Category: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Mister Sunshine Shares Meditative Rock Ballad on Aging

Ben Whetsell is a New York-based producer, singer/songwriter, musician and former lawyer, who has dabbled in music for over 30 years. In the wake of the pandemic, Whetsell decided to go all-in music, starting his solo recording project Mister Sunshine.

Whetsell’s latest single, “Day’s Half Gone” was written and recorded, on-and-off over the course of 10 months at Berklee NYC, where he completed his Masters studies. The song is a slow-burning and meditative anthem, anchored around twangy, country-meets-southern fried guitars and ukulele, big rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses and shifting meters paired with Whetsell’s dreamily plaintive delivery.

“Day’s Half Gone” describes Ben’s difficulties as a developing songwriter. “The parts about aging – feeling like I let music get away from me – are some of the first things I wrote in the program, but that’s a dead end: it isn’t a healthy headspace, and it definitely doesn’t make for a good song,” Ben said. ”Getting loud and getting over it is a lot more interesting.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: John Finbury and Bruna Black Share Swooning Ballad “Uma Noite Com Voce”

Andover, MA-based Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated drummer, composer and JOVM mainstay John Finbury collaborated with rising São Paulo-based singer/songwriter Bruna Black on his latest album Vã Revelação, which was released earlier this year. 

Vã Revelação presents a broad array of subgenres under the large umbrella of Brazilian jazz. So there are the beloved and classic bossa nova and samba tunes. But there are also Baião, Partido, Alto, Forró and Afoxê among other styles. 

Over the past handful of months, I’ve written about four album singles:

  • “Chão De Nuvem,” a soulful year breezy tune featuring an arrangement of fluttering accordion, a supple bass line, shuffling percussion. The song gorgeously — and effortlessly — meshes elements of samba, jazz fusion and pop while being a perfect vehicle for Bruna Black’s languorous yet soulful delivery. 

  • “Será,” a song built around a gorgeous arrangement of shimmering acoustic guitar by Chico Pinheiro, a supple and sinuous bass line from John Pattiucci that’s roomy enough for Black’s expressive vocal. Fittingly released at the end of last year, the song is a meditation on the passing of time, the choices and plans we make that work out and the ones that fail — with the understanding that all of it influences who we are, and who we will become. 

  • Album title track “Vã Revelação,” a breathtakingly gorgeous yet bittersweet tune, anchored around the classic shuffle and sway of bossa nova featuring shimmering, strummed guitar, a supple bass line, twinkling and expressive bursts of piano serving as a lush bed for Black’s stunning vocal turn. Much like its predecessors, “Vã Revelação” is meditative yet breezy, a blast of summer — but full of the recognition of the passing of time, and of regrets, hopes dashed and hopes to be had again. 

  • “Para Me Entender,” a much jazzier take on Bossa nova than its predecessor, anchored around a loose, swinging arrangement that displays each musician’s chops with a self-assured swagger. But the true star of the affair is Bruna Black, who reveals herself as a stylistic chameleon, whose voice can shift in colors, registers and expression within the turn of a phrase.

Vã Revelação‘s fifth and latest single, “Uma Noite Com Voce” features a gently swaying, jazz standard-tinged, Bossa nova ballad composition written by Finbury performed by Vitor Gonçalves (guitar), John Patitucci (piano, Rhodes), Daduka Da Fonseca (bass), Rogério Boccato (percussion) paired with gorgeous lyrics written by Vitor Ramil Chico Pinheiro. And much like its predecessors, “Uma Noite Com Voce,” continues to showcase Bruna Black as a remarkably talented vocalist, who can effortlessly tackle any style with a self-assured yet earnest, lived-in take.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bristol’s Make Friends Shares Breakneck “I Lose, You Lose”

Rising Bristol-based indie outfit Make Friends — Tom Andrew (vocals, bass), David Thomas (guitar), Connor Crabb (guitar) and Max Lewin (drums) — have toed the line between buoyant indie pop and left-of-center indie rock since their formation. Their previous releases have received airplay from BBC Radio 1 and BBC Music Introducing, as well as coverage from Clash Magazine, Under The Radar, Dork Magazine, Wonderland Magazine, The Independent, The Rodeo and more.

