The Record Company is one of the LA music scene’s top recent success stories. They recently headlined the Wiltern Theater at the end of their national tour. Lead singer Chris Vos talks about all the work that went into their rise, about their music, and he also has some sage advise for up and coming musicians.
For more details on Bruce’s show “Go Deep with Bruce Rave”, check here.
Fresh out of NW London is Chloe Bodur whose jazzy and modern turn on trip-hop song structures “Billie” is one of our favorite tracks of the last several months.
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Forthcoming from L.A. artist Albert Kass’ new album is “Hurricane”. A spare acoustic-driven track that reminds melodically a bit of Neil Young, “Hurricane” is described by Kass as “my coming of age-you know, that feeling of loss, of coming to terms with the harsh realization that life isn’t handed to you.” That narrative of realization is neatly juxtaposed on the track to a subtly sweet main melody. Kass further comments, “Now that I’m older and comfortable in my own skin, I’m fascinated by the joys and miseries of childhood, how I perceived growing up, and how that perception changed over time. In writing Hurricane, those bittersweet emotions really worked themselves out in song—in melody, especially.” We’re pleased to present the B3SCI Premiere of Albert Kass’ “Hurricane” below.
Anchored by a cool shuffle of bass and snare, “Cola” new from UK singer Arlo Parks, is as hypnotic in its construction as it is effective in communicating a potent melodic narrative. A+
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We’re into Sara Diamond’s sound in a major way. “Colors” the latest stream from the “Foreward” project is impeccable and could be a hit on US R&B radio right now.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Thanks for listening in 2018. Please enjoy our favorite songs of the year. Stream them all here on Spotify. See you next week!
In no particular order:
Peggy Gou – It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)
DJ Koze – Pick Up
Moses Sumney – Rank & File
Patawawa – Patagonia
Puma Blue – Moon Undah Water
Little Elizabeth – G’day for It
Monsune – Nothing in Return
Leon Bridges – Bad Bad News
Anderson .Paak – Til Its Over
Luke Marzec – Say One More Time
Castelle / Nic Hanson – We Don’t Need to Dance
Laurel – Lovesick
James Blake – Don’t Miss It
JMSN – Talk Is Cheap
Jarreau Vandal – Westside
Nao / SiR – Make It Out Alive
Masego – Prone
Maribou State / North Downs – Kingdom
Extremely Bad Man – Up With the Birdies
Lolo Zouai – Challenge
Loyal – Patterns That Fall
Emerson Leif – Twenty2
Goss – Fever Ray
Caius / Neigh – Your Love
Mike WiLL Made It / Bon Iver – Do You Need Power
SG Lewis / Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Again
We’re digging ESCHES sound. Born in Germany but with roots in the US Midwest. One of our favorite tracks this year is ESCHES’ “Go”. Here ESCHES streams a minimalist and GREAT new “Nylonized” remix for “Go” that we adore. Stream below.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Still Woozy is the aka of Oakland-based Sven Gamsky. “Habit” is the lead single from Woozy’s forthcoming debut EP, “Lately” and is an A++ bit of surreal warm-tones indie pop.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
MorMor, the rapid in ascent project of Toronto artist Seth Nyquist, streams the B3-approved jangle + melancholy sound of new one “Pass the Hours”.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
The France-origin indie pop man M.I.L.K. picks up a feature from Nemir for the handclaps and acoustics sound of “Time for Reinvention”.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
L.A. songwriter Leven Kali, who’s previously worked with Playboy Carti, Syd, etc streams the beautiful Los Angeles at twilight r&b of “Thursday”.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
“Matter” is new from London act Leif Erikson. We’re into the track’s cool rhythm-driven and very soulful approach. The band told Clash, “We were very inspired by Curtis Mayfield’s album ‘Roots’ when thinking about ‘Matter’. He so effortlessly makes these incredible statements about life and society over these stunning, super funky musical arrangements.”
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Beamed straight from the wilds of Belgium through your speakers and into the zone of your bloodstream set to funk. “Duran Duran”, the latest from Vhyce (with an assist from Yves Parquet), adeptly juxtaposes moody synths, a hook-laden pop-destroyer melody, and a main groove that keeps things moving. “Listen to Duran Duran”.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
We’ve been into the recent run of material from Hot Flash Heat Wave, all excerpted from the SF band’s forthcoming Mood Ring EP. “Dreaming of U”, “Head in the Clouds”, and dreamy psych-R&B sounding new one “Sky So Blue” are all winners and deserve your attention. Mood Ring is out Friday (1/11).
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Chatted with Dave Newington who played all instruments on the critically-acclaimed “1, 2, King Fu” album. That is, except for his dad adding some violin. This was their first LA show and we hung out at The Echo before the set. Lots happened for them this year in their native UK and they’ll return to the US in March for SXSW along with a more extensive tour.
Paak’s “Oxnard” is awesome. Our favorite from the album is one of the record’s more midtempo cuts, the J. Cole-featuring “Trippy”. Those ooh ooh harmonies!!
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Disq have created a stir in Madison and on the blogs, especially with their “Communication” single. They played their LA debut at the Bootleg on January 23 and we chatted afterward. The Saddle Creek band will be at SXSW this March.
For more details on Bruce’s show “Go Deep with Bruce Rave”, check here.
Cassie Marin’s “Disrepect” is our favorite track to date from the L.A.-based artist. We love the track’s spare production, use of space, and cool main piano chords set against its busier rhythmic bits. A+ from us.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
SG’s consistency in delivering across varying sounds and styles is gd remarkable. “Again”, which features Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, explores the more dance-y section of SG Lewis’ sound with A+ results.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Wow. Jerome Thomas has been on our radar for a little bit now. We loved his song “Stranger” from earlier this year. New track “Bruises” is special. Built on a School D’Angelo-Bilal-Maxwell, etc architecture, “Bruises” converts an immediate and really quite powerful lyric into what is a very very good track. Listen.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
New girl group out of the UK unperfect debut the very strong pop of “Gots to Give the Girl”. Written and produced by Sugababes and Girls Aloud man Brian Higgins, “Gots to Give the Girl” makes the requisite nods to current trends in cool person Spotify pop while tying it all up into a great and ultimately very listenable track.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
We like this one quite a bit. “Beauty Sleep” is the dreamy new one from AB001. On the track, a beautiful and spare main vocal drifts and lilts in and out a mix of quiet drums and lo-fi sonics creating a cool spacey hymnal quality to the track. We can dig it.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
“Trippy” new from mindchatter is a full 100% on the heater meter. Dusting off now the B3 Crystal Ball – “Trippy” rides an ice cold bass line and percussive sticky vocal track to indie pop super stardom.
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Fresh from New Orleans is “Karma” by R&B newcomer Lucky Daye. Sampling Ginuwine’s “Pony” in the track’s verse, “Karma” builds into harmony-heavy main hook that is catchy as hell.
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A Label Called Success is the secondary for newcomer duo imugi and their track for “Greensmoke”. The track’s center is imugi singer Yery Cho’s great main melody and vocal, which spun over an instrumental of soulful electronics and subtly set bits of reverb and delay.
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One of our new favorites, Lolo Zouai released last week new EP “Ocean Beach”. Track 2 of 2 of the EP is the Blood Orange-featuring “Jade”, a cool iteration breaks-driven R&B that should further drive LZ’s expanding profile.
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We’re into yot club’s recent track “no way!” The track is set around a deep-in-the-PA vocal put to stabs of reverbed guitar and a 1-2 chug main rhythm pattern. It’s a spaced out bit of dreamy lo-fi pop that deserves your listening attention below.
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Indie pop dynamo Whethan is on production for “Only One”, new from Grady. “Only One” gets its dough off its cool combo and juxtaposition of jazzy mind-melter guitar chords and a rhythmic vocal melody that quickly buries itself in your mind’s memory trap.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
Talented Australians daste return with “Sober”, the latest (and to this date greatest) iteration of the band’s funky rhythm-driven indie pop.
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“Birdsong” is the first stream from Rosie Lowe’s forthcoming sophomore LP Yu. Featuring a cast of vocalists that includes Jamie Woon, Jamie Lidell, Jordan Rakei, and Kwabs(!), “Birdsong” is maybe the best song of 2019 thusfar and is a power punch of essential modern pop.
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Yes! “Easy” the latest from Stella Talpo is our favorite track from the UK artist to date. The way, on the track, that walking bass line eases into the rising main harmony line and into the “I don’t mind…” melodic bit. GREAT. “Easy” is A+.
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Brighton’s latest talent export Isabelle Brown streams new jam “What U Waiting 4”. The songs itself rides a mid-tempo bed of soulful Rhodes, scattered bits of sax and winds and cool jazz mixed drums. “What U Waiting 4” is part of a four track EP forthcoming from True Panther.
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Lisbon-based producer Branko is joined by Sango and UK vocalist Cosima on “Hear From You”. A kinetic mix of Brazilian-influenced rhythms set to an R&B-y instrumental backdrop, “Hear From You” is excellent. Check that cuica-sounding break first heard at 1:13.
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“Stay” is the new collaborative track of vets Aston Shuffle, Fabich and vocalist Dana Williams. “Stay” is propelled by its neat juxtaposition of a cooled main melody and minor keyed tones set to a head nods, inc house-y beat. Give “Stay” your attention below.
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New from Biig Piig is “Nothing Changes”. The track takes School of Badu sonorousness to a DJ Premier rhythmic aesthetic which is a sound that rules obviously. So we’re into it. Listen below.
Stream the best new songs in emerging music with our Top 12 of the Week playlist
