Category: indie electro R&B

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Magi Merlin Shares Shimmering and Defiant “pixxie”

Rising Montréal-based JOVM mainstay Magi (pronounced Mahd-j-eye) Merlin makes music for fellow obsessives. There’s no soft lunch. She sings directly to the listener, face pressed up against the other side of the screen’s glass. With a propulsive, avant-garde inspired take on pop and what she dubs as “broken R&B,” the Canadian artist’s work sees her exploring life’s deep existential truths.

Now, if y’all have been frequenting this site over the past handful of years, Merlin has collaborated with co-writer and producer Funkywhat, building a shared musical language through the release of 2022’s Gone Girl EP, which led to touring with Noga Erez and an electric set opening for Omar Apollo in Mexico City — and last year’s A Weird Little Dog, which helped her establish “broken R&B,” an honest account of how she works, her artistic direction and visual world. The JOVM mainstay supported that effort opening for Nubya Garcia across the US and with festival appearances at Osheaga and Festival d’été de Québec, where she opened for Ty Dolla $ign, And recently, she opened for Yaya Bey during their European tour.

Outside of music, she made her acting debut this year in Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks alongside Barbie Ferreira, Devon Bostick and Juliette Gariépy. The film screened at this year’s SXSW and Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

The Montréal-based JOVM mainstay’s highly anticipated full-length debut POWER HOUSE is slated for a July 10, 2026 release through Bonsound. The 12-song album is reportedly a slickly produced, infectious and high-energy effort that conceptually is an exploration of the internal architecture we all inhabit, housing the conflicting rooms of anger, fear, vanity, and ultimately, a reclaimed sense of power. The album is very much an ode to the realization that inner work is the only true outer work.

The album also serves as a realist’s manifesto, written from Merlin’s perspective as a bisexual/ENM woman. Throughout the album, the Montréal-based artist’s narrators explores the uneasy contradictions of seeking validation in both platonic and romantic relationships. She deconstructs the plastic confidence used as modern armor, the performative standards of the beauty industry, and the systemic pressures that force women to navigate their lives with hyper-caution.

POWER HOUSE includes the previously released “POPSTAR,” SpiceKick,” and “So Smart,” which have receive attention across a number of international media outlets including Clash Magazine, Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Wonderland Magazine, Libération, Exclaim! and RANGE, as well as airplay from BBC 6 Music, France Inter, FIP, CBC and Radio Canada. The album’s latest single “pixxie” continues a run of slickly produced synth pop, anchored around the rising Canadian artist’s self-assured and soulful, pop star delivery and her unerring knack for catchy hooks.

Thematically, the track focuses on the liberation of women from the male gaze but written and sung ironically from the perspective of the manic pixie dream girl, breaking out from a reductive caricature — at all costs.

“Female characters in film are often reduced to this trope, simply a device used to further the plot of the male protagonist,” Magi explains. “This is a role and, at its worst, an expectation many men in real life will cast onto their female counterparts. The only function of women in their eyes is being a sexual object or a tool to aid them in their growth.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: SHUB and Sebastian Gaskin Team Up on Sleek, Intimate “I Know”

Dan “SHUB” General is a Mohawk producer and member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nation reserve in Canada. As a co-founder of the trailblazing and acclaimed, Juno Award-winning Indigenous electronic music outfit A Tribe Called Red, now known as The Hallucci Nation, General has been instrumental in the development of powwow-step, a blend of the ancient rhythms of powwow music with scratching, hip-hop, and modern, bass-heavy electronic music production.

In 2014, General left A Tribe Called Red and stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist and producer. His debut, 2016’s six-song PowWowStep EP featured collaborations with the Northern Cree Singers, smoke dance singer Frazer Sundown and a Blackfeet Nation-based drum group, Black Lodge Singers. Th EP won an Indigenous Music Award for Best Instrumental Album and the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities (COCA) named him DJ of the Year in 2017.

Since then, the Canadian producer and DJ has released two albums, 2020’s War Club and last year’s Heritage (Part One). Conceived as part of a two-part series, Heritage (Part One) saw General stepping beyond the DJ both and boldly stepping forward as a composer, storyteller and artist dedicated to expanding the reach of Indigenous music on a global scale.

