9. Mauvey – Sunday Afternoon
Sunday Afternoon sounds like Mauvey should be performing on COLORS right now. The alt-pop anthemic piece is just so wonderfully smooth, the kind of bop that is ideal for a laidback, lazy summer. On Sunday Afternoon, Mauvey says: “Sunday Afternoon is not just about FOMO, it’s not just about the best night out ever, it’s not just about having so much fun that you come back home on Sunday Afternoon. It’s about being so obsessed with someone that only ‘the biggest night out of all time’ will get your mind off them.”
Born in Ghana, raised in the U.K, Mauvey combines elements of hip-hop, R&B, and soul with modern pop sensations to create his unique style of alt-pop. The kind of soulful pop music he’s bringing is on a massive come up, with tons of artists trying their hand at the genre. While ‘smoothness’ might be the most commonly use descriptor for this style, Mauvey also brings an element of playfulness; a joy that sets him apart from his contemporaries. As I sit here writing this on a lazy Sunday, I can’t imagine a more blissful and appropriate tune to carry me through it.
8. Frogmorton – I Just Wanna Dance
Multi-instrumentalist Nick Hanchey’s solo project Frogmorton is bringing disco back in style. Heavily inspired by groove, he’s set styles of r&b, funk, and lounge to a jubilant dance anthem. As you’d imagine from the title, his latest tune is all about letting loose, having fun, and simply living in the moment without fear of judgement, stress, or anxiousness.
‘I Just Wanna Dance’ never hits a loud or crashing crescendo, it ebbs and flows constantly, all the while consistently keeping you in its trance. The penultimate minute, where the vocals finally come in is the high point of the track, elevating its air of euphoria to a new peak. And then, in the final minute, the song takes a sharp reverse to offer a closure that is slow and almost sedative in nature. All in all, it is a rollercoaster five minute ride you’d love to hear at any party.
7. Danny Wright – American Dream
Danny Wright is another member of the rising cohort of pop-punk resurgence. The London based artist has already broken into parts of the mainstream, but, like many of us, is still pondering over the future and his own legacy. On his latest single, he envisions himself through the decades, wondering if the life of an artist is worth the struggle.
‘American Dream’ is about the perils of chasing a vision, a dream that may never be realised. A career in music is a roll of the dice sometimes, with success being dispensed seemingly randomly.
“Hard work and grind for a better life
Im still broke at 29 am I doing this right?
I fell in the fallacy of meritocracy
It’s too late to realise its not for people like me“
It’s a really interesting theme for a piece, with Danny sort of charting a hypothetical life as an artist wherein success eludes him even in his later years. Sonically, it is a nigh pitch-perfect pop-punk anthem. A catchy chorus, angsty lyrics, and a punchy and aggressive riff that starts at a 100 from minute 0. As a longtime fan of the genre, it’s great to see people like Danny keeping it alive with such verve.
6. Stephen James Orr – Ceramic (feat. Danny Zaidman)
‘Ceramic’ is just so smoothly sensuous. The production arrangement is so wonderfully put together, beginning with a swooning and seductive saxophone that immediately hooks you. The instrumental sections are the track’s highlight — with the sax, keys, guitar, and bass all playing centre stage at some moment or the other. The soothing slow-jam from Stephen James Orr and his accompanying band take strong and marked influence from neo-soul acts like a Hiatus Kaiyote and more classic soul ones like Isaac Hayes.
With strong roots in riff-based indie rock and soul groove, Stephen James Orr is a musician, songwriter and producer from Toronto. After releasing four singles so far in 2021, Stephen is set to release a full album later this year. He loves collaboration, with each piece taking on a different style set to the artists he’s working with. If you like your slow jams, look no further than Ceramic this Sunday.
5. Beachmaster – Doctors for Transparency
Beachmaster know how to put on a good time. On ‘Doctors for Transparency’, the alternative rock group are balling out with a more poppy melody and irresistibly catchy chorus. The track’s stand out aspect definitely comes in the guitar work, which entirely sets the mood, progression, and heart of the song. Sonically, the song is almost opposite from its content. An outwardly upbeat folk-tinged pop-punk/indie track hides the more darker and melancholic lyrics.
