Tag: Discover Prompts

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Vance Joy – Missing Piece

This is going to be a concise entry. Australian singer James Gabriel Keogh, aka Vance Joy, became an international sensation back in 2013 with his hit Riptide and is back now with a new single called Missing Piece. If you liked the former, you’re going to love the latter because it has the same brand of bubbly #folkpop that made Riptide so successful. A song about missing someone you love, this sweet little tune will get stuck on your head. Unless you hate radio-friendly tracks (and some people do), you are really going to enjoy this one.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie

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The Strumbellas – Greatest Enemy

The Strumbellas - Greatest Enemy

One of the first bands featured here, The Strumbellas, released a new single earlier this year that is just great. While the band was on hiatus during 2020, lead singer Simon Ward wrote Greatest Enemy as a way to reflect on his internal battles during a rough year that involved a cancelled tour even before the pandemic started. Not only has this song a great message, but it also is anthemic as hell. It’s impossible to listen to that chorus and resist the urge to sing or hum along. What I really love about this tune is that it doesn’t sound like I’ll Wait at all while being just as good. They weren’t just trying to repeat the same formula.

Greatest Enemy‘s music video is worth a watch as well. It was created by Toronto-based animator  Luca Tarantini and it is aligned with the song’s concept of battling your own demons. Watch it below.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Folk/Indie

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Broken Glowsticks – Funeral Song

Remember The Dangerous Summer? In case you don’t, they were featured here almost one year ago (it feels like yesterday though). Well, Broken Glowsticks is the alter ego of AJ Perdomo, TDS’ frontman, who created this alternative side project as an outlet to showcase a different side to his songwriting. He has released two songs so far as BG, with Funeral Song being the most recent one. A hauntingly beautiful stripped down track that will hit you hard with its heartfelt lyrics.

AJ Perdomo is a great songwriter and the fact that he now has more ways for getting his songs to our ears is nothing but good news to all of us. As much as I like The Dangerous Summer, with lyrics such as “What if we all die before we win” and “I’m drowning in the words I wanna sing”, we can’t help but fall in love with Broken Glowsticks as well. Enjoy!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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Majozi – Close To You

When someone tells you that a recently-released song got a strong 1980s influence, almost immediately you will think of synths of all types and shapes and, most of the time, you will be right. With Close To You, however, you would be very wrong because music from that decade was much more than just synths. Majozi is a South African #indiefolk / #indiepop artist who decided to push his boundaries further with his latest single by incorporating rhythms and sounds typical of tunes from the 1980s. Think Lionel Richie’s All Night Long with a folksy vibe and a sax-based bridge.

Majozi has been active in his home country for about 10 years and has even had several radio hits over there. He has grown a fanbase in South Africa due to his heartfelt lyrics written from his cheerful perspective of the world. Close To You is a good example of that because you will see that the track is pretty uplifting on its own. It’s the kind of music the whole world needs right now: the kind that will make you smile.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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Chvrches feat. Robert Smith – How Not To Drown

I had been wanting to feature Chvrches here for a long time now but I was waiting for the right opportunity. They they have just released the second single off their forthcoming fourth album, Screen Violence, and I really liked it, so I decided to take the plunge. I’m a big fan of Chvrches’ first two albums but not so much of the third one, Love Is Dead: it was not a bad album but it wasn’t at the same level as the other two. I thought that He Said She Said, the lead single for Screen Violence, could have been in their previous album but this new song, which features the legendary Robert Smith from The Cure, is something else completely. In a sense, it sounds exactly as you would expect from combining the two bands’ styles, while, at the same time, it’s kind of surprising to see how great that hybrid sounds.

How Not To Drown is a song about coping with everything that’s going on in your life and how sometimes you might feel like you just want to go away. If features Chvrches’ electronic soundscapes they got us used to, and, as usual, great vocals from lead singer Lauren Mayberry, one of the coolest and more down-to-earth music artists out there today. Having Robert Smith as well is just the cherry on top. Check this great song out below and start your weekend with a bang.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie
  • Pop

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Jacko Hooper – This Was The Earth

Back in September 2020, British #singersongwriter Jacko Hooper was featured here with his single Beg, Steal or Borrow. I emphasized then how Jacko was able to easily transmit his emotions when he sang and after listening to his latest single, This Was The Earth, I’m happy to report that the above mentioned skill remains intact. Even though the new track sounds very different: there are no Indie Folk traces here, it’s still very intimate and emotional. Jacko’s great vocals really stand out.

This Was The Earth was written and recorded from Jacko’s bedroom with help from producer Josh Trinnaman. Jacko got inspired by how chaotic our lives have been since the pandemic started, especially for people with mental health problems, such as Jacko himself. That being said, the lyrics are generic enough so that everybody could really relate to them, regardless of time and space. It’s impossible not to feel something while listening to Jacko’s emotional vocals on this song. What exactly? That’s up to you but, above all things, I feel in awe of how talented Jacko Hooper is.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie

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Shaun Riley – Secret

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.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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Dawning – Ennui

Dawning - Ennui

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!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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VinCrux – Within

Raosaheb Ramteke is an IT professional from India with a passion for music production. After struggling for a while to find the right balance between his day job and spending time making music, he finally self-released his first single in 2020 under the VinCrux moniker. He has since dropped a few other singles, including today’s featured song, Within, earlier this year. While he’s still trying to establish himself as a music artist, the quality of his work is generating some buzz already not only in his home country but all over the world as well.

Unfortunately, Vincrux lost his dear sister due to cancer in 2019, but the silver lining of that terrible experience is that it sparked a flame within Raosaheb for pursuing his dream. Most of his songs are inspired by conversations and memories he had with his sister and Within is no exception. With this tune, Vincrux wants to express that the solution to most, if not all, of our troubles lies within ourselves. Listen to this excellent track below and get lost in its enchanting melody. You will also find it hard to believe that everything related to making this song, even the music video below, was made by himself: an artist who is just getting started. Impressive.

  • Everything
  • Electronic

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Daniel Etherton – Foundations

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.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie