D Fine Us can’t catch a break, FOMO has the cure for what ails you, Philippe Brault takes his sweet time, Inhibit puts us all to shame — and they’re just a few of the treats in store today from Groover, a platform that connects artists with critics like me for a small fee. You can (and should) subscribe to my Tinnitist 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, spend some quality time with these choice cuts:
D Fine Us | Bad Luck (ft. Pat Thomas)
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Neo-Blues.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “D Fine Us is a musical project founded by songwriter and producer Tomer Katz. Pulling from Delta blues, soul and R&B, the act collides old with new, infusing contemporary, electronic textures to create a compelling pastiche. With authenticity at the forefront of Tomer’s vision, he takes great care to create a bona fide sound that pays genuine homage to the traditional music he grew up admiring. Tomer achieves this by mixing raw live recordings with high-fidelity studio work, often recorded in unconventional settings like desolate bar rooms, wide-open fields and living rooms of friends. Safe To Disconnect, his forthcoming album, is a perfect display of Tomer’s attention to detail as a producer, with its colourful interplay between mellow verses and high-octane choruses. He says: “Bad Luck is a song about a personal journey we all go through when we leave behind an old part of ourselves in order to grow. The video clip is an abstract manifestation of the well-known metaphor of going down to the river to lay your burden down.”
FOMO | Antidote (ft. V-Bros)
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Rap.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Formerly known as Pessoa, FOMO is an artist who is difficult to place in a box. Juggling between song and rap, between instrumental trap and acoustic version, between maturity and eternal childhood, the lyrics are punchy, the melodies are catchy and the flow transports us. Sometimes virulent in words, everything is forgiven the young rapper thanks to this voice that is both soft and assertive. It’s a balance which he has made his stated objective.”
Philippe Brault | Installation
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Post-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Philippe Brault is a musician, arranger, producer and sound designer. He divides his time between the stage and the studio, and composes for theater, television, cinema and new media. He says: “Installation is the first track of my EP Fear and Greed, which released March 12. The EP is infused with post-rock and krautrock influences, where tireless repetition, pushed by desperation and determination, dislocates and breaks apart like a fallible machine, stubbornly human. The music was originally created as part of a contemporary dance performance by Frederick Gravel, and performed live in trio format, with Philippe on bass backed by veteran musicians Nicolas Basque (Plants and Animals) on guitar and José Major (Pierre Lapointe, Jimmy Hunt) on drums.”
InHibit | Shame On Humans
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Rock.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Who is behind the excessive scars of InHibit? An Anglo-Belgian of 21 years, he began music and the song at five years old before focusing on the writing. The singer-songwriter and lover of poetry revealed himself to the public with The Quest, a piece that defied categorization as it embraced various styles. Now he shares Shame On Humans from his new EP Blinded, available since last Friday.”
Caspy | P.A.I.X
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: World.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “P.A.I.X is one of the tracks from my Kameleon album that I just released. It is completely self-produced. Unlike other titles that are more rap-oriented, this track features the captivating sound of the kora. The clip has been crafted to highlight the lyrics with the choreography of dancer Rose Wayman as an allegory of peace.”
Stéphanie Lemoine | My Two Blue Birds
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Jazz.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Here is My Two Blue Birds, a song for my children. It’s the second single from my album Love Leaves Traces, an album made of sincerity that wants to be eclectic, exploring poetic spaces — a kind of borderless journey between genres.”
KesakoO | Nambada
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Electro-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Mickael Crez, a multi-instrumentalist from France, started his solo project in 2010 under the name KesakoO with the release of the album P.L.U.M. He is inspired by multiple styles such as jazz, trip-hop, hip-hop and downtempo to then shape his own musical universe. Other parallel projects are emerging such as Upside Dawn, a collaboration with beatmaker Screen Djeh. He plays as a saxophonist and clarinetist with several artists like Elektrobin and Oldtwig. This chillout-oriented single was influenced by artist Fakear.”
Oneo Fakind | The Coniologist
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Oneo Fakind is an eclectic electronic experiment. The duo formed in 2017 and their debut album Your Secrets Are Safe With Us was born in a frenzy of emails and live jamming on subways. Fusing elements of ambient and psychedelic electronica with hip-hop and trap, the project invited listeners to share their darkest secrets. In 2018 the duo released their sophomore album Friendly Reality Ambush Squad, with more complex and layered work but the same signature blend of beautifully disparate elements meshing in surprising and often uplifting ways. Released in the midst of a pandemic, their third album, 2020’s The Death of Us, continued to surprise and excite even as it invited reflection and slowing down. Oneo Fakind’s latest album The Start of Something bursts with new sounds and ideas as it attempts to shine a light on the cosmic beauty of the world after a dark and turbulent year. The first song from the new album, The Coniologist represents a microcosm of Oneo Fakind’s signature blend of disparate and delicate elements. Coniology, the study of atmospheric dust invokes the imagery of cosmic origin, the feeling of nostalgia, warmth and finding light in the darkness. The Coniologist floats through space, crackling, swirling and coalescing along the way before taking an atmospheric drop onto the dance floor.”
Toxi Faktory | New World Order
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Rock.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Toxi Faktory play an energic metal, mixing prog, electro-industrial and punk influences, in a dystopian universe. This track comes from their second album The Tower Below, released in 2020 and funded by fans. The universe of Toxi Faktory is a sort of post-apocalyptic wicked tale, drawing inspiration from dystopian science fiction in particular. “We imagine the world after Le Grand Cataclysme — the third world war — which we set in 2025. Our first album Massive Lies set the scene for the situation. Our new album The Tower Below is a descent into the depths of Toxi Faktory, the laboratory that ensures the methodical coherence of the system. The Tower Below is a sort of huge library that holds all of the system’s information. From the point of view of our influences, we tint our metal with prog, electro-industrial and punk.”
Bantunani | Lonely Tear, Back 2 Soul
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Funk.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Composer, singer and producer Bantunani offers his own electro Afrofunk style based on heavy bass, slinky guitars and wise lyrics that describe our deep feelings and the world state. “Lonely Tear puts acoustic and live music back at the heart of the composition, in a very electro style between Stax and Motown, with a retro aesthetic at the gates of rock, pop and soul. The guitars cry with the artist in a poignant beat. With unexpected accents of sincerity and a grain of voice that feels all the wounds of love, Bantunani delivers a deep confession tinged with loneliness.”
Planet Roots | Não Vou Mais Tentar
HOME BASE: Brazil.
GENRE: Reggae.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “We are a 25-year-old band on the road and would like to spread our work more widely globally. We play reggae, dub and hip-hop music.”
Andéol | Attends Demain
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Funk-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “The desire for novelty, for something new, to look like no one else — that’s how Andéol defines himself in the musical landscape. Andéol writes and sings. He makes music that he wants. After two years in the studio and two EPs, Andéol feels ready to offer his music to his audience. Is it rap? Pop? Alternative? The name hardly matters; it only wants to surprise and seduce. Andéol mixes his light voice with it, and sings texts between decadence and romanticism. Attends Demain is an explosive single with electro-pop sounds that make us dance while recounting the setbacks of the party and love disappointments.”
https://youtu.be/TqCY2BYjm0I
Jenn Sarkis | When A Girl Says No
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Jenn Sarkis is a singer-songwriter endlessly searching for herself through music between East and West. Her music reflects her longing to define a sense of identity. In pop she finds solace. Based in Paris, her musical influences are defined by her Lebanese upbringing, her French education and her childhood spent in the Emirates. Today, she’s back with a brand new LP on the way. When a Girl Says No is her way of screaming YES to all the women speaking up. This new single is a tribute to all those people who had the courage to say NO and who made it their life’s mission to fight against harassment and inequalities.”
Oswald Valente | That’s One Small Step For A Man
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I just released my first album and my first single.”
Anymode | L’Amour
HOME BASE: Italy.
GENRE: House.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “The duo Anymode were born in 2019. The members are Tommaso Barberio and Giacomo Mancini. initially they were a trio and the group name was CancelLed. Their first album Yast was released in January, inspired by artists like Daft Punk, Justice, Mr Oizo, Boys Noize.”
Need Soft | Gravité
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Soul/R&B.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “We are twins brothers born in 1989 in France. We formed Need Soft in 2017. Passionate about music with eclectic tastes, we practice an instrumental style mixing pop rhythms, melodies and melancholy: Soft, as we like to define it. We released our first EP Take Me Away in 2019. Gravité comes from the new EP we are currently producing, and which is scheduled for release early this summer.”
Zoe Mazah | Immigrant
HOME BASE: Germany.
GENRE: Reggae.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “The Liberian/German singer and songwriter Zoe Mazah writes soul-infused reggae songs of big and small emotions close to her thoughts and feels. Lyrics to uplift and touch the heart. Fat beats, pumping bass lines and the sweet skank of reggae guitars, seducing and inviting to daydream and relax. Zoe Mazah mixes her African and European heritage with roots-reggae vibes and powerful sounds of nu-soul and dub. Immigrant is a tune about displaced people and fugitives, an appeal for understanding and more humanity.”
Dibiblack | Shake It
HOME BASE: Belgium.
GENRE: Funk.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Originally from Benin, I live in Belgium and my music has no borders. Music has no limit. I write my songs according to my state of mind. Come and discover the world of Dibiblack.”
Nina Wateko | Hommage
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: World.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Nina Wateko is an musician, singer and performer from Congo Brazzaville. Having a blood soaked in rhythm and song, Nina Wateko was born a star before singing into a microphone. It was in 2004, at the age of 14, that the song tigress, with her angelic voice, began to sing. A diva with a golden voice, Nina Wateko is comfortable singing with musical styles such as: Afro-jazz, Afrobeat, blues and R&B.”
KoviNo | Squares
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Rap.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “This song is a single produced by Beatz Era for our upcoming EP 2Tone Jugg.”
Pilli | Taking Out The Trash
HOME BASE: Italy.
GENRE: Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Pilli is the solo project of Filippo Colombo, the singer and guitar player of the band Labradors. Pilli was born with the intent to create music heavily influenced by dance and pop music, something that would be different than the punk and power-pop already explored with his other projects. Taking Out The Trash is his first single, merging fresh textures and upbeat rhythms with romantic lyrics inspired by the anti-fascist struggle. Pilli combines dance and pop with political lyrics inspired by Paul Weller’s Style Council years, a time when it wasn’t that unusual to hear mainstream music being openly political.”
