10. KTEE – Back In Time
Ever wonder what it would be like to relive your favourite moment, to change that horrible mistake, or to bet your life on an event you know is going to happen? That’s precisely what KTEE’s trying to explore on ‘Back in Time’ — the little novelties, the curiousness, and the intrigue of time travel. It’s a novel concept, and perhaps one that has been pursued and penned a fair amount across various cultural artefacts, but it is nonetheless always entertaining when you hear or read about it.
On her song, KTEE would reassure KTEE, who would always be insecure, that she is fantastic and that later she will be surrounded by people who love her and that she will not care about kids who laughed at her when she was a kid. She’d also reassure her that heartbreak was but momentary, and not worth hanging herself up over it. It’s a fun and exciting commercial bop bathed in wonderfully synth focused electronic production.
9. Keegan Chambers – What I Wouldn’t Do
What I Wouldn’t Do is all about the spontaneity in Romance,; the unexpected moments that have you swept off your feet and fall hopelessly in love. But at a deeper level, what Keegan Chambers is trying to unravel on her groovy and funky glam rock single is consent. “Enthusiastic consent makes everything more enjoyable for everybody as far as I’m concerned, and I wanted to write a song that proved it – an anthem, if you will.”
The song sounds exceptionally out of place in 2021, in a great way. It’s sung like an 80s glam rock frontrock, but flooded with electronic and disco elements from across the decades. It’s got a feeling of being a spin class workout banger, but also a dancefloor anthem. Although, those things probably do go hand in hand. Overall, it’s seductively infectious in its chorus and has a production thoroughly unique for the times. Well worth your three minutes.
8. Mothe – Summers Almost Gone
Like many musicians who have an inclination to experiment, push boundaries, and transcend the conventional, Spencer Fort or Mothe is deeply influenced by the work and image of David Bowie. Their dreamy and surrealist soundscape is wonderfully vibrant and atmospheric. It’s also got a keen sense of endearment to it, the kind that instils a sense of nostalgia in you whether you want to feel that way or not. But, as the song progresses and moves forward, the more laidback indie pop element it espouses starts to change into something more grandiose and expansive. In a very traditional rock composition style, the tune starts to taper off before hitting a nigh triumphant crescendo in the final minute that is worthy of being blasted in a stadium
It is astutely and imaginatively composed, teetering wonderfully around experimentation and tradition to craft a seamless indie pop tune that is at once an anthem and at another a relaxant. I can’t wait to here more from Mothe, they’ve got an ingenuity that provokes your attention.
7. N4November – Dear Friend
‘Dear Friend’ sounds like it came straight out of my childhood. Sung and performed like the emo-rock and pop punk legends that I grew up on, hearing it for the first time just brought about a wave of happy memories to me. Written in the throes of lockdown, N4November managed to pen down an emotive and personal piece while enduring his own struggles. While he mentions pop-culture as a large part of the songs influence, the bulk of what ‘Dear Friend’ is about his own everyday life and battle with mental illness.
With his greatest inspiration coming from a seemingly unlikely source, Taylor Swift, it’s clear that N4November’s first love is the craft of song writing itself. Her ability to create stories, worlds, and entire universes in just a single song is a strong source of inspiration.
All I know, is that it is loaded with emotion in the perfect way. Pop-punk has a special place in my heart, and I do lament that modern adaptations tend to veer too far away from what the genre stands for or sonically represents. But ‘Dear Friend’ does all the little things right, all the pieces that make a pop-punk song something to blast on your boombox in your room. The little bit of extra experimentation with synth like electronic sounds before the chorus really adds another dimension. If you even have a fleeting attachment to pop-punk, this is bound to make your day.
6. slowride – As Above/So Below
Combing more traditional alternative rock with experimental and modern indietronica sounds, slowride have a soundscape signature that I feel is heavily underused. Their influence, AWOLNATION, Foster The People, and Beck, are some of the most pathbreaking and innovative groups in the world, but they never really got the respect they deserved. And, on this absolute journey of a tune, the group have enlisted the help of Isaac Carpenter, producer from AWOLNATION themselves. So, you can bet your top dollar, this is going to blend both those aforementioned genres absolutely seamlessly.
With a video that is as wacky and out there as the song itself, ‘As Above/So Below’ demonstrates just how exciting blending synths into rock can be. The simple vocal performance of the chorus is so powerful and defiantly loud that it makes it absolutely anthemic. It is a stadium rock anthem, but one that basks in its electronic foundations. In a world where this niche style of indietronica rock seems to have slowly started to fade, slowride’s ‘As Above/So Below’ is almost a necessity in my eyes. Wonderfully weird, and creative to the core.
