Another week has gone, another selection made by our team of the best tracks of the week. Once again, we have music for every refined taste: do you want to start you week relaxed, energetic or melancholic? We have whatever you need right here!
Winnie Raeder – Don’t you Dare
Born and raised in Aabenraa, Denmark, at the age of 23 Winnie Raeger is now living in London, where she was discovered. Winnie has released her debut single two days ago, Don’t You Dare, a stripped song, piano-based, heavenly played and combining with some vocal and strings arrangement, but what extols the most is Winnie’s voice. A few years ago England witnessed the appearance of the young yet incredibly mature voice of Adelle; now Winnie Raeder has put herself in position to start is way up to the top. Her voice is smooth and pure, extremely emotional and brilliantly powerful. The song speaks by itself. Just enjoy it.
Olivae – Come Back Home
We’ve trying to present you more and more Portuguese acts than we used to do before because we believe that there’s a lot of talent in this small rectangle. Olivae is another demonstration of that. The name is the alter ego for Vasco Oliveira, a young singer-songwriter born in the beautiful city of Porto. Come Back Home is his brand new single and from his own words, “this is the most joyful song I’ve ever wrote” and despite all his anxiety and difficult moments, Vasco have found in the woods a place where he can breathe peace and tranquility. The truth is that there’s so many folk acts that is quite difficult to decide what’s good or not, but Olivae is a fresh breeze for us: the simple fingerpicking chords and his soft and almost whispering voice harmonized with Sara Teixeira’s backing vocals, are the breeze we needed for a warm summer day (not there yet, but here in Portugal the weather is already warm!), at a small balcony, chilling with friends and drinking beer.
Xoller – Loom
“Just like like an apricot, two bites and it’s gone”, that’ how Xoller, a LA-based electronic-pop artist, describes a first love and first heartbreaking, the theme for her newest single Loom. She sounds like Weyes Blood but more electronic. Still, Xoller sings with emotion, her vocals are profound and serene, placing the track somewhere between the dancefloor and the bedroom, alone with our thoughts. It’s quite great how she mixes a powerful beat and instrumental with a dreamy and glitter voice. The song then becomes a whirl of feelings and that’s what keeps us so hooked to it. We just want more and more.
Max Bloom – To Be Alone
Most of the people don’t know who Max Bloom is but if we say he was for 8 years part of Yuck, probably a lot of you will recognize the band at least. Max left the band in 2017and decided to songwrite for himself as he explores now different sonorities away from the 90’s indie-rock Yuck are so famous of. To Be Alone is a song about breaking-up with a girlfriend with the band and start living alone. Max wrote this song sat on the piano at his parent’s house, and just like we wrote last week, we find beauty in other disgrace, that’s how art is, and this To Be Alone is as beautiful as it can be, a sad yet uplifting composition, gorgeously arranged with strings; and Bloom’s voice, reminding the 60’s classics, is melancholic, harmful and pure. A sweet rock ballad which could easily be a work of art of Credence Clearwater Revival, for instance, but Max nailed it and made the perfect song for any heartbreak.
Andrew Applepie – Fridays For Future
Germany is quite known for good electronic music and the Berlin-based musician Andrew Applepie is an artist that follows that affirmation. Andrew usually explores natural and organic sonorities he finds in many places and moments of his daytime. Fridays For Future is a powerful track due to its strong beat, but it’s also a very harmonizing song with great melodies in vocals and instrumental arrangements. “Do you think it can be better?” keeps being asked and the question is “No. I don’t think so.” And we don’t think so either: this track creates an environment so beautiful it takes the best of indie-pop mixed with gorgeous and chilled samples of electronica. The only thing we can tell you is that it gets more and more addictive every time you listen to it.
Air Quotes – Spanish Class Fantasies
In an extremely cinematic orchestral melody, the LA-based quintet presents their debut track, Spanish Class Fantasies. It’s quite difficult to catalogue the band in a genre: their pop-rock influences are vast and it travels from the 80’s to contemporary bands and their orchestral influences -the ones that mold the whole sonority- are resembling the Beatles, Beach Boys, of Montreal and others alike. The ambient created around their music is imaginary, fantastic and colorful and that delivers a totally different feeling from person to person as we listen to it, as well as it depends on one’s mood. Dare to change your day by listening to this?