Each week, we feature some fresh new releases from emerging and established talent from around the world, these are highlighted on our New Music Spotlight playlist on Spotify, but we also share a handful of artists in our round-up who are making waves.
You can read more features in our Music + Culture section.
Tommy Genesis – a woman is a god, featuring BIA
Tommy Genesis shares the sensual visual accompaniment to the recently remixed, hypnotic hit “a woman is a god”, which features a quickfire verse from esteemed rapper and singer BIA.
Sleek and tastefully minimal, the video showcases the duo at the forefront of the visual, steeped in attitude with striking wardrobes of lace and metallics. Running through their respective verses effortlessly, Genesis and Bia assertively strike a pose amongst prismatic backdrops and vast warehouse spaces.
Omar Apollo – Ivory
The long anticipated new album, Ivory, from Omar Apollo has finally arrived with luscious arrangement and introspective lyricism that details the human condition, unrequited love and disappointments which evolve into magnetic hybrid-R&B moments.
We have added Petrified to our New Music Spotlight playlist, and we also love Invincible featuring Daniel Caesar.
Double S – I Drip
Designed to inspire us, Double S delivers an eloquent trap delight with his new single, I Drip.
Speaking on the track, Double S said, “Being myself inspired this track. Throughout it I give the many phases of my life. In every phase I drip consistently.”
We love the rising artist from Statesboro’s flow and some of the themes he discusses in the song, fused with an intricate guitar loop, include celebrity lifestyle, God, women, cars, his swag, sexual exploits and more.
When discussing the organic creative process, Double S says, “The single was recorded in the lion Den studio with Ben Ten. A full freestyle that didn’t take long to create.”
feeble – I Am Here
With enigmatic production fused with atmospheric vocals, we are mesmerized by the latest release from Swedish indie pop band, feeble.
I Am Here is feeble‘s new single which is about “one-sided love and how you try to gain the one you love’s attention and affection by giving them space.”
We love the emotive delivery from the band, who wrote the song during the winter of 2022 and are highly inspired by the work of Ethan Gruska.
They sing the self-realized lyrics “I did it for love, I did it for nothing…” as they take us on a sentimental and complicated journey of love and the human condition. The guitar detail and celestial tones are intricate, and fuse cinematically with the narrative of the track.
Nika Taleghani – Back and Forth
Earlier this week, we wrote about Back and Forth by Nika Taleghani as a stand alone feature. The song features rippling 80s-esque drums and an industrial bass line fused with celestial frequencies and pop-inspired stomps, as Nika reminisces with the intimate lyrics “We were both young only twelve years old, first kiss in the stairwell and crying home…”
We love the vulnerability that Nika shares on the Back and Forth with the lyrics, “and this pain is making me go insane…“
Speaking on the track, Nika says, “There was a great deal of emotional pain that I experienced with this relationship.”
“I wanted to capture the constant loop of the emotional “back and forth” of the relationship. I want my listeners to know that this is a normal thing that can occur in every relationship.”
Mulberry & Grand – Round, The World Keeps Spinning Round
Setting the vibe with enigmatic keys fused with cosmic textures, Mulberry & Grand sing conceptually “Long ago, the brontosaur consumed its last meal then lay upon the mantle floor…”
The narrative of the song takes us on a cerebral journey through time and space. Mulberry & Grand is the moniker of singer/songwriter, composer, and sound designer Jack Arky. Jack is joined by his former bandmates from the Los Angeles acoustic folk outfit The Coals; Jason Mandell and Justin Smith as well as Saxophonist Geoff Matoon.
Round, The World Keeps Spinning Round is designed to ask the most profound question: how (or if) humankind might find our way out of the plight we’ve created.
We love the delivery of this conscious message and Jack’s vocals as he sings “oh what a piece of work” about the human race, fused with exquisite production.
The song touches on anger and existential dread, but also has a sense of optimism. Jack says, “We have the power of noble reason. We can use it or vanish. And the world will go on, with or without us.”
Paul Loren – Hold On, I’m Comin’
Featured earlier as a stand-alone review, we love Paul Loren‘s cover of Sam & Dave’s Hold On, I’m Comin’. We feel a warm sense of comfort from Paul’s tone, in a world where we can sometimes lean into the sadness, Hold On, I’m Comin’ offers a glimmer of hope, and we are grateful that Paul Loren decided breathe fresh life into this piece of historic artistry.
The original song has a slower tempo and is more soul inspired, whereas Paul’s cover has a 60’s Nashville inspired vibe.
The cover features Paul on acoustic guitar, Zach Jones on drums, and percussion, Oscar Albis Rodriguez on guitar and bass, Steven Salcedo on saxophone and Matt Owens playing the trumpet.
Yung Lean ft. FKA Twigs
Bliss is a collaboration between Yung Lean and FKA twigs. The video is directed by Aidan Zamiri and styled by Matthew Josephs and features FKA Twigs wearing a wedding dress as the artists take a ride in a car decked out with a chandelier.
Yung Lean will embark on his Starz/Stardust tour this fall in Europe and North America. The nine-date European leg of tour begins Nov. 4 with stops in Cologne, Berlin, Paris, London and Dublin, while the six-date North American leg begins late November in Montreal, with stops in Toronto, Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Chicago.
TIGS – Bad Like We
With a pulsing beat and celestial atmospheric details, TIGS opens his latest release, Bad Like We with a mesmerizing feature from Peppery and a pair of remixes by Murder He Wrote. The production and immersive nature of the track is out of this world and we are fully hypnotized.
In case you didn’t know, TIGS is a UK-hailing, now Melbourne based, DJ and producer who is undoubtedly one of the most experimental exports of UK underground music, fusing together garage, bass, grime and dance.
We love the presence of Peppery on the record who exhibits epic flow and an enigmatic presence. The remixes by Murder He Wrote are also fire, and the entire package of Bad Like We is worth streaming on loop.
TIGS comments on the record:
“Been a while since I put some UK garage, so I am releasing this energetic 4/4 banger – Peppery’s always so good on creating a chorus he can have your Grandma singing it by the end of the track…Murder He Wrote also flips the remix into a deep funky tune and kills it as usual.”
I Love Plur – Love Finds You (EP)
I Love Plur have released a five track track EP called Love Finds You which takes us on a high energy trip as they open with the lyrics “When love comes for you, you can never run away…”
We love the sonic landscape and intention of the record to understand the polarities of love. The synth work is immersive and fused with atmospheric vocals. The lyrics are delivered in a mantra-esque format, reminding us that “love can find you at any given moment”.
I Love Plur expands on the EP to take us through the many moods of love. They say, “That same love can cease, and we are only left with a memory, carrying that on moving forward; the loss of a friendship, the heartbreak of ended relationships, the passing of a loved one. It is in that very moment that we find ourselves. In the lowest of lows, we can manage to move forward by carrying the memories of love in our hearts and minds.”
The EP is a vulnerable and though provoking journey with a high intensity soundscape. The last song, I’ll Be True, is a “statement of how although you may never be able to find love in a the midst of a loss, love finds you”.
We love the full circle narrative of the EP and have added Let It Go (I Got Flow) to our New Music Spotlight playlist.