Double Rider bring the past into the present, Andriana Chobot lives like it’s the last time, Asher Knight goes by the way 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) follow me on Spotify HERE, check out my Top 150 playlist HERE, or 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, go HERE. But first, spring forward with these fine finds:
Double Rider | Echoes Of The Past
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Folk-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Double Rider, formerly known as Third Generation, are a rock trio from Siksika Nation, Alberta. In the first few years of being a band, they performed at local festivals in Southern Alberta. In early 2020, Double Rider set out on their first tour — The First Nations Music Tour — alongside notable Indigenous artists. The band recently recorded their first, long-awaited EP that includes songs written by their grandfather Matthew Manyheads. The future of Double Rider consists of the recording and the release of their first full-length album and sharing more music composed by their late grandfather.”
Andriana Chobot | Like It’s The Last Time
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Indie-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Having picked up the piano at the age of four, Andriana started to write her own songs in high school. She honed her craft mostly because of her love for performance — whether it’s playing in her band or in dramatic plays onstage. She says her sound is getting more experimental as time passes, but insists she “couldn’t even try” to define it. “What I hear in my dream thought bubble is different than what you hear. And I certainly wouldn’t want to burst your bubble.” Enjoy this fresh, alt-indie-pop banger with swirling sax, grooving bass, and a sincere melody whispering an existential question of, “Won’t you dance like it’s the last time?”
Asher Knight | By The Way
HOME BASE: United Kingdom.
GENRE: Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Asher Knight is a singer-songwriter from Bradford. Moving to London to focus on his music, Knight has built an impressive catalogue of songs, working alongside writing greats including Cutfather, Mark Owen, Jon Maguire, Red Triangle, Olly Murs, James Blunt and many more. Asher’s career has taken him on multiple tours across the length and breadth of the U.K., supporting the likes of The Vamps, Boyzone, Steps, Will Young, All Saints and more. By The Way is part of a selection of tracks from the EP Still Standing.”
Rafaël Dato | So, What’s Next?
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Jazz.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “If you like jazz — even if it’s not your favourite music — I’ve just released a first album freed from the barriers of music genres. Deeply influenced by pop-rock, cinematic atmospheres but also a touch of electro, I have developed a multi-faceted music: An alternative jazz, both instrumental and approachable. My influences, among others, have been Brad Mehldau and Gogo Penguin, Radiohead and Nirvana, but also Johann-Sebastian Bach, Joe Hisaishi and John Williams.”
Rydim | La Rue St-Jean
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Rap.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Rydim is a Beauceron artist who has been making Latin music for several years. His music, with fusion-reggae and reggaeton rhythms, is also used by Zumba choreographers around the world. La rue St-Jean immerses us in his teenage memories. Nostalgics who have experienced the effervescence of the bars, bistros and shops of the famous rue St-Jean, one of the oldest streets in Quebec City, will remember certain mythical places in this song with its catchy chorus and urban pop sounds. The music was composed by Alberto Merelo and the track was mixed and mastered by Essentiel production.”
Raphaël Reed | Designing Dreams
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Neo-Classical.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Raphaël Reed is a musician of contradiction; trained in classical music, but with a degree in contemporary creation. A figure of the Montreal underground scene, but a composer for Hollywood productions. Innovative, but aware of the past. It is paradoxically through all these contradictions that the artist finds his balance. His hybrid vision of creation has led him to carve out a place for himself in multidisciplinary spaces where music rubs shoulders with other art forms, such as live performance and film. Reversal is his first EP, an instrumental project where analog synths, strings, piano and electroacoustic elements meet to create a lush and enveloping sound universe. The artist was inspired by the sea and its capacity to be extremely intense as well as soothingly calm to create this continuous swell movement.”
Olive | Comme Il Se Doit
HOME BASE: Belgium.
GENRE: Pop.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Olive is a singer-songwriter in French pop. She creates a real emotional universe and shares her intensity with her team and the public. Olive is surrounded by three very talented musicians: Greg Chainis provides bass and programming, Pierrick Destrebeck is on drums and Giovanni Rizzuto plays guitar. Olive joins them on the piano.”
Kahnin | Fast Car
HOME BASE: Iceland.
