Taken from ‘Euphoric Sad Songs (Dance Edition)’ which is available now.
iamnotshane – Just Buried!
New Music: Oscar DeLaughter
A pop talent hailing from Dallas who creates melodic tones matched with thoughtfully constructed lyricism. This track was self-produced by DeLaughter (with mixing by Joe Grasso), and self-released.
“‘Just Woke Up’ is about coming to grips with the reality of certain aspects in life but keeping hope that things will get better… I feel like things get easier when you’ve accepted what they are… I refer to summer because summer is a time when we plan on doing all the things you’ve wanted to do all year… but unfortunately it doesn’t always work out. This past summer I think everyone had a taste of that more than ever considering the state our world was in.”
New Music: Prospa
Taking inspiration from a whole load of electronic and dance genres to create something new that still somehow feels familiar. In it’s purest form, this is feel-good music made to get you dancing.
New Music: Telescreens
With a feature on V Magazine earlier this year, New York outfit Telescreens have an almighty powerful approach to indie-rock, laced with heavy synth tones and raw vocals. It’s a sound that immediately commands your attention, and I’m living for it.
Taken from the debut album ‘The Return’ which is out now.
Olivia O’Brien – Better Than Feeling Lonely
So look me in the eyes, tell me that you want me
Tell me pretty lies, tell me I’m the only
Even if you don’t mean it, touchin’ you is holy
Maybe fake love is better than feeling lonely
New Music: Los Leo
A South Australian talent who blends synth with RnB in the most charming way. Half of you wants to dance along, while the other half just wants to experience the melancholy of the melody.
New Music: RⱯHM ⚉
A conceptually interesting piece of electronic music that feels experimental yet highly charged and emotive. It’s not always an easy listen, but totally captivating.
“‘semiautomatical’ is a non-word that i was using to refer to this kind of halfness. closeness and farness simultaneously. watching other people have sex on the internet. Love in the anthropocene. Blah blah you get it. But it’s more ambiguous than ‘wow this is fucked the bots are taking over my brainstem.’ It’s the feeling of sticking your hand out the window of a moving car and letting your palm pitch and dive with the wind. Knowing that even on the highway humanity thrives.”
Celeste – Love Is Back
New Music: Medhanit
Track of the week, and the first of 2021! It’s impossible not to feel joy when this track plays. A talent emerging from Tasmania who fuses fresh pop tones with old-school essences of funk and soul, to create a sound that is wildly catchy.
via Before The Data
New Music: Katya Mila
Hildur – New Mistakes
What better way to start the Sunday than to get this new electro-pop gem from Icelandic pop kid Hildur on the stereo…
Payday – Hollywood Hyena
New Music: Jon Lucy
A track that shows two very contrasting styles of pop working together seamlessly from LA-based artist and producer Jon Lucy.
While the verses carry an essence of stripped-back rawness, the chorus sections change gears suddenly with a bursts of intense passion and energy.
“I wrote this song about a difficult trip I took to Scotland to visit a partner I was in a long-distance relationship with. It’s a story of an unhealthy relationship at the moment it reaches its breaking point, living in the painful first steps of reclaiming independence from someone you’ve learned to distrust but still love.”
Taken from the upcoming EP ‘Getting Over It’ which is out on 12th February 2021.
Kelli-Leigh – Be Alright
Press play and you’ll experience one of those rare moments when a song just draws you in and gives you the biggest mental hug.
The lyricism on Kelli-Leigh’s ‘Be Alright’ is exactly what we all need to hear, specially as we start another new year.
Mountain Bird – It Won’t Be Easy
With a new EP on the way, Mountain Bird releases a sublime piece of electronic pop that feels intensely dark, dramatic and atmospheric.
The track looks at our relationship with technology and how it impacts our mental health, and hopes for change.
“Will we be able to solve this? Will we unify and create better solutions and work together with technology to not only be more efficient but to feel good mentally?”
New Music: IZHAV
This release from Swedish newcomer IZHAV delights and rewards you with every second you listen. It’s a blend of indie-folk and pop that begins with vulnerability and fragility and ends in a euphoric tone that leaves you wanting more.
“Getting stuck in darkness is not an unusual thing for us humans. When it’s too hard to climb alone, and almost impossible to even see the reason why. ‘Catch The Sun’ represents that outer force/ person/ animal that doesn’t allow it to keep going like that. Instead it pulls, fights and struggles to remind you that all the beauty is out there, just waiting to be seen by.”
Robin Stjernberg – Pretty
One of the hardest-working talents from the Swedish music scene, Robin Stjernberg returns today with a sweetly melancholic love song that feels both cinematic and emotionally charged.
Stjernberg’s talents have not only been limited to being a singer in his own right – he’s also written and produced music for the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Sandro Cavazza, Estraden, Anna Bergendahl, Jill Johnson and Steps.
SZA – Good Days
Granted, SZA is not a newbie, but this track really reflects a style of RnB that I foresee we will hear a lot more of in 2021.
Sleek, nostalgic, emotive with a subtle hint of melancholy. Truly sublime.
Here’s to better days… good days!
Olivia Holt – talk me out of it
While it’s the final day of the year, there’s still time for one last banger of a pop tune – courtesy of Olivia Holt.