Tag: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Philly’s Jaco Jaco Shares Vibey “I Won’t Bother”

Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based musician and visual artist Jacob Theriot’s career began in earnest when he began writing and recording music in grade school with his brother and childhood friend. Those early efforts led to the acclaimed indie outfit Sports. 

After three albums and several international tours, Theriot decided to step out into the spotlight as as solo artist and relocated to Philadelphia, where he began to explore and meld a variety of different genres and visual mediums with his current creative project Jaco Jaco.

Theriot’s Jaco Jaco sophomore album Gremlin is slated for a March 21, 2025 release. Gremlin is a reportedly playful album that isn’t directly inspired by 1984’s Joe Dante-directed Gremlins but manages to honor the movie’s use of kitsch and camp to explore a prevailing mood of irreverence and introspection. “This record came from a somewhat confused and lonely state of mind,” Theriot explains. “It’s a journey through reflection and longing for something real—an inner dialogue giving me advice on navigating life when it feels like it’s working against you.”

So far I’ve written about two album singles:

  • “Favorite Kind of People,” a seamless synthesis of Thundercat and 70s jazz fusion/jazz funk with the breeziness of Bossa Nova anchored around a strutting bass line, rapid-fire four-on-the-floor, twinkling bursts of Rhodes and shimmering guitar.  “‘Favorite Kind of People’ came out of a phase where I was into some classic Brazilian jazz-funk,” Theriot explained. “I can’t remember which song it was exactly, but I translated the lyrics and loved how simple and earnest they felt. The translation was probably off, but it inspired me to write something direct and real—about just being present with people and not overthinking everything.” 

  • “Woman” a slow-burning and meditative synthesis of Quiet Storm-like R&B/funk and Steely Dan-like AM rock anchored around a slippery, a slick bass line, bursts of glistening synths paired with Theriot’s plaintive delivery. The song’s lyrics are abstract, but behind that abstraction, Theriot tackles something deeper: The song explores the complexities and nuances of human relationships. According to the Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based artist, it’s a meditation on honesty and acceptance, being real with yourself, and being real with your partner. “‘Woman’ was one of those rare, serendipitous type songs that just kinda happened,” Theriot says. “Everything fell into place pretty quick, lyrics and all. I played guitar along to some random breakbeat and out came the guitar riff(s). I was big into Black Messiah (D’Angelo) at the time, so that influence may have seeped in a bit, maybe? No comparison though, of course. I just wanna be like Pino Palladino when I grow up.”

Gremlin‘s third and latest single “I Won’t Bother” is a vibey Tame Impala-meets-Bobby Oroza-like Quiet Storm like number featuring shimmering Rhodes, skittering boom-bap-like rhythms paired with Theriot’s dreamy falsetto.

“I Won’t Bother” is a warm track about coming to terms with life’s impermanence, learning to accept what you can’t control, and taking care of your inner child,” the Tulsa-born, Philadelphia-based artist explains.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: El Dusty, Ace1, Ratchetón and Harlay Team Up on a Flirty Banger

JOVM mainstay El Dusty is a Corpus Christi, TX-born and-based electronic music producer. He has developed a global following as the pioneer of nu-cumbia, which meshes the rich heritage of Latin music with hip-hop and electronic music. El Dusty’s unique sound is deeply rooted in his upbringing on the American-Mexican border, where Tejano anthems and Chicano soul frequently met the heavy bass lines of reggae and house music.

Renowned for his innovative use of the MPC2000 sampler and for his knowledge and love of deep cut Latin classic, the Corpus Christi-born and-based JOVM mainstay has collaborated with an electric array of artists and producers including Santa Fe Klan, Mexican Institute of Sound and Erick Rincón.

When he’s not in his studio at Americano Label, El Dusy is busy performing on stages around the world and working on major brand projects for Pepsi, Jack Daniels, Red Bull and others.

