Browsing Tag

experimental

Aim High: HYG urges us to float into the sky on their elevated new track Memory of Flight

Posted on 19 August 2022

Advising us to let the feeling shine through no matter what challenges, HYG shall take you into a whole new world where no one will ever find you on Memory of Flight.

HYG is a Canberra, Australia-based indie experimental psych rock band who returns after their previous release in 2022 called Into the New World.

”I wrote the lyrics after getting stuck in lockdown and reminiscing about times I’d travelled, and it kind of went from there.
It was a really calm moment; it was a pretty empty flight and for a moment there I was all on my own, with a few other people, 30,000 feet above the ground and hundreds of kilometres from the next-closest people. Everything felt good, which was nice.” ~ HYG

Recorded with the help of Canberra-based producer Louis Montgomery (SAFIA, Peking Duk, Slow Turismo), HYG has made a real gem to hold on to tightly here. Packed with quality from one of the more exciting acts around, there is a disco-psych vibe to be enthused by in droves on this soul-healing track.

Memory of Flight from Canberra, Australia-based indie experimental psych rock band HYG is such a soothing song that will probably put you into a better frame of mind. With ear-catching vocals and a wonderful ambience that might have you tapping your feet and stretching your toes, this is a cloud-floating single to close your eyes with.

Listen up to this new single on Spotify and see more on the IG page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Massachusetts Bellevide takes us higher and higher on the soul-shaker ‘Featherweight’

Posted on 31 July 2022

Showing us that party pooper who has ruined his mood for too long, Bellevide throws serious shade in his chill-to-the-bone style that shall urge your volume to go to into maximum instantly on ‘Featherweight‘.

Bellevide aka Daniel Duran is an experimental alt-pop solo singer-songwriter who is based in Massachusetts, USA.

”Themes of Bellevide include psychological darkness, personal transformation, death and rebirth, and healing. Despite the seriousness, Bellevide attempts to communicate with a light-heartedness.” ~ Bellevide

Bellevide is a storyteller like no other. He brews confidence and shows us that underground music is the core of our identity, no matter what anyone else thinks. Brooding with a real self-assured technique, this might catch you off guard if you aren’t ready for its piercing energy.

‘Featherweight‘ from Massachusetts, USA-based experimental alt-pop solo singer-songwriter Bellevide is a spooky performance that has underdog written all over it. Featuring his signature vocal style that is striking, calm, and crammed with a message, you have to look deep inside. With a smokey disposition that shall get you off your feet, this is a sizzling track that might burn your hand if you aren’t too careful.

See this new music video on YouTube and see his movements on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

The Viennese School spins a histrionic tale in his roots revivalist triumph, Dr. Irving

Posted on 24 July 2022

There is your average indie rock nostalgic peddler, and then there’s the Boston-based originator, The Viennese School, with their hauntingly archaic reinventions of American roots, folk, and gospel.

Their self-titled debut LP, featuring the standout single, Dr. Irving, tells the parallel stories of an army doctor, their brother soldier and the demise of a student found beneath a frozen river. You’re pulled into the narrative as much as the Avant Garde soundscape, featuring spacey psychedelic synthetics, old-school crooned vocals, blues rock solos and almost pornographically warm saturated analog tones.

Something is evidently in the Bostonian water if it bred The Viennese School as well as Amanda Palmer, who runs in the same histrionic direction as the artful innovator. What Ryan Murphy is to the small screen, The Viennese School evidently is to the airwaves. We’re officially obsessed.

Dr. Irving is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Anjalts – On Your Side: Provocatively Sensual Art-Pop

Posted on 26 June 2022

While everyone is jumping on the Kate Bush hype, it isn’t a far hop across to the up-and-coming art-pop singer-songwriter and producer, Anjalts’ latest sensually provocative single, On Your Side.

The minor keys in accord under the 80s-Esque production wrapped in haunting reverb create the perfect atmosphere for Anjalts’ translucently lucid vocals to bleed into. It is a full-on sensory experience that naturally words alone can’t capture. On Your Way leaves no room to wonder why it is on its way to going viral. We can’t wait to hear the alchemy that undoubtedly lingers in the LP that is set to follow On Your Way.

On Your Side is now available to stream on YouTube. And you can check out Anjalts via her official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bedroom producer, J4RED transcended genre in his artfully reflective introspection slice, ‘hurt u’

Posted on 25 June 2022

Sometimes it is the emotion that grips you; sometimes, it is the musicality and originality; in his third single, hurt u, the bedroom producer, J4RED, proved that he is a triple threat. Perhaps even more impressively, hurt u transcends genre while carrying vast universal appeal.

The dark mellow pool of experimentalism created the perfect atmosphere for the fiery yet quiescent vocals to ooze into, allowing you to feel every ounce of the exhaustive frustration that breeds from dynamics where the mental scars tally our time together.

After launching his music career with his EP, UNCONSCIOUS, which debuted when he was 17 years old, he joined bands in the UK and Germany, and produced for other bands, such as the up-and-coming metalcore band, Half Me. If he keeps on at this level of momentum, it is only a matter of time before he breaks into the mainstream.

hurt u is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ashes to Amber took the evolution of indie one off-kilter step further with HEEBIE JEEBIES

Posted on 24 June 2022
https://soundcloud.com/steedyroyce/heebee-jeebies-1/s-dMU88ZdfQch?in=steedyroyce/sets/heebee-geebees/s-wNN99aj7fTk&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

It isn’t all too long after the prelude that trying to pull out genre or reminiscence from Ashes to Amber’s latest single, HEEBIE JEEBIES starts to feel redundant. The unapologetic indie originator is one of the increasingly rare new names that are willing to expose his soul on the airwaves without hiding behind the style of another.

From gorgeously angular guitars fed through frenetic loops to harsh dancey synthetic textures to hip hop beats to cosmic blisters of dream pop, it’s all fed into the electrifying livewire of a title single to his forthcoming EP. As an anchor for sonic sanctity, Ashes to Amber gave us his sweetest indie-pop vocals, which will undoubtedly be a hit with fans of Peace, Jaws, the 1975, The Maccabees, and Swim Deep.

The HEEBIE JEEBIES EP will officially drop on June 24th. You can hear it for yourselves here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Canadian originator, Ethan Mark opened his jazzy neo-soul in his album ‘The Concept of You’

Posted on 23 June 2022

After teasing us title single from his 2022 album, The Concept of You, we eagerly awaited the full length of Ethan Mark’s sophisticated psychedelic-soul experimentalism.

With the opening single, The Unravelling of Every Day, equally as sublime as the openers on your favourite 90s Shoegaze albums (surely, everyone has some of those!), it is instantly affirmed what kind of production the Canadian artist constructed. One that is defined by its quiescence and the ability to hold your attention through the jazzy indie-soul juxtapositions.

Track 3, Gunslinger, is a trippy ethereal masterpiece, colourful enough to rival the fantasy-like escapism in tracks from Cosmo Sheldrake. Reminiscences fall by the wayside in the boundlessly experimental world music title single which breaks the monocultural mould with the percussion and throws in some flamenco guitars around the RnB grooves.

Not that The Concept of You has any skippable tracks, but special attention should be paid to Weight of it All. The lofty intricate work is a sublime pool of lyrical vulnerability, Avant-Garde ambience, and quintessential folk escapism. It is gravitas sonically personified.

Here is what Ethan Mark had to say on his album

“The Concept of You, and the upcoming album, came about from a challenge from my partner. She, a listener of neo-soul and jazz, challenged me to pare my usually elaborate and busy musical style down to something more organic, soulful, and pretty.

The result was a series of love songs encompassing many facets of love. The title single refers to her, the sepia-toned memories of summers, the roots we have put down together, and the love for home.

These themes felt especially important after a long period punctuated by isolation, introversion, and cabin fever. It’s accentuated by nylon guitar strings, cascading violins, gentle pianos, and the frailties of harmonised vocals.”

Concept of You is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Wav shows us his inside that shattered picture with ‘Who Was The One?’

Posted on 19 June 2022

With a tranquil energy that shows you inside the mind circles that have spun out of time, Wav knows that there is not much else to say to a former lover who has slowly faded away into the past with ‘Who Was The One?‘

Wav is a Montreal, Quebec-based indie experimental alternative solo artist and music producer who is inspired by artists such as Pink Floyd and Kanye West.

”The track explores themes such as addiction to comfort, self-doubt and self realization. Share, like, save. Over-analyze to the point where you know the song more than me and most importantly: enjoy.” ~ Wav

With a majestic approach that shows us all his growing maturity mentally as his calming vocals send you to a nostalgic place, Wav opens up the door into his past that has you shivering at the recollection from that memory you have hidden away for years.

”Coming from an Indian family he was constantly surrounded by Bollywood music and his older siblings would encourage him to sing as early as he could talk. Performing with his sisters at their Sikh Temple became Balkirat’s first introduction to the stage and where he fell in love with performing. ” ~ Wav

‘Who Was The One?‘ from Montreal, Quebec-based indie experimental alternative solo artist/music producer Wav is a cinematic experience that shall take your mind away and get you thinking deeply about that time you wish you could have back. The vocals simmer in hot like a burning fire and shake up your mood while pondering why things reversed so quickly.

Thinking about something for too long that you can’t change can really mess with your mind.

Hear this new single on Spotify and see what happens next on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Alt-indie artist, André Molina became everyone’s idea of seductive with his latest single, Euphoria

Posted on 8 June 2022

Everyone’s definition of seductive is different, but few will disagree on the broodingly demure power of André Molina’s third single, Euphoria, which explores the visceral highs which follow a hopeless romantic falling deeply.

Indie, alt-rock, orchestral dream pop and extremely nuanced RnB layers all became part of the fabric of the teasingly intimate track, which sensuously blows Closer by Nine Inch Nails out of the water; or at least provides a cinematic modernist alternative.

The Philippines-born, New Jersey-residing artist has an aptitude for giving the rough (almost industrial distortion) with the knee-weakening smooth (his lushly layered vocal harmonies). We can’t wait to watch the inevitable rise of André Molina. Few deserve it more.

Euphoria is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Drift away with Milk Bar Gang’s ethereal art-pop lullaby, Ozzie Ostriches Dream

Posted on 8 June 2022
OPEN by Milk Bar Gang

Taken from their debut EP, Open, the Milk Bar Gang’s standout single, Ozzie Ostriches Dream, is an ethereal lullaby; constructed to subdue you into an art-pop trance.

Any fans of Nico, PJ Harvey and Suicide will find just as much to favour in Ozzie Ostriches Dream, which wears influence from the 80s new wave, shoegaze, and cosmic pop as motifs affixed to the sheer originality that has been soporifically poured into this feat of transcendent avant-garde alchemy.

The reverb on the whispered vocals, the ring of the delayed guitars and the glassy aesthetic of the track all contribute to the intricately distinctive appeal that is sure to see the duo go far in 2022 and beyond.

Ozzie Ostriches Dream is now available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast