Watermelon Boy break it to you, Duo Landry+ double your pleasure, Monroe & Moralezz give you all they’ve got 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 200 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, wrap up your epic journey with these tracks:
Watermelon Boy | Break That Board (ft. Richie Loop & Mark Dwyer)
HOME BASE: Australia.
GENRE: Rap.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Waking from the meditation, your eyes open. A big breath in, a big breath out. You hold your hand high above your head and — CRACK! — it slices through the timber. Watermelon Boy return with another tropical club classic — this time teaming up Kingston’s Richie Loop and Jamaican-American Mark Dwyer for the martial arts-motifed Break That Board. A percussive, twerky rhythm peppered with ’90s fighting-game sound FX. Loop’s distinctive vocals — familiar from his collaborations with Hardwell, Timmy Trumpet, Henry Fong, Steve Aoki, Vybz Kartel and Sean Paul — add a ripe dancehall flavour to the tune and enact choruses with the proficiency of a fifth-degree black belt. Emerging rapper Dwyer bursts into the second verse with a 12-hit combo that shuffles like Ali’s footwork. Combining his passions of tropical sounds, martial arts and vintage gaming, Break That Board is Watermelon Boy’s most personal work yet. A track to motivate, inspire and elate.”
Duo Landry+ | Nan Nin Nin
HOME BASE: Benin.
GENRE: World.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Two talented artists from Benin — Landry Padonou (clarinet / flute / sax / composer / arranger) and Landry Dannon Magnidet (guitar / composer) created Duo Landry+ in 2016. Since then, they have been committed to conscious and educational music. Their lyrics address various social themes such as love, hope, courage, women, schooling and life experiences. Their music bears the imprint of traditional Beninese rhythms.”
Monroe & Moralezz | Giving It All (ft. Okafuwa)
HOME BASE: Austria.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Monroe & Moralezz, the producer duo from Austria, started as a small experimental project in 2009. Embracing dance, house, EDM, funk and pop, their sound is diverse and cannot be assigned to any particular genre. No song is like the other; they are always reinventing themselves. They collaborate with artists and singers from all over the world. Giving It All features the talented singer Okafuwa, along with a catchy hook and a mature melody.”
Kurosaki Maon | More < Strongly
HOME BASE: Japan.
GENRE: Indie-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “She has been singing anime songs since 2010. Her previous releases include Magic∞world and Memory’s Last (The ending theme song for Toaru Majutsu No Index II & III), along with songs for Hakuouki, Gravitation and more.”
Vincent Bugozi | African Fever
HOME BASE: United Kingdom.
GENRE: World Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Vincent Bugozi is an African world-pop artist based in London with a focus on creating positive music and energetic live performances. The project aims to combine different cultures, connect people through music and help bring positivity and unity. Currently, their strength lies with highly energetic and feel-good live performances, where they perform a combination of Afrobeat, reggae, Afrocuban and pop. “During the hot sunrises or the coldest dawn of the Serengeti the animal kingdom is always on the move, orchestrating the biggest party in the jungle,” Bugozi says. “This is what the song African Fever is — a celebration, a party where everyone is welcomed. Let’s all dance to the rhythm of Africa!”
Filippe Dias | You Don’t Know How It Feels
HOME BASE: Brazil.
GENRE: R&B / Soul.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Filippe Dias is a Brazilian guitarist, singer and songwriter. You Don’t Know How It Feels is part of my new album Dias, which revolves around a variety of influences, including blues, folk, soul and Brazilian music.”
Altar Boy | Compañero Débil
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Electronica.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Tearin’ South Florida apart with this hot dancey fusion!”
Miliana STA | Ma Liberté
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Electro-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Miliana STA is a singer-songwriter from Rouen. Coming from hip-hop, Miliana STA adds all the influences of ectro, pop and funk in a dynamic and personal mix. Ma Liberté is the first single from his self-titled album.”
Fiona Joy Hawkins | Twilight Meditation
HOME BASE: Australia.
GENRE: Ambient.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “’My greatest hope and joy is for my music to make a difference,” says Fiona Joy Hawkins, an Australian pianist, singer, composer, speaker and international touring artist. She is classically trained and inspired by her Celtic heritage. Her work is ethereal music to dream to. Although she lives in rural Australia, Fiona has played New York’s Carnegie Hall, the New Orleans Jazz Museum, Sydney Opera House, Echoes/NPR Radio, Grammy Museum and concert halls of China. Inspired by Chopin and Mendelssohn, she has won international awards. Twilight Meditation takes you to a “cinematic, ethereal Celtic dreamland,” she says. “The music you imagine when flying across snow-tipped mountains.”
Kuma Zeke | Logan
HOME BASE: Democratic Republic of the Congo.
GENRE: Rap.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I am writing this message to have visibility on my music and gain listeners.”
Michael John Clare | A Form Emerges
HOME BASE: United Kingdom.
GENRE: Synth-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I have been composing music for a very long time. Most are cinematic/program music. The moods and instrumentation vary greatly. This track travels quite a distance but doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s an affectionate nod to synth-based rock, with a subtle and odd beat.”
Jackson Mayz | Fantasy
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: R&B / Soul.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I’m spreading a message of passion and unity through the power of music, ’cause what we need now is a love revolution,” says Jackson Mayz. “I produced, arranged and composed this record. I’m 21 years old and currently reside in Orlando.”
Jae Sole | Bad
HOME BASE: R&B / Soul.
GENRE: United States.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “My artist name is Jae Sole. I would describe my music as alternative R&B and indie-pop.”
Deborah | Angels Sing House
HOME BASE: United Kingdom.
GENRE: EDM.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “This track is spiritual, with house music Vibes. I love what Candi Staton does. The track is a kind of nod to her! The haunting vocal mixed with powerful house certainly makes you listen!”
William Is | Tread
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Indie-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “William Is is the new incarnation of Chicago recording artist William Steffey. His production career began at age 11, when he received a Tascam 244 multitrack cassette recorder as a gift from his father, a music industry sales rep. “Tread is the next single from my upcoming album Roadstar,” he says. “It uses the metaphor of the arthropods crawling from the ocean 420 million years ago to express the dawning age of consciousness that’s happening right now. (The ascent from the waters of the unconscious). Oh, and it’s a great indie rock tune.”
Stuckinwaveforms | Never Wanted (ft. Janahee)
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: House.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Stuckinwaveforms is a French producer of future beats and soulful music. This groovy house single is tinged with various influences such as Kaytranada, Sam Gellaitry and Disclosure. It is in collaboration with the soulful singer Janahee, who has made this track, without doubt, the most accessible track of my next project Elevate. Whether on the dance floor or immersed in your headphones, this track will speak to all lovers of soulful house and warm grooves.”
Romain Gutsy | The Girl From Kerry
HOME BASE: Belgium.
GENRE: Folk-Blues.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Romain Gutsy is a French singer-songwriter and a musician who started his career in the ’90s with bands such as Les Affamés and Daffy Plays Mandola, as well as playing with Soul Asylum and Calvin Russell. In 2022, he released the album When Leonard Met Dolly. The Girl From Kerry is a song that I wrote the last time I was in Dublin,” he says. “It’s a folk-blues track, very organic, that tells a terrible story but with a kind of ‘second degree’ that I hope you will enjoy.”
3Lia | Canopy
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Indie-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “3Lia was born at the crossroad between Elia Cohen’s bare style folk songs and the jazz/hip-hop Scene of Montreal. Canopy is 3Lia’s first single, an overture to his upcoming EP. The song is about the struggle to become anything other than what’s expected of you. Says 3Lia: “It’s a subject that is dear to me and wich, I feel, can resonate with a lot of people.”
Emeye | My Hero <3 (ft. Hysterism)
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Synth-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Constantly in evolution, experimenting, eclectic and avant-garde, Emeye is the link between the real and the virtual world. Their origin is unknown; they have no religion and sexuality. They move in the present, they’re ahead of their time, they forget the past. Emeye is him, is her, is them. The Earth is Emeye, also the stars are Emeye. Am I Emeye? “We all have a hero somewhere, have you found yours yet?,” says Emeye. “I did it and here is my letter to them. In collaboration with Hysterism, I’m happy to share with your our next single My Hero<3.”
Noah Suarez | Abigail
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Indie-Folk.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Canada, Noah Suarez has a background in filmmaking, design, and writing which informs his cinematic and storytelling style of music. He released five previous projects under his old moniker Architect, as he began to find his voice and weave cohesive narratives. As himself, he has released three projects as he settled into a new style of music, rooted in live instrumentation and cinematic sounds. “This song is an upbeat folk song with elements of rock, country, indie, and pop,” he says. “It’s the lead single off my folk-rock concept album A Thousand Lives, an album about grief, love, loss, and ultimately healing.”
Mad Meg | Monkey Boy
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Indie-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “No one remembers the date of their inception, but Mad Meg have existed, in some form, for centuries. The earliest known depiction of Mad Meg is a 1568 rendering by Breughel the Elder called Dulle Grete: Armed with frying pans, kitchen knives and other peasant implements, a motley gang of ruffians stages a hodge-podge assault on Hell itself. The leader of Mad Meg, Russian-born poet, photographer and lunatic Ilya Popenko, is a towering and unpalatable figure, whose morbidly fascinating performance style and zombie-like singing do nothing to elucidate the profundity, charming self-deprecating irony, and expressive subtlety of his songs, written sometimes in English, sometimes in Russian. These qualities are further obscured by the clamoring instrumental accompaniment of his assembly of sidekicks, who play in an eclectic style they themselves haphazardly identify as Punk-Chanson-Noir. Assembled and based in New York, the eclectic and hard-rocking band, with overtones of Eastern European existential anguish, have toured extensively in Russia and the former Soviet Bloc and recorded a live album in a female prison in Lithuania. Monkey Boy appears on their record Who Deserves Balloons and Medals? It takes a satirical look at disappointment and mixes blues, R&B, and rock.”
Chansonartist | I Need You
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: Indie-Rock.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I make it up and make it real. I improvise first with no corrections. Then I record on my phone or an old eight-track. I Need You was the first but I have many other ideas, as I go off how I feel that day. I’m on a bad site and don’t know how to promote. Ranked No. 1 but I don’t know.”
Joanna DeGrâce | The Sad Chase
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Country-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Joanna DeGrâce is a nurse in Montreal who recently decided to pursue her passion as a singer-songwriter. Her lyrics are intimate and vulnerable with edge, and her style is a blended genre of folk, Americana and country-pop, with influences from David Gray, Kacey Musgraves, Taylor Swift, Sheryl Crow and Noah Gundersen. Her second single The Sad Chase blend country-pop, blues and rock.”
Fifth Dawn | Return
HOME BASE: Australia.
GENRE: Metal.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Formed in 2014 by Ethan Pye, Mark Robertson, Jamie Panucci and Samantha Faul, Fifth Dawn have readily and steadily garnered attention for their skill and perseverance as Australia’s pre-eminent producers of female-led alt-rock. Fifth Dawn are ready to give back to their fans with an album slated for 2023. Working again with Henrik Udd, their first single Return is a mature song that reveals the band at their strongest yet. Thunderous and undeniably emotive, it marks the all-consuming resurgence of Fifth Dawn.”
Joe Macre | When You’re Smiling At Me
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: R&B / Soul.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I write and sing positive, happy music. Smile!”
Cybando | Demons And Angels
HOME BASE: United States.
GENRE: Rap.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Started a year ago and only goin up!”
Alanna Matty | Swimming
HOME BASE: Canada.
GENRE: Folk-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “Swimming is an upbeat song about mental health and the joy of finding a place where you can quiet the voices in your head and find your moment of peace. This is the first single from an upcoming EP of songs I wrote will during my first North American tour, which saw me travel coast to coast in Canada and down the eastern seaboard in the U.S.”
Alauda Arvensis | Transcendance (Demo)
HOME BASE: Switzerland.
GENRE: Jazz-Pop.
THE EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “The fruits of an unexpected collaboration by Swiss guitarist and composer Eugene Montenero, British flautist and composer Andy Findon and keyboardist Dominique Favre. Their music will take you on a journey through the mysterious atmosphere of the Scottish moors and carry you to the cliffs of the Irish coasts.”
Kid Randie | You Know But You Can’t
HOME BASE: France.
GENRE: R&B / Soul.
THE TRANSLATED & EDITED BIO & PRESS RELEASE: “I’m Kid Randie, a French artist and composer in Marseille. Recently I released my first album Allusions, a 100% self-produced project that I describe as a kind of musical business card, which brings together the different styles and influences that inspire me on a daily basis.”
