Browsing Tag

Pop-Rock

Strange World Music held dominion over the future of electronic pop rock with their latest single, I’m on Fire

Posted on 2 August 2023

Strange World Music blew techno-pop-rock smoke onto the airwaves with their latest endlessly progressive single, I’m on Fire. The Sussex, England-based songwriter made a mockery of the comparatively stagnant evolution of post-rock with the anthemically eclectic future-ready hit, which starts with a histrionically cinematic prelude before slamming you right into a techno-pop verse.

Along the way, around the lyricism that compels you to stoke the fires of self-empowerment and subsequently socio-political justice, the literally and metaphorically red-hot hit picks up riotous rock licks that turn up the temperature and the momentum in the liberating EDM anthem that leaves the contemporary curve safely in the rearview mirror.

I’m on Fire dropped on July 17th; stream it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Andrew Bradley advocated for unity in the infectious grooves of his latest single, Everybody’s Welcome Here

Posted on 30 July 2023

Hot on the heels of his debut LP, All Things Considered, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Andrew Bradley is set to unveil his unifying funk-dripping pop-rock hit, Everybody’s Welcome Here.

After an 80s funk hop reminiscent intro, the single unravels as a kaleidoscopically groovy hit that will leave you itching to hit a dancefloor and move to the intrinsically rhythmic magnetism. With the attitude of Britpop and a perfect pinch of Beatles-esque 60s psych-pop, Everybody’s Welcome Here is a compellingly textured sonic TARDIS of a release that couldn’t be better timed.

In such a divisive era when it feels like the pot is being perpetually shaken to breed antagonism in the atmosphere, Andrew Bradley served an all too welcome reminder that acceptance is one of the highest virtues we should all find a little more time for.

Prior to releasing Everybody’s Welcome Here, Andrew Bradley has gained experience in the industry as an artist and producer. From The Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville to Abbey Road Studios, his multi-faceted talents have graced plenty of the bucket list studios.

Check out Andrew Bradley on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rev yourself up with the adrenalized volition in Matt’s Keys pop-rock amalgam, Let’s Go

Posted on 28 July 2023

Any fans of The Pretty Reckless will find just as much anthemic fire in the latest pop-rock hit, Let’s Go, from the songwriter Matt’s Keys. With no compromise to the intimacy of the lyrics or the power in the vocals, Let’s Go is a moving single, in pretty much every respect.

Rev yourself up with the adrenalized volition in the pop-punk spliced dance track that uses overdriven guitars to cause friction against the ascending piano chords and frenetic hyper-pop beats that will keep a firm hold on your rhythmic pulses until the outro.

Let’s Go is the ultimate playlist staple to put on repeat when you need the inspiration and permission to live life to the fullest, whether that’s by hitting the dancefloor instead of staying home with the cat or putting your heart on the line instead of keeping it behind lock and key.

Let’s Go was officially released on July 21; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ghost Nation advocated idiosyncratic autonomy in their dark pop/rock amalgam, Insane

Posted on 20 July 2023

Ghost Nation advocated idiosyncratic individuality in their latest addictive anthem, Insane. With a Shinedown-esque rock backbeat and razor-sharp pop hooks that pull you into the emboldening future-ready synthetics of the down-the-rabbit-hole single, it’s a feel-good anthem for every outlier who knows how hard fought for sanctity can be.

Uniqueness may now be celebrated to a certain degree in society but there are still boundaries to keep quirks inside of, Ghost Nation broke every boundary in their liberating anthem, which also borrows a few industrial rock tones. It may be darker and infinitely more twisted with the carnivalesque propensities of the melodies, but insane is the epitome of a radio-ready earworm. If Muse and Imagine Dragons managed to mainstream their sonic signatures, Ghost Nation is easily capable of doing the same.

Ghost Nation has already had its fair share of successes since forming in Stockholm in 2016. Their debut release was a hit worldwide, and their seminal single, Unforgiven, reached No.1 in over 20 singles. To date, the single has clocked up 1.4 million streams on Spotify and 3.6 million on YouTube.

Insane was officially released on July 14th; stream it on SoundCloud and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Evie Lulu has launched her superlative sludge pop single, Adored

Posted on 15 May 2023

After earning her stripes as a music producer, the singer-songwriter, Evie Lulu, made her latest single, Adored, definitively her own. Beyond the similarities to Daughter and Warpaint, the lyrically-driven artist is exemplary in her determination to allow spilled ink to manifest as melodic triumphs that catch in your throat before they take up residence as a sludgy indie pop earworm you will always want to appease by giving her candidly kaleidoscopic soundscapes repeat attention.

Pop, rock, and grunge may be common ingredients in many modern-day amalgams, but the songstress who takes inspiration from Bon Iver, Kate Bush, The Sundays and Silverchair when orchestrating her reflectively uninhibited releases is in a league of her own. From the delicious distortion on the guitars to the vulnerability within the vibrato in the vocal lines, Adored is a bitter-sweet sonic dream, which is all too efficacious in its ability to hammer home the emotions expressed.

Adored hit the airwaves on March 1; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Forget your ex, fixate on Good Time Locomotive’s debut new wave pop-rock hit, Lines of Symmetry

Posted on 13 May 2023

The London-hailing prodigal sons of jangly new wave pop-rock, Good Time Locomotive, put the silver lining on your last sanity stripper of a relationship with their debut single, Lines of Symmetry, which allowed them to more than stay true to their moniker.

If you thought that Stranger Things delivered a potent shot of 80s nostalgia, you’ll be wishing your hair was bigger from the first time the crooned-over chorus hits in Lines of Symmetry. This wholly relatable dance-worthy hit is the nearest thing to closure that most disenfranchised hopeless romantics out there will get; consider the absolute earworm of a melody as bonus material.

Good Time Locomotive may be a fresh-faced outfit, but it comprises a collective of seasoned musicians who have enough musical chops between them to officially dub themselves as a powerhouse. We can’t wait to roll with the emotional punches in their forthcoming EP, due for release this summer.

Lines of Symmetry will officially release on May 13; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Denim Dan created a capsule of 70s folk-pop-rock nostalgia in their sixth studio album, This Way, That Way, The Other Way

Posted on 26 April 2023

NYC’s Denim Dan fortified the folk-pop-rock realm once again with their sixth studio album, This Way, That Way, The Other Way, which will ricochet you back to the 70s via an aural time capsule you have never experienced the like of before. Under the heart-on-sleeve influence of Tom Petty & The HeartBreakers, Lou Reed & Leonard Cohen, you will also be able to reminisce on the slightly zanier production styles of Zappa and the Legendary Pink Dots in this warm vignette of fond memories forged in an era of personal freedom and revelation.

There are few things as sonically sweet as coming-of-age tales after decades of retrospect. The kaleidoscopically honeyed soundscapes in This Way, That Way, The Other Way allows you to cruise right back to the 70s while allowing your perceptions to shift around the pearls of wanderlust wisdom.

“This Way, That Way, The Other Way is our sixth studio album. A non-fiction coming-of-age narration of loosely factual true events from my time in New Mexico in the mid 1970s. The title track and first four songs were written in Florence, Italy during the pandemic when I felt inspired to write about my experiences of four decades earlier. The next eight songs – also written about that period – including Let Your Love Fall Down On Me [too] were recorded in 2001 right after 911 in Boulder, Colorado. They were forgotten…but my son, Marcello, found them in an old computer.”

Stream This Way, That Way, The Other Way on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jakob the Liar – H E A R T B E A T: The Only Heartbreak Hit You Need to Hear This Year

Posted on 19 March 2023

Considering that we’re living in a post-truth world, we may as well tune into a reality falsifier, especially if they’re as endearingly magnetic as the alt-indie singer-songwriter Jakob the Liar.

His latest single, H E A R T B E A T, is his first contribution to the airwaves since the successful launch of his 2020 EP, Crystallised in Moonshine, and it is a melodic dream. The concept of running away from your own heartbeat won’t be foreign to anyone that has known heartbreak, but few can bring that world-shattering sensation into poetic motion as well as the Danish London-residing artist.

If The National, Bon Iver and Springsteen had a riff-soaked lovechild, the sonic result would be just as sweet as the anthemic intimacy in H E A R T B E A T.

H E A R T B E A T is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hungarian indie-pop-rock Dirty Slippers pioneers stole the show and our souls with ‘Honest Kid’

Posted on 8 March 2023

Dirty Slippers made history as the first Hungarian band invited to record in Abbey Road Studios with George Shilling (Oasis, Mike Oldfield) and Tim Palmer (U2, Bon Jovi). Just one hit of their latest single, Honest Kid, was enough to affirm why they are a multi-award-winning outfit with three charting albums under their belt in their home country. FYI, NOTHING is lost in translation.

The indie pop-rock outfit, fronted by singer and guitarist Lázár Lobó-Szalóky, who knows just how to put your heart in your throat as you feel the full force of the emotion projected through every facet of the arrangement, songwriting and lyricality, are unparalleled in their captivatingly evocative presence on the airwaves.

Reminiscent of the 00s indie-pop-rock legacy acts, yet intrinsically unique with their folky baroque beguile, Dirty Slippers stole my soul from the first hook in the single that looks back on childhood from middle age with nostalgia in the pensive rearview mirror.

Honest Kid was officially released on February 21st. Hear it on Spotify & Follow Dirty Slippers on Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Brigton’s Sadie Nix reached the pinnacle of candourous conviction in her piano pop-rock hit, Oblivious

Posted on 6 March 2023

With the minor piano keys, stridently pensive vocal harmonies, and depth of vulnerable emotion in the lyricism in the latest single from Brighton-based aural originator, Sadie Nix orchestrated a superlatively immersive alt-pop score with Oblivious.

With maturity, confidence and her ability to paint pain through melodies all transcending her years spent as an artist, Sadie Nix is a sensation that cuts through the superficiality of pop-rock while carrying all of the instant accessibility of it. What Kelly Clarkson was to 2004, Nix is to 2023.

Traversing the frustrations of invisibility and unaccountability through a lack of caring, Oblivious is one of the most powerful records we’ve heard this year. On the basis of it, I pity anyone that finds themselves on the wrong side of Nix’s conviction.

Oblivious hit the airwaves on February 3rd. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast