Albinos Congo space out, 9CLOUD9 mess with your head, New Bleach look for the silver lining, Onk Lou has a natural high, Colours In The Street yuk it up and more in today’s submissions from Groover, a platform that connects artists with critics like me for a small fee. You can (and should) subscribe to my Tinnitist Groover Top 100 playlist HERE, or you can listen to it via the widget at the lower right of every page on this site. If you want to be in an upcoming playlist, click the link just below the widget or go HERE. And now, kick back and push play on another collection of cuts from all over the musical map — and the actual one.
Albinos Congo | Space Jam
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Rock.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Albinos Congo, more than a group, is a sect whose gurus are the two smoky brains of Tristan D’Hervez and Pierre Stroska. Around them a dozen musicians have been taking turns for six years to preach the good word of ROCK: A true religion for the Congo Albinos who have clearly veered from the dark side of Fuzz. Breastfed at Glam Rock, fascinated by the Beastie Boys, Albinos Congo cheerfully baptizes his music with Romantic Neo Space Punk, a stylistic absorption based on Pop-Punk / Hip-Hop / Grunge-Psychedelic / Garage-gaze. Their lives are veritable electric orgies that evoke the krautrock masses of Neu and the satanism of Black Sabbath with the ultimate desire to bring back to life the sound barrier of Phil Spector on stage. Space Jam is an improvisation of space recorded and mixed a week before going on tour in Spain for their first EP, inspired by the credits of Smallville interpreted by Rémy Zéro. A pocket made in Didier Poiraud’s spaceship which he stores in his mother’s garden and a clip in collaboration with E.T. (they also thank Spielberg for giving them his number) allowed them to concretize this opus.”
9CLOUD9 | No One Like You
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE TRANSLATED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Premature or delayed, unique or recurrent. Macabre bass, dismantled drums, samples, guitars and melancholic musical layers. 9CLOUD9 twists your guts and takes you through its tormented, ethereal and sensitive electronic journey. Ahead of time illumination…”
New Bleach | Silver Lining
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “With Silver Lining, New Bleach seeks to deliver vibrant plea for hope! In a genre not easy to categorize somewhere between indie pop and synthwave, the duo from Quebec builds a musical universe in which visual lyrics demonstrate the power of resilience.”
Onk Lou | Natural High
HOME BASE: Austria.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Onk Lou: Great Voice, Back to the ’80s.”
Colours in the Street | Comedy Club
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Walking in the steps of bands like Foster the People, Coldplay or Imagine Dragons, the French boys from Colours in the Street continue to grow worldwide. Discovered when they were still teenagers, Colours in the Street were already impressive in live performance. Their pop music is both massive and powerful, perfect for huge stages. The boys are now 25 years of age, and currently working on their second album All the Colors, scheduled for July 3. Built with a mature and sensible songwriting, their music is made of catchy and colorful melodies, with a very precise production, all being driven by an almost insane attention to details. Comedy Club is an effective and catchy electro pop track, perfect for summer, illustrated in a crazy and offbeat clip featuring the group in the splendor of a crazy Comedy Club and wild choreography.”
L. Delayre | Silence
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE TRANSLATED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I’m happy to send you my second release for my brand new project where I try to mix electronic music and French pop. My principal influences are The Acid, Thom Yorke or the French singer Christophe. Silence is an exploration of the violence that lies in every relationship. The lyrics describe a scene where the character refuses to let his old love come back “even if the walls know everything” about them. This unexpected return is violent. In order to highlight that scene, I realized a music video with contemporary dance. It is a one sequence shoot in which I appear, fighting that violence through a very symbolic choreography.”
VAPA | Envol Captif
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE TRANSLATED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “VAPA is an acronym for a French phrase which translates as “You Have No Opinions.” The name echoes our first song in which Coluche addresses a student audience with the phrase, “They do not ask your opinion or do you have no opinion?!” Influences range from Thylacine to Jon Hopkins via Agoria or Essaie Pas. Between hymns to life, literary subtlety and philosophical reflection, the pieces are overwhelming in accuracy and truth. Voices of personalities or journalists are often used. The goal is to raise our doubts, our fears, our fears but also our hopes for the world today (and to take a look at the contemporary world) An introspective quest put into words and melodies! Envol Captif echoes the period during which the artist finalized the song. A confinement (captive) in which one could only escape by taking flight to the bottom of his thoughts.”
Mag Hantson | Tonight
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Rock.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “My name is Mag Hantson. A rock singer with an original style, overflowing with humour and positive energy. Although influenced by singers like Pink, Anastacia and also Evanescence, it is through my own compositions that I express myself the best. My musical universe is that of Classic Rock. My voice fluctuates between saturation and lyricism. My music combines influences from progressive rock and American pop delivering messages of love, liberty and hope. This song is an invitation to party. It is from my last album Gates of Moonlight. I am currently devoting myself to finishing the new EP Give and Receive. Enter into my phantasmagorical Timburtonesque universe!”
