Ready for the start of another (work) year? Everyone is getting their minds ready but still thinking about the recent vacations, or just us? The good part about September, is the amount of new tracks released. From new demos to new wonders. With the Summer coming to and end a lot of bands and artists re-focus and release what they feel are their best tracks yet. With around 40 submissions a day to WtMM, we’ve selected 9 tracks we’ve adored that were released in the last two weeks. Like always, no matter the genre or the style, no matter the background or the social network power. This is all about the best new music.
CATBEAR – In The Night
“In The Night” is the latest release from CATBEAR a duo composed of two best friends who like hanging out making nostalig electronic pop music. That evidence of 80’s like sonority is quite evident in their latest track, but we do are lovers of retro vibes that sound renewed and provide a proper new sonority and resonate with us story wise too. This is the case. A late night indie synth dream with warm analogue synths and dreamy guitars sitting atop a pulsing bass. They say “This song is about those times I’m lying in bed, can’t sleep and all I think about are the memories that are best staying lost – obsessing over what might happen, anxiously visualising how things could turn out as the late night hours tick past”. It is ultimately a track about how thoughts (or thinking too much) can leave us with insomnia (or vice-versa). One that easily resonates with us both as listeners and as people who also tend to think a bit too much. We love it!
Conditioner – Til Tomorrow
Conditioner latest track (released two days ago) entitled “Til Tomorrow” is a track about struggling to maintain a long distance relationships, and most of us has probably gone through and out of it with much uglier things than this marvelous track. Funky from the beginning and keeping a very up-beat and heterogeneous vibe from start to end, there are multiple points for us to feel whole as listeners. They say “I wrote it when my then girlfriend (now wife) was working far away and it wasn’t clear if we’d get through that period. I am grateful to say we made it to the other side but I still look at this song as a time capsule of that difficult challenge“. Musically inspired by acts such as CHIC and Sister Sledge, there is a retro vibe to it all, but at the same time Conditioner keeps us feeling fresh and feeling good. Are there any things as good as that? Oh there actually are, the guitar solo on the track.
Dirty Nice – Giving Up
This is the 3rd time we talk about them just this year alone (here, here, here). Emerging initially enigmatically to excited online whispers around their murky pop tunes, they earned comparisons to Jai Paul and Jungle, and also due to their strong video and visual vibe they built up a lot of champions, and millions of streams. “Giving Up” is their latest track, one that takes cues from more hyperactive elements of acts like The Strokes or Julian Casablancas, without giving up of their unique sonority and capacity to always feel electric, cartoonish and gorgeous. They say: “Giving Up is a song about growing up – taking responsibility and joy in the life you’re living, rather than pursuing a life you don’t have. All opportunities come and go and the years tumble over each other rapidly, and there’s no stopping it. You’ll feel much better if you just give yourself up to it“. And once again, we feel their way. Their incredible craft and their capacity to always surprise the more loyal listeners. Until now, every single track is a must.
Dope Lemon – Stingray Pete
Probably the strongest track released this week, Deep Lemon continues to break the World apart with every single new track he puts out. “Stingray Pete” is the latest. Released today the track encapsulates a kind of Americana and Folk sonority that also sounds rock, pop and intemporal. The video features himself side by side with a fire, smoking a cuban sigar and looking like he does not care about the evil-like scenary like an old bad cowboy. The track grows from start to end but mostly it lights up into a more epic and positive vibe at halfway, and lingers on an incredible guitar that goes around the banjo to shine through the most. He describes it as “the Clint Eastwood Winchester shootout“. We think this is greatness.
Elis Noa – Always Been You
“What do I really want? What do I want in my relationship, my friendship, my work, my art? Am I really happy? Or am I satisfied with the circumstances my conscience, my environment, my upbringing have layed out for me?”. “Always Been You” is one of the tracks that take part in Elis Noa debut album that inquires about these questions. It is also a pop track generously dwells into electronic elements feeling modern and engaging. The vocals are definitely the standout, with a dark vibe sometimes emerging, and the chorus quite melodic and commercial sounding like a no-brainer capable of hitting the radios with the clear duo power.
Ivytide – rent free
“rent free” is the focus track off of Ivytide’s upcoming EP entitled “softy“, released the past September 1st. They say the track “plays with the metaphor of an individual crashing uninvited at a lover’s penthouse suite, making the place their own. The depiction of a cost-free and carefree lifestyle throughout the song is analogous to the comfortable behaviour of someone living rent-free and occupying a special place in your mind“. For us there is clearly a summer-ish like chilled sonority with the track that perfectly illustrates that duality of feelings they refer to. The vocals are silky and very well produced and delivered, always in a mix of pop melodies and almost talking quickly. Slow-building too, there is a constant evolution from start to end and a chorus that feels catchy enough for multiple listens.
Rain on Monday – Something Good
Featured for several times in our magazine, there is still something magical going on with Rain on Monday. His latest track entitled “Something Good” once again showcases the capacity to resonate with the listener with his indie pop meets indie northern folk vibes. He keeps finding ways to explore and combine his singer/songwriter abilities with retro-futuristic elements to create unique and powerful songs that evoke an immediate emotional response. And there are also trademarks in his vocal elements who sound somewhat between melancholic and positive, filled with a strange pace that creates a lush and expressive soundscape. And the chorus on this one is another one that keeps glowing inside our minds. Great track!
The Demos – Wonder
“When you’re so hopelessly attached to someone, will you do or say anything to hold on to them? Do you ever know how they feel?“. Propelled by the steady pulse of a Fender Rhodes, a smooth rhythm guitar that would make Nile Rodgers proud, and a catchy upbeat chorus hook, “Wonder” the latest track from the collective The Demos, perfectly captures the emotion that many of us can relate to – desperately trying to hold onto something that’s slipping away. The track that sounds a lot lyric-centred also broadcast a cool pop-based harmony that feels relaxed and gives space for the listener to think and chill. It is also not a simplistic track, evolving and giving constant engagement to the listener, with a super upward chorus and a dreamy guitar that feels energetic and upbeat too.
Will Henderson – Ghost Calls (prod. Styleboy_92)
Australian singer-songwriter Will Henderson latest new single entitled “Ghost Calls (prod. Styleboi_92)” is a beautiful piano-based contemplation that takes the best from jazzy like feelings and modern pop hooks. The track was written on the morning of Henderson’s last day in Berlin before leaving to tour Asia and Australia in 2019, not yet aware that it would be his last time in Europe for quite a while. The name is strongly related to that feeling and to where the track was born: “I was walking up to one of my best mates and main collaborators – styleboi_92‘s apartment, he was playing some beautiful upright piano that sang down the stairwell to me through his open door. My partner was away for a few months acting in LA at the time and I was missing her so much, I hit record on my iPhone as soon as I got in the room and sang exactly how I felt. We miced up the piano and my voice and sent it all through his amazing Tascam tape machine and put everything down in a few hours, it just flew out of us like beetroot on a burger. I used all of the original melodies and words from the first sketch and Tim’s incredible producer chops smashed the lofi beat, synths, some cool guitar parts and a bit of ASMR goodness and we sent it off to mastering to the genius Nick Herrera (Hiatus Kaiyote)”.