Anil is an İzmir, Turkey-based singer/songwriter, producer, author and literary translator. He recently created a song around Emily Dickinson‘s “A Wounded Deer — Leaps Highest.”
The club rocking, industrial goth remix of the original mischievously reveals that Dickinson might have been a modern day goth.
Over the past couple of years, I’ve spilled quite a bit of virtual ink on The Lovelines. The duo, which is currently split between Berlin and Orlando, released material from their forthcoming full-length debut single-by-single.
The JOVM mainstays’ latest single “Shades of Blue” is a nostalgia-inducing and hook-driven bit of post punk, that reminds me a bit of fellow JOVM mainstays Club 8 — while clearly being indebted to early 80s New Order.
The band’s Todd Goings explains “‘Shades of Blue’ is an ode to New Wave; it was me pretending I was writing a song for New Order.”
Montréal-based multi-disciplinary artist, singer/songwriter, pop artist and JOVM mainstay Naomi‘s sophomore album Un coin sombre pour danser was released last October through Bravo Musique. The album is an invitation to the listener to dive into the night, […]
STIMULUS is a rising Brooklyn-born, Berlin-based artist, DJ and event curator. His latest single “swiTCH” is a collaboration with Malik Work, Greg Paulus, Taylor Bense and Swim Good. Anchored around a lush club friendly production featuring woozily atmospheric synths, a supple bass line, skittering beats and soulful horn stabs paired with clever bars about the weird dynamics between social media and digital life and one’s real lived-in life. Sonically speaking “swiTCH” sounds a bit like a synthesis of Stereo MCs and C+C Music Factory with Larry Levan — but with a modern, self-assured swagger.
“The song is produced by jazz musicians who regularly sat in with Malik and I’s jazz/hip hop band The Real Show,” STIMULUS explains. “They eventually became well known as dance music producers and DJs (No Regular Play) on Wolf + Lamb Records and Kitsune.
“We wanted to combine parts of Brooklyn and Berlin in a way that made sense for both cities.
The lyrics talk about the difference between real life (irl) and its digital representation on social media platforms that’s extremely influenced by algorithms. We want to remind people to trust themselves and each other more than they trust algorithms. We also want to remind people it’s ok to keep parts of your life private and/or off of digital platforms.”
ADRIANNA is a British-based electronic music producer, DJ and singer/songwriter, who is known for electrifying live performances and a dynamic and captivating production style that sees her seamlessly blending hard-hitting beats with powerhouse vocals while actively pushing sonic boundaries.
Last year’s “Wild Electric” showcased her signature style of pulsating rhythms and energetic melodies, which led to it charting on the Beatport Hype Charts, as well as widespread support from fans and DJs alike globally. Acid house pioneers 808 State remixed “Wild Electric,” along with a series of other renowned producers and acts.
Adding to a big year, ADRIANA made the rounds of the global festival and party circuit, playing headlining sets at Creamfields and Blue Marin Ibiza, as well as playing opening slots for Patrick Topping and Alan Fitzpatrick.
She also hosts a monthly, globally syndicated radio show, where she curates a mix of the latest tech house and techno tracks. Airing on the second Saturday of every month, the show offers listeners a taste of her unique sound and musical vision.
The rising British-based producer, singer/songwriter and DJ’s latest single “Never Never Land” is a club and festival banger, anchored around earth rattling 808 thump, skittering hi-hats, glistening synth arpeggios paired with her insouciant delivery. Sonically, “Never Never Land” brings to mind a synthesis of old school deep house, Marie Davidson and others with a world dominating swagger.
Split between Scotland and Portugal, Forgotten Garden — Portuguese-based Inês Rebelo (vocals) and Danny Elliott (guitar, keys and production), accompanied by guests — formed back in 2019 and quickly established a brooding goth-tinged sound with elements of post-punk inspired by The Cure, Joy Division and The Doors while Rebelo cites Florence Welch, Lana Del Rey, Chelsea Wolfe, Weyes Blood, Kelsey Lu and Warpaint as influences on her vocal styling.
The duo’s debut EP, the four-song Broken Pieces thematically focused on a the breakdown of a relationship and received praise from Angry Baby back in 2021. Last year’s sophomore EP In Memoriam thematically touched on death, loss and grief and received praise from The Indie Grid, who called the EP “a thing of fragile and transient beauty.”
The Portuguese-Scottish duo’s latest single is the slow-burning torch song “Five Minutes.” Anchored around a broodingly atmospheric arrangement of ethereal synths paired with a sinuous bass line, jazz-like drum patterns, “Five Minutes” perfectly showcases Rebelo’s gorgeous delivery which expresses longing and heartache within the turn of a phrase.
