Browsing Tag

Jazz Pop

Ludy doesn’t need no ‘Favors’

Posted on 25 June 2021

You can take the girl out of the Midwest, it seems, but you can’t take the Midwest out of the girl; what you can do, however, is mix that with the palm trees and art deco stucco of Miami Beach, and end up with a fiercely independent, upbeat and upfront sound and bold, bright production. Marrying smooth deep cuts jazz, stylish vocal harmonies, and old-skool beats and bassline, all backing Lucy’s silky smooth, vocals and fresh, feisty lyrics.

‘Favors’ is that perfect mix of souful, poppy, R&B with a little dash of hip hop and some smoky jazz-club cool, all married to some seriously stylish, glamourous visuals. It’s a perfect cocktail – cool, smooth, and over way too soon.

Check out Ludy on YouTube and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Nelda – A perfect pick-me-up with ‘If It Wasn’t For Your Love’

Posted on 17 June 2021

Coming in with some lusciously tasteful piano, jazzy, uplifting, and mellow, ‘If It Wasn’t For Your Love’ is a gorgeous ‘thank you’ to family and childhood nurturing, all wrapped up in a mix of jazz, blues, and gentle pop, singer songwriter Nelda Kuzuma’s soulful vocal and keys mixing with Artis Aleksejevs’ tasteful brushed drums and clarinet and brother Arturs’ wandering, laconic bassline and synths. Think old-school club, all smoky noir and tabletop tealight candles, twenties-style cocktail dresses and zoot suits, and you won’t go far wrong.

It’s beautifully played and arranged, restrained yet lively, thankful and joyous and oh so, so good, Kuzuma’s smooth, syrupy delivery absolutely soothing and caressing, sultry and sensual and seemingly effortless, leaping over the rolling tempo changes and that tight-but-loose rhythm section groove. At a point where the world feels just ever-so-slightly over-ridden with negative uncertainty, ‘If It Wasn’t For Your Love’ is, simply, a glorious time-out; an absolute upswing of positivity, laid-back, chilled, and delivered with such utter charm and feel it’s impossible not to feel just a little bit brighter for listening. It’s a perfect pick-me-up prescription.

You can check out ‘If It Wasn’t For Your Love’, and its accompanying video, on YouTube. And you really, really should. Right now.

Review by Alex Holmes

Chris Sunfield goes in for the kill with his latest avant-garde production, ‘Predator’

Posted on 9 June 2021

With the dark sensuality of a She Wants Revenge single, theatrically macabre lyrics, and cinematic film noir feel, Chris Sunfield’s latest single, Predator is an intoxicating mash of baroque folk, pop, jazz, electronica and hip hop.

Just when you’re starting to think that you’ve got the soundscape figured out, Predator throws fierily slick rap verses from Ya Favorite Lightskin into the mix that will be a hit with any fans of Banks and Steelz. With avant-garde instrumentals contorting free from constraint under the bars, Predator absorbs you just as much as you absorb the soundscape.

Predator is one of those tragically rare singles that you could listen to a thousand times and still feel assured that you would take something new from the next listen. The artistry on exhibition here is practically unparalleled. We can’t wait to hear what Chris Sunfield unleashes next.

The official music video to Predator premiered on May 28th; you can check it out for yourselves by heading to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Edi Aztec has made Dusty Springfield’s ‘Spooky’ even more psychedelic than before

Posted on 9 June 2021

24-year-old Greek guitarist, songwriter and producer, Edi Aztec showed his virtuosic stripes in his latest single, Spooky, featuring Sofia Hole. Reworking a classic and rekindling the same magic is a rarity, but this Dusty Springfield cover is just as indulgent as the original.

The Brighton-based artist’s cover carries the same mesmeric marks as Dusty Springfield’s original, but with the faster tempo and even more kalaedoscopic psych elements worked into the sultrily iconic single, he well and truly made Spooky his own.

If Spooky gives you a newfound infatuation with Edi Aztec’s ability to add finesse to the already flawless, you will want him on your radar for his upcoming album release.

Spooky is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lara de Belder has made her Jazz Pop debut with ‘Turn it Over’.

Posted on 29 May 2021

Lara de Belder’s debut single, Turn It Over, is easily one of the most promising debuts made in 2021. Discernibly, the British-American artist brought plenty of her experience in the theatre to her jazzy debut single that reflects upon themes of obsession and desire.

With a voice as mesmerising as Cher’s and the endlessly enlivening instrumentals bleeding euphoria with every progression, Turn it Over is consistently captivating. The single allows you to mentally contend with the dark side of obsession as the jazzy instrumental arrangement finds a way to absolve any guilt you may be harbouring from obsessive behaviour. We have all been there.

Turn it Over is the first single to be released from Lara’s upcoming concept album that explores relationship breakdowns. Needless to say, we’re already stoked to hear it.

Turn it Over is now available to stream on Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

About ‘Last Night’ – Beatnik drop us some deep cut soulful grooves.

Posted on 10 April 2021

There’s an immediate familiarity around Beatnik to anyone who’s ever whiled away their entire teenage school holidays playing the old coin-op road-race game ‘OutRun’ over and over, or spent, say, 29 hours straight watching 70’s cop-show re-runs on Paramount. Not that we’ve done either, of course. Heaven forbid. But it’s exactly that sort of jazzy, funky, 70’s disco-tinged soulful chill that leaps out of the speakers when hitting ‘play’ on ‘Last Night’; a deep-groove old-school funk-pop dance track, all wandering bass, off-beat drum fills, syncopated Nile Rodgers-style guitar chords, Rhodes piano, and stabs of perfect, jazzy brass, all underlying keyboard/vocalist Peter LaBarge’s awesome soulful vocal delivery.

It’s an absolute killer of a track, a bouncy, beach-and-palm-tree infused love letter to South Florida wrapped up in Acid Jazz Brand New Heavies Chic-meets-Jamiroquai catchiness; we’ve been humming the chorus refrain from ‘Last Night’ all day since first listening to the track, and – given the amount of music we get to review – there doesn’t get much higher praise than that.

‘Last Night’ is taken from Beatnik’s ‘Night Shift’ EP, due for release on April 1st. You can pre-save ‘Night Shift’ through BandCamp now, listen to ‘Last Night’ on Spotify, and follow Beatnik on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Mantra is ‘Funny Like That’ in their crooning indie-rock track

Posted on 10 April 2021

Starting off with a cute solo acoustic guitar pattern before the rest of the band arrive with a slightly jazzy feel to this, the new single from alt-indie groove Mantra. It’s chilled, mellow, with a relaxed, off-beat feel, and a summery, ‘the-days-are-getting-longer’ kind of vibe.

There’s a touch of Beck or Mika to this, in that ‘the only rule is there are no rules’ sort of way of making music, a little of the Plain White Tees ‘college radio’ feel mixed with some Pink Floyd psychedelia, and overall there’s a sort of meandering kookiness that sets this aside from the run-of-the-mill guitar-bass-drums indie set-up; the vocals have that laconic laziness that seems to sit quite regularly with bands from the American South-East, and the whole thing sort of grooves and chills its way along letting you recline into its mix of effortless cool.

You can hear ‘Funny Like That’ on Spotify now.

Review by Alex Holmes

MYB served a cocktail of pop, blues and jazz with their latest soul-filler, ‘Pessimistic Panorama’.

Posted on 5 April 2021
MYB

If singles charted on the strength of their titles alone, the Michigan-duo, MYB’s single, ‘Pessimistic Panorama’ would be a chart-topper, but that’s not to say the seductively upbeat soundscape itself isn’t aural gold.

The experimental artist who take influence from The Beatles, Prince and Journey deviated from archetypes when orchestrating this uniquely enamouring hit which is a minefield of aural curveballs. While we could never have anticipated being thrown into a jazz-blues style instrumental breakdown, we more than appreciated the jazz piano progressions jaunting next to the soaring guitar riffs; they seemed to parallel the enigmatic soul which MYB effortlessly exuded in their latest single.

You can hear MYB on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Landon Sears gets sexy, sensual, and scented with new single ‘Shea’

Posted on 4 March 2021

If R&B got drunk on Cristal one night and ended up in a lost-weekend New York hotel-room tryst with smooth jazz, then the unexpected offspring a few months later might sound very much like Landon Sears and ‘Shea’; a mix of Blue Note deep groove jazz, smooth R&B, and a little touch of old-skool hip-pop thrown in for good measure. ‘Shea’ has one of the catchiest pop choruses dropped so far this year (so much so that we’ve been singing it for the last couple of hours since first hearing the track), a perfect emotive story in the ‘shea butter lotion/the scent she leaves my home with/whenever I undress her’ lyrical hook.

Sears’ vocal is superb, suiting the track perfectly, sounding chilled, easy, and languorous atop the horns, grooving bass, and Rhodes piano, the track overall sexy, sensual, and fun, clearly having as good a time as, it seems, Sears and his fictional fragranced heroine.

If ever a track had the perfect crossover of serious musical credibility, groove, and sheer radio-friendly commerciality, it’s Landon Sears’ ‘Shea’. The album ’88.1’ from which it comes was released on January 30th(Sears’ birthday); you can hear ‘Shea’, and the rest of ’88.1’, on Soundcloud. Follow Landon Sears on Instagram and Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Benny Elom lays down ethereal soul in their indie jazz fusion single ‘I Do’

Posted on 2 March 2021

Essex, UK-residing Afroitalian R&B singer-songwriter, Benny Elom, has released their ethereally soulful single ‘I Do’ which unravels as an all too indulgent blend of RnB, jazz and soul.

The mellifluous single explores romantic uncertainty without lacing any bitterness or melancholy in the soundscape, instead, through their humility, the artist reminds us how pure love can be. With his affably honeyed lyricism, his mesmerising vocal timbre and the sense of modernity which he brings through jazz fusion, Benny Elom’s sound is a recipe for success.

You can check out Benny Elom’s latest single which officially released on February 5th via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast