Always pushing boundaries, you can expect the unexpected from alternative-pop artist MAGGIE ANDREW. Her signature sound meshes dreamy, synth-laden melodies together with edgy lyrics.
Inspiration can come from the most unpredictable places, like maybe when you’re trying on your first grill at the jeweller’s! Maggie’s bold and upbeat song, ‘Biting Ice Cream,’ came from that icy, white image of wearing a grill and thinking about getting ice cream on a hot California afternoon.
The track is 75% attitude and 25% sexy with bouncy 808s and playful melodies. Check out the official ‘Biting Ice Cream’ music video below…
Brasstracks is the Grammy award winning project of New York based musician and producer Ivan Jackson. Over the years, Brasstracks has evolved from a hip-hop-jazz-big-band to an ever-morphing landscape where Jackson sets the framework.
The Brasstracks rap sheet runs for miles. The group scored two GRAMMY wins for their production work on Chance The Rapper’s seminal “No Problems” in 2017 (Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Album). They’ve also since been nominated for their work with Harry Styles during the 2021 GRAMMYs for Best Pop Vocal Album, ultimately taking home the Best Pop Solo Performance award for their work on “Watermelon Sugar.”
Brasstracks has appeared on Saturday Night Live, performing alongside Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson, the latter of whom is a frequent collaborator. Other collaborations include Anderson .Paak, Khalid, Mac Miller, and BTS. Basstracks has also performed songs from their debut album on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
The new Brasstracks era sees Jackson as an architect for this larger project of incubating artists and allowing them the space to grow.
The latest single ‘Anesthesia’ featuring Mandy Lee of MisterWives, is the second single from Brasstracks’ upcoming album. Lee soars as she sings, “Doppelgänger, I can’t hate you even though I know the grass is greener”, crooning a sneering congratulations to a nemesis who always seems to be one step ahead. The title itself is a nod to the numbness that accompanies this feeling. The vibrant single shimmers with oscillating synths and Lee’s velvet vocals, emitting an overall colorful and contagious aura. The playful track refuses to let listeners stay still, with fast-paced beats and layered instrumentation creating an all-encompassing atmosphere, captivating you from the very first second.
The upcoming album is a unique addition to the Brasstracks catalog: brimming with technical wizardry and maximal, brassy bombast, but intensely personal, rife with self-loathing and heartache. The album’s undeniable joyousness stands in unflinching contrast with its subject matter, and ‘Anesthesia’ is a microcosm of its ethos: a shimmering, groovy, soulful house record about, above all else, jealousy. The album weaves in and out of itself seamlessly, with ‘Anesthesia”’sampling Brasstracks’ previous FATHERDUDE + TOBi flanked single, ‘Nobody’s Fool’. Despite its seething subtext, ‘Anesthesia’ is a quintessential warm weather banger, and was a highlight of Brasstracks’ sold out, 6-show Blue Note run this March.
With their dreamy, dark, sensual sound, ARULA & QUIET SON form a duo whose music combines the qualities of both urban electronica, dance, and experimental folk with an infusion of melodic pop sensibilities. Initially starting as a remote song collaboration between the two California artists & producers, the project blossomed into a fully realised LP that winds through themes of self-discovery, reclamation, climate consciousness, and romantic vulnerability.
In just a little over a year, Arula & Quiet Son have played shows throughout California, touring with acts like Random Rab & Desert Dwellers. The first single and title track from their debut album, ‘Found’, explores the power and direct connection between the feminine and nature.
Excited about the release, Arula says: “‘Found’ is a reclamation of the power that can only be harnessed from within. It is an ode to anyone who has ever felt lost, confused, or like they don’t fit it. It is a reminder that we can always be found within ourselves, and within the receptive energy of nature and earth”
Quiet Son elaborates: “The production of this song is really special to me. It was such a unique challenge, because when I heard the initial demo I realised the message of the song is so clear that I had to make sure the production supported Arula’s vision precisely. It was an exploration in creating and subsequently releasing tension: to build the sound around Arula’s vocals as the message of the song evolves from one of self-doubt into one of complete reclamation, empowerment, and ecstasy. It was fun to let that huge bass synth take over in the last chorus; I think it really opens the song up and symbolizes the feeling of relief and blessing we can feel when we give ourselves permission to take control of our lives and destinies.”
Arula continues: “Our hope is that this song reminds you that you are powerful and enough, just because you exist. May you always feel found within yourself.”
Take a peep at the stunning video for ‘Found’ below, directed by Jade Sanchez of Earth Based Media.
London alt rock band SAD BOYS CLUB‘s latest single ‘Lumoflove’, is a powerful and vulnerable piece of their upcoming debut album Lullabies From The Lightning Tree, out 5th May via Modern Sky.
Radically changing up from their previous singles and back catalogue of music, ‘Lumoflove shows Sad Boys Club, and particularly lead singer Jacob Wheldon, at their darkest, but also most alluring. Paring sparse piano and murky production elements with bursts of vocal passion highlights the dichotomies of love and lust.
Dark, mysterious and brooding, Sad Boys Club are set to have their breakout year. The band’s upcoming debut album Lullabies From The Lightning Tree builds upon their previous string of EP releases that have seen them co-signed by the likes of Fred Macpherson, Matty Healy, Phoebe Bridgers and more.
Speaking on the album – Wheldon says: “It’s almost like a little bit of a coming of age record, it’s just 10 years later than it’s supposed to happen. It’s just for your late twenties and realising the ephemerality of all of that stuff, at this age we’ve all had relationships that haven’t worked out that we thought would last forever, we’ve all loved bands that we thought we were gonna love forever, we’ve all seen beauty in different ways.”
The story of Sad Boys Club is one of yearning, the feeling of reaching, but never quite touching. The constant ebb and flow of euphoric success and seemingly inescapable set-backs. Debut album Lullabies From The Lightning Tree not only marks a journey of four friends, but a generational rallying cry for self acceptance and love for those lost in the quagmire of their mid-to late twenties.
As Milan Kundera writes in his 1984 classic ‘The Unbearable Lightness Of Being’: “Anyone whose goal is ‘something higher’ must expect someday to suffer vertigo. What is vertigo? Fear of falling? No, Vertigo is something other than fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves.” Kundera’s comical scepticism of life is an ever present theme for Sad Boys Club on their debut outing.
Combining The Cure’s penchant for emotionally vulnerable rock anthems, The 1975’s lyrical aptitude and driving guitar based sound of Death Cab for Cutie, Sad Boys Club have cut their teeth on the live circuit for a number of years, supporting Spector, Swim Deep, Bombay Bicycle Club and The Slow Readers Club to name but a few. Their live shows are dynamic, dramatic, and with a wealth of new music to play for the first time, they’re set to be one the UK’s “must see” live shows from a break-out group.
For their previous releases, Sad Boys Club have garnered support from the likes of BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, The Independent, CLASH Magazine, Dork Magazine, The Rodeo, Gigwise, The Line Of Best Fit, Whynow and more.
Sad Boys Club’s debut album Lullabies From The Lightning Tree is out 5th May via Modern Sky. New single ‘Lumoflove’ is out now. Sad Boys Club embark on tours of the UK and Europe in the spring. Have a listen to their stunning ballad below…
Inspired by a composite of pop / ballad styles, CAITLIN MIN FA‘s latest single, ‘Moments’ is a celebration of her five year anniversary with her partner Ryan, reflecting on and appreciating all the incredible moments and memories they shared in this crazy world. Funnily enough, two days after the song came out … they got engaged!!
Produced by Melbourne’s ARIA award winner Rob Amoruso, the track has the energy of Jojo, and elements of H.E.R. With the infusion of both Pop and urban R&B, ‘Moments’ is not only romantic, but intertwining visual story telling within the lyrics, and also providing three and a half minutes of pure escapism.
Officially ready to be added to your playlist, it’s a song that belongs on radio with it’s bold energy that contrasts a playful and vulnerable attitude simultaneously. Have a listen below…
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