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Thomas Fontana – Confused

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Talented Parisian (French touch) artist Thomas Fontana (covered here for tracks “Somewhere” or “Changes”) creates a bright energetic co-mingle of elements on “Confused”; a soul-based diddy which we like for its fluttery trap rhythms, natural hand percussion (cow bell!), and golden guitar-laced instrumental feels (which he mixes beautifully with contrasting scratchy synth textures and a saucy sashe of reverberant vintage-vibe female hip-hop vocal theatrics). Be sure to check out how he tops off ”Confused” with the sound of waves. A stunning end. Great song! Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Thomas Fontana
(Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-17-16

Premiere: Ten Fe – In The Air (Star Slinger Remix)

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“In The Air” the breakthrough single for UK duo Ten Fe is the recipient of a strong remix from longtime B3 fave Star Slinger. The Hypem No. 2 “In The Air” is set through a “Gotta Get Through This” Daniel Bedingfield frame and set to a cosmic soul-driven bit of rhythm. If that sounds about your speed (it’s definitely ours!), stream below the B3 Premiere of Star Slinger’s remix of “In The Air” for Ten Fe.

Ten Fe (Facebook)
Star Slinger (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-17-16

Wantigga – Fragile (Feat. Mar)

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Turn yourself onto the soulfully-delivered, drop dead gorgeous vocals and tender-hearted sensational-vulnerability poetic warm-hug lyrics of “Fragile”; a recent melodic b-side down-tempo slow burner produced by Deventer, Netherlads artist Wantigga. Featuring the gentle sweetly-expressive vocals of Amsterdam artist Mar., the very lovely “Fragile” follows a-side gem “Stonecold” ft. Sasha Vee on Wantigga’s “Pillow Tal”k EP (out now via Roche Musique). Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Wantigga
england (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-16-16

HONNE – Woman

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2015 electric-soul hotlist duo HONNE have been on an exquisite streak of beautiful music since last year, with a slew of excellent singles. We’ve covered a number of their songs and rate them all as top notch in the pop, soul, and singer-songwriter genres (we placed HONNE on both of our 2014 year end lists and “No Place Like Home” made it to our staff top-10 lists for 2015). Their latest perfectly-pleasant sensitive-emotive singer-songwriter genius is apparent on their recent masterpiece “Woman”. The English duo’s vocals are so soulful and intimate (beautiful background melodies too) on the song that it honestly feels like they are singing directly at you (wouldn’t that be nice). You could also say that the sweet sentiment in the lyrics (love song) are exactly what any person might want to hear so therefore the track is anthemic. For anybody looking for a pick me up, the recent release has the steely emotive feel of their previous productions (maybe less sad and love-lorn) yet it manages to convey even more emotion and beauty. HONNE are indeed honing their style into a very classic sound. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

HONNE
england (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-16-16

M.A.D. – Mind

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One of the latest tunes to drop on XLR8R (one of our faves from them lately) is named “Mind”; an immensely creepy creation of Rubi (Barcelona) artist M.A.D!. “Mind” is a capricious and dramatic tune, a mellow helter skelter with lots of room to breathe into the amazing mood it sets. Over the course of 7:34 minutes M.A.D! (Mutual Assured Distortion) develops an intense nail-biting atmospheric basically just on synth alone and towards the end he throws in bongos for a calming effect. Scary! This needs to be in a sci-fi thriller. M.A.D! does a wonderful job at drawing the listener into a completely different, creatively unique electro terrain that peaks and ebbs into emotive chaos yet also manages to taper off into nothing for a finish. Rad stuff M.A.D!! Reviewed by Erin Shay.

