Category Archives: Synth-pop

Alt- Pop, Electronic, Indie, Indie Pop, New Music, Synth-pop, Tropical

RÉN ‘Give It All Up’

RÉN (pronounced rain) is an Indie Pop artist from Brooklyn, New York. RÉN is making waves with her thought provoking tracks which are fresh in perspective. She showed us her wisdom through groovy indie in her debut single ‘Time’, followed by her single ‘Into the Unknown’ which is about escape and a much-needed reminder to let go of those aspects of life you will never have control over. These tracks embodied the core concept of RÉN – live fully, ‘let go’ of everything holding you back, and go ‘Into the Unknown’. When performing live lead singer Renée Orshan is joined by her Von Trap like family with brother Reuben Orshan on lead Guitar and sister Eden Orshan on background vocals.
RÉN has released her new single ‘Give It All Up’ which is bursting with an exploding release of optimism and acceptance. Saturated in infectious dance beats and shimmering synths this track exudes sunny radiant vibes from its very essence. With tropical juicy elements its a fruity cocktail of realisation that gently coaxes you into recognising your feelings and emotions. The sun soaked atmosphere fills you with elation and exhilaration. Its a rush of positivity with Renée’s vocals softly cooing and lulling you with soothing warm tones. The track is surrounded with cool airy fresh vibes that swish and swirl like a gentle breeze blowing away all the tension leaving you relaxed and ready to dance, while the synths rain down on you sprinkling joy and uplifting tones. Richly layered with zest and luscious textures dripping from every note its a shimmery delight to relish and savour. This pulsing pop track will have you up and dancing around the room looking forward to summer in no time. RÉN is one to watch.
Stream ‘Give It All Up’ below

Hypnotic, Indie, Indie Dream Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Psychedelic, indie rock, New Music, Psych-Pop, psychedelic, Synth Rock, Synth-pop

Ivory Wave ‘Paradise’

Ivory Wave are a 5 piece band hailing from Birmingham. This unique indie band caught our attention earlier this week. Their recent single ‘Paradise’ is a floaty track that creates a bubbling fizzing world of its own. With sprinkles of psychedelia in swirling synths and sweet lush backing vocals its a fluffy trippy cloud of narcotic ecstasy. Bliss and euphoria ooze from every pulse of the track. With perky indie beats adding a gritty sandy pull to the track and infectious groove its effortlessly cool and chic with a dreamland anaesthetic thrown in. Raspy attitude soaked vocals tie the track up nicely relaying authentic lyrics. These guys have a strong steady impressive sound creating their own little Utopian hypnotic pocket in the indie scene. Once you hear this track you will be addicted.

Stream ‘Paradise’ below

Indie, New Music, Synth-pop

Capital Cities ‘Vowels’

Three years after breaking through with double-Platinum hit ‘Safe And Sound’ and releasing debut LP ‘In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery’, Los Angeles-based synth-pop duo Capital Cities have released a new single ‘Vowels’, via Capitol Records. The track will appear on both a forthcoming EP from the duo and the soundtrack to the FIFA 17 video game. ‘Vowels’ is a funky break up dance track soaked in honest good simple fun. Its that infectious track that comes on and makes you want to dance and groove with slick swagger filled guitar licks and accentuated brass dripping in playful bouncy beats and shimmering synths. Its a strutting down the street peppy ball of fun that rebounds with fresh energetic zest. The cool sway and spring gives a swanky flaunt and sensual prance and charm to the track while the creamy vocals keep it cool and effortlessly smooth. Lyrically the track is simple and therefore sing along ready with the chorus listing the vowels, it does exactly what is says on the tin. ‘Vowels’ is simple fun and effective, who needs a whisky drowned break-up ballad? Jam it out and groove to a funky uplifting sun soaked infectiously catchy dance anthem.

Watch the video to  ‘Vowels’ below

Ambient Music, electro- pop, Electronic, Indie, Indie Electro, New Music, Synth-pop

Temples of Youth ‘Divide’

Temples of Youth are an upcoming electronic duo from Winchester, UK. Paul Gumma and Jo Carson began working on their live set in December 2015, with the desire to bring their music to the stage with a limited number of hands, Jo on percussion and Paul on guitar, utilising samplers and effects to recreate their sound. Their ever growing emotive body of work has attracted the attention of BBC Introducing, and the pair were invited in for live sessions for BBC Introducing South and BBC Introducing Solent. Their first track ‘Enso’, was selected by Steve Lamacq for airplay on his BBC6 Radio Show and their third track, ‘Dunes’, was played by Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1. The duo were named ‘Ones to Watch in 2016’ by the Selector Radio Show – part of the British Music Council and were also nominated for a Best of British Unsigned award.
Temples of Youth have just released their new single ‘Divide’ which displays some truly compelling stuff. Its majestic and beautifully magical with a twinkling of ambient synth and sparkling shimmering guitar this track sets a wonderfully mysterious and enchanting scene with glittering instrumentation like morning due. Delicately presented Temples of Youth effortlessly ease you into their elegant soundscape. Dark undertones give depth and mystery to the track like ‘Divide’ appears to hold a treasure within its core, unveiling secrets as the track progresses into glimmering perfection. The warm powerful vocals take the limelight with soothing depth and strength as the melody flows with grace and fluidity highlighting and enhancing the vocals.
Stream ‘Divide’ below

