Browsing Tag

dance pop

Scott Cruz gives us ‘The Reason’ to be cheerful

Posted on 28 February 2021
Scott Cruz

You’d think that perhaps receiving five (five. Count ‘em!) prestigious Telly Awards for TV compositions including the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and a bunch of independent films, alongside performing at that epicentre of cool the House of Blues and charting on Billboard’s Top 40 Indicator Chart with previous single ‘Rescue’ would be enough for US-based singer/songwriter/composer/producer Scott Cruz, but you’d be wrong. Very wrong. We’re not talking ‘resting on laurels’ here, we’re looking at an artist at the top of his game, and new single ‘The Reason’ absolutely demonstrates that.

Dance-oriented, electronic, swathed in synth-strings and upbeat as hell, ‘The Reason’ is a radio-friendly club-pop banger; it’s earnest, it’s open, and it’s all topped off by Cruz’s soulful voice – think Shawn Mendes, a touch of Calum Scott, some Calvin Harris, and a dash of Harry Styles. It’s pure, proper, uplifting dance pop, and it’s very, very likely to raise that bed of laurels Cruz has to rest on just a bit higher very, very soon.

Check out ‘The Reason’ on Apple Music; go to Scott Cruz’ website.

Review by Alex Holmes

Faith Louise – What I Need: K-Pop-tinged 90s Dance Pop

Posted on 27 February 2021
Faith Louise

When you’re fifteen and already produced by Ashea, with your second single debuting on BBC Introducing, you’re clearly doing something right. 1,000 Spotify streams in 48 hours, and 12,000 YouTube views in the official video’s first week of release is worth taking.

Now, Essex’s Faith Louise is back with new single ‘What I Need’, a delicious slice of K-Pop-tinged 90’s club/dance with a catchy little hook and a earworm of a chorus that sticks in your head and follows you round for days. Again produced by Ashea at SAFO music, ‘What I Need’ is a perfect little pop track – think Ariana Grande mixed with Little Mix – dancey, energetic, and catchily upbeat.

You can check out ‘What I Need’ on Faith Louise’s website or on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

scixnce brings in the future of future pop with latest single ‘in the dark’

Posted on 25 February 2021

‘in the dark’ is the latest psychedelically spacey electronic pop single from up and coming UK singer-songwriter, scixnce; it may just be the future of future pop.

in the dark puts a futuristic spin on indie dream pop by propping up scixnce’s soulful vocals with entrancing reverb-drenched electronica beats which showcase the artist’s ability to construct infectiously catchy melodies and offer organically manifested good vibes.

While some high-vibe dance pop tracks are only fit for dancefloors, the masterful production ensures that your mood will be uplifted by this hit, wherever you encounter it. It’s the perfect indie pop playlist staple.

In the dark is available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Songs by Ruth – I Love You: panoramically passionate electro-pop

Posted on 14 February 2021

Pop singer-songwriter and lyrical poet, Ruth Garnes, has been making waves under her moniker, Songs by Ruth, since 2014, if you’re still lucky enough to call yourself a hopeless romantic, you’ll undoubtedly want to ingest the straight-from-the-soul ardour found in her latest electro-pop single ‘I Love You’.

I Love You is a solid slice of sun-soaked summer pop which stands as a testament to the artist’s ability to take you on a journey with her narratively immersive sound. Let’s face it, we’ve got nowhere else to go at the moment, so, you may as well delve into the romantic imagery in this panoramically passionate release.

I Love You is now available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

 

Ooberfuse show us just how sweet liberation can sound with ‘Set Me Free’

Posted on 14 February 2021

While the UK collectively clawed at the walls in confined frustration, London-based electro-pop duo, Ooberfuse, were gearing up to drop their latest single ‘Set Me Free’. If you’re in the mood for some aurally-inspired liberation, feel your shackles lose their grip to the danceable drop.

With a touch of Tori Amos to Cherrie Anderson’s vocals, beats which will allow you to imagine what it would sound like if you fed a Portishead record ecstasy and a production which drips with electro-pop modernity, if Set Me Free was any more on-trend it would be writing the future. The track perfectly captures the emotions which come to fruition when you finally remove yourself from someone else’s control and it feels like nothing is out of reach. Liberation has never sounded sweeter.

The official music video was released on January 4th, you can check it out for yourselves via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ray Emure has served distinctively entrancing electro-pop with their latest release ‘Show Me’

Posted on 7 February 2021

Ray Emure has unleashed his new wave up-tempo pop track, ‘Show Me’, which may intensify the urge to hit a dancefloor, but the galvanising serotonin feeding-beats are just sweet at home.

Under Ray Emure’s distinctively entrancing vocals, you’ll find a dub-infused bed of danceable electronica which nods to 80s synthpop before hair-whipping to the future of pop. With the dirty dub drops and Ray Emure ensuring Show Me carried as much salaciousness as it does energy, it’s an earworm that you definitely won’t want to kick out any time soon.

Show Me is available to stream via spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

AYGYUL exudes strength through her emboldening electro pop single ‘I’ll Be Alright’

Posted on 20 January 2021

Vienna-based, Russian-born singer/songwriter/producer Aygyul mixes up the genres on her new, bilingual single “I’ll Be Alright”, throwing in Indie-pop, Electronica, and a little dash or two of R&B, to produce a classy little dance-pop track.

Created during lockdown from Aygyul’s bedroom music studio, and working with poet Pati Avish (who writes all the lyrics for Aygyul’s songs), this is a reminder that, no matter what’s going on around us, we need to look internally, to our inner resilience and strength, and to take the time out to care for ourselves and give ourselves time to recover; ‘I’ll Be Alright’ is a strong track, dance-oriented but still poppy and uplifting.

Hear ‘I’ll Be Alright’ on YouTube. Follow Aygyul on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

The planets all align for Rocco & TDC Tunes with new single ‘Cosmic’

Posted on 24 December 2020
Rocco & TDC Tunes

While the world blinks in pandemic darkness and people sit frustrated, confused, and nervous of the future, it seems dance singer/songwriter Rocco has not just been falling in love, but finding the whole experience a transcendental, psychedelic time. Perhaps best known for her single ‘Lovesick’, a collaboration with H two 0 for the Ministry of Sound, which reached No.1 in the UK Dance Charts, on ‘Cosmic’ Rocco collaborates with London-based writer/producer TDC Tunes to provide us with a high energy, soaring dance tune, all swelling keyboard chords, overlapping vocal lines, and thumping house beats.

There’s a Gabrielle-like quality to Rocco’s voice, a smoky huskiness that’s at once sexy and vulnerable, sitting over rising, chiming sequenced keyboards, hi hat patterns, and thunderous bass, building and rising then dropping to a trancey, psychedelic little breakdown before climbing once more to its ultimate crescendo.

The full track is released on December 18th across all major streaming platforms, you can stream this now on Spotify, and follow TDC Tunes and Rocco on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Jeffrey Chan proves why he’s a worthy contender for breakthrough artist of the year with his single ‘Try’

Posted on 15 December 2020

‘Try’ is the latest sultrily slick, amorously entrancing Pop single from singer-songwriter Jeffrey Chan which follows on from the release of his instant 2020 hit ‘Glow’ which garnered over 100,000 streams shortly after the release.

Many artists had their worlds turned upside down during the lockdown, but with their soulfully resolving approach to punchy danceable Pop, it’s no surprise that so many people were drawn to the magnetism within Jeffrey Chan’s sound.

Timelines converge in Try as the romanticism of 80’s Synthpop coalesces with the futurism in the Australian artist’s signature sound. It is so much more than a meeting of past and future, it’s a testament of ingenuity and the artist’s ability to get dopamine pumping as hard as the rhythmically ensnaring beats. With their distinguishably seductive vocals and euphorically-crafted sound, Jeffrey Chan definitely has what it takes to be the breakthrough artist of the year.

You can check out Try for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Naud – Snaps it to us with his quirky Melting Pop style.

Posted on 7 December 2020
https://soundcloud.com/naudmusic_fr/snap-it

French artist Naud describes his music as ‘Melting Pop’, and while the pun might generate a slightly pained groan, the music certainly doesn’t; on reflection though, it’s a pretty apt description, ‘Snap It’, from Naud’s debut EP ‘Cames’ (which dropped on 31st October), being a bouncy swirling mixture of influences, combining Naud’s funk bass and guitar style with danceable beats, and electro style, and a heavily alt-pop swing to the arrangement and stop-start, sing-song, occasionally falsetto vocal.

Named, one assumes, with a nod to a certain French distillery on the isle of Pinthiers, in Pons, Naud describes his music as a mixture of cultural and stylistic influences, and ‘Snap It’ has the same kind of effect as his namesake’s signature gin and vodka, a heady intoxicating mix confounding the senses whilst remaining wholly pleasing and enjoyable; there’s a touch of Mika or maybe Beck to the track, in that whole ‘quirky, borderline kooky, non-conformist’ sort of way, and that’s entirely a good thing, allowing Naud free rein here to produce a glittering alternative pop track which effortlessly straddles the boundaries of pop, rock, and dance.

You can hear ‘Snap It’ on Soundcloud now, or check out Naud on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes