They/Live – Another Body

They/Live’s ‘Ablation’ is one of the records of the year without a shadow of a doubt. It’s been on repeat at T&D for months and we are not exhausting it yet. However, a little bonus nugget has fallen into our laps. ‘Another Body’ is a new track which appears on a Folkadelphia Bandcamp only compilation. It could have nestled very nicely into ‘Ablation’ – managing to sound like 5 Goldfrapp eras in one go. Starting with choral folk synth pop before exploding into a juggernaut of metallic beats and glittery bleeps (wait for the beat to kick in at 1 minute 30).

NeverMann – Jody

We’re spoilt for choice this week with several incredible pop albums all seeing the light of day (see also Bright Light Bright Light, Tom Aspaul and Gryff). Very much deserving to be spoken of in that company is NeverMann. This fella has been dabbling with synthwave and retropop – his album ‘GentleMann’ is out right now and there’s plenty to admire. From it we’re sharing ‘Jody’ – might it be a homage to Ms Watley? The track certainly starts with a funky Andre Cymone-like production strut – we’re thinking ‘Real Love’ from ‘Larger Than Life’.

Bright Light Bright Light & Brendan Maclean – Touchy

BLx2’s new album ‘Fun City’ is OUT! It’s a pop fest of collabs but when we saw the pre-order tracklisting there was one duet we were especially keen to hear – the one featuring a certain Mr Maclean. ‘Touchy’ is the album opener and it’s a hypnotic yet subtle beginning to the record. The groove is reminding us of Cathy Dennis’ ‘Into The Skyline’ era and specifically the PM Dawn version of ‘Falling’. Powerhouse vocals from the fellas by the way.

April – Watching You Disappear

Listening to April’s ‘Watching You Disappear’ is the musical equivalent of taking a very warm bath very late at night with neon lights twinkling and candles burning. It’s woozy and soothing before unsettling you in all the right ways with a gear change at around the 2.20 mark which sends you deeper into a sonically distorted candyfloss bubble. The SoundCloud artwork tells it better than me.

Maria Minerva – Down Low (Motor City You Make Me Wanna)

We’ve mentioned them before but are not going to waste the opportunity to tell you again – check out Maria Minerva and La Vampire’s album ‘The Integration’ and also Maria and Cherushii’s collaborative album. Both records represent the best alternative dance music has to offer.

Maria finally released her new solo album ‘Soft Power’ today and it’s a belter. ‘Down Low (Motor City You Make Me Wanna)’ is some fine indie disco – Tom Tom Club with Blondie and some fun house music mixed in. Grab it from Maria’s Bandcamp now. It’s all killer no filler.

TZAR – What Ur Lookin’ For

A huge Teases & Dares welcome to TZAR who has a huge pop moment with her single ‘What Ur Lookin’ For’. There’s some serious Janet Jackson channeling going on (a little Britney too) and we are loving the production. Indeed if Ms Jackson returns to the scene with something half as good as this we’ll be happy.

Blood Orange and Park Hye Jin 박혜진- Call Me (Freestyle)

We fell in love with Park Hye Jin after discovering her ‘If You Want It’ EP some time ago. Blood Orange has added his own unique brand of chill to ‘Call Me’, from that aforementioned EP, and the video is a delightful tour of NYC by nighttime (note it was recorded on 3 March, right before everything went a bit upside down). Park has since released another incredible collection of songs, ‘How Can I’, which we’ve been spinning and loving for months as well.

Alex Metric & Amtrac – Upswing

Amtrac has been a revelation for us in 2020. His album ‘Oddyssey’ has been on constant rotation here not to mention the top quality run of remixes from the album. This week he’s shared another collaboration with Alex Metric and it’s the pulsating and uplifting ‘Upswing’. The spoken word mantra which drifts in and out reminds us that it’s not what happens to us but how we react to it. Positive life lessons and hot dance music. What more could you want?

Flight To Moonlight – Midnight (FNP Remix)

We recently became fans of FNP thanks to his staggeringly good single ‘Weeks Of Rain’. He’s jumped on Flight To Moonlight’s ‘Midnight’ and the remix is astonishing. There are echoes of Quincy Jones’ production on ‘Thriller’ as well as Moroder and Norwegian disco king Todd Terje. I mean we couldn’t love this more. Seven minutes of glittery, throbbing disco heaven.

Elvira – Envious

A massive shout out to the Scandipop blog for bringing Elvira into our lives! ‘Envious’ is a gargantuan Scandi disco banger. Find it on our constantly growing Dares Does Disco Spotify playlist.