Magon shows off his aerodynamic lines, Distortion Ride are ready to get down, Aka Aka take a voyage to Andromeda, Neville Sounds need you to keep 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. But first, feast your ears and eyes on today’s fine finds.
Magon | Aerodynamic
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Psych-Rock.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Paris-based Israeli psych-rock singer, songwriter & producer Magon will release his new album Hour After Hour in January. His first stunning single The Streets introduced us to his creative universe of urban rock on psychedelics. The tension grew axiomatically with the followup Shock Therapy. Aerodynamic is out now, and it’s more psych-rock than ever. By now, you already know that if Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix had a baby it would be him. But Magon is no vibe-cloner, he actually has got something to say. We feel certain that a new rock star is born. ”
Distortion Ride | Going Down
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Stoner-Rock.
THE TRANSLATED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “We are a hard rock / psychedelic / progressive trio from Toulouse. We play an eclectic music, starting from heavy riffs based on the blues to go towards melancholic progressive landscapes. After releasing an EP in 2017, our first album Burning Waves Of Silence was released on Nov. 13. Mastering was performed by longtime Pink Floyd & David Gilmour sound engineer Andy Jackson. Going Down is the first single.”
Aka Aka | Andromeda
HOME BASE: Germany.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “The best proof of love is trust. That counts for the lovely partnership in life as well as for creative arts. Whether in your own talents or in the well-meaning fate, trust mostly paves the cheerful way to happiness. The Berlin-based electronic duo Aka Aka are the best example that trust in your own personal work does not only disburse, but is also spelled with elements of courage, faith and strength of purpose.”
Neville Sounds | Keep Up
HOME BASE: United Kingdom.
GENRE: Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Keep Up was written in the height of lockdown. It’s a song about perseverance, a reminder to rise above the difficult situations we face due to the Covid pandemic. Having the strength to continue to push forward with our goals and desires despite the hurdles we now face. Keep Up is a synth and ’80s bass-driven pop song full of hope, groove and catchy melodies to keep morale up in these difficult times.”
Terry Blue | Safe & Clean
HOME BASE: Switzerland.
GENRE: Indie-Folk.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Terry Blue is an indie-folk collective based in Lugano, Switzerland. Based around Leo Pusterla’s acoustic compositions — which are strongly influenced by artists such as Ben Howard, Bon Iver & Dermot Kennedy — Andrea Zinzi (guitars), Giuliano Ros (bass), Matteo Mazza (drums) & Eleonora Gioveni (backing vocals) complete the sound of the collective. Safe and Clean is taken from Terry Blue’s upcoming album Only To Be There. Safe and Clean is a postcard: a boat is sinking in the middle of a storm and the narrator’s voice keeps on repeating, as a mantra, “I will keep the body on the sinking boat for you.” There’s a message in this and it’s simple: Resistance in facing life’s challenges and tragedies, especially through hard times.”
Classifiedpop | Stand By Me
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Easy Listening.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “German Alvarez is an Argentinian guitarist who loves to play the blues and actually builds his own guitars from all sorts of materials. Isabelle Bouché is a cellist who has worked with the beatmaker Senbeï. Isabelle & German have been playing together for five years, from instrumental covers to Argentinian folklore. “We’re a unique instrumental duet living in the South of France. We cover tracks that we’ve been loving from childhood to now. The cello sings and improvises, the guitar is rhythmic.”
Pete James | Already Gone
HOME BASE: United Kingdom.
GENRE: Country.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I write from the heart about what makes life interesting. I love new country, pop, country, Americana and folk-rock. I compose constantly and have performed and co-written songs in London, Melbourne and Nashville.”
PNQT | Sacrée Grisaille
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Pop.
THE TRANSLATED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “PNQT — aka PluNaïfQueTou — is the meeting of four troublemakers from various backgrounds: Electro / House (Lidwine), Punk / New Wave (Roman), Dub / Jazz (Guillaume), Soul / HipHop (Lionel). They decided to unite their strengths and their differences to breathe fresh air into French pop. “Sacrée Grisaille is a song that is particularly close to our hearts, because it offers a generous ray of sunshine, and is perfectly suited to this totally extraordinary moment in which we all find ourselves immersed. We all need sun, positive vibes and escape. Germs are contagious — but so are good vibes!”
La Companyia MINIMíssimA | La Luna
HOME BASE: Spain.