M.A.D. (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-12-16

Ian Ewing – Oakland

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B3-featured Ian Ewing wows us with his heavenly beat-drenched synth-centered Asian vibe instrumental jam “Oakland” which is a free song off the Rootnote (label) artist compilation. We like Ian’s sultry beats, mesh of vocal styles, and positively simple lyrics on the track and hope to peruse the compilation this weekend! Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Ian Ewing (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-12-16

Artifakts – Up & Up

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Get acquainted with Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based artist Artifakts, the “ever-evolving, electronic hip-hop project” of Garret Meyer. We highly recommend his latest tune “Up Up” and would go so far as to say its brilliant. A soul-based mix of jaunty beats and groovy guitar riffing, juxtaposed with a scratchy trance-y synth and distorted vocals “Up Up” is top on our list of tracks for the week. Extremely cool song. Stream it below. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Artifakts (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-12-16

Alice Ivy – Touch (Feat. Georgia Van Etten)

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” I suppose I’ll be taking orders from Dinah next.” Melbourne AU artist Annika Schmarsel a/k/a Alice Ivy spins an inventive mix of “Alice in Wonderland” spoken samples around a vocal from Georgia Van Etten to very listenable results on cool beat track “Touch”. We are listening!

Alice Ivy (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-12-16

CANNONS – Call You Out

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LA-based future boogie trio Cannons (featured here for excellent tracks “Down on Love”, “Evening Star” and “Touch”) are an accomplished bunch of musicians on the rise (they have only been around on Soundcloud for roughly one year). We’re listening to the group’s super catchy new song called “Call You Out” and it’s quite an impeccable earful. With its simple combination of a technicolor synth line, ticky-tacky trap beats, and Michelle’s complex emotive vocal feels, we can easily say that this is our favorite Cannons tune so far! After hearing it a dozen or so times and reviewing the duo’s other songs we are reminded why we like Cannons so much. Out via MANIMAL “Call You Out” is just resonant enough to reiterate that Cannons are clearly floating on a rising star trajectory on its way up to mass exposure. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

Cannons (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-12-16

Premiere: Barrie Rose – Laffy Taffy

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“Laffy Taffy” is the newest track by L.A. pop newcomer Barrie Rose. Working with a very cool and diverse sound palette (80’s-esque sequenced synths paired with reverbed guitars and harp samples) and some pinpoint melodic writing (have had that “Laffy Taffy” hook thing burned in my brain most the AM), “Laffy Taffy” is a strong surprise and features a unique blend of sounds that deserves attention. Do not sleep on Barrie Rose.

John Looke (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-12-16

John Looke – Dab Fingers

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The lead single off the 8-track “Rocks n’ Gems” EP (out via Hot Record Société), recent tune “Dab Fingers” is a dynamic sweetly-melodic jazz diddy with a deep and compelling loung-y groove. Beautiful. From new-to-B3 Austin artist John Looke (named for Jean-Luc Picard), the track is a sumptuous blend of barely audible spacey synth accents, low-touch jazzy metallic percussion and Looke’s perfectly punctuating sultry staccato beats. New release “Dab Fingers” (which on the EP accompanies tracks “No Alliance w/ Contour”, “Discipline 99” and “Headz”), is a finely wrought electronic jazz gem to help you jump-start your weekend. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

John Looke (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-11-16

Akiine – Destiny (BAILE Remix)

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With a continuous loop of his own deeply permeating moody atmospheric vocals, a colorful array of phenomenal simmering low-touch beats and some outstanding rhythmic percussion, NY-based German BAILE creates considerable depth and dimension on his remix of 2015 Janet Jackson-vibe r&b vocals-led wonder “Destiny” (from London-based songstress-producer Akiine). We really like how BAILE keeps the original’s percussion-filled Brit-garage feel and leaves the track’s lead vocal line basically intact while changing up the vibe to something vastly different and more electro oriented. A slow-fast methodical rhythm-centric beats-scape with a soulful techno undercurrent, “Destiny” has a highly picturesque element to it that makes it a great candidate for a movie soundtrack. A must listen. Reviewed by Erin Shay.

BAILE (Soundcloud)
Track Reviews
reviewed by
02-11-16