impressive and likable Christmas single, from an artist clearly worth knowing about as 2023 nears its curtain call.
The elusive paqx creates music from the spirit and the soul, blending instrumental purity with spoken reflections and personal honesty, across uniquely ambient, beautiful playlists like the Wetakkim album.
Deeply atmospheric trip-hop production meets with breathy and soulful vocals, for an RnB-fusion single that’s as evocative as it is mood-setting and ultimately uplifting. Vironnica delivers a seductive and catchy anthem of longing to connect, for the poetic and immersive Mirage.
Poetry is central to The Psycho Rise, political contemplations framed within metaphors and images that sound beautifully fluid yet intensely poignant in their topical relevance.
There’s a subtle pulse to the CURFEW project, humble threads of character in the production and playful musicianship, which all connects well to the story and inspiration at its core. The streets are quiet at night, until they’re suddenly wild.
A catchy floor-filler and a strong introduction to indie artists Montana Millz and Queen JuJu.
Indie’s iconic Scoob Rock re-calibrates all systems, alongside Lifeline and The Cook, for this deeply evocative, nostalgic and stripped-back take on genuine storytelling; exploring the pain of a life spent walking the poverty line.
Organic folk-pop brings shakers and acoustic guitar to the forefront, as Steve Savona sets the mood to uplifted and light, with The Way To Be.
Something of an anti-mainstream hit, blending emo-rock and shoe-gaze with exotic twists of world-music and psychedelic sound-play, Trapped In Void offers just enough of the familiar to enhance the profound escapism of everything else in its makeup
Introducing his second EP from the summer, HJ Soul kindly stopped by to talk about the divine RnB project Illusions. We discuss the title, themes within, the pressures of a sophomore release, and plenty more. Here’s how it went.