GENRE: Indie-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Kahnin is the artist name of Icelandic singer-songwriter Gudmundur Jens Gudmundsson. Fast Car is his 16th single release since 2019. Not bad for a one-man show. The song is about two inner-city lovebirds who happen to be the local corner dealers as well. They have higher ambitions. though. They dream of stardom, and by accident achieve it, but the end result isn’t as glamourous as the dream. Fast Car has some world-class musicians behind it. Jimmy Deer (Wiz Khalifa, Seal) is on bass as well mixing engineer. Ash Soan (Adele, Sam Smith, James Morrison, Rod Stewart) is on drums. Kahnin is on synths and guitars, along with Iceland’s very own Jon Elvar Hafsteinsson on guitar/ebow. Cassian Irvine (Björk, Gary Numan) is the mastering engineer.”
Recess Villains | Ciao Bella
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Rap.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Recess Villains is a Los-Angeles hip-hop group formed by goth-pop artist Swim and rapper Juice Judah. They have an EP entitled Three Peat coming in spring, with the self-titled album Recess Villains expected in the winter of 2022. L.A. Recess Villians teamed with Milan artist Zo Vivaldi for the single Ciao Bella. Vivaldi is an acclaimed Italian songwriter who has written for prominent artists such as Fedez and Dark Polo Gang. The video was shot in Milan with Italian director Davide Papadia and mastered by Grammy-nominated engineer Rob Kleiner.”
Ariel Sim | Spirits
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: World.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Raised by jazz musicians and Celtic artists and trained in West African percussion and dance, Ariel Sim makes secular soul music composed of confessions, harmony, and walls of sound that are inspired by jazz, soul, and hip-hop/R&B. “I’m inspired by many genres, but always find a home in jazz,” she says. “I’m interested in telling vulnerable stories that show how things are connected and inspire us to be unafraid.” Her debut EP Confessions in the Circle (Vol. 1) is just shy of 20 minutes long. Sim wanted it to feel like a radio documentary — like you’re right in the middle, watching the music being created in her family’s living room. Confessions in the Circle (Vol.1) is a personal journey into spiritual healing, letting the past go, and the reclamation of an individual’s spirit.”
https://youtu.be/HRWdxttLOSc
Malka Family | Sur La Lagune (Full Moon Mix)
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Funk.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Malka Family set stages all over the world on fire. What more can one say about this group’s outstanding energy, other than the fact that they are the true successors of George Clinton and his cosmic P-Funk. Le Retour Du Kif, their brand new album, was produced with the same magical ingredients: Crazy and sparkling songs and rythms; sounds that are naturally warm, with the good old-school analogic recording. Just the perfect vitamin cocktail one should need to boost up his energy. Come and join them in their new galactic adventure of a thousand colors, sounds and illusions — where funk is the only king.”
Francis Jupiter | Brooklyn
HOME BASE: Italy.
GENRE: Pop-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “After six years busking in the cold streets of London and touring with his previous bands around U.K. and Italy, Francis spent the quarantine focusing on his own music and art and finally decided to embrace a new challenge, starting his solo project in 2022. “My second single Brooklyn is the description of my experience when I was 18 and I moved to N.Y.C. all alone,” he says. “A twist of emotions, high hopes and broken dreams that I’ve tried to write down in words and emotional melodies. A song to all the young dreamers out there.”
Harzeloup x Astro | Remède
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Rap.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Remède is the latest track by rappers Harzeloup and Astro. It required many hours of work.”
Plumes | When I Walk In
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Neo-Classical.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Plumes is an indie-pop / classical crossover project centred around Canadian singer songwriter Veronica Charnley. Originally from Montréal but now based in Paris, Plumes has released three critically acclaimed albums, the most recent being 2019’s Oh Orwell. Blending classical music techniques with pop sensibility and using original lyrics as well as poems by Emily Dickinson, Goethe and Marina Tsvetaeva, Plumes is romantic and adventurous. “I hope you enjoy this Satie-inspired song and video conceived and made during lockdown,” she says. “It was a collaboration between artists in France and in Canada, drawing on the expansive imagery of the Grand Canyon.”
Medusa | Thinking ’Bout You
HOME BASE: United Kingdom.