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Bilingual Salvadoran artist Ratchetón exploded into the Latin music scene with his FKi 1st and Isvir Beats co-produced debut single “Que Lo Que,” which amassed over 350,000 streams while jumpstarting a growing fanbase. His sophomore single “Callate” continued the momentum of his debut, while seeing him spit fiery Spanish bars over a hip-hop club bounce.

The rising Latin artist is currently working with FKi 1st and a collection of top-tonic producers and musicians on his highly-anticipated full-length debut.

Ratchetón and Harlay recently teamed up on the El Dusty and Ace1 co-produced “Aye Papi,” a swaggering banger that’s a loving tribute to the city’s vibrant cumbia scene and the city’s beautiful women that pairs El Dusty’s Tejano-infused nu-cumbia with Ace1’s Larry Levan-like keyboards to create a song that will make you approach that pretty young thing and try to dance with them.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Pythies Tackle a 2000s Banger

Paris-based punks Pythies — founding member Lise L. (vocals) with Thérèse La Garce (guitar) and Anna B. Void (drums) — was formed by Lise L. in late 2022 with the intent of starting an all-woman band. In early 2023, Lise L. met Thérèse La Garce and Anna B. Void through social media. The trio felt a very strong simpatico, rooted in the meshing of three distinct and strong personalities, and from that point on, the band’s lineup was cemented.

The French trio released their debut EP Disillusion last year. The EP featured two singles that I wrote about on this site:

  • “Toy,” a track that seemed indebted to riot grrl-era punk and grunge, featuring fuzzy power chords, thunderous drumming and enormous hooks and choruses placed within the classic grunge song structure. 

  • “I Pythie You” is a grunge and riot grrl-inspired ripper that reminds me a bit of early PJ Harvey, The Breeders and Hole anchored around Lise L.’s feral delivery.

The French JOVM mainstays recently tackled Peaches‘ signature single, 2000’s “Fuck The Pain Away,” turning the dance floor banger into a grungy, 90s era riot grrl ripper while retaining the feral sexuality of the original. In some way, their take possesses a sense of danger that’s both unhinged and thrilling.  

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: clubdrugs Tackles Portishead’s “Sour Times”

Chicago-based, self-described goth pop duo clubdrugs have developed a reputation both locally and regionally for a genre-defying sound and for captivating live performances.

Last year, I wrote about “Waiting,” a slickly produced, hook-driven, club friendly bop featuring glistening synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rattling thump and a sinuous and propulsive bass line that serves as a lush bed for Maria’s yearning vocal to ethereally float over. It’s the sort of song that’s perfect for the lovelorn and heartbroken to dance while crying their hearts out on the dance floor.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day and the season of love, the Chicago-based outfit shared a cover of Portishead‘s “Sour Times” that turns the slow-burning, brooding torch ballad into a tense, club friendly industrial banger.

“As kids, we passed out Valentine’s to our friends to show we care. We miss that,” Maria shares. “This year, our Valentine is this sexy melancholic love song. We hope it resonates with everyone, no matter how they’re feeling this Valentine’s Day.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Anish Kumar and Hagop Tchaparian Team Up on Percussive and Vibey “Kino” EP

Anish Kumar is an eclectic DJ and producer known for blending the musical influences of his South Asian heritage with an intriguing array of electronic styles.

Hagop Tchaparian is a British-Armenian producer, whose full-length debut, 2022’s Bolts featured ten songs of deeply personal rhythm-driven music that meshed techno with field recordings of his travels through Armenian and Mediterranean culture.

The two individually acclaimed, electronic music producers teamed up on the two-track EP KINO, which was mixed by Pearson Sound and was released through the pair’s KINO imprint, after they road-tested the material at various warehouse venues and festivals. “Part 1,” and “Part 2” are dense, percussive batches of woozy house that at points feels soulful, meditative and irresistibly dance floor and festival friendly.