Acid, electro- pop, Electronic, EP Review, Hypnotic, Indie, Indie Electro, New Music, psychedelic, Synth-pop

The Fin.’Through The Deep’ Remix EP

Japanese masters of shimmering ethereal pop, The Fin. have announced an exclusive remix EP, featuring versions remixed by The Field, Ten Fé and All We Are. The ‘Through The Deep’ remix EP features four adventurous reworkings of tracks from their ocean-inspired dream-pop nugget ‘Through The Deep’ which was released in the summer. The remix EP will also serve as a key component of the launch of Spotify in Japan. Hailing from the vibrant Japanese port city of Kobe, The Fin. elected to temporarily relocate to England’s equally bustling capital in autumn 2016 to explore the impact that life in London might bring to bear on their new material. Having signed to Lost In The Manor Records the previous year, the band’s growing renown on these shores has led to a surge of media interest and prime headline slots such as this year’s Great Escape Festival. The Fin. have performed before thousands of rapturous fans at major Japanese festivals including Fuji Rock, Rising Sun and Viva La Rock. Not content with such acclaim in one country alone, Yuto Uchino (vocals and synths), Ryosuke Odagaki (guitar), Takayasu Taguchi (bass) and Kaoru Nakazawa (drums) set their sights worldwide and in 2015 embarked on a major tour of the US, which included a performance at SXSW, before signing to Lost In The Manor and releasing their debut UK EP, ‘Night Time’.
All We Are step up to the plate first with their exceptional rework of ‘Anchorless Ship’. Guro and Luis convert the sparse funk of the original into a haunting cut of anthemic techno, upping the tempo, bottoming out the bass end and decorating the track with dissonant acid stabs. True to All We Are’s psych-disco leanings, their ‘Anchorless Ship’ evolves into a second act with a ferocious tribal edge, and psychedelic stinging acid trip that livens up the original dream pop and introduces an invitation to dance that can’t be refused.
London’s blissful electro-indie pairing Ten Fé follow next artfully crafting their mix around the melodic synth washes of The Fin.’s 60-second ‘Heat’, originally the track shimmers with a chillwave and beautiful ocean lit glittering synths. Ten Fé expand the groove via a punchy bassline set to a motorik pulse, adding a kick and edge to the track. Phasing the original sine-wave oscillations and warping frontman Yuto’s vocal into an alien drawl. This singular piece of extra-terrestrial kraut-funk builds to a euphoric climax, as horn stabs and sustained harmonics add colour to an irresistible clubland vibe.
Stockholm-born, Berlin-based ambient techno producer Axel Willner, aka The Field, transcends the rapturous dream-pop of the EP’s title track ‘Through The Deep ‘ with an extraordinary 12-minute canvas of electro-minimalism. A hypnotic raga for our time, ‘Through The Deep’ here becomes an unusual jewel of rich, breathy experimentalism, almost imperceptibly peaking and trudging along luring and drawing you onto its mesmerising sonic path.
Finally ‘White Breath’ a remix by The Fin.’s vocalist Yuto Uchino takes us to the end of our psychedelic trance with soft electronic waves weaving and swirling in a blissful mind-bending kaleidoscope. Removing the delicate vocals of the original and becoming completely consumed in thick electronic experimental psychedelia. Beautiful warm tones on guitar give us a strong melody to hold onto keeping us afloat from the pulling and swirling abyss of the track.
The ‘Through The Deep’ remix EP is a Pandora box delight, full of mesmerising waves of synths interweaving and washing with acid elements and sonic depths with reverb weighty guitars on top of blissful melodies. The guys did a fantastic job with the remixes however I will say check out the originals first, you will fall in love with them and will only then appreciate the true talent of The Fin. and the effort and craft that went into creating the remixes.

Stream both the original and the ‘Through The Deep’ remix EP below

Electronic, Hypnotic, Indie, Indie Electro, Indie Psychedelic, New Music, Synth-pop

Fauna Twin ‘Edge Of The Coin’

Fauna Twin are Parisian singer-songwriter Claire Jacquemard Ginsberg (leader of Hippies Vs Ghosts) and North Wales’ Owain Ginsberg (We Are Animal). They have released their single ‘Edge Of The Coin’ which is taken from their debut ‘The Hydra’ EP. Beginning with a dramatic chilling and eerie hair raisingly thrilling vibe, the track grabs your attention. It develops into a lightening strike of groovy beats and bouncy spirited synths. Swirling sonic waves interweave between playful melodies and rapid weighty textures on percussion creating a twirling euphoric surge of energy and blissful psychedelia. Jacquemard’s smooth soothing vocals lull you into a hypnotic stupor. The track coils and curls building to a dynamic crescendo with soaring vocals and bursting with energy. ‘Edge Of The Coin’ is infectiously catchy you will want to put it on repeat, dance and sway to its luring seductively rich sound and dynamic bounce and energy.
Steam ‘Edge Of The Coin’ below

Alt Rock, Alt- Pop, electro - rock, electro- pop, EP Review, Indie, Indie Pop, indie rock, New Music, Synth Rock, Synth-pop

Everywhere ‘Fiction Act’ EP

London Alt Rock band Everywhere have announced the release of their second EP ‘Fiction Act’ available on iTunes December 9. This follows the success of acclaimed track ‘Some Other Dude’. The Band recently finished their first proper UK tour with stops in Brighton, Liverpool and Glasgow amongst others. Since their Hypemachine charting debut ‘Eddie’, Everywhere’s music has been streamed millions of times on YouTube, Soundcloud and Spotify. They made their first International appearance at the 2013 NME Awards in the UK, playing alongside Django Django and Palma Violets, and later went on to support the Kaiser Chiefs and headline Notting Hill Arts Club in London. The lead single on the EP ‘Some Other Dude’ now has over 1 million plays on Spotify and gained them a feature on BBC Introducing London. This advance success certainly helped pave the way for ‘Fiction Act’. During the recording process of the EP the boys have divided their time between Stockholm, Los Angeles and London to collaborate with multiple producers, including American hit maker Mark Needham (The 1975, The Killers).
‘Shades At Night’ kicks off the ‘Fiction Act’ EP giving us a massive anthem to wrap our ears around. Rich with a luxurious ear-worm melody and a ravishing textured rhythm that gives the track depth leaving you craving more. Shimmering synths keep the track bright and glowing with dazzling scintillation that evokes thoughts of an arena worthy flashing lights display. Its a track that is sure to have a live audience on their feet jumping , dancing and bellowing out the sing-along lyrics. An explosive attention grabbing start to the EP. ‘Heroine’ follows gushing with high spirited energy and lush soaring vocals. Snappy beat gives the track steady bounce and lift while the weaving melodies on synths add a spacey aerial feel. This track is well formed and crafted giving us lavish textures to devour. ‘Some Other Dude’ follows next, a track which we previously featured on Indie Buddie. Its a “go for it” piece of advise full of “carpe diem” vibes and fist pumping high energy. With escalating dynamic vocals, elastic groovy bass and bopping punchy drums this track oozes swagger infused dance vibes. You wont be able to sit still with another irresistibly catchy chorus, its a crowd pleaser. ‘ Let It Go’ brings the EP to a tender close. Synths glitter and glisten with gentle elegance. The track twinkles and sparkles delicately becoming more intense and rich for the chorus. Soaring backing vocals add a dreamy hazy vibe to the track. Its a beautiful graceful end to the EP.
‘Fiction Act’ is a treasure trove of rich melodies that shows Everywhere are blossoming into something quite potent. They are a band that should most definitely be sought after.
Stream ‘Fiction Act’ below

 

Alt Rock, Alt- Pop, EP Review, Indie, Indie Pop, indie rock, New Music, Synth Rock, Synth-pop, Tropical

Marsicans ‘The Absence’ EP

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Leeds indie band Marsicans are James Newbigging (lead vocals and guitar), Oliver Jameson (guitar and vocals), Rob Brander (bass, keyboards and lead vocals) and Matthew ‘Cale’ McHale (drums and vocals). They have released their new EP ‘The Absence’ this month. The EP is the culmination of Marsicans’ 2016 releases and features the four tracks which have had national airplay in the UK via Radio 1 and Radio X over the course of the year. Three of the EP’s four featured tracks were given BBC Radio 1 support, including Huw Stephens’ premiere of the title track which also made Apple Music’s Best Of The Week playlist, whilst ‘Far Away’ a track we previously did a feature on was featured Spotify UK’s New Music Friday playlist.
‘The Absence’ presents us with Marsicans fantastic harmony-laden upbeat tropical sound that is raw and fresh yet polished in all the right places. Title track ‘Absence’ kicks off the EP and sprinkles with the four piece’s signature glowing infectious melody with lush harmonies and richly textured arrangements. Zealous guitar and vibrant synths keep this track uplifting while the soft spongy beat adds bounce and elasticity. The vocals are simple to start and become more dynamic as the track progresses. This track glows with bright vibes and is a gem glistening in the sun. ‘Arms of Another’ gives us a groovy springy sound. With an elevating high energy and catchy melody that will have you bopping and dancing from the first note. This track has an edgier sound with sharp distorted guitar that acts as the lime zest to your tropical cocktail. The rapid malleable beat maintains the tracks agile and spirited tempo. ‘Swimming’ is a blissful treasure with an ear worm melody and the perfect blend of luxurious harmonies and soaring vocals. The slick deluxe guitar riff is infectious and the glistening synths provide an elegant sweet quality throughout the track. With a slightly heavier sound towards the end, Marsicans confirms they can diversify their sound while still remaining bright and bubbly. ‘Far Away (Saudade)’ is the final track on the EP. This was the first track that caught our attention back in July. The track is ablaze with striking addictive hooks and quirky lyrics teamed with a honed melody and slashing guitar. This track is a fantastic listen. The lively animated rhythm gives the song an upbeat indie pop feel.
Marsicans ‘The Absence’ is a collection of upbeat infectious indie pop perfectly blended with sugar coated luxurious melodies, soaring vocals with bursts of zealous guitar and flexible spirited rhythm. Marsicans take their tropical mouth watering hard edged sound to another infectiously delicious level keeping you wanting more.
Marsicans have embarked on a 17-date UK tour starting earlier this month.You can still catch them live at
01 Oct – Manchester, Aatma
04 Oct – Hull, The Polar Bear
08 Oct – Middlesbrough, Twisterella Festival
10 Oct – Sunderland, 7even
14 Oct – Banbury, Also Known As
19 Oct – Basingstoke, The Sanctuary Live
20 Oct – Brighton, Bleach
21 Oct – London, Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen
23 Oct – Matlock, Twenty Ten
28 Oct – Liverpool, The Magnet
04 Nov – Chester, Telford’s Warehouse
10 Nov – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
11 Nov – Glasgow, Old Hairdresser’s
12 Nov – Edinburgh, La Belle Angele
Stream ‘The Absence’ below

Indie, Indie Pop, New Music, Synth-pop

Wons Phreely ‘Stars’

Wons Phreely aka Justin Wonsly has recently formed his “ultimate-dream-team” of musicians Wons Phreely + The Horses. They have released a new single ‘Stars’ which is a charming upbeat indie pop track bursting with an infectious 80s pop sound. The track glows with a gloriously catchy melody that is so smooth and polished it easily seeps into your brain leaving you singing and bopping along compelling you to replay it. The soft playful beat keeps the track spirited and energetic. While the synths glisten and glitter giving this track a sugar coated bounce and shimmer. The track oozes an Elvis Costello swagger with its blissful “dream topping” richly textured melody that is so sweet and creamy and ridiculously catchy. With silky lush toffee vocals this track is instantly likeable. Wons Phreely + The Horses add some zest to the track with a zealous guitar feature running throughout the song which sharpens their sound.
Stream ‘Stars’ below

Alt- Pop, Indie, Indie Pop, New Music, Synth-pop

Blossoms ‘Honey Sweet’

Stockports five piece Blossoms have released their new single ‘Honey Sweet’ taken from their self titled debut album which is due for release next week. Blossoms are Tom Ogden (Voice/Guitar), Charlie Salt (Bass/BV’s.), Josh Dewhurst (Lead Guitar), Joe Donovan (Drums) and Myles Kellock (Keyboards/BV’s). The band have become one of the hottest live bands on the circuit, performing at festivals including SXSW, The Great Escape, T in the Park, Latitude, Reading & Leeds and are creating quite a hype around their highly anticipated album.
‘Honey Sweet’ is our first taste of what is to come from their album and as the name suggests its a sugar coated toothache-sweet track. Its soft spongy beats and syrupy shimmering synths keep the track light and creamy smooth. Ogden’s vocals remain tender and gentle with a lull-like tone that is easing to the mind. The guitar which is sharp and vibrant freshens things up and adds a bright and refreshing edge to the track. ‘Honey Sweet’ holds a nostalgic tone throughout, set to a beautiful melody that is catchy and comforting for the mind.
‘Honey Sweet’ is a candied track saturated in luscious synths and supple beats with velvety vocals, silky bass and zesty guitar. Its a great appetiser for the album, well maybe its the desert.

Stream ‘Honey Sweet’ below