GENRE: Classical-Folk.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “La Companyia MINIMíssimA is a project that was born with the intention of combining traditional music with original compositions and unwritten sounds. Although La Companyia MINIMíssimA is made up of a single member, the music includes collaborations with an assortment of artists united by ties of friendship and the common interest in making music. All this is carefully wrapped by the illustrator Pepon Meneses, who has not only designed the album and he offers us a picture of himself on the CD, but has also created the video clip for the song La Luna (The Moon).”
Wery | Avec Des Baisers
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Pop.
THE TRANSLATED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Wery is a complete artist, songwriter, composer and performer. It is with emotion that he takes us into his universe.”
Shy Coast | Haunted House
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: EDM.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Shy Coast (whose real name is Jérémie) is a DJ, composer, singer and musician, originally from Brazil and now living in France. Dynamic and explosive, his presence and style are the finishing touch to his technique and his creative mixing. His influences come from various musical styles: NuDisco, Tech House, Techno, Electro House, EDM, Tribal House, Trap, Hip Hop and Rock. This explosive mixture helps him reach a very broad audience — everybody can find something they like. Haunted House is the latest expression of his musical universe.”
Nedelko | Eva 001
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Rap.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Nedelko is a French artist, author and performer. Discovered within the Animalerie collective, he practises a melodious and ethereal rap, fusing influences from progressive and experimental music with a taste for writing and rhyming symmetry. With composer and beatmaker Oster Lapwass, he recently released his first album Rheology.”
Alain Dorra | Mystical Teapot
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Alain Dorra is a French electronic musician. His influences include Tangerine Dream, Ashra, Ronny Jordan, Mahavishnu, Soft Machine, early Pink Floyd and Scandinavian jazz — along with others he will discover in the future.”
Eagle Sky | Cloud
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Rap.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Eagle Sky is a French artist who likes to mix universes to create new and hybrid products. As part of his music, Eagle Sky raps and sings in French and English. The essence of Eagle Sky’s music is authenticity: He takes inspiration from what he has lived, seen and felt. Eagle Sky wants to be an artist who inspires and motivates his fans to reach for their goals and never give up. In Cloud, Eagle Sky tells us about the trials and difficulties that anyone pursuing his dreams may face. But above all, through this music, Eagle Sky shows his detachment and spiritual elevation, set on his little cloud, far from criticism, betrayal and pretense.”
Eve Minor | I’m Bad
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “New York punk brat Eve Minor is a sassy good time — the girl your parents would never let you hang out with. Drawing inspiration from a tormented life, Eve Minor sings songs of battles with depression, toxic love, addiction, and abandonment. Pulling strong influences from Black Sabbath, Portishead, Deftones, Janis Joplin, Rage Against the Machine and Leftover Crack, she continues to cement herself as a truly unique sound in an age of carbon copies. Eve Minor owns her inner Lilith with I’m Bad. The multi-instrumentalist layers trip-hop, goth, and synth pop with a shoegazed, smouldering R&B vocal. To really make things interesting, the songstress mixes in layers of dub reggae embellishments, which give the dark song a sonically tasty listen. The lyrics illustrate a lover’s quarrel with the opening statement, “Don’t come around here, throwing my past in my face.” Unrequited love breathes life into this unique anthem. It’s dark, sultry and honest, and still retains a feeling of the lo-fi punk and metal from which Minor’s career originated.”
Daniel Gibson | Fever
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Indie-Rock.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I’m a musician and chemistry grad student in St. Louis. My music is a fusion of post-hardcore, emo, and post-rock with ambient production. Great modern bands in the post-hardcore/emo scene like Foxing, Bring Me the Horizon, La Dispute, and UnderOath drive my inspiration. In my early days, I played guitar in a metalcore/deathcore band. Later, I went on to write acoustic-only indie/emo style music. In recent years, I began my journey into music production, which has dramatically changed how I approach music. I now have the tools to create the music that is burning inside of me. Fever is a powerful slow burner, starting with an eerie, indie rock style, later transitioning to a post-hardcore crescendo, and ending with an otherworldly synth sequence. The lyrics explore depression and losing friends to suicide, comparing the depressive state to a disease.”
T1M3 | Silent Witness
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Pop-Rock.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Combining grunge voice, funky-coloured music and electronic atmospheres, T1M3 brings curiosity and reflection, as if the ’90s came from a parallel universe. Based in Montreal and composed of singer/guitarist Frederick Leblanc, bassist Samuel Tessier and percussionist Jonathan Noesi, the formation project a first EP by 2022. With first single Silent Witness, the alternative trio denounce the desensitization to humanitarian issues on social networks.”