“A couple years ago I was shown Hagop’s debut single ‘GL’. I remember having my mind blown and thinking to myself ‘Jesus, I didn’t even realise you were allowed to do this,'” Anish Kumar says in press notes. “It’s so tense, so instantly gratifying and unashamedly bold. We texted some ideas back and forth for a while and soon got to meet in person at an insanely rammed show in Brixton – Four Tet, Skrillex & Fred Again. were playing. I was surprised and excited to see that Hagop had bounced a version of one of the ideas on his phone. It was like ‘oh man, he actually wants to do this. I’m gassed.'” From there we continued to work on the tracks whenever & wherever our paths seemed to intersect, whether it be in Dalston or San Francisco. We started to test them out around festival season, at our first back to back together at Glastonbury and then at a packed Airbase stage at Lost Village. It was nerve-wracking to take on these slots but doing it together made it feel epic. Playing out the tracks allowed us to know where to make changes in mix & arrangement. Coming off the back of Lost Village we finished the tracks and were very fortunate to have the tracks mixed by Pearson Sound. It was around then that Kieran (Four Tet) started playing Part I (the first track) out and gave us his valuable feedback on the mix, which was relayed to Pearson Sound for some final adjustment. We both independently got to witness Kieran drop the track at massive warehouse venues – Hagop at Portola in San Francisco and myself at Drumsheds in London. We both were texting each other whilst losing our minds about how incredible it was to hear the tracks in that scale of a venue, it had a real cinematic quality. The sense of awe and vastness transpired into the release and gave it its imprint: KINO.

“It started as a chance text exchange via a mutual acquaintance and we first met properly in a packed Brixton rave. This first conversation couldn’t have been in a better context and amid the bass and bodies, it was clear that Anish was different,” Hagop Tchaparian recalls. “What sets him apart is a rare combination: humble/thoughtful with deep musical knowledge paired with genuine openness to new ideas, all underpinned by the technical ability to bring these visions to life. His distinctive style permeates everything he touches, from production choices to visual aesthetics. Our collaboration evolved organically, and a natural exchange of ideas began. It was exciting to start to collaborate but also laid back and comfortable to such an extent that I totally lost track of who had created which parts of the tracks we were making together, demonstrating that we were completely on the same wavelength. The collaboration morphed into Anish and I playing back to back at some festivals that were really fun and vibey even emotional at times. We had some special moments and were also able to give our tracks their first proper public airing. The project took shape through late-night conversations – in pubs, during long drives after shows, and even while wandering through the Science Museum and even when I invited him back to my house and he ate all my bread. As momentum built, others began picking up on the tracks, and having them mixed by Pearson Sound felt like the final piece falling into place. The project evolved into something neither of us expected and seeing the reaction when it was played at Drumsheds and Portola festival almost felt like it wasn’t our track.”

There’s a limited run of white label vinyl which will be available in selected record stores and online.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Freddi Rituali Shares Brooding and Icy “Giulia che balla”

Formed back in 2023, Italian synth pop/coldwave duo Freddi Rituali — Diego Ballani (vocals) and Marco Tosetti (guitar, synths, programming) — features two, grizzled Italian scene veterans: After spending 20 years in Italian power pop outfit Made, Ballani and Tosetti decided to start a music project largely inspired by 80s British synth pop, Italian New Wave groups like Diaframma and Germany’s CCCP, as well as contemporaries like JOVM mainstays The Vacant Lots and acclaimed Belarusians Molchat Doma. 

Last year, the duo released their self-titled debut EP and the EP featured the Flock of Seagulls-like “Per ridere di te,” which saw the Italian duo pairing glistening and icy synth arpeggios, mathematically precise, skittering beats with angular bursts of shimmering, reverb-soaked guitar, catchy hooks and Ballani’s earnest, emotive delivery.

In fact, for Anglophones, “Per ridere de ti,” may open up an alternate pop universe that sounds intimately familiar yet alien — but as infectious and as danceable as ever.

