Flew is a rising Lyon, France-based musician and producer, who specializes in mixing organic instrumentation — namely guitar — with sleek, club friendly, electronic production. Over the past year or so, the rising French producer has released two attention grabbing singles “Ready For Tonight” and “Bad Lover,” featuring Julie Todd, which have amassed over 100,000 and 80,000 streams respectively.
Building upon a growing profile, the French producer recently released his latest single “Let Loose,” featuring J. Fitz. Centered around tweeter and woofer rocking beats, a New Order-inspired guitar solo, shimmering synth arpeggios, J. Fitz’s soulful vocals and an enormous hook, “Let Loose” is a summery and infectious, Ibiza-like take on house music that captures the swooning euphoria of new love — and dancing in a sweaty, strobe-lit club.
Luc Grindle is a Glasgow-based singer/songwriter, musician and sound engineer, best known for his work with local indie rock bands Dutch Wine, HEYUP and Moonsoup. Interestingly. Grindle stepped out into the limelight with his solo recording project Gunke, which finds the Glasgow-based artist aiming to bring out the brighter, more optimistic side of punk rock.
So far Grindle has released two singles “Mouse” and “Football” — with “Football” receiving attention across the blogosphere. Building upon the growing buzz surrounding him, the Glasgow-based artist released his latest single, the buoyantly anthemic “Mum.” Centered around jangling power chords, a persistent backbeat and a rollocking chorus that I can picture kids shouting and bouncing along to, “Mum” manages to bring 120 Minutes-era MTV to mind. To this critic’s ears, I hear a mix of Dinosaur Jr. and Flying Nun Records. Interestingly, underneath the rousingly anthemic hooks, the song has an ironically dark undercurrent with the song focusing on the dying embers of a rapidly fading romantic relationship. The song’s narrator goes through all the complicated emotions of a relationships’ end — longing, frustration, hatred, despair, the desire to escape it all and the recognition of his role in the relationship’s end. If you’re human, you’ve been there and have felt the same; I know I have.
“’Mum’ is all about finding yourself in a position you are unable to escape from and requiring to see difficult situations through to the end,” Grindle explains in press notes. “Despite the more pessimistic lyrical content, I wanted to create something more optimistic for the lyrics to sit on top of.”
Grindle adds. “‘Mum’ was a good release of energy to write during a frustrating and confusing time, it helped me understand what was going on in my life so became a very positive piece to create despite the less hopeful lyrics.”
21 year-old Amsterdam-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Nadine Appeldoorn is the creative mastermind behind the rising indie pop recording project Mazey Haze. Growing up surrounded by the music of ABBA, Tears for Fears, Talk Talk, Fleetwood Mac and The Bee Gees, the rising Dutch artist started writing her own original material when she was 13. By the time, she turned 16, Appeldoorn started recording full demos on her laptop that found her experimenting with different genres, sounds, decades and production elements.
Eventually, Appeldoorn settled on a guitar-driven indie pop sound that some have compared to acclaimed and beloved acts like Alvvays, Beach House,Camera Obscura and Men I Trust paired with reflective, insightful, often wistful and unashamedly honest songwriting, fueled by her desire to connect with the listener and make them feel less alone.
The rising Dutch artist’s highly anticipated debut EP, Always Dancing, which will feature lead single “Sad Lonely Groove” is slated for an October 22, 2021 release through LUSTRE. Discussing what listeners should expect from the EP, Appeldoorn explains, “Human feelings and thoughts. Total honesty about a very vulnerable and fearful chapter of my life. Unfiltered lyrics that came straight out at moments I felt the lowest I have ever felt. At times cynical and sarcastic. Thoughts and feelings we all experience but which are also very private and personal. An EP about me struggling through my first breakup(s) and trying to figure out who I am, for the first time ever. Sound-wise the EP is also strongly guided by my gut-feeling and intuition. The music accompanies the lyrics as it matches the strong and deep feeling I had at the time. The EP is sonically straightforward but detailed as well. Dynamic and layered. Groovy and dreamy. For me, this EP is the beginning of floating through the unknown, forever.”
Building upon the attention of “Sad Lonely Groove,” Appeldoorn and LUSTRE released the second and latest single off the EP, “Headspin.” Featuring shimmering guitars, a supple bass line, atmospheric synths, propulsive drumming and Appledoorn’s plaintive vocals paired with a soaring hook, “Headspin” manages to capture a narrator caught in an uneasy storm of conflicting and confusing emotions of a bitter breakup while sonically bearing a resemblance to Cannonball EP-era Amber Arcades and Beach House.
“I wrote ‘Headspin’ in the same period of my life as ‘Sad Lonely Groove’. The song for me was an outlet of my doubts and fears at that time,” Appeldoorn explains in press notes. “I broke up with my first ever partner in life and wasn’t sure if I’d done the right thing, because I didn’t know how to take care of myself. I didn’t know who I was on my own. It was very scary and I felt very lonely. The only person I really had was him. I felt a lot of frustration. Some moments I did think it was the right thing because I felt that I couldn’t be there for him, I didn’t feel the same anymore. All these different thoughts were making me tired. It was the first time I let go of someone I cared about alot. But I couldn’t still fully let him go.”
With the release of their first three albums, 2010’s Romanticism, 2012’s Revisionist and 2015’s Midnight Century, the Toronto-based post-punk act The Black Fever — Shoe (vocals, guitar), Pat Bramm (bass, vocals) and Dan Purpura (drums) — have established a sound that draws from Interpol, Joy Division, and The Cure with lead bass lines and propulsive drums paired with a focus on melody and concise songwriting.
Since their formation, the Canadian post-punk trio have received media coverage in outlets like The Toronto Star, Now Magazine, CHARTAttack, Exclaim!, and Scene Magazine and airplay on CBC Radio 1, campus radio stations across Canada and online radio stations across the world. Adding to a growing profile in their native Canada, the band has made the rounds of the Canadian festival circuit playing Canadian Music Week four times (2013, 2015, 2016, and 2019), NXNE three times (2012, 2014 and 2016), as well as the Hamilton Film and Music Festival.
The members of The Black Fever have managed to remain busy during the pandemic, writing and recording new material including their latest single “Nowhere,” which officially dropped yesterday. Centered around a sinuous bass line, Shoe’s plaintive vocals, angular guitar blasts and propulsive drumming, “Nowhere” finds the Canadian trio continuing their long-held reputation for crafting a sound that seemingly meshes elements of classic 4AD Records, The Cure and Interpol paired with enormous hooks and earnest, lived-in songwriting. As the band explains, the song was informed by and written about the troubles experienced by those in their generation: Economically, socially, politically, environmentally and even health-wise, people between their teens to their 40s are struggling under the weight of so much shitty stuff. And no one seems to have a solution besides the same old bullshit we’ve all heard before.
New York-born, Denver-based Adam Deitch (drums). Initially starting as a member of Lettuce and Break Science, Deitch’s career has been centered around a genre-defying eclecticism: he has worked in hip hop, jazz, funk, electro pop and jazz, collaborating with Wax, Ledisi, John Scofield and 50 Cent. Deitch has received a Grammy nomination for his work producing and cowriting on Ledisi’s Turn Me Loose. He’s also a co-founder of Royal Family Records.
Walter, Roberts and Deitch would often bump into each other at New Orleans Jazz Fest, and in those those meetings, the trio would longingly discuss future collaborations together. Generally fueled by Roberts’ long-held belief that the trio would yield something impactful and interesting, the Leeds-born, Denver-based guitarist realized that with the co-founding of Color Red Music, that it was a perfect time to bring everyone into the studio to put some tracks on wax.
The end result is the trio’s recently released full-length debut The Hit, which was written and recorded in just two single-day sessions at Color Red Studios. Sonically, the album is reportedly one-part Sunday stroll and one-part rocket ship to Saturn centered around their unmistakable simpatico. (Perhaps that simpatico draws from the fact that each member is a Taurus, with each member’s birthday being a week after the other.)
The Hit‘s first single “Chum City” finds the trio collaborating with The Twin Cats‘ Nick Gerlach on a funky and strutting number centered around a grinding and muscular groove reminiscent of Chuck Brown-era go-go music and Booker T and The MGs and an arrangement that’s loose enough for all of these talented musicians to deliver some impressive solos. Simply put, this one is just fucking nasty y’all.
Last year, I spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the rising Los Angeles-based indie electro rock act Carré that features:
Julien Boyé (drums, percussion, vocals): Boyé has had stints as a touring member of Nouvelle Vague and James Supercave. Additionally, he has a solo recording act Acoustic Resistance, in which he employs rare instruments, which he has collected from all over the world.
Jules de Gasperis (drums, vocals, synths, production and mixing): de Gasperis is a Paris-born, Los Angeles-based studio owner. Growing up in Paris, he sharpened his knowledge of synthesizers, looping machines and other electronics around the same time that Justice, Soulwax and Ed Banger Records exploded into the mainstream.
Kevin Baudouin (guitar, vocals, synth, production): Baudouin has lived in Los Angeles the longest of the trio — 10 years — and he has played with a number of psych rock acts, developing a uniquely edgy approach to guitar, influenced by Nels Cline, Jonny Greenwood and Marc Ribot.
Deriving their name for the French word for “square,” “playing tight” and “on point,” the Los Angeles-based trio formed back in 2019 — and as the band’s Jules de Gasperis explains in press notes, “The making of our band started with this whole idea of having two drummers perform together. It felt like a statement. We always wanted to keep people moving and tend to focus on the beats first when we write.” The members of the Los Angeles-based act specialize in a French electronica-inspired sound that frequently blends aggressive, dark and chaotic elements with hypnotic drum loops. Thematically, their work generally touches upon conception, abstraction and distortion of reality through a surrealistic outlook of our world. Their visuals tend to feature geometric shapes and patterns.
The act specializes in a French electronica-inspired sound that blends aggressive, dark and chaotic elements with hypnotic drum loops. Thematically, their work generally touches upon conception, abstraction and distortion of reality through a surrealistic outlook of our world. Their self-titled EP was released last year through Nomad Eel Records — and the EP featured the Uncanny Valley-era Midnight Juggernauts meets Tour de France-era Kraftwerk-like “Freeform,” a free flowing and improvised jam centered around glistening synth arpeggios, shimmering blasts of guitar, an insistent motorik groove, hi-hat driven four-on-the-floor and ethereal vocal samples.
“Freeform” was given the remix treatment by Parisian multi-instrumentalist Alex Tran, a.k.a. A.T.M. and interestingly enough, the A.T.M. remix adds a decidedly French house touch to the proceedings with glitchy sequences, muscular guitars, harder hitting beats, vocodered vocals while retaining the song’s free flowing and improvised jam-like feel and dark industrial vibes while essentially giving the song a dance floor friendly air.
Their single “The Wolf” was featured in a National Organization for Women film. Violent Vickie’s Vickie was also interviewed for the documentary GRRL as part of the museum exhibit Alien She. Adding to the band’s growing profile, their album Monster Alley was voted best album by KALX. And if you’ve been frequenting this site, you may recall that their latest album Division, which featured the dark yet dance floor friendly “Circle Square” was released last September.
Since the release of Division, the band has been busy writing and recording material, including their latest single, a Mazzy Star-like take on Johnny Cash‘s “Ring of Fire” centered around a sparse arrangement of strummed guitar and Vickie’s plaintive vocals fed through gentle amounts of reverb. Sonically, the track is a marked departure from the chilly, dark and aggressive coldwave and New Wave-inspired tracks they’re known for, while retaining the longing of the original.