Leo Fifty Five | Ne m’en parle pas
HOME BASE: Belgium.
GENRE: Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “When Leo Fifty Five began his professional career in 2015, he quickly became known as a beatmaker. His home base was Paris, where he studied production and sound in the prestigious Abbey Road Institute. This is where his first fruitful collabs were born. But when you grow up in a family very focused on musical culture, that you master several languages, several instruments, you often want to go further. This is what happened and, very quickly, Leo Fifty Five channeled his prolific beat creation into his own productions, developing his lyrics, adding his voice and playing the bass and guitars. Leo Fifty Five says “it’s so smooth to write in French, it’s so fun to sing.” Ne m’en parle pas (Don’t tell me about it) is his new single. A song with groove and sound that makes Leo Fifty Five so original. The beautiful clip was imagined by Léo himself and was shot in a single sequence shot.”
C-chill | Chikita
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Churchill Dufresne aka C-Chill is a young Quebec rapper of Haitian descent. He entered Canadian soil in the middle of winter at the age of 6 and grew up in different Montreal neighborhoods. French rappers such as Sniper, Sinik and Ninho inspire him enormously. It was during his adolescence, at the age of 15, that he wrote his first rap texts. Two years later, thanks to the studio of the youth center Le Bunker, C-Chill recorded his first songs. C-Chill is passionate and likes to innovate, he wants to stand out and define himself beyond the stigma of society. His main inspirations come from his own experiences and that of those around him. One of the artist’s goals is to get the listener to react, but also to think about the confusing or shocking words he is expressing. Chikita is the girl next door who experienced difficulties from her adolescence, she is a victim, it is also the product of her environment. Chikita loves money, she is a sex worker, she dances and is accountable to her pimp. She is caught in a spiral, surrounded by manipulation, physical and psychological violence.”
Easy Wanderlings | Enjoy It While It Lasts
HOME BASE: India.
GENRE: Folk-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Easy Wanderlings is a Soul-Pop band recognized for their delicate and soothing melodies. Red Bull Music rated them as one of the Top 10 Indie artists to watch in 2018. The collective was awarded Best Band at The Indian Music Diaries Awards in January. They have shared the stage with inspiring artists like Jose Gonzales, Anoushka Shankar, Alt J and Incubus to name a few. Rolling Stone calls their music playful, story-centric and emphatic. “While everything is temporary, there is beauty all around us and it is important that in this short period of time we have with us, we live every moment to cherish the ones we love and find joy in the little things. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
Erik Karol | Ce que l’on vous a fait
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Pop-Rock.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “A brand new song finished during the confinement and produced in my little cocoon studio!”
Michael Lane | Take It Slow
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Folk-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Michael Lane returns with the new, hopeful folk-pop single Take It Slow. Awakened from the blurring of unconscious, everyday routines and urgent deadlines that must be adhered to, the previously known global reality has recently ceased to exist. Take It Slow describes many aspects of what really makes us who we are. Life doesn’t have to be a race to riches and success. It is not the physical that is the most important thing in life, but the spiritual that leads us home to ourselves. Clothing, money, our status in life are things that are not important for the heart and soul. “It’s all a dream,” Michael Lane explains. The song is a message of hope and positive certainty that a time of crisis will lead people back to the important things. In addition to his work as a musician, Michael Lane is currently also active as a songwriter for production music and as a music producer in his remote Studio Waldblick.”
Raphaël Vanoli | Venus By Day Intro
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Experimental.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Amsterdam-based guitarist, bassist, composer and improviser Raphael Vanoli has developed a musical voice of his own and is a versatile guitarist using multiple electronic setups. By constantly experimenting with all possibilities of the guitar he found and developed a technique that uses breath on the strings. Both in his solo music as well as in his many collaborations in the modern music world his quest to blur the limit between electronic and acoustic sounds resolves into a singular language, sometimes with unheard colours. He performed all over Europe, Russia and Brazil. He creates music for film, whether live or in the studio and has collaborated with filmmakers such as Martha Colburn, Jochem de Vries, Sebastian Dias Morales. Here are the few minutes that introduce Venus by Day, a two-hour play during which Vanoli is accompanied by 22 musicians from the new jazz and experimental scene. Among them: Wolfert Brederode, Frank Rosaly, Hilary Jeffery, Sandhya Sanjana, The Silbersee Ensemble and Gerri Jäger.“
Robot Koch | Kassel
HOME BASE: Germany.
GENRE: Classical.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Kassel is the focus track from new Robot Koch album The Next Billion Years. “For this album I recorded an orchestra, conducted by renowned conductor Kristjan Järvi. Also worked with orchestrator Viktor Arnason (who also worked with Johann Johannson, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Olafur Arnalds).”
DG Solaris | Cosmic Sigh
HOME BASE: U.K.