GENRE: House.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Based in Leeds, Medusa has always known music was her passion. Taking her cues from acts like Ella Mai and Jhene Aiko and incorporating elements of old school R&B from artists such as Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown, the soulful singer-songwriter and producer crafts her unique R&B/soul sound. Medusa has joined forces with dance music producer Aaron Holden in an unparalleled collaboration to bring a unique and dark twist to their black-hearted house track Thinking ‘Bout You. Their clever and eccentric incorporations of R&B in combination with mainstream dance music demonstrate a new addition to the genre, and is set to drive the industry further than before. “This song is particularly personal to me as it demonstrates how I focus my attention on others, who do not have the capability of making the same commitment,” Medusa says. “For me, this is my way of portraying that I am also human, and feel the same way all my fans do. We are no different. The purpose of this track is to resonate with others and I hope they find it as special as I do.”
Bluebagbang | O Que Vale A Pena
HOME BASE: Brazil.
GENRE: Samba.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I’m Marina, creator of the one-band project Bluebagbang. I compose, produce and record my songs at home in São Paulo. I just released my second EP O Que Vale A Pena in the Brazilian popular music style. It was inspired by feelings I had throughout the pandemic year that was 2021: Expectations of the future, death, fears, hope and disappointments. The title track talks about the hope of the post-pandemic face-to-face meeting and the appreciation of the present, of being present in people’s lives in some way. I would be very happy if somehow my music awakens some positive feeling about life.”
Maya Kamaty | Meute
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Pop.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “For Maya Kamaty, it’s high time to find her place, to no longer have to justify herself and finally, to dare to say things as they are. But sometimes you feel alone and you can’t find the words or the courage to face the obstacles of everyday life. It is this feeling of loneliness and awakening that she wishes to address in this new title with an electro pop feel. “I wanted a minimalist atmosphere, a pop aesthetic with a simple text that tells our stories as women. I am a Reunionese who has been evolving in music since 2012, and since my first album, I have the feeling that my peers do not allow me to grow. They want to lock me in a box / cage.” Maya called on Marie Lanfroy to help her find the right words and melodies. In a strong surge of sisterhood, they find themselves in order to extirpate the overflow: The difficulty for a woman to free herself from the patriarchal scheme, the need to find allies, people you trust to discuss, work , move forward, but also the need to draw their strength from a common voice. The result is a song that is both effective and deep.”
La Punkaravane | Le Monde d’Avant
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Reggae-Pop.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “With more than 350 concerts in 12 years, throughout France and even behind the former Iron Curtain, this crazy project has grown and evolved with its members. These nine little guys have already released five EPs and are currently working on their first album as a consecration of a deeply human adventure. Their new single and video Le Monde d’Avant is a little different from what you expect.”
Twice Is Nice | Devil + Wreck
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Four disenchanted lads tell tales of their decades though the permanent search and discovery of women. Passionate relationships are inexorably tumultuous. Betrayal, deceit are only symptoms of our own demons. Devil is their first single, the lament of a man who will never forgive his own evil deeds, but accept his name, through the eyes of his devotee. It is a resolutely rock song, with the lyrical allure of Muse and the percussive sound of Royal Blood. Wreck is the belated realization that love is no longer the last bastion against the erosion of a relationship and the evolution of our lives. If sometimes the solutions are obvious, they often remain non-existent.”
Frolin | Afterthought
HOME BASE: Norway.
GENRE: Neo-Classical.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I live in the Southwestern part of Norway, just outside of the town Haugesund, surrounded by beautiful scenery like the sea, fjords, small islands, forests and mountains. This scenery is an inspiration for my music, and it is my hope that you can feel this when you listen! I have always been looking for inner peace, to benefit both physical and emotional health and well-being. This inner search has led to my desire to be a part of the solution for others who also desire tranquility through music, meditation and mindfulness. I hope that you enjoy my soothing instrumental track. It is a slow piece with classical guitar and some ambient elements to it.”
Pascal Lengagne | In The Deep
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Neo-Classical.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I am a composer and I work mainly for cinema and advertising. I appreciate artists like Max Richter, Olafür Arnalds, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dustin O’Halloran, Luke Howard.”