MMYYKK (pronounced “Mike”) is a rising Inland Empire, CA-born, Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. 2019’s highly praised Electro Soul EP found the Inland Empire-born, Minneapolis-based multi-hyphenate artist further establishing a difficult to pigeonhole sound and approach that draws from soul, future funk, R&B, hip-hop, jazz and fusion — and seems equally indebted to Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Herbie Hancock, and Stevie Wonder.
MMYYKK is also an accomplished ambient artist: Last year’s Mellow Moods and Meditations was released to praise. Earlier this year, he produced PASSAGE, a Black mental health and wellness initiative done in collaboration with the folks at Okayplayer. Building upon a busy year, the Inland Empire-born, Minneapolis-based artist will be releasing the Science EP through London-based label Rhythm Section INTL in September.
Science EP‘s first single is the slinky “Divine.” Centered around MMYYKK’s sultry falsetto, glistening synth arpeggios and a strutting bass line, the flirtatious “Divine” sonically will draw comparisons to D’Angelo and Thundercat, as the crafted manages to be effortless yet carefully crafted. Interestingly, underneath the funky grooves, the song is a much-needed and loving ode to Black women. “Black women taught me how to love. Women literally save the world every day. This track was a way for me to express appreciation and sing praises to the women in my life,” MMYYKK explains in press notes.
Greg Delon is an acclaimed NÎmes, France-based, self-taught DJ and producer, who is best known in French and international electronic music circles as Delon. Over the past 25 years, the French DJ and producer has been extremely busy.
He founded Apéro Techno, a night at Nimes-based club paloma that features an eclectic array of French producers and DJs — and part of the A-Nimé Festival Association (of which he’s the president)
He’s the founder and head of Way of House Records, a French house music/electronic music label.
elon’s latest single “Sorry” is a sleek and sensual banger centered around shimmering synth melodies, a soulful vocal sample, skittering pads, thumping beats and a euphoric hook. The end result is a summery, Ibiza meets 90s take on deep house.
The New Mastersounds — currently, Eddie Roberts (guitar, production), Simon Allen (drums), Pete Stand (bass) and Joe Tatton (keys) — can trace their origins back to the late 1990s: At the time Roberts was promoting a club night in his native Leeds called The Cooker. When The Cooker moved into a new venue with a second floor in 1999, there was both the space and opportunity to put a live band together to compliment the night’s DJ sets.
As it turned out Roberts and Simon Allen had previously played together in The Mastersounds, an act that featured a different bassist and no keyboards. Through friends and the intimate nature of the Leeds scene, Pete Shand and Bob Birch (Hammond) were recruited to join the band, which became The New Mastersounds. Their earliest material was raw and leaned heavily towards boogaloo — but their first rehearsal was so memorable and so hot that Blow It Hard Records released it on two limited-edition 7″ singles in 2000.Since then, the band has released 24 more seven inch singles, 13 full-length albums, three live albums, a remix album and three compilations released in the uK, Japan and the States. During that same period, the band went through a major lineup change with grizzled Leeds scene veteran Joe Tatton replacing Bob Birch on keys and organ.
The New Mastersounds’ latest single “A Brighter Day” can trace its origins back to just after the 2020 election: the band’s Eddie Roberts had written a buoyant and uplifting composition that sonically seems indebted to Curtis Mayfield and classic Motown soul. Roberts then invited some of Color Red Music‘s top vocalists to contribute lyrics to the song. As the story goes, Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal‘s Josh Hoyer had written down some uplifting lyrics and put them in the can — for whenever an opportunity would call for them. Little did he know, that the occasion would be Roberts calling him to invite him to contribute lyrics. Lyrically, the song is centered around the hope of a brighter, fairer and inclusive new day for all, after a brutally difficult and uneasy few years.