The duo explains that “Five Minutes” is a sad and poignant song that tells the story of a couple who immediately fall for each other and mistakenly believe that their connection will last forever. “However, slowly and almost imperceptibly over time they drift apart as their love wanes. This leads the main character in the song to wonder how they drifted apart as she wistfully looks back on their life together,” the duo explain.
JOVM mainstays Bambara — twin brothers Reid Bateh (lead vocals, guitar) and Blaze Bateh (drums), and William Brookshire (bass) — will be releasing their highly-anticipated Graham Sutton-produced fourth album, Birthmarks through Wharf Cat Records on March 14, 2025.
Birthmarks is reportedly a wild, musically adventurous collection of songs that follows a host of lost characters caught in a cycle of love, violence and rebirth. The result is material that may arguably be their most apocalyptic and poignant.
Earlier this month, I wrote about “Letters from Sing Sing,” a story and forceful rager, anchored around swirling shoegazer-like textures, Blaze Bateh’s thunderous, mathematically precise rhythmic patterns, Brookshire’s angular post-punk bass grooves serving as a lush yet tense and uneasy bed for Reid Bateh’s sonorous baritone.
The album’s final pre-release single “Face of Love” is a decided change in sonic direction for the trio: The brooding and atmospheric twilight-like track seems inspired by Cocteau Twins , Massive Attack, Portishead and the like featuring boom-bap beats, twinkly harp from LEYA’s Marilu Donovan, guest vocals from Madeline Johnston (Midwife) paired with Reid Bateh’s sing-speaking delivery detailing a story about a man at a diner, who encounters a server that reminds him of someone from his past.
“The story begins when a server at a diner reminds a man of a woman from his past,” Bambara’s Reid Bateh says. “Inspiration for the music came from listening to Cocteau Twins songs reversed and slowed down. It features guest lead vocals from Madeline Johnston (Midwife), backing vocals by Jen Monroe and harp played by Marilu Donovan (LEYA).”
With the release of their Emmanuel Ethier-produced 2018 self-titled, full-length debut, Montréal-based dance punks Choses Sauvages — Totalement Sublime‘s Marc-Antoine Barbier (guitar), Theirry Malépart (keys), Tony Bélisle (keys), Philippe Gauthier-Boudreau (drums) and La Sécurité‘s Félix Bélisle (vocals) with Foreign Diplomats‘ and Frais Dispo‘s Charles Primeau (bass) as a touring member — exploded into the local and provincial scenes. The album was a critical and commercial success with the album topping Independent Radio Charts across Québec while receiving widespread critical applause. In 2019, the Montréal-based outfit landed Association Québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) Félix Award nominations for Alternative Album of the Year and Indie Rock Album of the year, with a Félix Award win for Indie Rock Album of the Year.
Throughout 2019, the French Canadian outfit supported their full-length debut with a relentless touring schedule across the province. During that tour, the band quickly developed a reputation for a must-see live show that they brought across the global festival circuit, including stops at Reeperbahn, MaMA, FIMPRO, SXSW, Le Printemps de Bourges and Wide Days.
2021’s Choses Sauvages II found the Montréal-based outfit pushing their sound more towards electronic dance music and nu-disco influences like L’Imperatrice and Lindstrøm while still drawing from their love of funk, Bowie and Bee Gees. The album also sees them furthering their approach which pairs rigorous and meticulous songwriting with a rebellious spirit.
Choses Sauvages’ highly-anticipated third album, Choses Sauvages III is slated for a March 28, 2025 release through Audiogram. In the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two of the album’s singles late last year:
Choses Sauvages III’s third and final pre-release single “Cours toujours” is anchored around a dreamily narcotized yet driving groove, twinkling keys and slashing, post punk-like guitars, which serve as a lush bed for Félix Bèlisle’s ethereal cooing. Bélisle explains that “Cours toojours is a song that discusses the impossibility of escaping oneself, of the need to face the anxieties that inhabit us. The song is “a New Wave-flavored piece about personal questioning. As if we identified a problem at the centre of our being without being able to explain it,” he says.
Acclaimed Montréal-based psych rock outfit and JOVM mainstays Population II — Pierre-Luc Gratton (vocals, drums), Tristan Lacombe (guitar, keys) and Sébastien Provençal (bass) — can trace their origin back a long way and are inextricably linked to their teenage memories. After years of jamming to the point of developing a unique sense of telepathy, the trio began recording independently releasing material that caught the attention of Castle Face Records head and The Oh Sees‘ frontman John Dwyer, who signed the band and released their full-length debut, 2020’s À la Ô Terre, an album that saw the band displaying their mastery of improvised and sophisticated composition.
The Montréal-based psych outfit then spent the better part of the next two years touring to support their full-length debut, which included stops at SXSW, Pop Montréal, Toronto, NYC, and Québec City.
Population II signed with Bonsound‘s label, booking and publishing arms. The Montréal-based label released the trio’s Emmanuel Éthier-produced sophomore album, 2023’s Èlectrons libres du québec. Their sophomore album is much more straightforward while showcasing their remarkably adept musicianship and furthers their take on heavy psych rock, which feverish punk rhythms, early punk energy bursts, hints of jazz philosophy and a love of minor scales informed by heavy metal’s early roots.
The album received praise from both press outlets on both sides of the Atlantic, including Rock & Folk, Exclaim!, La Presse, Le Devoir and long list of others. Adding to a breakthrough year, the Montréal-based outfit won a Breakthrough of the Year Award at 2023’s GAMIQ Award ceremonies.
Last year was a very busy year for the Montréal-based JOVM mainstays: They released the Serpent Échelle EP. Released on a limited-edition cassette tape and on all digital platforms, Serpent Échelle saw the band crafting material that boldly stands out from their previously released work: Shifting between orchestrated passages and lysergic-tinged riffage, the EP’s material is wilder, much more adventurous and heavier. And while rooted in their remarkable compositional skills, the material displays a newfound commitment to songwriting. Thematically, the EP’s material touched upon the desperate urgency of life in an age of global doom while still enjoying life’s small pleasures — love, friendship, wine, good tunes and good times.
They closed out a very busy 2024 with Mulchulation II, a split EP with Canadian punks Mulch. Continuing upon a prolific period, the Montréal-based JOVM mainstays laid the groundwork for their third album, the Dominic Vanchesteing-produced Maintenant Jamais. Slated for a March 28, 2025 release through Bonsound, the 14-song album reportedly sees the band drawing from their formative influence with a deep, sense of sophistication.
Maintenant Jamais‘ second and latest single “Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai)” is a krautrock/prog rock-like take on psych rock featuring pulsating drum patterns paired with glistening synths and fuzzy power chords serving as a lush and languorous bed for Gratton’s dreamy cooing. Arguably one of the most krauty songs of their growing catalog, “Mariano (Jamais je ne t’oublierai)” sees the band subtly — and perhaps playfully — expanding upon their sound while reminding listeners of their adroit musicianship and songwriting.
Steven Fleet is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, poet, writer and artist, who has been in several music projects that have allowed him to play shows across the US, the UK, Germany and the Czech Republic. Fleet is also the creative mastermind behind the solo recording project Dream Bodies. With Dream Bodies, Fleet crafts “witchy, dreamy, gothy, post punk, dream pop, cold wave with poetic, philosophical lyrics.”
“Dream Hangover,” Fleet’s Dream Bodies debut single is centered around a Joy Division-meets-Heaven Up Here-era Echo and the Bunnymen-like soundscape feature swirling, reverb-drenched guitars, angular bass lines and mathematically precise drum patterns paired with Fleet’s young Ian McCulloch-like vocal and rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses.
“‘Dream Hangover,’ is about losing your identity in a toxic relationship, but then finding yourself and your inner strength again in its aftermath,” Fleet explains.
Granito is a 33 year-old, Mexico City-based electronic music producer, who specializes in a minimalist, trance-inducing take on dark, underground house music. His minimalist production approach is groove/dance first, melody last, as he explains that he feels as though he’s defending minimalist electronic music in a culture where vocal-led music controls the mainstream.
The Mexican producer is currently putting the finishing touches on the material which will comprise his 16-track full-length debut slated for release later this year. In the meantime, Granito’s latest single “Pluto” is a hypnotic banger that sounds a bit like a synthesis of Kraftwerk, A Nation of Millions Can’t Hold Us Back and Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black-era Public Enemy and industrial techno as bursts of glistening and arpeggiated synth stabs cut through wailing, ambient drone and skittering beats.
French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK begins 2025 with the Want U Back EP. Released through Brique Rogue, the five-song EP features an eclectic assortment of material with the JOVM mainstay bouncing around American Techno, Break Acid, Tech House and 80s Italo disco.
Earlier this week, I wrote about Want U Back single “Stack 104,” a track that saw the French JOVM mainstay meshing elements of glitchy house with old school breakbeats and meaning synths to create a song that’s swaggering yet deeply soulful.
The EP’s second and latest single “Hibiscus,” continues in a similar vein — glitchy house but anchored around skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and bursts of vocoder’d, radio fuzz-like vocal samples. It’s a big, club banger meant to get your ass moving.
Michael O. is a New York-born, Portland, ME-raised singer/songwriter, who grew up within a fusion of American, Black American and Nigerian culture. His work is honors his upbringing and his roots rand is deeply inspired by both. And through his remarkably accessible music, he hopes to make avenues for the African Diaspora to connect, as well as to inspire all nationalities across the globe to tap into their respective ancestral lineages.
He attended Dartmouth, where he double majored in Global Health and History and joined an a cappella singing group, The Dartmouth Aires. The group participated on NBC’s The Sing-Off, finishing in second place, which helped the rising artist earn a national and international attention, as well as praise from the show’s judges, Ben Folds and Boyz II Men‘s Shawn Stockman.
After The Sing-Off, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he released his debut EP, 2013’s In The Beginning. Within 24 hours of its release, the EP cracked iTunes R&B Charts Top 5. The EP was also Northern New England’s best selling EP.
He appeared in 2015’s Pitch Perfect 2, playing the role of The Singboks’ lead singer, soloing with “Anywhere You Want It.” He was also featured on Pitch Perfect 2‘s American Music Award-winning, commercially successful soundtrack.
Back in 2017, he began diving deeper into West African and African-influenced music , winning a HAPA Best Upcoming Artist Award for that year’s “Your Way.” He followed that up with “Umbrella” “See Stars” and two remixes of “Umbrella — one sung in French and the second remix featuring Kenyan star Naiboi. Adding to a growing international profile, he has collaborated with FlexCop, Option4 and Gladiator.
Michael O.’s latest single “Attention” continues a run of remarkably breezy, accessible an downright catchy pop that meshes elements of Sade-like Quiet Storm R&B and Afrobeats paired with the rising artist’s plaintive, yearning delivery. At its core, the song is a love song for the grown and sexy out there.
“‘Attention’ dives deep into the emotions of a relationship unraveling,” Michael O. explains. The track captures the bittersweet beauty of accepting a relationship that’s ended — even if they didn’t want it to happen. “‘Attention’ is both a personal confession and a universal anthem for anyone navigating love’s complexities. This track is for everyone who’s been there—questioning themselves, searching for closure, and coming to terms with an ending they didn’t want but couldn’t stop.”
French electronic music producer and JOVM mainstay LutchamaK begins 2025 with the Want U Back EP. Released through Brique Rogue, the five-song EP features an eclectic assortment of material with the JOVM mainstay bouncing around American Techno, Break Acid, Tech House and 80s Italo disco.
Want U Back‘s latest single “Stack 104” sees the French JOVM mainstay meshing elements of glitchy house with old school breakbeats and menacing synths to create a song that’s swaggering yet soulful.
coiro is a São Paulo-born and-based electronic music artist, who’s dreamy deep house-meets-techno sound creates a calming ambiance that simultaneously engages and mobilizes listeners by stirring up emotions in a similar fashion to that of nature. For the Brazilian electronic music producer, he uses his music to escape the tumult and density of his homeland’s largest city.
ASTIR is an evocative artist who specializes in a sound that’s ethereal, raw and envelope the listener in a world of introspection and atmospheric beauty, one that seems him thriving on the delicate balance between minimalism and emotional intensity. Thematically, his work focuses on inner turmoil, personal growth and the search for connection in an often-fragmented world. ALSO ASTIR is a sort of side project that sees the artist creating a more expansive and experimental approach to electronic music that sees him exploring broader, more dynamic soundscapes, characterized by intricate synth layers. bold production choices and delicate melodies. The result is a sound that feels deeply personal and cinematic.
Since its inception ALSO ASTIR has collaborated with a collection of acclaimed artists including Adriatique, Yotto, AVIRA, Nuage and BAILE and has released material through Armada Music, Anjuna, Enhanced Music, Get The Sound and X Recordings that have amassed over 16 million streams across DSPs. Adding to a growing profile, “Forget,” a collaboration with Yotto and AVIRA has reached Shazam charts globally, resonating with audiences at festivals and elsewhere. Additionally, he was named Shazam’s Breakthrough Electronic Artist of 2025.
The two rising electronic music producers and artists recently teamed up on “Don’t Let Go” a woozily lush and percussive banger featuring glistening synth oscillations, chiming percussion and skittering beats paired with vocals that are delicate and yearning. The result is a track that’s sensual and cinematic while reminding me a bit of Octo Octa‘s Between Two Selves.
