Orlando-based sibling duo and JOVM mainstays The Lovelines — Tessa D (vocals) and Todd Goings (multi-instrumentalist, songwriting and production) — with the late 2021 release of their debut single “Strange Kind of Love,” a slick synthesis of Amy Winehouse-like blue-eyed soul, jazz standadrs and Dummy-era Portishead-like trip-hop centered around Tessa D’s soulful crooning and a dusty production featuring twinkling Rhodes, wobbly guitars and an infectious, razor sharp hook. The single eventually rose to #1 on SubmitHub’s Popular Charts.
The Orlando-based duo’s second single, “Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower,” a sultry trip hop-like number with a dusty lo-fi-like production featuring twinkling Rhodes, slashing guitars, propulsive polyrhythm paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning and an infectious hook. “‘Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower’ was written to be free for interpretation,” The Lovelines’ Todd Goings explained to me in an email. “Is it a song about love or is it a song about a literal flower? Is it a song about pessimism, or a song about perversion, or is it a song about both?”
The duo have written and recorded their full-length debut and plan to release it single-by-single over the course of 2022-2023. The album will feature previously released singles “Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower” and “Steadily,” a woozy featuring dusty hip hop-inspired breakbeats, glistening Rhodes, a supple bass line and the duo’s uncanny knack for crafting razor sharp hooks. Tessa D’s sultry vocal floating through the Geoff Barrow-like mix production helped further cement their unique take on trip-hop.
The Lovelines’ first single of 2023, “Make Believe” is a slow-burning and woozy take on trip-hop featuring dusty breakbeats, twinkling keys, shimmering bursts of pedal steel paired with Tessa D’s gorgeous and soulful delivery expressing a mix of longing, desire, desperation and pride. The song focuses on the push and pull of a dysfunctional relationship that can’t quite be escaped.
The Container is a mysterious, new Italian music project that meshes trip hop, rock, EDM and synth pop in to a brooding, self-described “music box”-like sound synth-driven centered around hypnotic beats and bass lines, slashing guitars and elegant melodies paired with sensual vocals.
“Comeback,” the Irish project’s latest single, is a slow-burning and atmospheric bit of trip hop centered around glistening synth arpeggios, gently padded beats paired with gorgeous vocals that recalls Massive Attack.
Flora Junie is a French singer/songwriter and guitarist, who has spent several stints of her career as the frontwoman of several all-girl rock bands including Cognacq, Jays, Junie Jungle and Desilons.
With her Fred Lefranc-produced debut EP Init, Junie steps out into the spotlight as a solo artist crafting a sound that’s a decided change in direction from her previously released work — a brooding, percussive take on trip-hop and electro pop. Interestingly, the EP is Junie’s first effort with lyrics written and sung completely in French.
“Fluer,” Init‘s latest single features tweeter and woofer rattling boom bap, buzzing bass synths paired with Junie’s plaintive delivery and a rousingly anthemic hook. Sonically, “Fluer” to my ears manages to recall Third-era Portishead and Silver Eye-era Goldfrapp while possessing a pop-leaning accessibility.
Orlando-based sibling duo outfit The Lovelines — Tessa D (vocals) and Todd Goings (multi-instrumentalist, songwriting and production) — emerged late last year with their debut single “Strange Kind of Love,” which rose to #1 on SubmitHub’s Popular Charts.
Once you hear “Strange Kind of Love,” you can kind of hear why it took a portion of the blogosphere by storm. “Strange Kind of Love” is a slick synthesis of Amy Winehouse-like blue-eyed soul, jazz standadrs and Dummy-era Portishead-like trip-hop centered around Tessa D’s soulful crooning and a dusty production featuring twinkling Rhodes, wobbly guitars and an infectious, razor sharp hook.
Their second single “Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower” continued in a similar vein as its predecessor: a sultry trip hop-like number with a dusty production featuring twinkling Rhodes, slashing guitars, propulsive polyrhythm paired with Tessa D’s soulful crooning and an infectious hook. “‘Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower’ was written to be free for interpretation,” The Lovelines’ Todd Goings explained to me in an email. “Is it a song about love or is it a song about a literal flower? Is it a song about pessimism, or a song about perversion, or is it a song about both?”
The duo have written and recorded their full-length debut and plan to release it single-by-single over the course of 2022-2023. The album will feature the previously released “Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower” and their latest single, the woozy “Steadily.” “Steadily” sees the Orlando-based duo firmly cementing their sound, a soulful take on trip hop in which Tessa D’s sultry vocals are paired with Geoff Barrow-like productions — in the case of the new single, strummed acoustic guitar, dusty hip hop-like breakbeats, glistening and twinkling Rhodes, a supple bass line and an infectious hook.
Interestingly, much like its predecessors, the new single feels rooted in lived-in experience: “Steadily is a song about a relationship between an old-fashioned romantic and a modern age lover,” the Orlando-based duo explained to me via email. “The singer knows that the modern age lover doesn’t have the same old fashioned ideals about love as her.”
Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site you may recall that she began the year with “No, I Wouldn’t Call It Love,” a bit more uptempo song that expresses nostalgia and aching longing. Her latest single “Beneath Smooth Waters” is a slow-burning and brooding track that sees the project adopting a 90s trip hop sound: glistening, reverb-drenched synth arpeggios, sinuous bass lines paired with Stevens’ achingly plaintive vocals. According to Stevens, Bjork’s “Play Dead” and several other tracks were a major inspiration on the song — but to my ears, I’m reminded of Dummy era Portishead.
Stevens goes on to explain that the song is “also a literal siren song — don’t go too near the water’s edge . . . “
The trippy accompanying visual features a beautiful siren calling a random pedestrian closer to the water’s edge.
So I royally fucked something up yesterday and realized after I posted something that I confused two different songs by the same artist. We all have off days but that’s — well, something different. I’m really sorry for the confusion. But let’s back to business at hand . . .
Orlando-based sibling duo outfit The Lovelines — Tessa D (vocals) and Todd Goings (multi-instrumentalist, songwriting and production) — emerged late last year with their single “Strange Kind of Love,” which rose to #1 on SubmitHub’s Popular Charts.
Once you hear “Strange Kind of Love,” you can kind of hear why it took a portion of the blogosphere by storm. “Strange Kind of Love” is a slick synthesis of Amy Winehouse-like blue-eyed soul, jazz standadrs and Dummy-era Portishead-like trip-hop centered around Tessa D’s soulful crooning and a dusty production featuring twinkling Rhodes, wobbly guitars and an infectious, razor sharp hook.
“Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower” is a soulful and sultry take on trip hop featuring Tessa D’s soulful crooning paired with a dusty production featuring twinkling Rhodes, buzzing and slashing guitars, propulsive polyrhythm and their uncanny knack for infectious hooks.
“‘Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower’ was written to be free for interpretation,” The Lovelines’ Todd Goings explained to me in an email. “Is it a song about love or is it a song about a literal flower? Is it a song about pessimism, or a song about perversion, or is it a song about both?”
Orlando-based sibling duo outfit The Lovelines — Tessa D (vocals) and Todd Goings (multi-instrumentalist, songwriting and production) emerged late last year with their single “Strange Kind of Love,” which rose to #1 on SubmitHub’s Popular Charts.
Of course, once you hear “Strange Kind of Love,” you can kind of hear why it took a portion of the blogosphere by storm. “Strange Kind of Love” is a slick synthesis of Amy Winehouse-like blue-eyed soul and Dummy-era Portishead-like trip-hop centered around Tessa D’s soulful crooning and a dusty production featuring twinkling Rhodes, slashing and buzzing guitars, propulsive polyrhythm and an infectious, razor sharp hook.
“‘Dark Thoughts About A Pretty Flower’ was written to be free for interpretation,” The Lovelines’ Todd Goings explained to me in an email. “Is it a song about love or is it a song about a literal flower? Is it a song about pessimism, or a song about perversion, or is it a song about both?”
Jindoss is a mysterious, Saint Malo, France singer/songwriter, who released their debut EP Rendez-vous earlier this year. The EP features “Saturday Night,” a single that quickly and boldly established the French artist’s sound: swirling and brooding shoegaze centered around shimming, reverb-drenched guitars, plaintive wailing and boom bap drumming. The end result was a song that to me seemed like a synthesis of PJ Harvey-like atmospherics and A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve-like textures.
The mysterious French producer’s latest single “Dancing” continues the brooding atmospherics but in this case, the song finds Jindoss’ sound quickly moving more in the direction of Massive Attack and Portishead: plaintive wailing is paired with layers of glistening synth arpeggios and thumping beats. The track slowly builds up in intensity and crests until it’s brooding and slow-burning fade out.
Sneaker Pimps — currently founding members Liam Howe (production) and Chris Corner (guitar, vocals) with newly recruited Simonne Jones (vocals) — can trace their origins back to their formation in Hartlepool, UK back in 1994: The act’s initial lineup of Howe, Corner, Kelli Ali (née Dayton), Joe Wilson and Dave Westlake quickly established themselves as one of the pioneers of trip hop with their critically applauded and commercially successful, full-length debut, 1996’s Becoming X, which featured their signature track “6 Underground.”
Ali left the band after the release of Becoming X. Corner took over on vocal duties and the band went on to release two more albums, 1999’s Splinter and 2002’s Bloodsport. Wilson and Westlake left the band in 2002. Shortly after, Sneaker Pimps’ founding members made a mutual decision to explore other creative avenues: Corner and Howe went on to their own highly successful individual ventures in music and film, collaborating with the likes of Gary Numan, Lana del Rey and others with IAMX (Corner) and AMP (Howe). During their initial seven-year run, Sneaker Pimps had five UK Top 40 singles — the aforementioned “Six Underground,” “Spin Spin Sugar,” “Low Five,” and “Bloodsport.”
Sneaker Pimps’ founding members, who are currently split between London and Los Angeles ended a lengthy 14 year hiatus back in 2016 with hints of new music. Since then, the act’s fans have been desperately waiting for new material. Five years have passed but earlier this year Howe and Corner announced that they’d be releasing a new album, their highly anticipated fourth album, Squaring the Circle on September 10, 2021. Last month, Corner and Howe, along with their newest member, vocalist Simonne Jones released a double single of album material, “Squaring the Circle” and “Fighter.”
“After 18 years of dormancy and deliberation we (Sneaker Pimps) are releasing not one, but two new tracks,” Sneaker Pimps’ Liam Howe said in press notes. “‘Fighter’ is a plea for courage and strength against prevailing mental health crises. ‘Squaring the Circle’ (via Nietzsche) is a heartfelt ode to eternal returns of love, in the face of desperate adversity. Contrasting in nature, hopefully these songs describe the diversity and essence of the new album.
“It’s taken many yearsand many false starts to get Sneaker Pimps back in the game,” Sneaker Pimps’ Chris Corner said on Twitter. “Sometimes [you] need to back the fuck off and let the universe take control. I’m proud and relieved to say that it is finally happening. We officially have new music.”
Album title track “Squaring the Circle” is a yearning duet between Corner and Jones centered around a hauntingly sparse arrangement of twinkling piano, atmospheric electronics and layered backing vocals. Sonically, the track is a decided departure from their commercially successful initial run with the cinematic track reminding me quite a bit of Tales of Us-era Goldfrapp. “Fighter” finds the legendary trip hop pioneers crafting a remarkably contemporary sound centered around wobbling synth arpeggios, skittering beats paired with Jones’ sultry vocals and a rousingly anthemic hook. While clearly being wildly different, the tracks are thematically related with both tracks being tales of survival — in desperate and uncertain times.
Interestingly, in the lead up to the act’s highly-anticipated fourth album, the members of Sneaker Pimps released a remix to “Fighter,” done by the band’s co-founder Liam Howe, under APE MINK PRESS, a.k.a. AMP. The remix is packed with a dizzying array of subtle sonic references and hints including krautrock grooves, shimmering synth arpeggios, chiming Japanese-like percussion and more while retaining Jones’ sultry vocal turn and the song’s rousingly anthemic hook.
“Here is the first ever Ape Mink Press remix. It’s a journey through Krautrock to Synthwave; via the genius of Japan and the splendour of early Ultravox,” Sneaker Pimps’ Liam Howe says in press notes. “It sets out to track the influences of Sneaker Pimps and creates an historical vignette of their origins. At the same time there are modern influences aplenty.”
Additionally, Sneaker Pimps announced a digital pre-release listening event through Moment House on September 8, 2021 at 11:00am PST/2:00pm EST to celebrate the album’s release. The limited event will include an advance stream of the album in its entirety, and a chance to chat live with the band about their new album. An upgraded ticket is also available that will allow a select number of fans into a live video Q+A session with Corner, Howe and Jones after the album stream. Along with the album preview and the chats, attendees will be treated to exclusive downloads and the chance to win a Squaring The Circle merch bundle. More info is available here: https://www.momenthouse.com/sneakerpimps
Sneaker Pimps — currently founding members Liam Howe (production) and Chris Corner (guitar, vocals) with newly recruited Simonne Jones (vocals) — can trace their origins back to their formation in Hartlepool, UK back in 1994: The act’s initial lineup of Howe, Corner, Kelli Ali (née Dayton), Joe Wilson and Dave Westlake quickly established themselves as one of the pioneers of trip hop with their critically applauded and commercially successful, full-length debut, 1996’s Becoming X, which featured their signature track “6 Underground.”
Ali left the band after the release of Becoming X. Corner took over on vocal duties and the band went on to release two more albums, 1999’s Splinter and 2002’s Bloodsport. Wilson and Westlake left the band in 2002. Shortly after, Sneaker Pimps’ founding members made a mutual decision to explore other creative avenues: Corner and Howe went on to their own highly successful individual ventures in music and film, collaborating with the likes of Gary Numan, Lana del Rey and others with IAMX (Corner) and AMP (Howe). During their initial seven-year run, Sneaker Pimps had five UK Top 40 singles — the aforementioned “Six Underground,” “Spin Spin Sugar,” “Low Five,” and “Bloodsport.”
Sneaker Pimps’ founding members, who are currently split between London and Los Angeles ended a lengthy 14 year hiatus back in 2016 with hints of new music. Since then, the act’s fans have been desperately waiting for new material. Five years have passed but earlier this year Howe and Corner announced that they’d be releasing a new album, their highly anticipated fourth album, Squaring the Circle in the fall. Recently, Corner and Howe, along with their newest member Simonne Jones released a double single of album material, “Squaring the Circle” and “Fighter.”
Album title track “Squaring the Circle” is a yearning duet between Corner and Jones centered around a hauntingly sparse arrangement of twinkling piano, atmospheric electronics and layered backing vocals. Sonically, the track is a decided departure from their commercially successful initial run with the cinematic track reminding me quite a bit of Tales of Us-era Goldfrapp. “Fighter” finds the legendary trip hop pioneers crafting a remarkably contemporary sound centered around wobbling synth arpeggios, skittering beats paired with Jones’ sultry vocals and a rousingly anthemic hook. While clearly being wildly different, the tracks are thematically related with both tracks being tales of survival — in desperate and uncertain times.
“After 18 years of dormancy and deliberation we (Sneaker Pimps) are releasing not one, but two new tracks,” Sneaker Pimps’ Liam Howe explains. “‘Fighter’ is a plea for courage and strength against prevailing mental health crises. ‘Squaring the Circle’ (via Nietzsche) is a heartfelt ode to eternal returns of love, in the face of desperate adversity. Contrasting in nature, hopefully these songs describe the diversity and essence of the new album.
“It’s taken many yearsand many false starts to get Sneaker Pimps back in the game,” Sneaker Pimps’ Chris Corner said on Twitter. “Sometimes [you] need to back the fuck off and let the universe take control. I’m proud and relieved to say that it is finally happening. We officially have new music.”