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Alternative

Jazz Meets Dreamy RnB in No False Ego’s Irridescent Debut, We are the Soul

Posted on 26 June 2024

No False Ego came to iridescent light with their sublime-on-the-senses debut single, We are the Soul. The devilishly clever arcane reprise of “here we are” is the epitome of a statement of intent from the LA-based unreckonable outfit who, true to their name, riff, harmonise, and groove straight from the heart.

The track is an intoxicating blend of free-form jazz expressionism and dreamy RnB vocals, creating a sublime contrast that is as unpredictable as it is cathartically consuming. The time signatures pulse with an unpredictable fervour, giving the track a lively, spontaneous feel while the hazy-with-soul RnB vocals and loungey keys act as a pure, diaphonic anchor, grounding the listener in the midst of intuitively impromptu drum fills, warm yet wild sax lines, and chameleonic guitars which switch from chopping funk through the progressions to injecting nuances of indie blues rock.

No False Ego’s ability to weave together these diverse elements with superlative ease showcases their impressive musicianship and commitment to authenticity. Each component contributes to a cohesively rich soundscape which triumphs on a technical level while connecting with the listener emotionally.

Now they’ve made their introduction on the airwaves, it is time for No False Ego to hold soulful dominion over them; we can’t wait to watch their ascent.

We are the Soul is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Riverman opened a doorway to 60s psychedelic pop summers with his alt-indie single, Somnambulism

Posted on 26 June 2024

Once you grab an oar with Riverman’s seminal single, Somnambulism, taken from his Summer Up / Summer Down LP, you’ll be reluctant to ever put it down. Riverman, the moniker of the Winston-Salem, NC-residing singer-songwriter Steve Hedrick, has earned his place in the pantheon of indie greats with this epoch-traversing genre-fluid installation of nostalgic euphony.

With sticky-sweet harmonies that pull at the heartstrings as fervently as Elliott Smith’s dreamy timbres juxtaposed with an exuberant indie-pop production which interweaves Johnny Marr-esque jangle-pop guitars and opens a doorway to 60s psychedelic pop summers all the while embracing brash, garage rock-infused licks, Somnambulism, which introduces Riverman as a ‘soporific spectre’ is a release that will send serotonin firing through your synapses.

The metaphorical exposition of sleepwalking is a masterclass in nostalgic synthesising. Riverman effortlessly infuses motifs from a broad sonic spectrum to pour a cocktail of aural summer haze that will quench your thirst for fresh indie sounds. It’s a lush escape that’s impossible to resist.

Stream Somnambulism on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Heatwavers – Today I’ll Mostly Be: A Sunlit Anthem for Modern Malaise

Posted on 25 June 2024

Heatwavers have made their debut with Today I’ll Mostly Be; an enrapturing anthem which effortlessly melds the vibrant sounds of the ‘60s with the spirited essence of 00s indie. The iridescent-with-soul indie pop production is bolstered by garage rock licks and dusted with the glitter of jangle pop to deliver an infectiously hooked earworm that you’ll want to lean on every time you need the reminder it’s okay to be fallible and dogged with fear of the future.

The unshackling sun-bleached tour de force of hedonically melodic bliss introduces an idiosyncratically awkward archetype with a soul of gold who leads the listener through the reverie designed to liberate from the aches of inadequacy.

The chorus reprise of “I’ve tried my best and I need a break from life, so today I’ll be mostly getting drunk and high” flips the narrative of the typical summer pop hit to deliver a resoundingly bitter-sweet sign of the times marked by the dangers of self-awareness and the traumatic influence of the current climate. The sunny-side-up sonics paired with the realism within the lyricism ensured that Today I’ll Mostly Be will be the seminal sound of the summer.

Formed during a serendipitous stroll in Mykonos, James (UK) and Nige (NZ) of Heatwavers embarked on their musical journey across continents. Their shared love for 60s pop and indie rock, influenced by bands like Best Coast, Surfer Blood, and The Shins, fuels their creative dualism. Despite the physical distance and the constraints of the pandemic, they triumphed with a zeitgeisty cocktail which juxtaposes an effervescent sonic palette with introspectively deep lyrics.