The duo began their 2025 with the release of a small batch of standalone singles that includes their latest single “Guilia che balla,” a brooding bit of minimalist coldwave featuring Ballani’s plaintive vocals singing introspective and Romantic lyrics over an icy synth soundscape that brings Molchat Doma and others to mind.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chicago’s Pelican Shares Cinematic and Expansive “Cascading Crescent”

Flickering Resonance is the Chicago-based outfit Pelican‘s first full-length album in six years. Slated for a May 16, 2025 release through Run for Cover, the album sees the return of founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec, who makes his first appearance on a Pelican album since 2009’s What We All Come To Need. The eight-song album also reportedly taps into the spirit of the band’s formative era when Schroder-Lebec along with Trevor Shelley de Brauw (guitar) and siblings Bryan (bass) and Larry Herweg (drums) played shows during the heyday of Chicago’s all-ages club Fireside Bowl.

Fireside Bowl’s booking would often result in post-hardcore, space rock, indie, metal and emo bands sharing bills, which also unwittingly provided a vast array of influences for the then-young band. “A lot of people didn’t hear it at first,” says Schroeder-Lebec of the band’s roots in a panoply of punk-related subgenres. “I was like, well, I guess the metal world is where we fit. But now we’re more willing to acknowledge all the suits we’re wearing.”

Recorded by longtime collaborator Sanford Parker, Flickering Resonance sees the band’s long-known thick sonic backbone remaining intact, but while demonstrating a more humanistic side for the band.

“When Laurent left and we were able to carry it through, there became a real sense of gratitude for the fact we still have this artistic outlet and a community of people who want to support it,” the band’s Shelley de Brauw says of Schroeder-Lebec’s ten year sabbatical from the group. Fittingly, that feeling o deep, grounded appreciation doesn’t just reside within the band’s members, it’s expressed on every track of the album.

The album’s latest single “Cascading Crescent” is a forceful, cinematic and yet soulful ripper that reminds me a bit of The Sword and others, anchored around some scorching riffage and thunderous drumming.
 
The members of the Chicago-based band will be embarking on a lengthy touring schedule to support the album that includes a July 20, 2025 stop at The Meadows. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Amira Jazeera Shares Flirty “Luv U Down”

Amira Jazeera is a queer Palestinian-American artist and producer, who currently splits her time between Chicago and Los Angeles. Raised with a fervent love for pop music, Jazeera’s work sees her pairing powerhouse vocals, catchy melodies and contemporary R&B and pop production with 80s and 2000s influences, 00s Arabic music samples.

Her work is often characterized by an emotional depth uncommon in most contemporary pop, sultry undertones — but anchored in empowerment.

Jazeera’s latest single “Luv U Down” is a fun, flirty electro pop tune along the lines of Janet Jackson‘s “When I Think Of You,” Madonna‘s “Dress You Up” and contemporary Finnish pop act Beverly Girl that evokes the thrill of finally having an intimate moment with that person you’ve longed forever for, or that lover, who knows how to touch you in the right spots. It’s an expression of the playful yet knowing level of lust, obsession and anticipation that are the best — and most fun — part of romantic affairs.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Club 8 Shares Breakneck, Smiths-like “None Of This Will Matter When You’re Dead”

Last year, Stockhom-based JOVM mainstays Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård — released their 11th album, A Year With Club 8, which featured the Joy Division/New Order-meets-The Raveonettes-like “Something’s Wrong With My Head,” a woozily blissful and escapist song that continued a run of material dabbling in 80s New Wave nostalgia. 

The Swedish duo began the year with “ooo,” which continued where A Year With Club 8 left off — breezy and escapist, New Wave-inspired pop featuring shimmering guitars and driving grooves paired with ethereal yet expressive vocals.