The band has been very busy this summer: July saw the band bring their live show to an adoring, capacity London crowd, following sets at Dot To Dot Festival and The Great Escape Festival. They also played some dates opening for Sundara Karma and PYNCH.

Building upon a growing profile, the Bristol-based outfit will be releasing their Ed Nash-produced EP Loaded Fun through Ignition Records. Slated for a September 13, 2024 release, Loaded Fun reportedly sees the band drawing from Bombay Bicycle Club, Phoenix, MGMT and Everything Everything while simultaneously pushing their sound into a new territory.

“These past two years have really been about exploring and experimenting with our writing and production,” the rising Bristol outfit explains. “We’ve been writing a ton, and along the way, we’ve noticed our sound evolving into something we’re really excited about. We wanted the new material to feel fresh to us while still capturing the spirit and energy of our influences. Having the chance to work with Ed has been a big part of that. From a writing and production point of view, it’s been really enjoyable and fruitful for how we’ve developed. Loaded Fun is a culmination of that time spent.”

Loaded Fun‘s latest single, EP closing track “I Lose, You Lose” is a buoyant and rousingly anthemic breakneck bop that sees the band juxtaposing bright, sunny pop with the churning despair and heartache of a relationship coming to a bitter, uneasy end. The song’s slow-burning, mellower coda is meant to evoke the peace in acknowledging that sometimes both sides will lose — bitterly. But somehow, you move forward.

“’I Lose, You Lose’ is a song about losing (shock)! The lyrics take you on a journey through anxiety and realisation that actually the person you’re with, wasn’t all you thought they were,” the band explains. “The songs upbeat verses and build sections, symbolises that feeling of losing control over your thoughts, running through every situation that may have lead you to this breakup conclusion. But alas, you found solace in this breakup. Knowing you did all you could. That constant fact in your mind … ‘If I lose you, you lose me.’ And somehow that made me feel better.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Silver Relics Share Hook-Driven, Jangle Pop-like “Blood Is Blood”

Founded by singer/songwriter Alex Sepassi back in 2017, New York-based indie outfit Silver Relics quickly established a sound that effortlessly blended classic and modern rock influences that ranged from the likes of The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Nirvana on their full-length debut, 2019’s Generic.

The New York-based outfit’s latest single “Blood Is Blood” sees the band gently expanding their sound with the inclusion of jangle pop in a way that reminds me a bit of Montréal-based JOVM mainstays Elephant Stone. And much like Elephant Stone’s work, “Blood Is Blood” is anchored around an uncanny knack for razor sharp, remarkably catchy hooks and smart songwriting. The song’s effortless nature belies a slick yet workman-like craftsmanship.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Minneapolis’ The Rope Shares Anthemic “Nightbird”

Minneapolis-based outfit The Rope — Jesse Hagon (vocals), Mike Browning (guitar), Sam Richardson (bass) and Ben Rickel (drums) — formed back in 2009. Since their formation, the Minneapolis-based quartet have established a uniquely dark and […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Schande Shares Noisy and Rousingly Anthemic “Palimpsest”

California-born, London -based singer/songwriter and guitarist Jen Chochinov has been crafting catchy, propulsive rock in DIY circles since the 1990s as a solo artist and in full-bands. Solo and full adventures throughout her career have included a split 7″ with The Cribs and James Murphy’s pre-LCD Soundsystem band Speedking, playing the UK’s Indie Tracks Festival, playing Happy Birthday to Me‘s Athens Pop Festival.

Since relocating to London back in 2013, she has continued playing shows throughout the UK and US both solo and with her full band. In 2018 and 2019, Chochinov was a touring member of Thurston Moore‘s Guitar Ensemble, playing shows throughout the UK and Europe alongside Nøght‘s and Thurston Moore Group’s James Sedwards, My Bloody Valentine‘s and Thurston Moore Group’s Deb Googe, Sonic Youth‘s Steve Shelley, Thurston Moore Group’s and The Oscillation‘s Jim Doulton and Wobbly‘s Jonathan Leideker.

Chochinov is also the frontperson of the British-based noise rock outfit Schande. The outfit, which also features Italian-born Gio Vilaraut (bass) and Canadian-born Ryan Grieve (drums) will be releasing their full-length debut Once Around through Thurston and Eva Moore’s Ecstatic Peace Library’s The Daydream Library Series on September 27, 2024.

Inspired by the works of Hannah Arendt and Adriana Cavarero, One Around thematically focuses on notions of personal existence and subjectively. As Chochinov puts it, the record consists of “contemplations on the teh ways in which we do and do not disclose ourselves to each other, our responsibilities towards ourselves and others, and the ways we do or do not acknowledge the experience ion others. Mirrored by the band’s creative process, which often sees Chochinov writing the lyrics to instrumentals formed out of jams and group revisions, the album aims to explore the ways in which the most personal journeys depend on others, something the collective of expats navigate daily as they establish and reinvent themselves in their adoptive home of the UK.

Once Around‘s latest single “Palimpsest,” is a breakneck, New Wave-like ripper anchored around Chochinov’s angular guitar jangle, Villaraut’s driving bass lines and Grive’s forceful timekeeping. Chochinov’s insouciant delivery ethereally floats over the chaotic fray, seemingly emphasizing the indifference that the narrator’s expressing throughout. Sonically, “Palimpsest” recalls 120 Minutes MTV-era alt-rock, complete with rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses.

“I can’t help but hear the Siouxsie influence every time we play the song. Plus, let’s be honest, ‘palimpsest’ is just a great word,” Chochinov says. “I used a tuning I learned from my friend Darren who I had a recording project with years ago, forgot about it, and then when I started playing around with a 12 string guitar Thurston lent me it all came flooding back, like ‘oh yeaaaaaah. I wonder how this guitar would sound in that tuning?’ As it turns out, ‘rad’ is the answer to that question — just really dynamic and expansive and effortlessly creates a prismatic life of its own. Lyrically, the song reflects on patterns of behaviors that leave room for improvement.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Offline Shares Summery and Cinematic “Fumée”

Felix Müller is a Hamburg-born and-based photographer, composer and creative mastermind behind the cinematic soul project The Offline. Müller can trace the origins of The Offline to his travels along the the Atlantic coastline of southern France with an analog camera, capturing beach life. Upon his return to Hamburg, he started writing compositions as the sonic counterpart to his visuals. 

The German-born artist’s full-length debut, last year’s Timor Litzenberg co-produced La couleur de la mer was inspired by the work of Francois de Roubaix — and saw him creating a soundtrack to an imaginary film. The album’s material evoked images of manorial, fog-swept villas at the ocean’s edge, silhouetted sailing boats and cigar-chomping villains attempting to thwart the mission of the imaginary film’s hero. The album experimented with themes and atypical song structures, moving from dramatic cues to fragile romanticism while incorporating psychedelia, retro soul and hip-hop, inspired by and informed by his extensive record collection. 

Müller’s forthcoming Les Cigales EP reportedly builds upon the head-nodding blend of hip-hop and 70s soul jazz that he developed on his full-length debut. The EP takes it sonic tunes from the structure of film and TV music from the 1960s and 1970s, channeling the influences of film composers like Francois de Rouabix and David Axelrod while also seemingly sitting between the chilled out, summery grooves of Surprise Chef and Robohands. As the EP unwinds, its narrative reflects a love story full of longing, melancholy and drama, connecting with the story of Cyptis and Protis — the founding myth of Marseilles — whose love broke convention and welcomed the arrival of foreigners on French soil.

“Fumée,” introduces the first part of Les Cigales‘ narrative, an effort that reflects upon life on the Mediterranean during the summer months. Anchored around an arrangement featuring a gorgeous and expressive Rhodes-driven melodic theme, a brooding horn line and squiggling wah wah pedaled funk guitar paired with a subtly reggae-like drum groove, “Fumée” features alternating light and dark sections.

The new single continues a run of material that seems to recall Bob James while setting up the EP’s narrative, introducing the soon-to-be star-crossed protagonists, as they hungrily search for one another, while situating the listener in and around Marseille.

“As some may know, Hamburg is not known for the best weather, especially the winters, with little daylight, cold winds and rain lashing down on your face,” Müller says. “Maybe that’s why this longing for light, warmth and the sea is always a big part of my music – by composing the songs, I can be in these places.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Kelly Finnigan Shares Yearning and Pleading “Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)”

Perhaps best known as the frontman of the acclaimed West Coast psych soul outfit and JOVM mainstays Monophonics, Kelly Finnigan is an acclaimed producer, keyboardist and solo artist in his own right.

Finnigan’s highly-anticipated sophomore studio album A Lover Was Born is slated for an October 18, 2024 release through Colemine Records. Distance as a measure of time and place reportedly informs the album with a grit and grace that turns passion into virtue. The album also sees the Monophonics frontman rooting himself — and in turn, his work — in the best traditions of midwest soul labels like King, Curtom, Dakar and the Boddie Recording Company. And as a result, A Lover Was Born is a testimony that those deep cut grooves aren’t resigned to nostalgia, but rather, they are at the burning heart of longing and hope.

The journey that Finnigan takes listeners on through Lover‘s 11 tracks echo the state of motion and growth since his solo debut, 2019’s The Tales People Tell. Both solo albums bookend a prolific period of output that includes two Monophonics albums, 2020’s It’s Only Us and 2022’s Sage Motel; a Christmas album, 2020’s A Joyful Sound; a mixtape, last year’s From Me To You; and production work for other artists including The Ironsides, Alana Royale, The Sextones and others. “There’s nothing like making records,” says Finnigan. “It feels like that’s my purpose — the reason I was put on this earth.” 

Written in California, Ohio and Staten Island, Finnigan collaborated with old friends in and outside the studio. “I enjoy working alone but it’s not how you want to make a record…almost everybody I brought in for this album I’ve worked with, toured with or spent a great deal of time with. The album features contributions from The Ironsides’ Max and Joe Ramey, Parlor Greens‘ Jimmy James, Orgõne’s Sergio Rios, Dap Kings‘ Joey Crispiano and Jay “J-Zone” Mumford.

The album’s first single “Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)” is anchored around a hard-hitting, strutting groove that sounds as though it could have been written and recorded sometime between 1966-1970, paired with twinkling Rhodes, a supple bass line, shimmering funk guitar, bursts of cinematic strings and a lush horn line. The song’s deliberately crafted arrangement serves as a lush, satiny bed for Finnigan’s pleading and effortlessly soulful delivery. At its core, you can feel the yearning, hurt and longing of the song’s narrator in very lived-in terms.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Hello Mary Shares Brooding “Down My Life”

With the release of last year’s sophomore, self-titled album, New York-based indie rock trio Hello Mary — Helena Straight, Stella Wave and Mikaela Oppenheimer — received praise nationally from the likes of Rolling Stone, who wrote that the album was “one of 2023’s sharpest, nosiest debuts.”

Building upon a growing profile, the New York-based trio’s highly-anticipated, Alex Farrar and band co-produced third album Emita Ox will be released September 13, 2024 through Frenchkiss Records. Emita Ox sees the rising New York-based trio pushing harder into heavy dissertation and psychedelic dreamscapes, while they build out their singular universe rooted in a gusty strain of alternative rock. The album also reflects how the band’s musical tastes have expanded from Elliott Smith and Radiohead to encompass experimental post-rock acts like Black Midi and Swans. “This album encompasses a lot of our inspirations,” Hello Mary’s Mikaela Oppenheimer says. “It also shows what we’re like as a trio, collectively.” 

Recorded earlier this year, the album’s material reveals a band that’s boldly leveling up as musicians and composers. The trio’s contributions to the material’s creation and production bleed into each other, but the album is also a showcase of their individual strengths and abilities: Straight’s ethereal vocal melodies and gritty guitar riffs, Wave’s emotive vocals and knotty drum patterns, and Oppenheimer’s diabolical basslines and experimentation with electronic production. “We map out all the sections beforehand, we like to write intricate parts that complement each other,” Hello Mary’s Stella Wave says.

Featuring songs that span from 2018 to 2023, the album is also a document of the band’s past five years growing up as bandmates and their arrival into young adulthood. First meeting as teenagers in 2019, the band became fast friends through the pandemic – a global crisis atop a series of crises that made coming of age feel even more weighty and complicated. “This album represents a period of time that’s very meaningful to us. The songs are related to things that we all know about, even if it’s not out on the table for everyone else,” Wave explains. “The songwriting and recording process was a very heavy time that I will never forget.” Although the lyrics touch on serious topics, the band maintains a core sense of play and exploration” jamming is their way of working through difficult and heavy feelings in a way that’s “easy and fun,” Straight says.

Created amid emotions of frustrations and camaraderie, the album finds the trio fearlessly diving into catharsis.

The album’s first single “0%” features thunderously percussive, down-tuned bass, distortion pedaled guitar fuzz, forceful drumming and Stella Wave’s throaty, feral screams within a classic grunge song structure of alternating impossibly loud choruses, quieter verses and a mischievously dreamy breakdown with vibraphone and triangle.

Much like the rest of the album, the song emerged as the trio were jamming in their practice space. After quickly becoming a crowd favorite live, the song really came to live in the studio, becoming the first time that the band’s Stella Wave had screamed on the recording. When she hopped into the recording booth, she felt emboldened to draw out the vocal shouts the band had originally planned, turning them into much longer screams.

The new single emerged as the trio were jamming in their practice space. After quickly become a crowd favorite live, the song really came to life in the studio, becoming the first time that the band’s Stella Wave had ever screamed on a recording. But when she hopped into the recording booth, she felt emboldened to draw out the vocal shouts the band originally planned, turning them into much longer screams.

The song captures a young woman boldly and defiantly expressing existential frustrations — and getting a bit of joy out of the fact of what little she knows and how much she has left to learn.

Emita Ox‘s third and latest single, the brooding “Down My Life” features Helena Straight’s angelic delivery ethereally floating over a Tool-meets-OK Computer-era Radiohead like arrangement of forceful and menacing down-tuned bass, bursts of warped piano, shimmering strummed guitar within a slightly expansive yet classic grunge song structure.

“Down My Life,” is a song that Straight says she wrote after “one of the saddest experiences” of her life. She adds, that “‘Down My Life’ is possibly the most lyrically powerful song for me on the record. The lyrics are somewhat vague, so the meaning behind it is not totally obvious to the listener, which is how I’d like it to be considering the state I was in when I wrote it.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Homer and Hether Team Up on Woozy and Meditative “Deep Sea”

Acclaimed New York-born and-based drummer, songwriter and producer Homer Steinweiss has a storied career that started when he was just a teenager. He has been instrumental in helping bring the raw-but-receptive soul sound back into the mainstream through his work with Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley. Steinwess has also been behind the kit for nearly every soul outfit that has mattered.

The New York-born and-based musician is now one of the most in demand drummers in the world, playing with the likes of Clairo, Solange, Adele, Silk Sonic and Bruno Mars, among a lengthy list of others. And much like his longtime bandmate Dave Guy, Steinweiss is stepping into the spotlight as a both a musician and producer with Ensatina, his first solo album released under the moniker Homer.

Slated for a November 15, 2024 release through Big Crown Records, Ensatina is reflection of who Steinweiss is now and a testament of how struggle often brings about much-needed changes. He was dealing with considerable emotional turbulence; at the same time that his band Holy Hive broke up, a long-personal relationship fell apart, putting him in an uncertain place mentally. The fallout was significant enough for him to seek professional help. “I was going through these super manic highs and then very depressive lows,” Steinweiss explains. “And being in all that, it’s just so tough to imagine that the other side is there, that it’ll be ok.” But, with time, professional help, and support from friends and family, Homer made it through and has been forever changed. This album is a product of that period of his life.

For Steinweiss, creating the album was a refuge, and it put him back on track. Creatives across the world have an innate understanding of that. But the album is also a glimpse into the different energies that influences that make the man and the artist tick. And fittingly, the album is the beginning of a new, interesting chapter of Steinweiss’ life and career.