Having suffered setbacks due to the pandemic, like many an artist has, Beachmaster nevertheless decided to use the lockdown as an opportunity to create. They reached out to music lovers for donations to actually conceive an album. The band launched a Kickstarter to help fund their upcoming album ‘Mass’ in 2021. While they initially set a goal of £500, the final total raised was over £2,300. With such a core fanbase eagerly awaiting their work, ‘Mass’ has a lot of ears already in line. Catch out this teaser track now so you can hop on board.
4. Liza Oppenheimer – Nothing Succeeds like Sussex
Liza Oppenheimer is as hilariously sardonic as she is capable of creating luscious and futuristic soundscapes. A hyper pop diss track on Meghan and Harry might not be what you expected to come out, but I’ll be darned if I say it isn’t infectious. Liza’s snarky slam track, ‘Nothing Succeeds Like Sussex’, takes its fair share of swipes at the ex-princess. It’s sarcastic, cynical, and frankly, hilarious.
I hardly have an opinion on the royal family, but the single bangs nonetheless. With a slightly overproduced soundscape and punchy, bouncing vocal deliveries, it’s just so effortlessly fun that you seem to join along in Liza’s decrying of the latest members of the royal family’s antics. Whether you love them or hate them, you’d be laughing nonetheless by the end of this track. I can only imagine it being a rather fun dance piece across the UK.
3. Andrey Kunin – Voyager
The debut single from Ukranian electronic producer and vocalist, ‘Voyager’, is about as futuristic and spacey as it’s theme would suggest. It explores themes of interstellar distance, sci-fi romantics, and perception of dreams. Sonically, the electronic and futuristic sound bites scattered across the track’s length are trippy, opulent, and spacey. Starting slowly with subtle drifting in soft ambiance and detuned minor pads, bright and impassioned vocals soon come out. Towards the end, a more emphatic crescendo hits with a series of sharp and fast synths all over.
With a title from the famous Voyager program launched in 1977, Kunin’s song is the ideal soundscape for what a space travel, interstellar setting would be imaged as. If you’re looking for a more trippy, spacious, and scintillating electronic piece, this would be right up your alley.
2. Teena – Flowergirl
‘Flowergirl’ is loud and powerful from minute one. With all encompassing and transportive synths overwhelming you in the first ten seconds, Teena opens the track with “I’m not the girl you wanted me to be”. From here, you’d imagine the song would be a dark, melancholic sounding, almost grim electronic ballad. But, the chorus is effortlessly fun, with Tena’s falsetto making it an immensely enjoyable electropop bop.
In a more general sense, ‘Flowergirl’ seems to explore themes of unrealistic expectations set by society, and its wholehearted rejection and embracement of who you are instead. Teena is here to remind listeners to stand up to the boxes and pedestals placed around them. But rather than wallow and moan about society’s cornering, she advocates for a complete rejection in the most fun, enjoyable, and energetic way imaginable. It’s far too fun and exciting to not groove to. The chorus is some of the most commercially appealing, dance inducing, hyper pop I’ve heard.
1. King Uche – Rise Up
The first track of King Uche’s second EP is a defiant and majestic piece of world music. It’s got a bit of a lot, combining elements of hip-hop, afrobeat, and more commercial pop together. At its core, ‘Rise Up’ and the rest of Uche Musa is about the reign of Mansa Musa, the Nigerian Civil War, and King Uche’s own life and upbringing. ‘Stand up/Rise Up’.
King Uche has big dreams, goals that see him be the top of African hip-hop in the near future. The self-described ‘Rising African King of Rap’ might well be on his way, with style, lyrics, and production that are wholly unique and equally powerful. Inspired by the historical legacy of Mansa Musa, one of the wealthiest historical figures across time, Uche’s dreams are certainly ambitious.
Fans of afrobeat and hip-hop alike have something to celebrate in Uche’s music. His latest EP Uche Musa is out now on all platforms. Dark production, impactful lyrics and more characterise the rising superstars style.