Clocking in at 83 seconds, the duo’s second and latest single of the year “None of This Will Matter If You’re Dead” is a breakneck bit of Smiths-inspired guitar pop, anchored around shimmering guitars, a motorik groove, big catchy hook and choruses paired with Komstedt’s ethereal delivery expressing swooning heartbreak and defiance simultaneously.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Knocks and Dragonette Shares Slick, 80s Synth-Inspired “Revelation”

New York-based electronic music duo The Knocks — James Patterson and Ben Ruttner — are a prolific, Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum selling electronic dance music production and artist duo known for crafting a carefree and fun, deeply New York-inspired sound that draws from disco, house, hip-hop, soul. funk, indie and pop.

Their three full-length albums. five EPs and multiple smash hit singles have amassed over 2.5 billion streams globally. Adding to a global profile, the duo have played DJ sets and live sets at venues, clubs and festivals globally, while making a run of the domestic, late night TV circuit with performances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Adding to a rising global platform, the New York-based duo have collaborated with an eclectic array of artists across the musical spectrum including Foster The People, MGMT, MUNA, Cam’ron, Wyclef, Method Man, Purple Disco Machine, ODESZA, JOVM mainstays SOFI TUKKER and pop superstars Billie Eilish, Carly Rare Jepsen and Charli XCX.

Martina Sorbara, is a Juno Award-winning, Toronto-based singer/songwriter and pop artist, best known as Dragonette has managed to live multiple musical lifetimes over the past 15 years. A highly sought-after songwriter, Sorbara has scored numerous global hits, including “Pick Up the Phone,” “Let It Go,” and the chart-topping “Hello” with Martin Solveig.

Sorbara has collaborated with some of the world’s biggest DJs, including Basement Jaxx, Kaskade and Galantis while releasing four critically acclaimed albums, including 2009’s Juno Award-nominated Fixin to Thrill and 2012’s Bodyparts. Along the way, the Canadian artist has headlined shows across the globe. Adding to a global profile, she has opened for Duran Duran, New Order, Ke$sha and Miike Snow while playing at some of the biggest festivals across the global scene, including Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival, Glastonbury and Lollapalooza.

A longtime priority songwriter with Sony/ATV Publishing, Sorbara has regularly worked with acts on UMG, Warner Music, Syco and Spinnin.‘ Her musically diverse credits include songs for Keith Urban, Cyndi Lauper, Pretty Sister, Mike Mago and Carly Rae Jepsen.

The Knocks and Dragonette first collaborated on 2019’s Grammy-nominated single “Slow Song.” They continue their successful collaboration with “Revelation,” a slick, hook-driven, 80s synth pop-inspired bop centered around glistening and arpeggio synths that brings Stevie Nicks‘ “Stand Back” to mind paired with Sorbara’s yearning, pop starlet delivery. The song is an effortless club and lounge friendly bop.

The accompanying visualizer s set in a 1980s corporate lineal space at the fictional company Revelation Technologies and features RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Aquaria, the muse behind the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Brooklyn’s Bedridden Shares Dinosaur Jr.-like “Etch”

Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter and musician Jack Riley can trace the origins of his music career to when he was five and making music on a thrift-store emblazoned with Kurt Cobain‘s name. Riley moved to New […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstays Psymon Spine Share Two Slick Remixes from “Heady Remix Collector”

Brooklyn-based JOVM mainstays Psymon Spine released their third album, Head Body Connector last year. The album is a gritty, punchy, guitar-forward studio album from a band that’s long been obsessed with production. And perhaps more than its predecessors, their third album is explicitly informed and inspired by the band’s cathartic live show. “It’s more unhinged than anything we’ve made before,” Psymon Spine’s Noah Prebish says. “Throughout the writing process, we were always asking ourselves how we could make it really fun to play live.”  

Ironically, the album, though ready-made to be performed, was mostly written in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The band split their time between various home studios and friends’ back porches in Montauk, The Catskills, Boston and Brooklyn. It was fall and the crisp autumn air, and political uncertainty and disquietude looming in the background lended itself to an undeniable longing for companionship. “It felt like we had collectively jumped from one timeline to another, more bizarre one,” Prebish says. 

The central theme of time being fractured, chopped and screwed is integral to the album’s material and its album art, which was designed by New York-based artist Bucky Boudreau and appears in the form of alternative measurements of passing seconds, minutes, days, lifetimes, tally marks on a chalkboard and infinity signs made of camp bracelets on a cracked egg.“Head Body Connector is our response to a world even more chaotic than usual,” says Peter Spears, “and an exploration of the little joys, anxieties, and absurdities that world has to offer.” While being an ode to the dissonance of temporality in our current moment, it’s also an elastic tribute to friendship and harmony in the face of that dissonance. 

In the lead up to the album’s release, I wrote about:

“Boys,” a track that begins with a glistening New Wave-meets-post punk introduction before quickly morphing into a funky, synth-driven both with slashing guitars. The two seemingly disparate sections are held together with Sabine Holler’s dreamy delivery. But just under the infectious, danceable surface, is an introspective song that reveals a subtle sense of unease. 

The track was written after the band’s Sabine Holler relocated to Berlin, but she still lends her voice to the song. “By nature every Psymon Spine song must be a little cheeky to bypass our own self-criticism, but in reality ‘Boys’ is just a very earnest song about friendship,” the band notes. “Early on in the pandemic Sabine moved back to Germany and we weren’t sure what was going to happen, either to us as a unit or to the entire world. We went to Peter’s childhood home in Boston for a few days and fleshed out a demo that Michael had started a couple weeks earlier. We sent it to Sabine who almost immediately replied with the same vocal take you hear on the song today.” 

“Wizard Acid,” a woozy bit of disco funk built around a punchy bass line, glistening synth arpeggios and thumping beats paired with lyrics about coming apart at the seams — both literally and metaphorically. Consumed with cabin fever, the song’s narrator is slowly losing their mind. 

The band told the folks at Flood Magazine that the song is “part allegory, part nonsense, encapsulating elements of cabin fever, dread and humor. We melded one of Michael’s early demos with one of Peter’s, creating one unholy coupling which eventually took the form of a shapeshifting disco jam. It sat instrumental for a couple months until Peter sent over some lyrics detailing a narrator slowly consumed by their sentient house, or perhaps losing their mind (maybe both?).” 

The JOVM mainstays will be releasing Heady Remix Collector, a bold reimagining of the material off last year’s Head Body Connector. Slated for an April 4, 2025 release through their longtime label home Northern Spy, the album features remixes by some of their favorite artists and collaborators with the album’s tracks transformed into fresh, electrifying soundscapes that are perfect for both the dance floor and deep listening.

“We’re thrilled to share our most eclectic remix album yet: Heady Remix Collector. The name says it all,” the JOVM mainstays say. We asked 8 of our favorite artists to reinterpret songs on Head Body Connector and what we got back was a glimpse into how truly weird and brilliant our friends are.

We generally take a very hands-off approach to the remixes that we commission (the exception being “Love Injection’s Antimatter Kid Remix”, which Noah played guitar on); anytime we ask someone to remix something it’s because we love their work and want them to do their thing. We send out the stems, tell them to freak it, and in a couple months we find a bunch of alien babies on our doorstep.

“For the DJs, we’ve got club bangers from Sam O.B. and GIFT, as well as balearic slow burners from Love Injection and lovetempo. MGMT and Matt FX’s mixes are psychedelic, joyous, delirious. And both This is Lorelei and Disq’s remixes are a stroll through a funhouse, complete with trick mirrors and trap doors at every turn.”

The band shared the first peak of Heady Remix Collector, a double A-side single featuring MGMT’s remix of “Boys” and GIFT’s remix of “Wizard Acid.”

The MGMT remix of “Boys” pairs a chugging motorik-like groove, buzzing and crunchy guitars and twinkling synth oscillations with Holler’s dreamy delivery to create a dreamy and euphoric house music-meets-New Wave take on the original.

The GIFT remix of “Wizard Acid” turns the song into slick and glistening Echoes-era The Rapture/DFA Records dance punk-meets-house music banger with euphoric hooks.

If I were doing a DJ set, I’d play these bangers to get people moving — and if these tracks don’t get you moving, there’s something wrong with you.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Norwegian-born, Los Angeles-Based Alma Owren Shares Cinematic “Outcast”

Alma Owren is a 19 year-old Norwegian-born, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and actor, whose musical work is shaped by her synesthesia. Her music combines vivid soundscapes with powerful, emotion-driven storytelling rooted with vulnerable, relatable lyrics that will deeply resonate with listeners.

The Norwegian-born, Los Angeles-based artist’s debut EP Under the Surface will be released through AWAL. The EP’s first single “Outcast,” is a gorgeous folk pop tune that pairs an arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar, bursts of cinematic strings anchored by Owren’s gorgeous and emotive delivery.

The young artist explains that the song explores themes of isolation and identity through a cinematic soundscape.

Simply put, this young artist reveals a self-assuredness and emotional depth well beyond her relative young. I fully expect that she will have a big, bright future ahead of her.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Paris Duo La Punta Bianca Shares Eerily Dreamy Single

Paris-based synth pop/synthwave duo La Punta Bianca — Francesca Diprima (vocals) and Phillipe Brown (vocals, synths, drum machines) made a name for themselves in the Parisian alternative and indie scenes with their debut EP, 2019’s Demian. The EP saw the duo firmly cementing their sound: Diprima and Brown’s dreamy melodies are paired with equally dreamy synth-based soundscapes.

Initially released on cassette tape, the EP was then pressed on vinyl twice. The EP’s success in the synthwave scene enabled the duo to tour across France and the European Union.

The Parisian duo’s highly-anticipated and long-awaited full-length debut, Disquiet is slated for a March 18, 2025 release through Detriti Records. The album, which continues a run of material rooted in absurdist romanticism and Lynchian strangeness, sees the pair drawing from Angelo Badalamenti, John Barry and Leonard Cohen with songs being sometimes dancey, sometimes melodramatic. Lyrics were written and are sung in French, Italian and English throughout. All of this is paired with carefully programmed synth and drum machine-driven arrangements.

Disquiet‘s first single “Extanimal,” is a dream-like song featuring twinkling synth arpeggios, Casio synthesizer-like beats as a lush yet atmospheric bed for Diprima and Brown’s eerily uncanny boy-girl harmonies. The result is a song that reminds me quite a bit of Young Narrator from the Breakers-era Pavo Pavo — but with a nouveau vague sensibility.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Gabriella Lima Shares a Quiet Storm-like Bit of Samba

São Paulo-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter Gabriella Lima relocated to Paris back in 2014. And since locating to The City of Light, Lima has been busy crafting material that pushes genre and cultural boundaries. 

Lima’s 2021 full-length debut, the nine-song Bálsamo found the Brazilian-born, French-based artist writing material that drew from soul, pop, samba, chanson and several other styles. Back in 2022, I wrote about album closing track, “Samba de l’amour,” a breezy song featuring twinkling keys, fluttering synths, strummed acoustic guitar and gently swaying samba rhythms paired with Lima’s gorgeous vocal singing bittersweet lyrics in French and Brazilian Portuguese detailing love gained and quickly lost. 

Lima’s latest single “Meu Lugar” is a Sade/Quiet Storm-like touch on samba and Bossa nova featuring an atmospheric yet percussive arrangement with strummed acoustic guitar that serves as a lush bed for the Brazilian-French artist’s achingly tender delivery.

She explains that the song’s lyrics talk about a deep emotional delivery and the transformation of an intense and true relationship.