Today I’ll Mostly Be is now available to stream on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Bandcamp.

Connect with Heatwavers on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ludvik Langholm orchestrated an installation of anachronistically opulent alt indie reverie with ‘A Parody’

Posted on 25 June 2024

For their latest release, A Parody, the eclectic Leeds-based sound sculptor, Ludvik Langholm, emerged as a polymath producer and vividly histrionic narrator of burning desire to give fans of Roar, Vunderbar and Sir Chloe a perennial playlist staple.

The latest baroquely alt-indie single is a parallel universe and a few centuries away from the preceding release, Empty Parking Lot, which painted an intimate portrayal of a psyche torn between reaching and retreating in tender lo-fi brushstrokes. The Jane Austen-esque lyricism captures intense yearning as the intentional abstractions make room for personal reflection; the score gives the listener the freedom to implant their own melodramatic coveting affections into the superlative release.

Langholm tears through space and time by allowing A Parody to open on an installation of old-school Hollywood filmic reverie with their chanteuse-esque vocal lines lighting up the production until the lush layers of instrumentation deliver swathes of anachronistic opulence, which is perfectly balanced and moderately modernised with their signature introspective alt-indie warmth filled melodies that we’ll never tire of hearing.

A Parody was officially released on June 20; stream the single on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Brandon Bing took his inimitable sound down a dark country-rock road with Burnt Out at Both Ends

Posted on 24 June 2024

With one of his most sombrely affecting singles to date, Burnt Out at Both Ends, the peerlessly roots-reverent troubadour Brandon Bing took his sound down a dark country-rock road to explore a relatable dichotomy of desire.

Bing found a poignantly powerful way to attest to how impossible it is to have it all, especially when chasing dreams at the cost of connection. While never letting the single fall into a ravine of self-pity, Bing bared his burnt-out soul in a way that will sting your own. The underpinning theme of never feeling quite enough while failing to make yourself whole and the ones you love content resounds throughout the flawlessly executed country-rock anthem.

The touches of reverb on the opening guitar lines as they reverberate around the motifs of violin strings instantaneously set a melancholic mood. Yet, Bing ensures the following bolstered with passion high-octane riffs raise the energy beneath his evocatively expressive vocals that expose the raw nerves which inspired this tour de force of a triumph. His intuitive relationship with his guitar is enough to put him up there with Brad Paisley, Chet Atkins, and Vince Gill as one of the country-rock guitar greats. As for his voice, just try keeping a dry eye while being consumed by the Whiskey-soaked timbres.

Burnt Out at Both Ends was officially released on June 21; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Carniwhore crawled out of your nightmares to deliver their infernal alt-metal debut, Tyrannosaur

Posted on 24 June 2024

If you have noticed something sinister in the atmosphere lately, that may be due to Carniwhore, who crawled out of your deepest darkest nightmare to deliver their sense unsettling debut single, Tyrannosaur. Fans of Tallah, Hungry Lights, and Darko US, will instantly be drawn in by the Stoke on Trent-based powerhouse’s carnivalesque approach to tearing through the alt-metal scene with maximum volition.

Blazing through the footsteps of Marilyn Manson by using chugging riffs and eccentrically emulating his baleful charisma while bringing the brutalism of heavy metal and mainlining devil-may-care derangement ensured your ears have never been defiled in this way before.

After being recorded, produced, and mixed by Chris Dulson at Venombase Studios and Mastered by the industry heavyweight, Jens Bogren (Sepultura, Dragon Force Baby Metal, Dir En Grey) Tyrannosaur hit the airwaves on June 21.

Whatever Carniwhore has in the pipeline for their sophomore release, we have no doubt that it will be a fiendishly unholy triumph.

Stream the single on Spotify and keep up to date with the infernal outfit via Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

STARR became queen of the femme fatales in her dark pop anthem, Die 4 Me

Posted on 23 June 2024

STARR usurped every femme fatale that came before her with her eagerly anticipated follow-up to her 2023 debut single, Novocaine. Her dark and sensuously debauched electro-pop-rock sophomore single, Die 4 Me, is a bass and seduction-drenched exploration of how luring the sinister side of love can be in a mind inclined towards fatal attraction. After all, what could be a more devoted gesture than a hypothetical willingness to die for the one you love?