Clide | WYL
HOME BASE: Germany.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Although still pretty young, Clide knows exactly what adjectives he wants his music to be associated with: Authentic, innovative and raw. He wants to talk about things that move him and are close to his heart. Of course, love is one of those things — but so are questions around his own identity, the search for truth, dreams and interpersonal relationships. Written and produced in his bedroom, WYL is a single from his debut EP In My Mind. The song is an homage to the girl of his dreams, who ironically only shows up in his dreams. Combining flow and storytelling, hooky choruses and a modern production, WYL is the perfect soundtrack for dwelling in heartache, a long ride in the car or even a turn-up.”
Lectrom | Get Up And Go
HOME BASE: Germany.
GENRE: EDM.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Lectrom is an electronic music producer from Germany. As a kid, he started to make beatbox beats and learned to play the guitar. Now he has found what makes him really happy: Producing electronic music. Get up and Go‘s message is simple: Don’t waste your time. If you are tired of your broken relationship and the person you’ve already given 1,000 chances, just say: Get up and go!”
Levyn Garner | No New Friends
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Reggae-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Levyn Garner is a random dude who’s feeling like Leo on hot Cheetos. He has found and created sounds where all his music influences — Reggae, Bass, Electronic, Pop, Hip-hop, R&B, Dancehall, Rave — intersect.”
Owza | Losing Sleep
HOME BASE: Sweden.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Owza is an emerging artist, producer, and songwriter from Iceland. Now based in Sweden, the young talented artist is quickly making waves in the scene with her unparalleled sound and style. Inspired by artists from varying genres, Owza seeks to push the envelope with her sound and bridge various elements from different genres to make a well-rounded, dynamic style. Losing Sleep is the second single on her upcoming EP which is due in early 2021. The pop/trap fusion delivers a bass-heavy production with uplifting instrumentation, atmospheric vocals, and a captivating beat driven by an infectious vocal performance.”
Tender Tones | Red Lovers
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Tender Tones is a French synth-pop duo composed of Manon Deruytere and Maxime Pargaud. This Paris band explore the most nostalgic and dark side of shoegaze and dream-pop. They just released their first EP Youth Retirement Club. Red Lovers is the first single. “Our first EP, in many unexpected ways, is the second one … kind of. The majority of the initial material was stolen by burglars. But we were haunted by the synth sounds we had captured, so we went back to try to recreate them.”
Myia | Nuage
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Jazz-Blues.
THE TRANSLATED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Myia is an author-composer-performer from the South Shore of Montreal. Three years after her first EP in 2016, her official comeback begins with the release of her single Nuage.”
Chantel Van T | Nicalochan
HOME BASE: South Africa.
GENRE: Orch-Folk.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Chantel Van T is an alternative folk artist, singer-songwriter, poet and actress in Cape Town. She is also the lead singer of Diamond Thug. Her studio album Nicalochan, is like no other body of work she has created. In Nicalochan, Chantel has carved out a spectacular album that announces the arrival of an independent artist with a fervent intention to both haunt and uplift the listener. The album seeks to explore the artist’s inner world without artifice or any attempt to mask vulnerability. The lyrics speak of dreams and illusions, of disruptive forces in her childhood, of understanding love and of becoming a woman. The title track Nicalochan is an ode to an unknown force that visits Chantel. It is a mature, honest creation that is neither overthought nor over-produced; born of seamless creativity, it imparts to the listener a sense of inspiration and wonder.”
Laura Gagne | Door To Your Heart
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Folk-Pop.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Montreal singer-songwriter Laura Gagné shares what music for your soul, creating a dreamworld of her own. With her smokey vocals, she delivers an indie-pop experience with soul influences, and vibrant keyboards, relating her uplifting and empowering anthems of freedom, love and self-reflection. Door To Your Heart is the perfect song for those chilly evenings of November, to just give thanks and celebrate love of family in what has been a tumultuous year!”
Azel Phara | Watch Your Face
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Watch Your Face is from the DRKMTTR EP. It’s a mostly rhythmic electro project inspired by IDM, with organic and synthetic tones. It is a reflection of the complexity and turmoil of today’s world. It speaks of urgency and weight, roots and future. It’s about fighting, but also about hope.”
