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The Ecuadorian Pop Priestess NÍNIVE alchemised explosively ethereal ingenuity in ‘Solo En Ti’

Posted on 16 September 2023
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Following the spiritually beguiling prelude of ethereal vocals and minimalist electronic melodicism, the transition into the high-octane installation of fierce feminine energy with body-slamming beats to boot you into rhythmic arrest is a broadsiding testament to the boundless ingenuity of the one and only NÍNIVE.

For her seminal single, Solo En Ti, NÍNIVE collaborated with the world-renowned music producer Enrique Gonzalez, who has worked with everyone from Metallica to Tina Turner to Nine Inch Nails; together, they sonically solidified the Ecuadorian alternative artist’s claim to the pop throne.

Put her on your radar and watch her ascend even further with her forthcoming album; the ingenuity that the LP will breathe was teased by the explosive alchemy within Solo En Ti. If Mitski swallowed an atom bomb, her avant-garde stylings still wouldn’t come close to this scintillating Tour De Force.

Clearly, her strong musical background has served her well. NÍNIVE began her musical education at a young age at the National Conservatory of Quito and furthered her vocal studies at the College of Music at Universidad San Francisco de Quito (a Berklee Global Partner). She also holds a Masters of Music in Songwriting from Bath Spa University.

Solo En Ti will break ground on the airwaves on September 15; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Join Harry Bone in his ambient retro synthscape, Journey

Posted on 7 September 2023

After gaining a background in classical music and a conservatoire degree in orchestral percussion production, the Bristol, UK-based producer, composer, and mixing and mastering engineer Harry Bone started to take a more experimental and lo-fi approach to his sound after discovering that almost anything can serve a musical purpose.

His 2023 ambient album, Ambi, featuring the odyssey voyage of a single, Journey, is a cathartic exhibition of his freshly rendered explorative talents. The reverb-lavish keys weave cinematic melodies while still delivering a chill synthy lo-fi smorgasbord of nostalgic alleviation.

The single was constructed to depict the journey from naval-gazing self-pity towards gratitude and positive affirmative action. By euphonically visualising a trip through the woods while allowing elements of nature to coalesce with memories that still evoke positive emotion, Bone succeeded in crafting a consoling score that will set your imagination alight.

If you’re always on the hunt for soundscapes that facilitate tranquil mental repose, don’t hang around waiting to discover the quiescent gems in Harry Bone’s discography.

Stream the Ambi album on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The enigmatic outfit FAERYS has brought in the new era of electro-pop-rock with their debut single, Nova Scotia

Posted on 31 August 2023

The enigmatic electronic rock outfit, FAERYS, may be keeping their identity under wraps for now, but there’s no containing the hype that has amassed around their storming juggernaut of a debut single, Nova Scotia.

With a touch of Black Honey and She Drew the Gun to the electronic rock reinvention, Nova Scotia delivered a riff-rife rock hit that has left an international audience clamouring all over it – and for good reason.

Between the precision of the songwriting, the polished production, the hooky female pop vox contrasting the slick rap bars and the anthemic energy that oozes from the larger-than-life hit that embraces the future and sonically sucker punches it, there was no room for improvement, and how often can you say that about a debut?

Something (everything) tells us that FAERYS is comprised of a band of industry veterans who have banded together to bring in the new era of electro-pop-rock.

Nova Scotia launched on the 25th of August, hear it on SoundCloud and Spotify.

Follow FAERYS on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

UK producer, James Urquhart, delivered a transcendent EDM anthem with Fire on the Track

Posted on 23 August 2023
James Urquhart

While some artists and producers need an entire discography to demonstrate their versatility, the Chichester, UK-based electronica chameleon James Urquhart only needed one blazingly high-octane dance hit, Fire on the Track.

With grime and pop vocals adrenalizing the mix and enhancing the eclecticism of the EDM earworm that defies the laws of gravity with the transcendence it provides, you only need one hit of Fire on the Track before you’re obsessed with the progressively exhilarating groove-oriented mix that would make even the most rational crowd lose their mind on the dance floor.

Even though it has been a while since James Urquhart delivered his latest mix, as he has focused on honing his talents, he’s released on labels including Duffnote, Let There Be House, INK, and Soulful Evolution. He has also worked with everyone from Amanda Wilson to Amy Pearson to Everette Peters to Meshach Broderik. If Fire on the Track is anything to go by, his hard-hitting house production skills have been well and truly honed.

Fire on the Track hasn’t hit the airwaves yet; follow James Urquhart on SoundCloud and Instagram to be the first to know when it drops.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Manchester-based producer Tao Mitsu liberated his listeners with his transcendent mix, Just Let Go.

Posted on 20 August 2023

With textures and melodic progressions that go beyond immersive to offer aural escapism, when you’re enmeshed with the pulsating rhythms in the latest instrumental mix, Just Let Go, from the Manchester-based producer Tao Mitsu, space and time may as well cease to exist.

By starting with emotional impulses and constructing musical landscapes around them, each creation of Tao Mitsu is an evocative trip tinged with the full spectrum of human emotion rather than just riding euphoric waves. The fragments of melancholy within the groove and bass-driven ambient techno beats in Just Let Go capture the bittersweetness of loneliness, encompassing the primal pain of heartbreak and the first teasings of hope that appear on the periphery.

Just Let Go may not carry the definitive Manchester sound, but with the cover art depicting one of the cosy corners of the iconic Night & Day Café, Tao Mitsu succeeded in paying homage to the vibrant and eclectic music scene via his nostalgia-driven, transcendently liberating leftfield electronica anthem.

Just Let Go reached the airwaves on August 13th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mother Pangea followed the muse into unchartered territory with ‘tHE mISERABLE fOSSIL’

Posted on 17 August 2023

Mother Pangea captured the mystery of his Middle Eastern roots in his latest melodically enticing single, tHE mISERABLE fOSSIL.

The neo-classic electronic hip-hop score may reach the pinnacle of experimentalism, but the artist’s inclination to follow his muse into unchartered new territory didn’t diminish the accessibility of the release; to date, tHE mISERABLE fOSSIL has clocked up almost 40k streams, and counting.

After being fascinated by the way instrumentation drives our emotions, especially by the hand of Yanni, Hans Zimmer, and Tyler Bates, Mother Pangea was keen to awaken evocative impulses with his own compositions; never one to discriminate on genre, he often turns his talents to emanating elements of pop, RnB, Indie, House, and EDM in his hybridic compositions which break every mould known to man, and a few more that are beyond our consciousness.

tHE mISERABLE fOSSIL was officially released on July 28th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: AMRIX has launched his EDM track that will follow you into the dark, ‘Don’t Be Afraid’

Posted on 14 August 2023

The Perth-hailing EDM artist & producer AMRIX gave a Grammy-worthy performance in his debut single, Don’t Be Afraid, which carries all the intimately compassionate soul of I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Death Cab for Cutie on the smoothed-out-with-reverb synth lines which build into one of the most heartfelt crescendos you’re likely to ever to hear.

The tenderly mid-tempo hit amasses evocative visceralism around the builds and breaks in a similar vein to Avicii’s emotion-driven singles; AMRIX has what it takes to leave as much of a mark on the industry with his songwriting stripes that can drive you to the brink of tears while constructing a sanctuary to slip into when dark clouds permeate your perspective.

Collaborating with lyricist Matt Miller, a guest vocalist, and Ruben Castro, who mixed and mastered the self-produced release, the genre fusionist achieved his goal of creating timelessly impactful music that resonates with listeners on a deep emotional level.

While other EDM artists are busying themselves releasing trite high-vibe summer hits that do little more than contribute to unrealistic expectations of a utopic season, AMRIX is cutting right to the core of sincerity with his elevated discography; I know which kind of artist I will be putting on my radar for future installations of resonant euphonic compassion.

In his own words, here’s what AMRIX had to say on his first installation of electro RnB-Pop:

“Don’t Be Afraid is inspired by personal experiences and the universal struggle of developing trust in relationships. It explores the vulnerability and strength required to open up to another person fully.”

Don’t Be Afraid hit the airwaves on July 28; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Numbsoul welcomes you into unfamiliarly inviting territory with his downtempo trip-hop hit, Break Free

Posted on 13 August 2023

With syncopated beats brushing up against ambient electronic melodies that allow you to trip into an unfamiliarly inviting gritty urban territory, the latest single, Break Free, from the singer-songwriter, producer, audio engineer and sound designer, Numbsoul is a short and sweet slice of sonic transcendence.

The NYC-raised artist, who goes by the name Dashaun Riley away from the mixing desk, started self-teaching and performing in the arts at age seven; he’s had plenty of time to hone his multi-faceted crafts since finding inspiration from the likes of Kanye, Timbaland and G-Unit.

At age 15, he stepped up his creativity by evolving from a music composer and screenwriter into a music producer. His sounds can be heard reverberating through the NYC underground and within the mainstream after featuring on one of Universal Music Group’s official Spotify playlists and signing a deal with Sony. If you’re waiting to see the rise of the latest NYC luminary, watch this space; Numbsoul is sure to dominate it with his culturally-balling beats.

Stream Break Free via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kid of the Star System is in orbit again with her darkwave pop-rock-trap amalgam, Sleepwalking

Posted on 12 August 2023
Kid of the Star System

Kid of the Star System is back in orbit once again with her latest single, Sleepwalking, and we couldn’t be more stoked about the interstellar return of the London-based visionary who switches between dimensions and genres to deliver atmospherically electrifying sci-fi enhanced vignettes of our grittily dystopic times.

The trap beat in the intro quickly evolves into a hook-rife platform of darkwave electro-pop that Kid of the Star System uses to implant her domineeringly smooth vocal lines that carry the exhilarating seduction of the entire Deftones discography. You won’t be short on emotions to feel when listening to the gospel of Kid of the Star System’s ethereal space odyssey, which could rival a black hole in the darkness it contains.

With the sole aim of bringing as much fun and chaos to her music as possible, the genre-melding artist is one for the radar if you always look to music for inspiration and empowerment. Especially as her sophomore LP, Luminous, which promises to challenge her listeners and push them past their limitations, is on the periphery.

Check out Sleepwalking on Spotify when it drops.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hemlock for Socrates put purgatory on a higher plateau with ‘Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant’

Posted on 4 August 2023

Doom-disco, Industrial blues, math-wave, call it what you will, but words can scarcely capture the alchemic aural experience of the latest installation of experimentalism, Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant, by Hemlock for Socrates.

With vocal lines so phantasmal in their arcane magnetism they put Bjork in the same league as Dua Lipa and a soundscore that allows the cinematic alt-electronica progressions to carve out a cage of tormented motifs, the sonics plunge you to the murky depths of despair to bring you back up from it, using resonance and the frenetic polyphonic keys in the outro as an inexplicably ingenious knotted rope ladder.

Even with the dramatic touches to the score, nothing about Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant feels theatrical. Instead, Hemlock for Socrates turned the fabric of reality inside out to put purgatory on a higher plateau.

Iridescent – Come Over Here Variant will officially be released on August 4th. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast