Tag: Music

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The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara – Mata Hari

Mata Hari

I admit I’m not a big fan of experimental music, but when the result is something this interesting, I’ll listen. The Chronicles of Manimal and Samara, or TCOMAS, are a London-based duo formed in late 2019 by Andrea Papi (Manimal) and Daphne Ang (Samara); and when you have a musical act listing as influences the innovative works of Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, and Tool, and the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf and Jim Morrison; you know that the resulting music will be anything but conventional. They want to bring music, literature, art and history together while defying musical genres boundaries, and their fourth and latest single, Mata Hari, is no exception to that. I warn you, this will not suit everyone, but I really dug it.

Mata Hari was an exotic Dutch dancer who was convicted and executed during World War I for being a German spy, but it also means ‘sun‘ in Malay, and that is the meaning it has on this track, which is told through the eyes of an artist who declared his love for somebody through a painting. The song, with its atmospheric soundscapes, mixes poetry and the spoken word with electronic music and rock, aiming to reimagine how 80s music will sound 60 years from now. Trust me, you are extremely unlike to find something else resembling TCOMAS and Mata Hari.

Give a chance to this immensely creative band. Worst-case scenario, you’ll hear something pretty unique; and best-case, you’ll dig it just like me.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Electronic

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No Doubt – Don’t Speak

No Doubt - Don't Speak

This iconic album, No Doubt‘s Tragic Kingdom, is 25 years old this month, and, as a homage, I decided to feature one of its songs as this week’s #ThrowbackThursday entry. Usually, with bands or albums this popular, I try to highlight the lesser-known gems, but I can’t do that this time around. I got a soft spot for Don’t Speak and can’t pick another song (which would probably have been Just A Girl, which is pretty popular anyway) over it. I’m sorry.

Enjoy this classic song from 1995.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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Rough Gentlemen – Black Gold

It is not precisely a secret that by adding contrast between different sections of a song –particularly, between the verses and the chorus–, the resulting songs will be more interesting. This is what makes Come Together so great! Yet, plenty of songwriters make the mistake of having a chorus that sounds too similar to the rest of the piece. Luckily, that wasn’t the case for Rough Gentlement, a four-piece rock band from Canada, with their latest single, Black Gold. A banger with an infectious chorus made even better by the high contrast it has with the rest of the tune.

After starting in 2017, the Canadian band has garnered a following in Quebec and this year released this new single in preparation for a future EP. Black Gold is an energetic rock inspired by the various crises the world has gone through this year and how we just have to keep marching on. Not only it is a catchy track, it also has meaning. Check it out below!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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Night Traveler – Watching You

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to add a new entry yesterday, but I’ll try to make up for that today. Here, I bring this musical crush from Night Traveler, a terrific duo from Austin, Texas. I discovered this song back in August but between prioritising submissions and other plans, I had been delaying its inclusion here. It’s about time that changed because Watching You certainly deserved better than that. It’s a really great track.

The duo recently released their debut EP, Dreams You Don’t Forget, for which Watching You was its latest single. An atmospheric track of searing indie pop with traces of melancholic 80s music, this song got everything you need to put it on repeat, including the perfect vocals for this type of music. Actually, I dare you to listen to this great tune just once. I had to put it on repeat.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Pop

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Desoto Jones – Nonfiction

Back in 2007, a little alternative rock band from Pennsylvania released Aurora, their debut album, which got overlooked despite being one of the best rock albums of that year, perhaps even of that decade. I’m talking, of course, of Desoto Jones and for this week’s #ThrowbackThursday entry, I thought we could reminisce about one of the gems in that record.

Three of the five members of Desoto Jones –they are still active– are brothers and while they were recording Aurora, their father passed away. Nonfiction is a an emotional song the brothers dedicated to him. Its acoustic overtones and the heartfelt lyrics intertwine into a beautiful track that doesn’t get old. Listen to this song and then play the whole album. You will see why it is a shame this record didn’t become more popular.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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Sour Honey – Snub

Sour Honey is a four-piece alternative rock band from Manchester that had to swim against the current pretty much from the start. Formed out of two other bands: Young Monarch and Cosmo Calling, their debut gig and launch party had to be cancelled due to the lockdown. This didn’t prevent them from releasing their first single then and a series of cover videos just to keep the momentum going. Set on maintaining the ball rolling during these trying times, Sour Honey is back with a second single, Snub, a clear statement telling the world that this young band is going places.

I really love the guitar riff during the pre-chorus and the overall soundscape created by the misty vocals and the multiple layers of music coming together. It is another example of the amount of talented musicians who are out there waiting for a chance to be heard. Something tells me we’ll keep hearing from Sour Honey.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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Kat Victoria – Tell Him

Kat Victoria is a young and multifaceted artist that cannot really be tied to any genre in particular. She has released six singles so far and each one of them is different. I mean, one of them is even categorised as freestyle rap. However, the song I’m featuring today, Tell Him, lies in the grey area between alternative rock and pop-punk.

Tell Him is an interesting track with an infectious chorus that I’m sure many listeners will enjoy. I think it’s really impressive what Kat can do pretty much by herself, including shooting a music video for her song (which you can watch below). As her bio on social media pages say, this talented songwriter makes music from her bedroom. I can only imagine what she would be able to do in a top-notch music studio. Definitely, check her out.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Punk-Rock

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Nox Vahn feat. Mimi Page – Dream Of Love

I don’t know much about either Nox Vahn or Mimi Page, but I heard their collaboration, Dream Of Love, the other day and thought it was pretty good. What I could gather is that Nox Vahn, formerly known as Fairchild, is part of the lineup of Above & Beyond‘s record label, Anjunadeep, whereas Mimi is an American singer/songwriter whose trademark is blending ethereal vocals with atmospheric soundscapes, which is exactly what you will find in today’s tune. I’m keeping it short today, so enjoy this new addition to the Chill Out mixtape.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Chill Out

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Cultures – Shake

Manchester band Cultures, which you should know already if you’ve been paying attention ;-), are back with, in my humble opinion, an even better single than its predecessor (which was pretty good on its own). Shake is a catchier single with hooks from beginning to end that will probably still play on your mind long after the song has finished. Lyrically, it pertinently talks about how everything is better when you have good company, even being stuck in one place.

If Shake is a glimpse of where Cultures is headed now, then they’re going in the right direction. Here we are looking forward to more singles from this promising band.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Folk/Indie

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The 93 – 09

Hopefully, by now, you are familiar with the work of The 93 after we featured them here back in June. I hadn’t been in contact with them before writing that entry but since that entry was published, I’ve got to know Sylwester (one of the two brothers who form this awesome duo) quite a bit and I can say he is one of the kindest and coolest person I have met (as well as one of the most active supporters of T.A.M!). This has allowed me, in some way, to be part of the process behind the release of their new EP, Space, which got out across all platforms in the last 2 days. They worked incredibly hard to get everything ready on time, from composing and making arrangements, to producing the songs, all of this while also taking care of their day jobs/occupations.

Now, something you have to understand about these two brothers is that they aren’t doing this for fame or money, but pure love of music. Their main goal is actually finding people who can connect with them, using music as a language. And that brings me to Space, inspired by their passion for sci-fi movies about space travel. I had an opportunity to listen to the whole EP before it was mastered and I can tell you that even then, the whole record -which consists on five tracks, an intro and an outro- sounded amazing. The 93 tried hard to make it sound as close to audiophile-grade as possible and you can certainly notice it. I simply cannot get enough of the guitar riffs on these songs.

We are familiar already with one of the tracks in this EP, 03, as it is the one featured here before. What I didn’t know then was that the theme of this song was mysticism in the future through sound. Even cooler, however, was what inspired the Intro and Outro, which was basically what you would feel if you were travelling in a space ship, looked out the window and saw a nebula for the first time. 12 is a great track about the current state of the world (2020, hi!) and how we should focus more on peace and prosperity. I was close to featuring this track today but, in the end, I opted for 09, because, quite simply, it is my favorite track in the EP.

From the intro that would make Tom DeLonge jealous for not coming up with it himself for Angels & Airwaves, to the surreal vocals and atmospheric soundscape of the track; everything in this song is flawless. Written as a letter to our architect (or God), The 93 meant to express with it their fears and doubts while respecting said architect. I assure you, you will want to put this song, and the whole album, on repeat.

These two brothers came from a small village in Poland to the UK a few years ago chasing the dream to do music, as they believed they had something to say. I personally think the whole world got lucky because of that. Don’t believe me, just give them a chance.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Relax