Tag: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Copenhagen’s Smag På Dig Selv Shares Pulsing, Dance Floor Friendly “Let’s Go!”

With the release of last year’s full-length debut, SDPS, Copenhagen-based jazz punks Smag På Dig Selv (SPDS) — Oliver Lauridsen (tenor sax), Thorbjørn Øllgaard (baritone sax, bass sax, vocals) and Albert Holberg (drums) — firmly cemented the trio’s reputation as one of most boundary pushing groups out on the contemporary Danish scene. With a sound that’s an explosive, party starting mixture of acoustic techno, punk energy, jazz and 90s EDM, the Danish trio have begun to make the round of the international festival and touring circuit, playing sets at Roskilde Festival, SXSW, The Great Escape, Eurosonic, Winter Jazzfest NYC and Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage.

SPDS’s highly-anticipated sophomore album is slated for a March 2026 through Stunt Records. The album’s second and latest single, the TMI Tammi-produced “Let’s Go!” The track is a mix of sneering, in-your-face punk attitude, ambient electronics, pulsing beats, thunderous Viking drumming and modal-influenced jazz that’s mind-bending, mischievously unhinged yet accessible and dance floor friendly.

“Let’s Go!” was composed last October. The band retreated to Albert Holberg’s 200 year-old summer cottage in the idyllic landscapes of North Zealand for a weeklong writing session. Originally, the plan was to create techno, but the autumnal, Bon Iver-like atmosphere shifted the overall mood. Instead, the trio leaned into simply being a band, playing together n silence and letting the music speak. And what would up emerging was a compromise between their initial intentions and a newfound urge to explore the idea of “ambient Viking band” — brought to life with TMI Carmen’s swaggering, maximalist production.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Kelly Cappuccio Shares a Sleek Club Banger

Kelly Cappuccio is an Italian electronic music producer, whose classical training as a child helped shaped her melodic sensibility and musical ear. Her discovery of electronic music unreleased a creative epiphany: Cappuccio quickly realized she could craft a sound that flows seamlessly between techno and tech house that bridges nostalgia and innovation.

Every track she creates represents an emotional journey frequently drawing from blues foundations paired with irresistibly funky grooves and sleek, contemporary production techniques.

The Italian producer’s latest single “In My Heart,” is a sleek and melodic, deep house banger anchored around glistening synths, a relentless and hypnotic groove and skittering beats that feels simultaneously cinematic and intimate.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: London’s Oliver Beardmore Teams Up with Brooklyn’s Punchlove on a Yearning “120 Minutes”-era MTV-like Single

Rising London-based singer/songwriter Oliver Beardmore has built up a reputation as a highly sought-after opener, playing alongside Gia Ford, Junodream, Late Night Drive Home and Steven Mason. The London-based artist has also played a number of sold-out headlining sets across the UK. And adding to a growing profile, Beardmore has received airplay from BBC Radio 1 and BBC Introducing.

The rising British artist’s latest single, the Beardmore and Xav Sinden co-produced “Ammonite” is a 120 Minutes-era MTV-like, wistful slow-burn, anchored around Beardmore’s yearning falsetto that slowly builds up into a stormy and textured climax played by Brooklyn-based shoegazers Punchlove. Sonically channeling The Bends-era Radiohead, “Ammonite,” manages to convey an uneasy push and pull of self-flagellation and blame in a dysfunctional relationship between two equally dysfunctional, hurt people.

“The song is about being drawn to people who share the same insecurities or flaws. We project our issues onto each other, but that weight often causes hurt that no one else is really to blame for,” Beardmore says. “There’s freedom in no longer searching for your flaws in someone else, and relief in calling off that search. In the end, you can hurt yourself more than anyone else ever could – but there’s something almost hedonistic in giving yourself away to someone who’ll let you.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jerk Shares Slinky, Chilled-Out “stealthy, she moves!”

Prolific Brooklyn-based producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Kinney is the creative mastermind behind Jerk. And with Jerk, Kinney has released five albums and several EPs that has seen him craft a sound that draws from J. Dilla, Madlib, Patrice Rushen, Earth, Wind & Fire, Louis Cole, Knower, and Roller Trio. Never content with just music as a creative output, Kinney is also an avid writer and video essayist.

Kinney will be releasing the first part of a two EP narrative cycle, continuing the rollout of as night falls. Slated for a November 14, 2025 release through DeepMatter Records, the two EP cycle reportedly sees Kinney pushing his solo project’s sound into new territories, taking listeners on a journey through a single night while exploring the darker side of human nature through a fusion of electronic influences, midnight funk and forward-thinking jazz.

Created with long-time friend and collaborator Martine Wade (drums), the EP is the follow-up to last year’s Mood Swings, which received airplay from BBC 6 Music’s Huey Morgan and Jazz FM’s Tony Minvielle.

The EP’s latest single, the Wyatt Rydleweski (bass) co-written “stealthy, she moves!,” is a slinky bit of chilled-out and groovy, 70s jazz-fusion-inspired funk jazz that — to my ears, at least — manages to recall JOVM mainstays Mildlife and Confusions-era L’Eclair, but with an earthier, grittier quality. “In our journey through the night, this is the soundtrack to those that must move without trace,” Kinney says of the new single.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Fuzz Lightyear Shares Expansive and Bruising “Aberfan”

Rising Leeds-based indie outfit Fuzz Lightyear — Ben Parry (vocals, guitar), Josh Taylor (drums), Varun Govil (bass) and Alex Calder (synth, guitar) — have built up a staunch and rabid following across the UK through tours opening for acts like English Teacher, Adult DVD, Lambrini Girls, and Jasmine.4.T.

Building upon a rapidly growing profile across the UK, their two previously released singles “Sit Awake,” and “Berlin 1885” have received praise from NME, DIY Magazine, Clash Magazine, So Young, The Line Of Best Fit, Rough Trade and Under The Radar, as well as airplay on BBC 6 Music‘s Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and Emily Pilbeam, and Radio X’s John Kennedy.

The British quartet’s highly-anticipated Alex Greaves-produced debut EP Zero Guilt is slated for a November 21, 2025 release through Nice Swan Records. The EP reportedly sees the band quickly establishing a chaotic and forceful blend of shoegaze, industrial noise rock and punk that some have said lands between Sonic Youth and Show Me The Body. The EP will feature their previously released singles “Sit Awake” and “Berlin 1885,” and their latest single “Aberfan.”

Arriving ahead of their set at this year’s Left Of The Dial Festival and a headlining UK tour in December, “Aberfan” is an expansive song that begins with a lengthy and broodingly atmospheric, introduction featuring shimmering and reverb-soaked guitar textures with Pary’s impassioned vocals before turning into a bruising and fiery 90s grunge-like rocker for the song’s second half.

“Coming from the South Wales valleys I have always held the story of Aberfan close to my heart. It was the Grenfell of its time, a direct example of working class neglect,” Fuzz Lightyear’s Ben Parry says. “Growing up nearby it always served as a reminder to be wary of the corporate and political class. Maturing into adolescence my friends and I would always remind ourselves of Grenfell, of Tryweryn and Mynydd Epnyt to remain skeptical of the British – we are Welsh, not British.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Red for Stop Shares Hauntingly Gorgeous “A Ghost in Love with a Ghost of You”

JOVM mainstay outfit Red for Stop is a mysterious French-based indie collective with four core musicians, who have worked in various projects based in different counties, and collaborate with others.

The French outfit’s latest single “A Ghost in Love with a Ghost of You” is broodingly cinematic song, anchored featuring a gorgeous string arrangement and bursts of gently twinkling keys serving as a lush bed for a soulful. jazz-like vocal expressing deep, aching yearning and longing.

At some point in our lives, we learn that ghosts linger and haunt — sometimes far longer and in stranger ways than what we’d expect. “A Ghost in Love with a Ghost of You” evokes the lingering and uneasy mix of heartache, bitterness, longing with an uncanny precision.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rising Welsh Artist CATTY Shares Pulsating and Swooning “Make You Love Me”

CATTY is a rising Caernarfon, Wales, UK-born, London-based artist, whose work is steeped in Welsh folklore, shaped by a lifetime of doomed crushes and anchored by a flair for the dramatic and a steadfast refusal to soften her edges.  “Being Welsh seeps through my veins – it feels like a punch in the gut when people don’t know I’m Welsh,” she says. “I’m just writing about my life and I happen to be a massive lesbian. If I didn’t say ‘she’ in my songs, I wouldn’t be writing honest music – and what’s the point in that?”

The Caernarfon-born, London-based artist’s debut EP, last year’s Healing Out of Spite received praise from NME, Popjustice, Dork Magazine, Clash Magazine, Official Charts, DIY Magazine and a lengthy list of others, while being championed by BBC Radio 1 personalities Jodie Bryant, Mollie King and Maia Beth. Adding to a breakthrough year, her debut headline show sold-out in 15 minutes. She also opened for Dylan McCarthy, Beth McCarthy — and she opened for the legendary Stevie Nicks at BST Hyde Park. The rising Welsh-born artist closed the year out with a sold-out show at London’s Lafayette.

This year CATTY has played sets at Birmingham Pride, London Pride, Latitude Festival, Reeperbahn Festival and the Women’s Rugby World Cup. And building upon a growing profile, her highly-anticipated, six-song, sophomore EP Bracing For Impact is slated for an October 24, 2025 release through AWAL. The EP will feature the previously released “4am (Back in His Bed),” “Joyride,” and “Prized Possession.”

Throughout the EP’s six-songs, the rising Welsh artist tells stories of queer love discovery, of desire, pain, resilience and ultimately hope. In many ways, the EP’s material is a total embodiment of queer life, capturing the euphoria, bruises and ache of her personal experience — but while pulling at something profoundly universal.

“I think I lived a year of my life trying to protect myself so much that I forgot to live. And this entire EP is basically me saying yeah, I’m shit scared of failing, I’m shit scared of getting hurt, I’m shit scared of no happy ending but I do owe myself a life,” CATTY says. “Bracing For Impact is basically me saying I’m here, I know who I am, I’ve been in this industry for ten years, put me on your stages! I’ll sing my little heart out on them and you will see it drip from my sleeve. It’s weird not to be writing break up songs right now, I really felt like that was my forte so if anyone wants me to slag off their boyfriend I am available to write for other people and I would enjoy that.”

Bracing For Impact’s final, pre-release single “Make You Love Me” opens with a swelling and dramatic string introduction before quickly morphing into a slickly produced, pulsating pop tune that channels Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks while showcasing the Welsh artist’s big, pop belter delivery and her penchant for big, euphoric hooks. “Make You Love Me” is rooted in a deeply lived in portrait of a narrator, desperately clinging to hope after a series of crushing disappointments, and steadfastly determined to rewrite the bitter endings of her previous love affairs, situationships and flings to the happily ever after that she deserves. It’s a swooning mix of desperation, desire and pride of the heartbroken and lovelorn romantic.

“‘Make You Love Me’ is me casting a little spell,” the rising Welsh-born, London-based artist says. “I love with every fibre of my being, and in the words of my lord and saviour Stevie Nicks: ‘you will never get away from the sound of the woman that loves you’ – and you won’t. I will write my little melodies and I will sing them for the rest of time. I’m such a hopeless romantic, a real f*cking idiot in love. I’ve descended from a long line of people who meet their match at a young age and hold their hands forever, which makes me see things as what I hope they are and not what they actually are sometimes – but I love being sensitive and soft and letting my heart lead me, even if it has famously taken me to the depths of hell, I will crawl back out again.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: LutchamaK Shares Dreamy “No Right Or Wrong”

French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK further cemented his reputation for being restlessly prolific with the recent release of the five-song Libra EP. 

Libra EP features opening and title track “Libra,” and the EP’s latest single “No Right Or Wrong,” sees the JOVM mainstay effortlessly balancing in-your-face swagger and skittering boom bap with dreamily ethereal yet soulful synths. And much like its predecessor, “No Right Or Wrong” manages to be simultaneously lounge and club friendly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Still Blank Shares Punchy and Anthemic “Same Sun”

Rising, transcontinental duo Still Blank — Kaua’i, HI-born, Los Angeles-based Jordy and Manchester, UK-based Ben — have quickly established a difficult to pigeonhole, often minimalist yet emotionally rich sound that draws from shoegaze, grunge and folk.

The duo’s unique sound comes from other unlikely roots: Jordy grew up immersed in the natural rhythms of island life in Hawaii, gigging at weddings and fundraisers by the time she was in her early teens. Her early musical efforts drew inspiration from Hawaiian traditions and Kaua’i’s solitude. Ben, who ,was raised steeped in Manchester’s rich and deep musical legacy, played some of his earliest gigs in pubs with his dad’s band. He developed a love of ambient textures, citing The Durutti Column and Vini Reilly as formative influences.

The duo’s unlikely meeting in the UK sparked a lightning-in-a-bottle creative partnership that started as casual jam sessions in a Liverpool basement and quickly evolved to sessions ranging from stripped-back recordings on a broken, classical guitar to long studio sessions fueled by long walks through rural Wales and a shared commitment to imperfect perfection. 

As a band, the transcontinental duo’s work seemingly echoes the mood and vibe of acts like Yo La Tengo, Big Thief and Cat Power paired with lyrics informed by people-watching, dreams, nature, introspection and existential observation.

The pair’s highly anticipated self-titled, full-length debut is slated for a November release through National Anthem/Capitol Records. “This was a transformational period of our lives, which is reflected throughout the entirety of the record,” Still Blank’s Jordy explains. “Some of the songs were written when we first met, some on other sides of the world while navigating separation, and others born into existence in less than a day, after we initially thought we’d finished the record. With a record written before we’d even conjured up a name, the whole creation of this album felt serendipitous – from a chance meeting between ourselves to magically finding likeminded collaborators who took a chance on 2 kids and allowed us to experiment without any pressure from outside sources.”

The self-titled debut will feature their debut single “What About Jane,” which received praise from the Under The Radar, Clash, Dork, DIY and more, the breakneck post-punk-like “Ain’t Quite Right,” and their latest single “Same Sun.” “Same Sun” is a punchy and propulsive tune that sees the transcontinental duo pairing rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses with a gritty, 90s grunge-meets-post punk-like arrangement. And it may arguably be the pair’s most urgent, forceful song they’ve recorded to date.

Built around a hypnotic baritone guitar riff and recorded in a single take, the song as Jordy explain is “about how we can be so disconnected from the reality of other people’s lives around the world, but at the same time we’re all connected in a fundamental way, we’re all staring at the same sun.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay LutchamaK Shares Ethereal and Soulful “Libra”

French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK further cemented his reputation for being restlessly prolific with the recent release of the five-song Libra EP.

“Libra,” the EP’s opening and title track is a deep house banger, anchored around a hypnotic and rave-friendly motorik groove, broodingly atmospheric synths, skittering boom bap., electronic glitch and robotic vocal samples. Channeling Larry Levan, Kraftwerk and Between Two Selves-era Octo Octa, “Libra” manages to be simultaneously ethereal, soulful and dance floor friendly.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Niia Shares Mesmerizing, Genre-Defying “Pianos and Great Danes”

Born Niia Bertino, Niia is a Needham, MA-born, Los Angeles-based classically trained composer, pianist and vocalist. Deeply rooted in jazz, her work blends elegance, edge and a timeless voice with razor-sharp, seemingly lived-in songwriting. Bertino’s previously released work has received praise from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Interview Magazine, and Harper’s Bazaar.

The Los Angeles-based artist’s recently released, fifth album, the Spencer Zahn co-produced V is the culmination of years spent experimenting at the intersection of tradition and reinvention. Existing in the tension between control and collapse, V sees her seamlessly bending the electronic textures of contemporary, experimental pop with the interplay that live, jazz-rooted musicianship. The album’s arrangements stretch — sometimes restrained, sometimes theatrical– but always with intention. As a classically trained musician, who grew up watching Italian cinema, Bertino explains, “I pulled from the harmonic language of jazz pianists like Bill Evans and from the psychological atmosphere of film scores.”

Arguably, one of Bertino’s most personal albums to date, V thematically explores the full spectrum of the self — self-harm,. self-delusion, self-awareness and in rare moments, self-love. “Not in a moralizing way, but in a very human one,” she adds. “The good and bad live side by side, often in the same verse. One minute I’m performing heartbreak like it’s a role I’ve rehearsed, the next I’m quietly admitting I caused the whole thing. That contradiction is the truth.”

V‘s latest single “Pianos and Great Danes” is a mesmerizing and mind-bending mix of propulsive, rave-inspired drum ‘n’ bass grooves, piano-driven jazz, experimental pop and soul that captures its narrator’s desperately unhinged psychological state with an uncanny precision, while being remarkably cinematic. Thematically exploring sex as an escape, Bertino says the song is “closer to a film score than anything from the Great American Songbook,” Niia says.

“Written like a monologue with chord changes, it leans into space and narrative, letting the harmony suggest the emotional shifts,” she continues. “Embracing emotional residue, there’s a chaotic feeling where the only way out is to melt through the track.”  

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: White Birches Share Brooding and Stormy “Breathing”

Formed back in 2013, the Swedish synth pop/darkwave duo White Birches — Jenny Gabrielsson Mare and Fredrik Jonasson — quickly received attention across Scandinavia with the release of 2014’s debut EP Stands of White Birches and 2015’s full-length debut, Dark Waters, which saw the pair establishing a eerily moody sound that some compared to the likes Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins and The Sisters of Mercy. Adding to a growing profile across the region, the duo’s full-length debut received a Best Synth nomination at that year’s Swedish Indie Grammy Awards, Manifestgalan.

The duo signed with Progress Productions, who released their sophomore album, 2017’s When The Street Calls, which featured the 4AD Records heyday-like “Howl.”

The Swedish synth outfit’s highly-anticipated third full-length album, A New Reign will feature their latest single “Breathing,” which the pair says sets the tone for the entire album. Featuring thunderous, industrial-like thump, layers of eerily atmospheric synths and bursts of scorching feedback as a brooding and stormy bed for Gabrielsson Mare’s dreamily intense delivery.

“Breathing,” captures a narrator, desperately holding on to a thin thread of what might be left of their sanity, and under intense pressure, trying to take long, slow breaths to get themselves right; to get their mind and heart to stop racing . . . It shouldn’t be surprising that the song might evoke how unsettled, unstable and desperate you might feel right this moment. Keep breathing.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Atlanta’s Silk Daisys Shares Swooning, Halloween-Themed “Haunted House”

Atlanta-based dream pop/post-punk duo Silk Daisys — James Abercrombie and romantic partner Karla Jean Davis — have been making music together for some time, but their forthcoming Silk Daisys and Damon Moon co-produced debut will be their first, official release. Interestingly, the Silk Daisys name has been around even further, with Abercrombie using the name on Soundcloud for about a decade to upload random covers and the occasional original song.

“We recorded our album over two weeks with Damon Moon (Bathe Alone, Sleepers Club) at this studio Standard Electric Recorders in Atlanta. Damon was awesome to work with,” the duo says. “We spent a ton of time just talking about music the three of us love and sharing songs back and forth. We’d name some obscure part of a song as a reference and he’d get it immediately, and dial in the tones perfectly. Damon also played drums and percussion on the album. The three of us produced it together, and it was all really collaborative and fun.”`

But in the meantime, the Atlanta-based duo’s latest single, the Halloween-themed “Haunted House,” channels Pygmalion and Souvlaki-era Slowdive with the song featuring fuzzy and swirling guitar textures, glistening synth bursts, thunderous drumming, boy-girl harmonies and enormous hooks and choruses. And at its core, the song sees the duo pairing goth and Romantic themes, evoking the bitter longing for a loved one you can never get back.

“Haunted House” is what I’d consider our only true shoegaze song, though shoegaze elements find their way into our songs just because we’re such huge fans of the genre. When I wrote it, I was thinking about this great Lee Hazlewood song, ‘Won’t You Tell Your Dreams,'” says Silk Daisys’ James Abercrombie. “It’s about how he can’t stop dreaming of an old love. It has this really haunting vibe to it. We’re also really into haunted houses and carnival dark rides and anything in that realm… Karla listens to a lot of ghost story podcasts. Our daughter has ghost hunting equipment and takes it with her to old places. I tend to be a little on the skeptical side, but I am coming around. I really love ghost stories where spirits are doing something routine, like getting their morning coffee. There’s something really interesting to me about the memory of someone being so strong that it feels palpable, like it’s inhabiting your space and haunting you. Karla had the idea to make the vocals at the end sound super ghostly, which I think really adds to the spookiness of the track.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Jenny James Shares Dreamy “Abandoning Alice”

Jenny James is an Oxnard, CA-based singer/songwriter, musician painter and college professor at Oxnard College. As a singer/songwriter, James has penned songs that have been recorded by Tanya Tucker, Carlene Carter, The Judds and KT […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: dune reaper Shares Bruising Ripper “forever asleep”

Burlington, ON-based duo dune reaper — Hunter Murray (drums, vocals) and Nathanael Smith (guitar) — can trace their origins to when its members first met while working at a construction site. The duo bonded over a shared passion for music and they spent countless hours crafting a sound that meshes elements of stoner rock, punk rock, alternative metal and alternative rock, rooted in their motto to “make music loud again.”

Released earlier this year, the duo’s debut single “forever asleep” is a bruising and forceful ripper, featuring Murray’s thunderous drumming and impassioned delivery and Smith’s muscular riffage paired with rousingly anthemic, mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses. Sonically channeling 90s alt rock — think Nirvana‘s “Dive,” Melvins and the like — the Canadian duo’s debut single is informed and inspired by their own lives, in which they struggle with juggling physically demanding blue-collar jobs while chasing their musical dreams in their free time. And as a result, the song captures and expresses frustration, exhaustion, and the desperate desire to make it at all costs in a way that should feel familiar to anyone, who’s working for a living and hustling big dreams on the side.

“Balancing 60-hour workweeks in the construction industry while trying to bring this song to life was an intense challenge. Every verse, every line of the lyrics was forged in the pressure and exhaustion of that grind,” the Canadian duo explain. “That struggle is what shaped the song’s raw, aggressive energy — it’s the sound of frustration turned into fire. At its core, the track captures the voices of two kids who are tired of only being able to chase their passion in the slivers of time left over from their day jobs. It’s a rebellion against limitation, a release of pent-up creativity that had to wait until the weekend to breathe.”