GENRE: Psyche-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “DG Solaris, is the new band from Danny Green, leader of cult indie band Laish, and features his partner LG. Their new debut album Spirit Glow was written during a trip in Peru and recorded at Bella Union Studios. Expect shimmering ’70s synth-led, psychedelic folk pop and kaleidoscopic and colorful collection of songs exploring the vulnerability, fear and joy of new love. For fans of Vampire Weekend, Here We Go Magic, Beach House.”
MiM | Samba Do Gringo feat. Selma & JAW
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Samba.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “MiM aka Emilien Bernaux, is a Parisian musical producer and composer. He is the founder of the Lafayette Street Studio. For the fourth single from Cycle, MiM joins forces with Selma & JAW. MiM and Selma met during an evening in JAW‘s studio in Barcelona at the beginning of 2020. As everyone freely played music, suddenly MiM heard Selma’s voice singing in Brazilian. He then began to compose a song bringing together their two musical universes. This harmony is born between a classic bossa nova evolving towards a very trap beat which ends with a flight of percussions reminiscent of the Rio Carnival. JAW then had the idea for the theme: Samba Do Gringo or the story of a magical romantic encounter ending in a less romantic epilogue. Everything was written, composed and recorded that evening.”
Samuel Félix | Départ
HOME BASE: U.K.
GENRE: Classical.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Anglo/French jazz musician Samuel Félix releases his solo debut. The youngest child of a family of artists, his musical upbringing was shaped on the one side by his father (a classical conductor), who taught him about Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, and his elder brothers who showed him Bill Evans, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Having toured the world as a session musician for several Grammy-winning musicians, this album marks his departure as a solo artist. All written and recorded over the ‘lockdown’ period on the same family piano that he has played his entire life, these recordings aim to capture the intimate relationship between a musician and their instrument. The album Départ, set for final release in late autumn, sees Samuel collaborate with illustrator Patrick Atkins in a series of nine animated vignettes. Samuel has also made the scores available so that people can play the music at their own piano during this isolated time. “Written during lock down, the track Départ is about about the nostalgia I feel for leaving my home. It’s a day dream where I escape to a different reality.”
Jean-Philippe Bélanger | Happily Ever After
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Classical.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “This song was written for my wife to make her wedding entrance last October during a private ceremony.”
MischiefBox | My Worried Mind
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Pop-Rock.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “MischiefBox is a DIY Indie Pop artist with various influences who likes to make music all alone in the comfort of his home. This song is about the moments of doubt that one can experience in the pursue of artistic creation, and the struggle that it can be to overcome them.”
Hologramme | Préface (Printemps)
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Hologramme is the work of Montreal-based producer and performer Clément Leduc. After a year off, Hologramme comes back from Berlin with new influences and a new sound to present his last album: Felicity. Working with precious collaborators Felix Petit (Les Louanges/Hubert Lenoir), Adrien (Gustafson), Senegal guitarist Assane Sek and Laurent Saint-Pierre (Laurence-Anne), Hologramme gives us a contrasted universe in which blend sensuality, desire and darkness. With strong south America and African influences, the artist uses electronic music to construct a nocturnal, dreamlike and bewitching narrative frame. After Alaska, which was released in April, Hologramme comes back with a less polished, faster, more luminous and impulsive work: Préface (Printemps). Inspired by elements from his latest album Felicity, Hologramme shows a new variation of sounds with this groovy and fresh track, between deep house, dance music and a cinematic atmosphere.”
Crosetti | Red Flags
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Crosetti is an Italo-French guitarist and producer inspired by Lofi, Afrobeat and pop-soul music. His creations are colored by his experiences, at the crossroads of the classical rigor of the French conservatory and the warm vibrations of Senegalese Teranga. His music is crossed by a few keys of electro analogical synthesizer mixed with the chords of a sometimes delicate and sometimes scathing indie guitar. Regarding his last compositions, he has immersed himself in the tangy but melancholic universe of bedroom (hi-)pop, borrowing from the lightness and melodic signatures of indie-pop.”
NineteenHateHate | BlackTrapMetal
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Rap-Metal.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Dark Trap from Seattle.”
Ours Samplus | San Pedro
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: World.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Founded by Lille-based artists GuiB and Yousla, Ours Samplus is one of the most prolific duos the global Electro / Hip-hop / instrumental scene has to offer. It also ranks among the top French performers in the genre. The confinement gave birth to the EP Antares and to titles full of freshness like San Pedro. The duo faced this impossibility of leaving their studio and the streets of Lille by venturing into a new musical exploration. Instinctively, the duo sought out sunny tones and brought a breath of fresh air to their productions. Result: throughout listening to Antares, tunes of cumbia, salsa, bossa nova and a large number of tones specific to the culture of Latin America mingle with hip-hop beats, the fundamental basis of their sound. Musically, it was possible to travel very far … To Antarès.”
Slim Tin Fox | Hometown Blues
HOME BASE: Ireland.
GENRE: Indie-Rock.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Irish Hard rock!”