5. Mia Mormino – Showtime
Mia Mormino believes in music as a form of therapy, for her songs to be an outlet or comfort for anyone enduring a source of hardship. ‘Showtime’ is part of Mormino’s seven deadly ‘sin-gles’, with this one being particular to pride. It’s all about calling out with a vicious vengeance those crummy individuals who take pride and revel in cheating on their significant other. Sung with such wicked power, Mormino makes it a scathing indictment filled to the brim with magnificent vocal power.
“It’s all fun and games until you cheat on me. Literally, every single line is word for word what happened. Tot hose who can relate to this song-I’m so sorry, but I hope this reminds you that you aren’t alone. I want my pain and heartbreak to help you through yours.” So yes, it finds its inspiration in personal heartbreak and loss. But rather than reflect on that with a melancholic introspection, Mormino flips it on its head by crafting a glamorous commercial pop tune that is wonderfully sung. Check out the video as well!
4.Fantast – Repeat
The latest track from experimental synthesizer/hip-hop/alternative crossover trio Fantast is a wonderful romanticisation of ones own past. The trio have a way of melding a host of eclectic and experimental sounds, completely diverse and unique into more conventional mainstream melodies. Repeat is pulsating in every sense of the word, an overload of sensations and sounds that creep up on you and push forward with a vengeance. The pitter patter of the synths flow melodically across your headphones nigh seamlessly. And the vocals, delivered like poetry but with a cadence that is undeniably powerful.
Formed by siblings Daniel and Mario Gschwendtner as well as Fabian David, Viennese by choice in times of political upheaval, choose to make music as a form of poetic expression, activism, and escapism. The trio see the live performance as their true arena — smashing through energetic live shows that are a celebration of empowerment and escapism from the mundane, the obstacles, and the daily hustle. In short, Fantast make music to create and imagine a better world. And, their wholly unique soundscapes only aid that endeavour.
3. Lissy Taylor – Carefree
Carefree is summertime music done right. It’s an unbridled bundle of energy that takes shape through a rather stripped back but emotionally packed guitar lead indie pop composition. The pure summer bop of a tune is sprakled with an energy that just screams positivity. You’re inspired to be the best version of you, the one who can accomplish anything and embrace your youthfulness, recapture your confidence, and, well, be carefree.
Although originally from Stoke-on-Trent, Lissy moved to the USA in 2015. It was there where she began to dabble and find her love as a song-writer, playing in bars across the country. Talking about her formative years in the USA Lissy said, “I regularly played in bars when I was living in America, I loved the atmosphere of it.For me, playing shows and writing songs has been a natural process of growing up, getting the adrenalin as each gig gradually got bigger.I think the start of anything is always the toughest and some gigs are better than others, it’s part of the craft.But for me the best gigs are when everyone falls quiet to listen to the songs and everyone is being in the same moment, it’s really powerful.”
2. Everything But The Everything – Denials
Everything But The Everything have a fairly accomplished past. With some of the band members like Tobias Hawkins having played drums with the counting crows, clearly, they’ve got rock star ancestry in their blood. Izzy The Gent, the song’s producer described Tobias as the embodiment of Rock and roll, the personification of the term, the genre, and the culture behind it. Here on ‘Denials’, Tobias’ voice is imbued with an emotion and despair that powers the listener to join him on his journey. He’s got that unrelenting energy and depthless emotion that only a true frontman can carry.
Written primarily by Izzy, ‘Denials’ is a spacious and dreamy piece of alternative rock music. It’s not really conformist to any style, with a very wavy and all over the place energy to it. With a little bit of hair metal, glam rock, progressive, and even punk, it is a smorgasbord of rock music that is sung and performer with an energy that only true devotees of rock and roll could deliver.
1. The Freight – See You Tonight
The Freight are classic rock aficionados who get all the basics so, so right. On their fourth single of 2021, the immensely busy soul rock or pop rock outfit have crafted another melody that is innately anthemic. ‘See You Tonight’ has its roots in southern rock and classical, sounding straight out of the past but imbued with production elements that lend it that modern sprinkle to keep it sonically with the times. Above all, it’s infectiously catchy and rhythmic with a chorus that commands you to sing alongside it.
Topically, it’s another love song but with a focus on distance and intimacy. See You Tonight” is all about collapsing every obstacle that is getting in your way of being with that girl you know you need to be with. It’s sung with such verve and passion that you’ll be hopping on the next bus or cab to your significant other by its end. Just an immensely enjoyable piece of classic rock n roll.
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