The second part of the series, Heritage (Part Two) is slated for a May 1, 2026 release. Across Heritage, SHUB brings together Indigenous artists across generations, using collaboration as a way to explore identity, community and continuity within contemporary music. The Canadian producer and artist is helping to actively expanding the space Indigenous artists occupy within modern music. Heritage (Part Two) completes that vision, bringing together voices across cultures and styles into a single body of work. “This album is about movement and growth,” SHUB explains. “It’s not trying to be one genre — it’s just where I’m at right now.”

Heritage (Part Two)‘s latest single “I Know,” feat. Sebastian Gaskin is a sleek, hook-driven bit of club friendly, contemporary R&B/contemporary pop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, thumping beats serving as a lush bed for Gaskin’s yearning and plaintive falsetto. While SHUB’s work has been known for being centered on blending traditional Indigenous sounds with electronic production, “I Know” is a deliberate and thoughtful shift in sound, stripping the more ceremonial aspects of his sound for an emphasis on intimacy and personal connection that will feel familiar — and universal.

The song also captures the organic and seemingly effortless chemistry of the duo’s collaboration. “Working on this one with Sebastian was one of those sessions where the chemistry was instant,” SHUB explains. “We actually ended up writing two songs that day, but this one stood out straight away. Sometimes a record just finds its own lane when the right people are in the room.”

That sense of connection carried into the song’s overall themes. “Shub & I wrote this imagining our cultures as a lover,” Sebastian Gaskin says. “It’s about returning to where we come from and remembering that our roots don’t just ground us — they hold us.”

Directed by Matt Guarrasi, the accompanying video for “I Know” feat. Sebastian Gaskin follows the duo through a late-night drive through Toronto, with the city’s light reflected on windshield that features stops on various rooftops for the duo to rock out on. Fittingly, the video further emphasizes the deeply reflective, almost brooding energy of the track.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: bat zoo Shares Shimmering “Diamond Lane”

bat zoo is a rising American-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter and producer, who has developed a reputation for boundless creativity — and for genre-agnostic work. 

As a child, the rising artist and producer was immersed in a melting pot of musical influences, as a result of his father’s eclectic record collection. He grew up listening to soul, R&B, hip-hop and much more — and it opened his young years to kaleidoscope of sounds and styles, which helped informed his genre-blurring sound and approach. 

He also brings his artistic vision to life by seamlessly blending his work with dynamic visuals. Embracing authentic and innovation, the American-born, Berlin-based artist continues to push boundaries as a jack-of-all-trades creative director of his solo recording project, a culmination of many years of trial and error. He’s extremely busy: while developing his own sound as a solo artist, he’s also a part of the acclaimed Berlin-based vocal ensemble A Song For You and one-half of R&B duo GOLDA. 

bat zoo’s forthcoming EP, The Upward Bird is slated for a July 22, 2025 release through Lekker Collective. Last month, I wrote about the hauntingly minimalist, Nick Hakim-like “Frozen Milk,” which featured the rising Berlin-based accompanying himself on strummed acoustic guitar paired with swirling electronics and his achingly tender falsetto sining lyrics that thematically touched upon chaos and the brief and desperate search for balance amidst moments of self-destruction and connection.

bat zoo’s latest single, the sleek and slickly produced, The Weeknd-like “Diamond Lane” is anchored around swirling and glistening synths, skittering beats serving as a lush and dreamy soundscape for his yearning and heartbroken vocal turn. But just under the slick, dance floor friendly surface, the song is a bittersweet and melancholic reflection on a love affair that has slowly unraveled, fueled with the recognition that the narrator may be powerless to do anything to slow it down — or to stop it.

Lyrically abstract yet deeply intimate, the song simultaneously feels like a stream of consciousness pulled from the depths of the narrator’s memory and a conversation — or more likely a monologue — bitterly directed toward that someone, who once meant everything and now is leaving.

The accompanying video is a hazy, dream-like visual that feels like a regret-tinged tinged fever dream.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms
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Photography: Free Tuesdays at Union Pool 1/7/25: Marlon DuBois with F.G.S. and Patch

Live concert photography of Union Pool’s Free Tuesdays feat. Marlon DuBois with F.G.S. and Patch.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Atlanta’s Esotera Shares Sultry “Reflection”

Esotera is an emerging Pine Hills, FL-born, Atlanta-based pop artist, who specializes in a unique take on bedroom pop that draws from rock, pop and R&B among others. Her work sees her haring her experiences with falling in love, the heartbreak of falling out of love, growing pains and spirituality — paired with lush and cinematic productions.

Her latest single “Reflection” is a slickly pop banger built around twinkling, reverb-drenched keys, skittering boom bap and the Pine Hills, FL-born, Atlanta-based artist’s sultry and self-assured delivery. The song is a love song that’s partially about having a deeply sexual yet spiritual connection with someone that could also be read as a love song to music.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Black Yacht Rock Club is a emerging New York-based supergroup of incredibly talented songwriters/musicians/producers and artists, who have in many cases worked with a who’s who of contemporary music — Jerome Jordan (vocals, guitar), Justo Ontario (vocals), Phearnone (vocalist, emcee and violin), Ramsey Jones (drums, songwriter, arranger) and Entrfied The God of Sound (production, songwriting) — that specializes in blending a number of classic genres simultaneously with a contemporary twist. 

If you were frequenting this site last year, you might recall that I wrote about “Wishful,” a two-step inducing bit of synth-driven R&B and funk that I think will remind listeners of The Whispers, The Gap Band and contemporaries like Dam-Funk, Tuxedo and others, complete with a remarkably catchy hook and soulful crooning.

The New York-based supergroup start off 2024 with “Raize,” continues a run hook-driven, slinky 80s-inspired synth funk — with the new single seemingly nodding a bit at Cherrelle’s “Saturday Love” and “I Didn’t Mean To Turn You On,” Shalamar‘s “Night To Remember” and others but with a incredibly contemporary dance floor friendly break around the 3:00 minute mark. The production and arrangement serves as a lush, velvety for Justo Ontario’s soulful and plaintive crooning. Simply put, it’s the sort of banger that I’d put in a DJ set.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

deathbypeanuts is a mysterious and rising Berlin-based producer, who has collaborated with an eclectic array of acclaimed and rising artists including Kelvyn Colt, Chris James, Noah Slee, Beau Diako, JOVM mainstay Marie Dahlstrom, Sipprell, J. Lamotta, and a lengthy list of others.

The mysterious and rising Berlin-based producer’s latest single “Superspeed” is a slickly produced track featuring a simple yet eerie piano melody and trap beats and wobbling, tweeter and woofer rattling low end paired with MERON‘s delivery which alternates between hip-hop swagger and aching yearning for the song’s verses. Much like Majid Jordan‘s work, deathbypeanuts’ latest single manages to mesh the sultriness of contemporary R&B with trap swagger and catchy, pop hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: San Francisco’s LYV Shares Atmospheric “Haunted”

LYV is an emerging San Francisco-based, Mexican-American singer/songwriterand marketing manager at EMPIRE. The emerging San Francisco-based artist comes from an R&B and gospel background — but she has writing and co-writing credits for artists across a variety of genres.

Over the past year, LYV has been steady releasing new material, including her latest single, the slow-burning and sultry “Haunted,” which pairs her sultry pop starlet vocal with an atmospheric, Quiet Storm-inspired production featuring skittering trap-like beats, ethereal synths. But at its core is an earnest expression of yearning and desire.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Black Yacht Rock Club Shares Sleek and Soulful “Wishful”

Black Yacht Rock Club is a New York-based emerging supergroup of songwriters/musicians/producers and artists — Jerome Jordan (vocals, guitar), Justo Ontario (vocals), Phearnone (vocalist, emcee and violin), Ramsey Jones (drums, songwriter, arranger) and Entrfied The God of Sound (production, songwriting) — that specializes in blending a number of classic genres simultaneously with a contemporary twist.

Their latest single “Wistful” is a two-step inducing bit of synth-driven R&B and funk that will remind listeners of the likes of The Whispers, The Gap Band and contemporaries like Dam-Funk, Tuxedo and others, complete with a remarkably catchy hook and soulful crooning.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Marie Dahlstrøm and Sipprell Team Up on Sultry “The Process”

Over the past few years, the acclaimed Roskilde-born, London-based singer/songwriter, musician, producer and JOVM mainstay Marie Dahlstrøm has proven herself to be one of the most prolific and essential talents in contemporary, underground R&B.

Dahlstrøm continues multitudes, a thousand different selves co-existing and contradicting each other — at once. An acclaimed singer/songwriter and producer. A mother. A partner. “These different pockets of life also create friction,” she acknowledges. “I’ve been figuring out where I belong, what I’m supposed to do and how I fit into all of this — because I am so much more than an artist. When you have big dreams or goals and you see time being taken away from achieving them, and going towards something else — how do you make that a positive experience? There are always challenges, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good life.” Fittingly, the Roskilde-born, London-based JOVM mainstay’s highly anticipated sophomore album A Good Life thematically is about dismantling the idea that your validity as an artist diminishes when it’s not the focal point of your life, that somehow being a parent somehow negates creativity. Hell, this can be even said for those artists, who have to support themselves with a day job.

“I hope that every album I make will convey a sense of honesty to it. This one is based on reflections from a few years of my life with many changes and adjustments,” Dahlstrøm adds. “It’s an album about human interaction in all its complexity.”

A Good Life is slated for a May 22, 2023 release through Dahlstrøm’s JFH Records. But in the meantime, the album’s last single before its release, “The Process” features Dahlstrom’s longtime friend and collaborator Sipprell. Built around twinkling piano, skittering beats, bursts of shimmering guitar, a Quiet Storm-meets-smooth jazz guitar solo, whirring electronics and a sinuous bass line, “The Process” is a seemingly effortless and sultry bop that sees its collaborators soulfully dissecting the intricacies and complications of being an artist — with a lived-in specificity.

“The song is about creativity, and the process of that,” the Roskilde-born, London-based JOVM mainstay explains. “The song is about the creative process. It’s about letting go in order to catch inspiration when it presents itself. Trying to go with the flow rather than forcing it.”

The accompanying video Lennon Gregory features Dahlstrom and Sipprell in a bare studio on an intimate photo shoot/video shoot and captures their friendship with an honesty while they vamp and sing for the camera.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

RockLee · It’s a Feeling (feat. Mel Pacifico & Uness)

 

Born Frantz-Lee Leonard, Montreal-based jazz-trained, drummer RockLee started his music career as a member of Lazy Lee. Since then, Leonard has spent the bulk of his career as a hired gun, who has toured across the globe playing pop and world music.  And as a result, Leonard has shared stages with Corneille and Wesli, Muzion, Claude Dubois, Paul Cargnello, Dominque Fils-Aimé and a lengthy list of others.

Recently, Leonard has transitioned to a life behind the scenes, as a producer. Drawing from his extensive experience as a performer and songwriter, Leonard quickly developed a reputation for being one of his hometown’s best kept secrets — but with the forthcoming release of a solo album, which will find him collaborating with a variety of different artists. Describing his sound as “a fusion of sounds meant to evoke a sense of nostalgia,” his goal as a producer is to offer a new generation of music listeners and fans the chance to sonically reconnect with the most important moments — with the tacit understanding that music is most often the emotional center of our lives.

Co-written by Paul Cargnello, “It’s A Feeling” the album’s first single is centered around a sultry Quiet Storm-like production featuring skittering beats, shimmering and arpeggiated synths, squiggling blasts of guitar, twinkling keys and an infectious, radio friendly hook paired with a soulful and achingly yearning duet between two of Montreal’s up-and-coming R&B artists Mel Pacifico and Uness. What seems to set RockLee and this particular song apart from countless others  — to my ears, at least — is the fact that the song meshes an ambitious yet accessible production and earnest songwriting with a decided sense of purpose. 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

vincethealien is a mysterious and emerging artist, who’s reportedly on a mission to find a planet, a people or just an individual person to connect to, crafting a sound that seems indebted with Serpentwithfeet, Kelela, Brockhampton, Solange, Thundercat, Sampha, and Frank Ocean — with a focus on harmonies and vocal craft.

vincethealien’s second and latest single, the others9000-produced “Easy Bake” is a sultry pop confection centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, stuttering trap-like beats,  layered come hither-styled vocals full of double entendres and a bouncy hook. The end result is an intergalactic take on R&B from Jupiter in the year 3765.