Matilda Pearl has pegged her own music as “mermaid disco” and we love that. We are putting it out there that’d she make super sweet tuneage with our favourite Scandi purveyor of unicorn disco, Ms Maja Francis – what a pairing they’d make. Anyway, now signed to Sweat It Out, ‘What Can I Do?’ is Matilda’s biggest pop moment so far (and it features the funktastic Touch Sensitive to boot).
Another pop album which is going to feature at the business end of our record of the year rundown come December is Ms Gibson’s ‘The Body Remembers’. We shared a couple of our early faves upon release a fortnight ago and now have another pairing to wrap your ears around. The title track along with ‘Love Don’t Care’ have emerged as stand outs (among an album rich with bops and a smattering of heartfelt ballads).
UNIIQU3’s ‘Microdosing’ is Shygirl meets Deee-Lite and therefore an out and out mammoth banger. The beats and rhymes bring the fire and the lyrics deliver an even spicier delicacy! A major dancefloor moment of the summer right here.
We’ll admit to being only casual fans of Hasley in the past……that changes right now with the release of her album of the year (did not expect to be saying that) contender ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’. Our interest was piqued when we learnt that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were on production duties for this one – they are responsible for one of our favourite soundtracks of all time in ‘The Social Network’. That brooding dark menace is omnipresent and jolts perfectly with Halsey’s pop vocals. ‘Girl Is A Gun’ has jittery electronics and a hooky as heck chorus. Elsewhere ‘Easier Than Lying’ has a frenetic and percussive thump which you just don’t see coming when it smacks you right between the eyes after the opening pair of tracks on the record.
Kat Von D’s album ‘Love Made Me Do It’ is out now and we just purchased it on the basis of the track we are sharing with you today. Bauhaus legend Peter Murphy lends his vocals to this Hurts-esque dark electro gothic anthem. ‘Protected’ is some of the finest synth pop you’ll hear all year and Kat and Peter’s vocals sound like they were made for one another.
We were thrilled to learn earlier today that Erika Vikman’s poptastic self titled album has hit the number one spot in Finland. Our CD just arrived and it’s packed to the rafters with back to back bops and bangers. Here’s ‘Aikuisten Rannekkeet’ for you which kicks off like a Bonnie Tyler stadium anthem before the synths explode into a huge Charlotte Perelli-esque Euro belter.
‘Stellar Lights’ is the new album from Brigitte Bardini and it was released on this very day! We dashed off to Bandcamp first thing this morning to purchase the CD (with complimentary download of course) and are on our second full listen. It’s every bit as delightful as we had hoped after falling in love with recent single ‘Heartbreaker’. The album takes a leaf from Jack River’s accomplished song/notebook by proving you can effortlessly bring both synths and acoustics to a record. Indeed this album is probably the best example of this since Jack’s ‘Stranger Heart’ EP. We are sharing ‘Everyday’ with you as it seems to melt down multiple Goldfrapp eras into one bewitching brew – including the art cinema noir piano sound of ‘Tales Of Us’ along with the electro stomp of ‘Black Cherry’.
We’ve enjoyed much of I Am Boleyn’s top notch electronic pop. She’s effortlessly shifted into full on synthwave with the shimmering ‘Until The Summer Ends’ rivalling our beloved synthpop legends Nina and Annie with a soft and tender vocal atop waves of retro synths.
So we love all things Nicolaas including his yacht funk take on MNKYBSNSS’ track with Turbotito. We always like to look up who vocalists are when not obviously listed. We thought we recognised the name Monica Birkenes (mentioned on the YouTube credits) – that’s because she’s only Mr Little Jeans – a long time T&D fave! Presuming it’s Monica we are hearing on this track – it has that sweet pop vocal we love so it just has to be her!!
Australia’s bubblegum pop princess Genes keeps dropping bops with walloping choruses. ‘Cherry Lips’ went large in single version form but heads right onto the dancefloor with a new pair of remixes. We’re taken with Motaki’s spin on the track which steers clear of too much of-the-moment flashiness production wise, keeping it tight but super bouncy.
Teases and Dares 