Best in Pop - Hot New Releases - August 2024
This months edition of Best in Pop features; a song that sounds like it could have been part of the movie soundtrack to MaXXXine; a song that sounds like a mermaid singing to you from an azure blue sea; a song that sounds like the euphoria of the early 2000s in a song; an achingly beautiful dream pop/dream and bass song; a synthpop song that sounds like a techno-dystopian Alice in Wonderland; and more!
Featuring Cecile Believe, Boy Jr., TV Girl, George Clanton, Laura Dre, Vitesse X, Jay Wires, Katya Yonder and Olive Louise.
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Blink Twice - Cecile Believe
Exploring Bandcamp has the joy and unpredictability of the early days of the internet; and also possesses the fun of going to a music/record store; in which you will most likely discover something you love, simply by the album artwork drawing you in. This EP cover reminds me of a paperback 1970s style cult fiction book (with a dash of The Baby-Sitters Club).
Blink Twice is taken from the aforementioned EP, entitled Tender The Spark; in which a menagerie of wonders and sounds await. It reminds me of an earth-shattering gem you would stumble across on one of Grime’s early EPs (e.g Venus Fly featuring Janelle Monae), the vocals in this are hypnotic, the beat being plucked from the depths of the darkest midnight.
Another song that I absolutely loved was The Pearl, a deeply personal song about a profound loss (the artist speaks about this here); the music itself shimmers, with a slight Spanish guitar flair, and possesses an interwoven quality that brings to mind an eerie folklore/fairytale involving a mermaid, and a sea-side town. Cecile’s level of vocal ability is the star of this; they are soft, cloudlike, yet raw, flowing in a way that appears effortless but is in fact the work of an exceptionally skilled vocalist. (for some reason also, I can imagine this song playing in a Pedro Almodovar movie).
Connect with Cecile Believe
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / X
When I Fall - Laura Dre
Brooding, ominous and all-consuming; this is taken from producer/composer Laura Dre’s album Moving Spaces II: Twilight Soundscapes. This transports you into the 1980s at night time; as you take in the sheer awe-inspiring spectacle of the city skyline; the plastic glamor of the city pulsing throughout the song.
The pads are divine, with the bassline hinting at some mystery lying at the heart of this city. This will teleport you to another time, where intrigue, potential stardom, and mystery await. (side note, I can kind of see this being part of the world of A24’s MaXXXine).
Connect with Laura Dre
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / X / Website
Still Be Friends - Boy Jr.
A deeply sarcastic, fun song about being on the receiving end of a breakup. The visualizer has a DIY craft vibe to it, a quality which makes the artist’s work even more magical. The percussion has a Roland TR line feel to it, the synths beep and boop (giving a cool bedroom pop feel); my all-time favorite line from this is ‘And I know I just drove my car directly into your home/ But I hope that we can still be friends”.
On the song the artist says “"my rather sarcastic way of showing the way I hear someone's breakup spiel to me. You know like people will go on and on about how great you are and they still want to maintain a friendship because you deserve the best but at the end of it all, they're still breaking up with you."
Connect with Boy Jr.
Spotify / Instagram / X / Facebook
Summer 2000 Baby - TV Girl, George Clanton
I have never heard a song that encapsulates the quality of the early 2000s quite like this newest release from TV Girl and George Clanton; this feels like it plays over a summer evening from your childhood, the signature aquatic style of guitars from that era sprinkled throughout (think All Saints’ Pure Shores).
This a world where you watch Malcolm in the Middle for the first time, this is euphoric, it is a memory in song format.
Connect with George Clanton
Spotify / Instagram / Website
Connect with TV Girl
Spotify / X / Instagram / Facebook / Bandcamp
Eternal - Vitesse X
There are few artists who can master an addictive and entrancing melody line quite like producer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Vitesse X. Eternal opens with guitar chords that have a slight 1990s flair to them; (although very different, it initially reminded me of Grimes’ Delete Forever).
The chorus is an azure blue explosion of dream-pop, 90s electronics, dream and bass (I noticed this tag on the Bandcamp release and it describes this blend of otherworldly, ethereal nostalgia so well).
Connect with Vitesse X
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / X / YouTube
My Love - Katya Yonder
Shimmering and magical; My Love has a bit of an Enya quality to it, alongside a vaguely eerie, ethereal feeling, one that reminds me for some reason of the 1975 movie Picnic At Hanging Rock.
The vocals have an entrancing fairytale vibe to them; it feels like they float up to your ears from the azure blue sea, an otherworldly voice luring you to the ocean and the wonders beneath. This is a work of art that you need to immerse yourself in.
Connect with Katya Yonder
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / Facebook
Illusion - Jay Wires
The artwork to this looks like a techno-dystopian Alice In Wonderland; the song itself has this quality woven into it, possessing a blend of 80s synthpop and technopop; with bursts of shimmering magical pads.
The echo on the vocals makes the feeling of isolation hit that much harder.
Connect with Jay Wires
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / YouTube / Facebook
Greatness - Olive Louise
The music video to this has a bit of an AHS vibe to it; an element that weaves its way into the music; the instruments having a little bit of a toy dollhouse vibe to them (which I love). You get to experience the sheer power of Olive Louise’s vocals in the chorus, before delving back into the fun, yet vaguely unsettling musical timbre of the verses.
On the song the artist says “"Greatness has been my go to before I have to deal with confrontation, when I need to set boundaries, or when I have to do something uncomfortable; it just puts me in this head space where I'm in control”.
Connect with Olive Louise
Spotify / Instagram / X / Apple Music
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If you would like your release to be featured in this ongoing series, please send me an email, I would love to hear from you!
About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
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