If the holidays have you in a hectic state, “Finding Peace of Mind,” with Kainalu’s new track is exactly what you need. Sublime synths melodies topped with chilled-out vocals gives this track an air of relaxation that is almost unavoidable. If that weren’t enough, when that bass line hits I’m swept into a dream state every time. Kick your feet up and bump this one at your earliest convenience.
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There’s a new alternative R&B artist joining the ranks. Akin to Frank Ocean’s melancholic ballads dripping with pulsing high hats and panning vocals, “max” has released a new single with the same exhilarating dissonance. “Silence” is produced, mixed, and performed all by the artist. The track features jagged male vocals that take you high up into the atmosphere of an urban haze.
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Out January 5 on Splinter is “Patagonia” the new single from Derbyshire circa 1980-wave disco funk merchants Patawawa. “Patagonia” wins on it’s cool blend of modern day nu-disco sonorous-ness and a ostensibly well-studied eye to that aforementioned turn of 1980 era of funky pop (see Morgan, Denroy – “I’ll Do Anything For You”)
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Love Taps’ latest single has a fresh tropical swing to it. Amidst looped vocal samples from the featured Jamaican-American singer Gale, “Should I (Torn)” turns the volume up on clanging metallic percussion, fast paced maracas, and flares of high pitched synths. The track swells, subsides, and swells again. The vocals are chopped, skewed, and reworked to form a synthetic multidimensional choir. It’s time to get up and start twirling those shoulders.
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Who knew minimalist synthpop could be so delectable? Triathalon, a NYC-via-Athens, GA based group, have released the third single off their upcoming album Online. “Sometimes” offers a simple platter of sonic hors d’oeuvres. Waves of synth ricochet under a drum kit as an all-male harmony drops silky smooth verses. We wind up with an austere ode to frustration and angst. “You tried / to do what you must do / in time / just letting yourself know / you’re fine.”
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Everything Is Recorded’s single “Mountains of Gold” is a sweet and savory mixture of electronic, R&B, reggae, and jazz. Featuring neo-soul vocalist Sampha, art pop duo Ibeyi, East Coast rapper Wiki, and renown saxophonist Kamasi Washington, the track offers something for everyone. With a walloping beat that drives a mixture of layered vocal harmonies and sampled tenor sax, we arrive at a brilliantly creative melting pot.
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The spare and plaintive “Crash” puts Dublin IE artist EDEN’s affecting vocal and melodic prowess at the fore. EDEN’s Vertigo LP is due in January.
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Coming at us like an ’80s synthpop demo, BØRNS has released “I Don’t Want U Back” as a tease from his upcoming album, Blue Madonna. His effervescent falsetto approaches as a one-man army evocative of Bleachers with the slightest tinge of autotune. What begins as possible lo-fi indietronica quickly turns into what we can only describe as thumping, self-sustaining pop. Slide it in your outdated CD player and roll down the windows.
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Future electronic artists Taska Black and DROELOE team up for the track, “Running Away”, featuring CUT. I’ve been following DROELOE for a while now, and at this point, I expect nothing less than excellent from him; and boy does he deliver on this track. The dream team of Taska Black and DROELOE is an immaculate one. The two artists really compliment one another to create trap-bass hybrid bliss.
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Pluto is an electronic artist unlike anyone else else there right now. Seriously. This guy is breaks the mold of traditional EDM and forms a new path into a world of his own. “Nothing Wrong With Me” fuses the thoughts of your inner teenage angst with the support to be whoever you want to be. In a time when truly being yourself is more socially accepted than ever before, the theme of this track, and the vibe of this artist in general, is 100% topical.
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Out now on the excellent Portuguese imprint Discotexas is Shapes On Shapes, the debut LP from LA twosome Wild & Free. Built around an atmosphere of (at least imagined for us) of a hazy mid 90’s club where EBTG is about to knock out a set, “Ferns and Stuff” is a strong slice of cinematic disco-tinged pop dropped on to us most fortuitously from a very rad 1997-origin time machine (with really great taste).
and the winner for The Best Kazoo Hook of 2017 goes to….. POWERS for “Georgie”. In addition to the sharp kazoo, “Georgie” the latest from the L.A.-based twosome, is very good slightly house-tinged pop song that you should get into below.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
