Shaun Riley is a solo #indiepop artist from Minneapolis that has just released his debut EP: Drive, written, recorded, and mixed by him at home. He also has a Youtube channel where he uploads acoustic covers of popular songs. In a nutshell, that’s all there is to know about Shaun in terms of biographic details, and, quite frankly, that’s all we need. Well, that and the facts that he got a really good voice for pop songs and can write a great hook or two.
Secret, the first track in Drive, is a great example of that. It’s an unpretentious song about feeling infatuated at the beginning of a relationship but good luck getting that chorus out of your head afterwards. On these short track reviews, rather than describing each element of the featured song, I just try to give the reader reasons for spending 3 minutes of your valuable time listening to a song. For Secret, I can’t think of better reasons than flawless vocals and how catchy the chorus is. Everything else is secondary.
We should definitely keep Shaun Riley in our radars.
I was busier than expected this week, which is the reason for the short amount of updates here. I hope I can compensate for that by featuring here a great song that was totally overlooked at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
If you have never heard of that contest (it is not very popular in North America), our friend Jeff from the great Eclectic Music Lover blog, offered a concise summary when he reviewed the winning song from this edition, which wasn’t my favorite but I didn’t dislike. There is something you need to understand about Eurovision: most people watch it –and we’re talking about more than 200 million worldwide– not because of the quality of the contestants but to laugh at some of the over-the-top and often ludicrous acts that some countries send to this contest each year (for example, this one). A jury from each country awards points to 10 other countries, which accounts for half of the total amount of points. The other half comes from popular vote (people can’t vote for the act representing their own country). However, quite often political reasons influence how the country juries vote and the general public regularly selects the most extravagant acts, which means that the winning song is rarely the most deserving one (I mean, this song won in 2018). Therefore, if you don’t hate the winning song, you can consider yourself satisfied.
All that being said, this year’s edition was better than expected in terms of the quality of the contestants. Most of them were at least decent and a few were even more than good. In my opinion, by far the best entry was the act representing Portugal: The Black Mamba, and their song Love Is On My Side. It finished in 12th place but as I explained above, that doesn’t mean much. What really matters is that the tune, which was the first Portuguese song in the contest performed entirely in English, is outstanding. It starts with bluesy undertones reminiscing of rock tracks from the 1970s, which contrasts very well with the catchy chorus more typical of an #indierock track. It also helps that the band’s frontman’s, Pedro Tatanka, voice is really distinctive and perfect for this kind of music.He wrote the song inspired by a sex worker the band met during a trip to Rotterdam in 2019. Written from her perspective, it reflects how all hope is not lost even when life does not go as planned.
I hope you enjoy Loves Is On My Side as much as I did.
Ennui is the word used to refer to that feeling of dissatisfaction you get when you have nothing to do. I suppose Michigan-based artist Aaron Senor, aka Dawning, really hates feeling ennui because he wasted no time between releasing his debut EP, Petals, back in March, and his new single, Ennui. As it was the case before, the great Eclectic Music Lover wrote a flawless review of the single well worth your time. All I can add now is that this is an upbeat indie pop track that can be part of our summer’s soundtrack. You won’t want to miss it!
Foundations is the debut single of London-based British artist Daniel Etherton, and as far as debut singles go, it cannot get much better than this. Released back in February, Foundations is a sweet tune with an acoustic guitar-based melody that really does sound great. One of the reasons for that is Daniel’s voice, which is perfect for an #indiefolk track such as this one. When he sings the lyrics, which reflect on internal struggles and real friendships from a hopeful perspective, it feels like he really means every single word. The song is long enough to make you appreciate how talented Daniel is as singer-songwriter, but at 2:41, it is also short enough to leave you wanting more.
I do hope Foundations gets enough success and recognition to encourage Daniel Etherton to keep writing and recording music. If this is what he did as a new music artist, just imagine what he will be able to do with more experience and confidence. The sky is really the limit for him.
Lost In Japan is a Canadian band whose members have never actually being lost in that Asian country. That being said, I dig that band’s name and, more importantly, their indie rock music. With a sound reminiscing of Arkells and My Favorite Highway (obscure reference), Lost In Japan have received plenty of support in their hometown of London, Ontario, and even amassed over 500k streams for their debut album (2018). They’re getting ready to release a sophomore EP and Lonely is its latest leading single.
Frontman Addison Johnson wrote Lonely three years ago while he was on tour. He wanted to channel the loneliness he was feeling while away from his family. Eventually, after other band members added their input to it, the tune morphed into the version we can listen to now. What I really love about Lonely is the infectious chorus that Addison delivers flawlessly. It’s a really catchy tune that I’m sure you will enjoy.
Formed in 1999, Rise Against has been one of the most revered and influential #punkrock bands of the last 20 or so years, often singing about political injustice, animal rights, environmentalism and other social issues. That being said, I got to admit that I’ve never been a big fan of their music. It is usually too hardcore for me. This is why the fact that I liked their latest single –and first since 2017–, Nowhere Generation, so much actually means something. I guess longtime fans of the band will consider it too mellow or ‘mainstream’ for their liking, but one person’s loss is another person’s gain.
Don’t get me wrong though, Nowhere Generation got plenty of oomph. From the moment frontman’s Tim McIlrath starts singing the overture to the moment the full band starts playing, the song’s energy level is never too low. The track is a tribute to the current generation, which despite technological prowess , does not have the same opportunities previous generations had for achieving the ‘American dream’. The combination of the song’s message with the catchy melody results in a powerful track well worth a listen. Perhaps even on repeat mode.
After completing his service time in the army and travelling across Europe and North America for 5 months, American #singersongwriter Mike Robert decided to write a music album as well as record it and produce it from home while playing all the instruments himself. You would think it was recorded and produced in a high-end music studio by the way Cold, one of its lead singles, sounds. This debut album will be quite good.
Cold is one of those songs that sound pretty uplifting while the lyrics tell a different story. In this case, the song is about feeling trapped and ‘underwater’, unable to feel excitement about anything. The happy energy in the tune’s arrangement represents Mike’s desire for happiness and feeling love. It starts with an acoustic guitar that gives the track a #folkpop vibe, followed by an infections beat that will get you to tap your feet right away. By the time the rest of the instruments come into play, you are already hooked. Listen to this earworm at your own peril.
Yume means ‘dream’ in Japanese and that is the reason why YumeMike chose that moniker, even though he’s actually Italian. He grew up playing bass in multiple #punkrock bands but, as a solo artist, he traded the bass for synths, creating an interesting variant of #indiepop with a strong #poppunk flavour. He cites The Naked And Famous and The Killers as influences, but if you want to have an idea of what he sounds like, think Owl City meets Angels & Airwaves. YumeMike’s ‘dream’ is to inspire and elicit warm feelings through his music. If you like positive messages, this is the artist for you.
Dream Out Loud is part of YumeMike‘s debut album, Light In The Mirror, released in February but that he started working on back in 2019. The track is perfectly on-brand with the artist’s style of uplifting synthpop music but I have to say that the overall production/musical arrangement is really impressive considering he worked on it alone. In fact, YumeMike just released an instrumental version of his debut album that is just as good too. This Italian artist is seriously talented and deserves to be on our radars. Check him out.
Moon Museum describe their style as dream rock and after you listen to their debut single, Pleasures of Peace, you’ll understand why. There are some ethereal elements in the track. It kind of makes sense too, considering that songwriter Ryan Joseph got the melody from a dream. The band cites as influences bands like Slowdive and Doves, but for this song in particular, I can’t help but think of Wolf Alice and their song Bros. If you like that song, Pleasures of Peace will be right up your alley.
Moon Museum started as a collaboration between Ryan (vocals/guitar/keys) and Ian Zazueta (lead guitar), who knew each other from the music scene in San Francisco. The pair then contacted Olivia Barchard (vocals/guitar/keys), who was working on her own solo material and after discovering how similar their styles were, she decided to join them and explore the dynamics of having contrasting male and female vocals. Last but no least, they recruited their friend Aaron Hazen to play drums. Unfortunately, the pandemic slowed things down for Moon Museum but they emerged from it with 3 singles ready to be shared with the world. Pleasures of Peace was the first one but they just released a second one called With Youthat is worth your time as well. I’m genuinely looking forward to their third single.
Jackfruit is the moniker of Jack Braun, a 19 year old musician from NYC. He plays mostly piano and writes all of his music, getting help from Zach Benson on the mixing and production fronts. Jack’s musical style is basically bedroom pop –literally recorded in his childhood bedroom–, which may or may not be your cup of tea, but you’ll surely find his lyrics very interesting. Jack started making music during the start of the pandemic and released his debut EP earlier this year: when they find your body, which consists of four tracks, out of which the most popular one is gas leak with 4 times as many streams as the one in second place. That being said, the song that really stood out for me was stuck in ohio.
The thing that really attracted me to stuck in ohio was how vulnerable Jack’s delivery is on it. A song about an unrequited love, it feels like Jack really means every word coming out of his mouth. This is not a track to dance to or for karaoke night. It is a song to be felt and that’s the beauty in this piece from Jackfruit. I don’t know what the future holds for this talented artist, but it will be fascinating to find out.
