Best in Pop - Hot New Releases - July 2024
This month's edition of Best in Pop features; an experimental pop song that is unlike anything you have ever heard before; a shimmering wonderland of a pop song; a gentle song that sounds like it plays to you as you sit on a rock surrounded by greenery on a mountain; a soul pop blend that will everything more vibrant, and more.
Featuring WTRGRL, Imogen and the Knife, Nathan Ball, Sadye, Mary Ocher, Lola Aviva, Magdalena Bay and LEATHERS.
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Scream - WTRGRL
I came across this on Bandcamp, under the Avant-Pop tag (nothing allows you to delve into the rich, vibrant underwood of creativity and new music quite like Bandcamp).
Opening with piano chords (that have a bit of a treated piano vibe, kind of like the piano in Aphex Twin’s Avril 14th), before delving into an ethereal, shimmering pop wonderland, the chorus is an eruption of glory, ‘it feels so good I could scream/living life like it's a dream’- this is just wonderful.
Taken from the album Drïpsody, which you can listen to here.
Connect with WTRGRL
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / Website / YouTube
Taste For Blood - Sadye
This song opens with a gale of haunting pads shimmering over your ears; before descending into an electro-pop beat, with uneasy ambient effects, over which flawless vocals flow.
Like a lot of Sadye music; this feels like it plays to you from a haunted house, this is fun from start to finish.
She confides, "The lyrics describe how I’ve conquered my demons and how I’m ready to do that for someone else now—and not just that I’m ready, but that I’m craving it. I think the song sounds like what love feels like for me. Like this wild, cinematic fantasy. It’s demon slayer, it’s outlaw, it’s a different kind of love song. Mike and Nico made it into the western, glam, symphony of my dreams. I think if you listen it’ll give you that beautiful, uneasy feeling of “no turning back.”
Connect with Sadye
Spotify / Instagram / YouTube / X
Red (is my color) - Imogen and the Knife
The artwork of this reminds me of a cult movie that I would become absolutely obsessed with; or the cover of a book I would have as a kid (one that told eerie tales; that were somewhat fairytale adjacent).
Imogen and the Knife is an incredible alternative pop artist, this song also feels like it has rich folklore woven into its core. The song is hypnotizing, the lyrics cutting deep “It’s rife in the water you give to your daughter/she falls ill every time /Pipes can be changed but her sickness remains /This whole house has to come down”.
This is a piece of art that questions power structures, the trauma passed down from generation to generation and lets you know that you can be free of this. This is a song that you need to listen to.
Connect with Imogen and the Knife
Spotify / Instagram / Twitter
Stateline - Nathan Ball
Photo Credit: Nick Pumphrey
The rising pads and electronic percussion in Stateline wash over you like a warm breeze; the gentle lyrics and vocals soothe you; this flows over your ears like a stream on a mountain.
On the song the artist says “It's an adaptation of the story of Icarus ignoring advice and flying too close to the sun and meeting his demise. It's a coming of age love song about dreaming your life away and the innocent beauty of young love, only to be brought back down to earth and all its reality.”
Connect with Nathan Ball
Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / X
Museum of Childhood Terror - Mary Ocher
This is taken from the album Your Guide To Revolution; this song is a blend of experimental Avant Pop, fused with other genres; and it is absolutely wonderful.
This opens a hypnotizing beat, eerie textures, the ambient sounds of footsteps and creaking doors, Mary’s vocals are entrancing. This is such a fun listen.
Connect with Mary Ocher
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / Website / X
Paint Me a Picture - Lola Aviva
This sounds like coffee in a secret garden in Spain; in this song colors are more vibrant, the world filled with life, Lola’s voice is incredible, it flows like butter over the utterly divine instrumental.
This is a delightful blend of soul, and pop, with a dash of something more, listen to this, you deserve a treat.
Connect with Lola Aviva
Spotify / Instagram / YouTube
Mary - LEATHERS
I have been obsessed with LEATHERS since I heard the neo-noir dystopian Highrise; the artist is back with Mary.
This opens with reverb-drenched vocals, gentle pads, before descending into the jet-black night, with a chorus that is a blend of darkwave and electro-pop. Divine.
Connect with LEATHERS
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / X / YouTube
Image - Magdalena Bay
Magdalena Bay are one of my all time favorite bands - I love when the creativity and imagination of the artists is saturated deep into the fabric of every part of the art.
The music video thumbnail reminded me of the collage-style book covers I used to read as a child (specifically Anne Fine’s e.g. Bad Dreams, Charm School).
The song is actually unlike anything I have ever heard before, the vocals are mesmerizing, it has a surreal quality to it that makes it feel like a dream - this is a magical journey.
Connect with Magdalena Bay
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube
Spotify Playlist
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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