Ella Thompson sets the bar high in advance of her new album, due out later this year. Her new lead up single Let There Be Nothing is a triumph. It’s nostalgic within a modern sonic construct. The singer herself has some classic instincts, channeling an influence of Motown and adapting it with an indie sensibility.
The song has a femme fatale aura, the kind of adapted soul appeal familiar to Bond movies and detective films. Thompson herself is convincing as the scorned vixen, reflecting a hopeless romantic who fell for the wrong one. For comparison we think it reflects a vibe familiar to Winehouse and Duffy with some added Trip Hop underground appeal.
Ella Thompson is featured on our Best New Indie Playlist.
TAYLR caught our attention with an infectious neo soul vibe on her new single Daydreamr. Her vocal performance is both smooth and vibrant. It’s an effortless brilliance that resonates with projects like Lake Street Dive. Daydreamer is equally fresh and tags an underground influence within a contemporary construct.
Daydreamer is a proper funky summer bop with an iconic groove full of soul and swagger. It also adapts with some disco rollerskate joy in its last movement. The band KODAE fills in all the right holes, never over playing but offering some nice calculated variation. We can dig it.
Hear Daydreamer now on our Best New Indie Playlist.
Goldie Boutilier might be the edgy rock and roll hero you’ve been missing. Her hypnotic presence is on full display in the video for her new single The Angel and The Saint. Fronting an all female band, the performance reigns as a liberating proclamation. Goldie is in touch with what makes her spark and its exuding like a nuclear bomb from her aura. She’s a magnetic performer, the kind that brings the crowd to the front of the stage within a moment of her claiming the limelight.
Where have all the rockstars gone? Goldie cites a bygone era. Stevie Nicks, Jim Morrison, Robert Plant, she’s on their level. There’s a Hollywood value too, one that harkens to Uma Thurman’s character in Pulp Fiction. Its sexualized and its rebellious. It’s empowering. It’s a presence that brings a loud man to a whimper. The band brings it too, and Goldie’s got a sultry urban draw worthy of her stage presence. Watch the video (above) and say it isn’t so.
Goldie is featured on our Best New Indie Playlist
Praise Team grabs you from the very first moments of their new single Strict. What follows is an inspiring poetic masterpiece. It’s the kind of musical experience that sheds your insecurities. It’s a testament to the performance and its theatrical deliverance. It’s believable and the music accentuates that real drama.
To conjure that emotion in concert would be a revelation. It’s the kind of angst and truth that drew us to the underground. The lyrical themes are very real and difficult in a way that mirrors the music’s dark tension. Stylistically we think it connects loosely with projects like The Cure, Kate Bush, and early Arcade Fire. Most notably, though, it is carving out its own realm within this style.
Praise Team are featured on our Best New Indie Playlist.
The Wild Is Calling 