Following a film noir-esque intro, STARR emerges as one of most striking sirens on the airwaves with her irresistible vocal lines before the spectrally decorated harsh reverberant beats transform Die 4 Me into an infectiously foreboding dance-pop track that makes Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance seem pedestrian at best.

Like the pop lovechild of In This Moment, STARR knows exactly how to infuse scathingly sultry energy into a rhythmically kinetic anthem that will leave you under her unfuckwithable spell.

Die 4 Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bask in the euphoric rays of Ami Leigh’s 80s synth pop allegory of love, You Give Me Such a Feeling

Posted on 22 June 2024

Trying to predict Ami Leigh’s next move is as futile as mapping out a dreamscape; the County Durham-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s perpetually fluid sonic signature is always in flux. Her latest single, You Give Me Such a Feeling, captures the chameleonic songstress at her most unflinchingly amorous.

While her discography may already be an arsenal of hits that play with light and shade, with some tracks that linger in the darkness before locking into the warmth of heartfelt sentiment, You Give Me Such a Feeling swims in ethereal dream pop bliss, leaving you under no illusion of the sincerity of the release.

The Cure’s influence echoes in the opening guitar lines, before the lush with 80s synth-pop nostalgia melodies ebb and flow beneath Ami Leigh’s tender-to-the-heartstrings harmonies. As soon as you slip into the serene escapism of You Give Me Such a Feeling, it will be hard to know where your emotions end and Ami Leigh’s start.

Instead of relying on the British weather to bring sun-soaked serotonin, make this single a playlist staple and get your fill of iridescent euphoria.

You Give Me Such a Feeling was officially released on June 14; stream the single on Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Post-Punk Pulsates Through Dissolved Girl’s Latest Alt-90s Spectral Sonic Shadow, I’m a Beast

Posted on 22 June 2024

Dissolved Girl is back for round three; the gloves are off, and teeth are bared in their latest single, I’m a Beast, which blasts past alt-90s pastiche and scathes the rhythmic pulses with killer hooks, sharp enough to tear through the monochromatically cold atmosphere of the release which aches for redemption.

Ornate gothic instrumentation carves its way through the production while the basslines pulsate with post-punk volition under the vocal lines which blend raw power with haunting vulnerability. If Garbage released this single at the zenith of their career, the spectrally sensuous soundscape would have darkened the top of the charts for weeks. We may be living in a new sonic epoch, but the London-based four-piece is unflinching in their determination to keep bands relevant in the modern music industry.

With their refined approach to bending minds through esoteric alchemy and their ability to linger in the psyche for long after the final shadowy note, it’s only a matter of time before they take the alt-music underground by storm.

I’m a Beast was officially released on June 14; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kelsey Blackstone is a stylistically expansive sensation in her latest single, Willow

Posted on 21 June 2024

Kelsey Blackstone’s latest stylistically expansive single, Willow, proves there is no definitive sound of the summer. Away from the plastic pop fray, Blackstone submerged the sonic palette of this imagination-sparking release into the ephemeral bliss of the sun-soaked season which quickly passes, long before the memories we cling to, and keep ourselves warm with in the colder months

With a jazzy pop chorus, filled with smooth horn stabs and mellifluous grooves, and an electro-folk middle eight nestled into the synthesis of pop, rock, soul, and award-winning songwriting that puts Kelsey Blackstone up there with the greats, Willow brims with incomparable quintessence.

It’s impossible not to get swept up in the dreamy reverie of her transcendent vocal lines as they bring swathes of colour and soul to the lyrics which yearn for consistency in an ever-changing world and nestle into the single that delivers a quintessentially old-school live sound.

Whenever you feel the need to touch grass, tune into this single instead; your connection to nature will be far greater. Better yet, never miss a chance to witness the Boston-born artist’s live performances; whether she’s playing solo or with her six-piece band, she’s renowned for raising the roof and allowing her audience to taste tonal utopia.

Willow was officially released on June 14; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast