The awesome Ghostly International will release Escapements, the new LP from Brooklyn band Beacon, in February. “Preserve” as a track sounds quite modern, almost as if it came from five-ten years in the future (no joke “Preserve” really sounds like what indie dance music might sound like in 2020), the synthesis on “Preserve” of a varying textures of R&B, dance, elsewhere is quite new (and refreshingly so). Don’t miss out.
Beacon (Soundcloud)
“Solar” is the debut track online from Reading UK newcomers HAIZE. Best pals with Sundara Karma in the Reading scene, the quartet (all aged 18 years!) operate (much like SK) within a space of instrumentally artful indie ruddered by a strong command pop hook writing and song structure. In talking about the anthemic track’s origins HAIZE described “Solar” as “the first song to come together properly as a band. It’s all our favourite live song to play and is always sure to make us let loose at the end of a set.” and lyrically about “being stuck in the middle ground when ending with someone and second guessing every feeling, but in the end realising whats best and having to deal with it. In a way it’s a heartbreak song but goes through all the stages you go through when it’s over with someone.” We’re pleased to B3 Premiere the debut track from the very promising HAIZE. Enjoy below.
HAIZE (Soundcloud)
“Sunburnt Through the Glass” is the second single from new band out of London PREP. While the details thusfar around the band are scant, the focus of familiarity through this track (“Sunburn Through the Glass”) is well executed on. Right, the kernel of nearly every great pop song is the melodic/structural familiarity of its main hook(s) (maybe it’s my own listening bias but there’s definitely a bit of School of Noel in the particular turns of the verse’s main vocal melody). Couple that with a modern Jungle, Honne, Leisure-styled chorus and you have a very likely candidate for a buzz track. We dig it.
PREP (Soundcloud)
Welcome Owen Rabbit out of Melbourne AU to B3SCI. “Denny’s”, not about the home of the $8 Grand Slam Slugger, is the follow-up to Mr. Rabbit’s cool breakthrough debut “Holy Holy” (which we somehow missed! oops!). “Denny’s” is a glitchy heavily-syncopated indie pop number with some clever and subtly very catch pop hook construction underneath. We dig that and we dig “Denny’s”. Listen below.
Owen Rabbit (Soundcloud)
New-to-B3 NY/LA duo Wayfarers (a.k.a. Katie Cecil and Anthony Purpura) turn in a fetching new sugary-enthusiastic chipper-vocals-led radio-ready indie-pop treat entitled “Colors”. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
Wayfarers (Soundcloud)
Perk up your day with Michigan-based indie/psychedelic/sunwave producer Leo on his r&b-infused indie pop gem “Murf”; a dreamy vocals-driven beauty that impresses us with a nicely understated mix of synth-textured reverb-laced psych-guitar-spun instrumentals awash in a pleasantly-catchy sublime-array of lulling lyrical-poetics and melodious-harmonic vocal dynamics. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
Leo (Facebook)
German producer Mogli turns a spacesoul frame to Aussie band Parcels’ great “Clockscared” track. Maybe what we dig most about Mogli’s mix is how he has chosen to set the melody from the original track. Forging an expansive margin for the vocal tune to really scintillate through the mix, the melody is expertly set up to really wow in each line. (One mark of a truly special remix). A++
MOGLI (Soundcloud)
The London-residing duo of Christina Wood and Cicely Goulder, KALEIDA, return on track “Detune”, the first stream from upcoming sophomore EP. An icy/glacial lumbering number “Detune” moves with a cool measured pace and features a set of melodies that seep in and throughout the mix in a sort of symbiotic “whole-music” (I’m sure there’s a fancy German loan word for this) that is quite powerful overall. “Detune” is an excellent almost cinematographic approach to pop writing that adeptly uses vast swaths and characteristics of the tune and recording to create a encompassing and very potent listen.
KALEIDA (Soundcloud)
Jojee to date has notched 3 Hypem Top 10’s “Think of Anything” “I Don’t Give A” and the quieting “Unravel Me” which has netted her the largest number of spins yet. “Claim” is Jojee’s latest and consistent with the NY-based singer oeuvre the track is an impeccably appointed pop construction outfitted with just the right measure of progressive/arty touches. Get into the Mickey Valen-produced “Claim” below.
Jojee (Soundcloud)
Get into the thoughtfully translated stripped-down folky-vibe acoustic-guitar-textured absolute perfection cover of 90’s-vintage Smashing Pumpkins gem (one of the best pop songs of its era) “1979” from Freedom Fry, the male-female Franco-American indie pop duo Marie Sayet and Bruce Driscoll; who we last discussed for “Tropicana”, a melody-driven track we featured for its brilliant vogey-vibrant vocals, straight-cheery upbeat tropical temperatures and hazed-out indie guitar grooves. We think the two artists collaborate beautifully to capture the uniquely-emoted epic-vibe dreamy-raw slow-poetic essence of the Smashing Pumpkins track while also putting their own stamp on the classic favorite (one of the best covers we have heard). A glowingly simplistic mesh of Sayet’s lovely murmur-y vocals and Driscoll’s accompanying bare-sensed golden-touch melody-centered acoustic folk-guitar chords, Freedom Fry’s “1979” is available for purchase on November 12th. Amazing. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
Freedom Fry 
(Facebook)
Go deep with the sparkling-delicate sweet-evocative effortless-natural hushed-hued enchanting-vibe percussion-permeated atmospherics of B3-covered rising star artist Sensi Sye (a.k.a. Simon) on his very good new remix of “Lift Me Up” by New Jersey’s young folk-leaning songstress Mree (off her 2013 Winterwell album). Reviewed by Erin Shay.
Sensi Sye (Soundcloud)
New York-based pop singer Dominique is back today with an impressive new single, “I Think I’m Fallin”. The track which was in part constructed out of the as Dominique put it, “up-and-down rollercoaster of self-doubt and confidence that is a part of making art” which the hook “I Think I’m Fallin/I Think I’m ready now” contrast most definitely speaks to. The self-produced track features an ace bit of sequenced synth and some sleekly hooky writing in the chorus that entrapped into our brain/song-space pretty much immediately. Spin “I Think I’m Fallin” below.
Dominique (Soundcloud)