Ensatina‘s first single “Deep Sea feat. Hether” is a slow-burning and woozy love song set over a hypnotic back beat, a gorgeous and dreamy trumpet line and a strummed acoustic guitar line. The lush and meditative arrangement compliments Hether’s dreamily romantic delivery and lyrics, which includes a sweet nod to Steinwess now wife. The song seems to suggest that when we’re struggling in life’s deep sea, love — in all of its forms — can be the lifeline.

The track between the two friends came together quickly, with Steinweiss remarking, “It’s my favorite song on the album. Hether, as a friend, saw me through my highs and lows, and this track captures the full energy of what was happening during the time we were recording.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Mila Degray Shares Earnest and Anthemic “Masculine Charm”

Mila Degray is a Broward County, FL-born singer/songwriter and actor. Inspired by the likes of Pretty Sick, Alex G. and Melanie Martinez, Degray’s pairs brutally honest lyrics with a sound that blends elements of indie rock, alt rock, bubblegum grunge, streetgaze and pop rock. Her work reminds the listener that there’s power in self-discovery and vulnerability.

As an actor, she’s appeared in Re6ce’s “is suicide too much,” Charli XCX and Billie Eilish‘s “Guess (remix)” and in A24’s MaXXXine.

Degray’s latest single, “Masculine Charm” is anchored around a hazy, lo-fi production, dusty and skittering beats, a fuzzy New Order-like guitar hook and the Floridian’s coquettish yet achingly tender delivery. While seemingly nodding at Soccer Mommy and Pom Pom Squad, “Masculine Charm” reveals an artist, who can craft an earnest, lived-in song with big, rousingly anthemic and catchy choruses hooks and choruses.

“‘Masculine Charm’ is about an experience I had with an older famous singer when I was 18 in a nice NYC hotel… He said I had ‘Masculine Charm.’. Later, Harry Teardrop and I made the original demo in Brooklyn, just an iPhone voice memo, which is actually still used for the whole intro of the song – then we created a huge guitar hook. After going back and forth from different producers, Richard Orofino from Sex Week layed [sic] down drums and we all realized something special had been created. The rest was up to me. So I wrote the verses of the song and layed [sic] down vocals and harmonies!”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bad Robot Shares Max Blücher Remix of “Aero III”

Micheal Ricker is a Delaware-based electronic music producer and artist best known as Bad Robot. And if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of months, you might remember that I’ve written about two of Ricker’s latest Bad Robot singles”

  • The aptly named “Supermassive,” which features skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling thump, scorching bass synths and a woozy and wobbling synth melody. Fittingly, it’s the sort of club and festival banger that sounds as though it should knock a building over. 

  • “Close To You,” which according to Ricker, is “a bit of a departure into a brighter, more ‘pop’ sounding progressive house style.” Built around an almost mantra-like glistening synth phrase, shimmering synth arpeggios and skittering beats, the motorik-like “Close To You” is both summery and remarkably catchy, while seemingly nodding at Discovery-era Daft Punk-like French touch.

Last year, Ricker released his full-length debut, Year One, which featured “Aero III,” a gritty banger anchored around a woozy polymetric melody and skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling thump. Recently, Max Blücher remixed “Aero III” that retains the original’s woozy polymetric melody but pairs it with more aggressive, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling thump with some brief bursts of industrial clang and clatter, and some eerie ethereal synths. The result is take that gives the song a spacey, house music quality.

“Inspired by the gritty sound design and frantic polymetric melodies of my original track ‘Aero III,’ Max has taken the musical DNA and infused it with his own. While the original is great, Max definitely improved the quality of the track with his production skills and imagination,” Ricker explains. “This house remix is an ethereal journey through space and time with elements of Deadmau5 that are felt even in the cover artwork.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: LENny (IT) Shares Lush “Night Lights”

Lenny Lorenzi is a Romagna, Italy-born, New York-based electronic music producer and DJ, best known as LENny (IT). Lorenzi’s career started in earnest when he was a teenager with his first DJ sets and first original productions.

By the time, he was 17, Lorenzi was on the decks at Titilla, a room at the Riccione-based club Cocoricò. And in a short period of time, the Italian-born, New York-based producer and DJ played some of the most important, internationally renowned clubs including Ibiza‘s Sankeys, Barcelona‘s Macarena, Brooklyn’s Output and Miami‘s Clevelander, as well as the most important clubs of the Romagna Riviera.

Adding to a growing profile in the electronic music scene, back in 2011, Lorenzi started the Wave Music Boat, a traveling party that cuts across the Adriatic with stops in Catalonia and the Balearics that featured guests like Sam Divine, Michael Cleis, Argy, Supernova and a lengthy list of others. Wave Music Boat is a major backer of the Molo Street Parade, an event that pairs seafaring traditions with contemporary electronic music. Lorenzi also serves as the artistic director of the event.

Currently based in New York, the Italian-born DJ continues to push the sonic and stylistic boundaries of electronic music. His latest single “Night Lights

s” is a lush track featuring glistening and arpeggiated synths, skittering beats, bursts of African percussion, and twinkling keys that manages to be club and lounge friendly while possessing a cinematic quality.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay TR/ST Shares Brooding and Foggy “Dark Day”

Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and producer Robert Alfons is the creative mastermind behind the acclaimed JOVM mainstay project TR/ST. For well over a decade, Alfons has captivated audiences with a unique blend of dynamic vocals, emotive lyrics and late night sensuality.

Alfons’ fifth TR/ST album, the TR/ST and Nightfeelings co-produced Performance is slated for a September 13, 2024 release through Dais Records. The album’s title alludes to a friend’s offhand remark about the Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s intrinsically performative nature. Recorded in Los Angeles, the album’s material reportedly seethes with dread, lust, reckoning and abandon. Sonically, the production pair achieved a thick, smoky balance of eerie synths and fog machine low end paired with bruised, crooning vocals. The result is an album of material that moves between beauty and bitterness, rousing anthems and crushing anguish rooted by emotional turmoil, the lingering ghosts of guilt and the memories of those wronged and those still unforgiven.

Alfons’ voice is the anchor in the storm, singing a collage of impressions and confessions with a smeared, stream of consciousness logic. He’s both observer and instigator, performer and playwright, liberated by the stage and the night.

Performance‘s latest single, the Cecile Believe and Nightfeelings co-produced “Dark Day” is an ethereal and uneasy track featuring eerily atmospheric and glistening synth arpeggios, skittering industrial cling and clatter serving as a foggy and unsettlingly brooding bed for Alfons’ achingly bruised delivery.

“I think there’s something in the song about the flashes that come to you when you try to fall asleep, flashes that show you where you have unfinished business,” Alfons says of the song. “It was such a pleasure working with Cecile Believe and Nightfeelings on production for this track.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Malcolm Lally Shares Heartfelt and Anthemic “Graves”

Malcolm Lally is an emerging Galway-based singer/songwriter and producer, who specializes in a sound that blends the nostalgia-inducing elements of indie pop, R&B, synth pop, electro pop and EDM with contemporary production.

Lally’s highly-anticipated EP UV will feature lead single “Graves,” a slickly produced pop anthem featuring acoustic and electric guitar, glistening synths, incredibly catchy, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses serving as lush bed for Lally’s yearning delivery and heart-proudly-worn-on-sleeve earnest lyricism. Sonically, “Graves” seems like a seamless and hook-driven synthesis of The Weeknd and Tears for Fears.

Thematically, “Graves” explores universal themes of longing and loss that touch all of us, as we navigate the various comings and goings of those were old dear, with the song being a reminder of the enduring impact our dear ones have on our lives — even after they’ve departed. The song is also an important reminder to cherish the memories of everyone who has touched your life, regardless of the circumstances that may have had you separated from them.

In “Graves,” Lally explores the universal themes of longing and loss that touch us all as we navigate the comings and goings of those we hold dear. The song serves as a poignant reminder of the enduring impact that individuals have on our lives, even after they have departed. It encourages listeners to cherish the memories of those who have touched their lives, regardless of the circumstances that may have separated them.

“This song is a reflection of the deep connections we form with others, and the impact they have on us long after they are gone,” Lally explains. “It’s about honoring the memories we carry with us and recognizing the profound influence of those who have shaped our journeys.”