Album Archives

Instupendo – “Love Power A-Z”

From the moment you listen to Instupendo‘s music, you instantly get sucked into his beautifully eccentric mind. At just 22 years old, he spent the better part of his teen years meticulously developing his own singular sound marked by his soft, whispery voice amidst a flurry of artfully enveloped electronic textures. With his brilliant new album “Love Power A-Z”, just out this week, Instupendo takes his craft to a whole new level. Considerably more poppy and upbeat than his previous album “Boys & Girls”, Instupendo balances out his deadpan vocal delivery with a healthy dose of whimsical sound design. “For everything, I designed tiny sounds that fill and stretch the songs to their full potential, like gum (akin to Vespertine-era Björk). Each song’s meant to feel like a diorama or fold out book, stuffed with little secrets waiting to be noticed.” Never content with going too far in any one […]

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Laura Marano – “YOU” (Deluxe)

Who doesn’t love a remix? Not like a boring dance remix, I mean the good kind. When thoughtfully created in collaboration with new voices, remixes can completely reinvent a song, adding depth and new meaning. Not shying away from the idea of reinterpreting her highly personal album, Laura Marano has just released “YOU (Deluxe)” featuring artists like Jean Deaux, Mark Diamond, and Alextbh. Most intimately, she invited the subject of her song “Run”, Thom Macken, to sing a duet and contribute a new verse. “It was a really cool thing to collaborate with someone that I obviously feel so connected with and trust so much,” says Marano. “We reworked all the songs and made them all feel like me, and I feel like we definitely tell the same sonic story throughout the whole EP.” A prolific songwriter and classically-trained musician, Laura Marano has earned more than 200 million streams across […]

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Ida Maria – “Dirty Money”

Hands down the most badass rock act on our roster is Ida Maria. Like, no contest. Imagine if Bjork never left the Sugarcubes and just steadily grew more ferocious over time, eventually bursting into flames and rising up like a Scandinavian punk rock Phoenix. And clutched in her flaming talons would be “Dirty Money”, the absolutely immaculate record which officially dropped today! “Dirty Money” was written and recorded in LA with guitarist/producer Ryan Spraker (The Glorious Sons, Eli “Paperboy Reed), who helped Ida achieve the loudest and most powerful sound she’s ever produced. Paired with top notch songwriting and Ida’s signature punk rock aesthetic, this album beats you over the head and sticks to your brain for days. The clear standout for sync is “Celebration”, with the perfect blend of swagger, guitar riffs, vocalese hooks and handclaps sufficient to make any music supervisor swoon. The song could work equally well […]

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Yuni Wa – “Context 4”

You might not expect a man whose given name is Princeton Von Coleman to be a big dude with shoulder-length dreads living out in rural Arkansas. But for that same person to go by the stage name Yuni Wa (short for Yunibasaru Wa, or “Universal Harmony” in Japanese) you get the feeling he’s perhaps not someone you can easily put into a box. Or maybe he’s just living in the future and can’t be bothered with your antiquated expectations. Having produced a total of 34 albums (not a typo) since his first release on his 17th birthday in 2014, to say that Yuni Wa is prolific is a gross understatement. It’s almost like a new word is needed to describe his creative output. Among his first releases was an album called “Context”, the first in what has become a four-part series culminating with the final edition “Context 4” which just […]

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Rochelle Bloom – “Partly Cloudy”

Rochelle Bloom doesn’t seem to care much about what other rappers are doing these days. Her debut album “Partly Cloudy” is not trendy, you surely won’t find anything on the radio that sounds quite like it. Her music projects her own individual aesthetic; sexy but not sexual, dark but positive, cerebral yet poetic. Clean mixes not needed. The album release arrives with a beautifully filmed music video for the lead single “Stories I Create In My Head”, directed by Derek Evans. The video is stark and unsettling, as is the video’s emotional narrative about the struggles of family life, what defines success and living up to the expectations of others. Still fairly new to the Atlanta hip hop scene, Rochelle Bloom has already developed her own unique sound on her own terms. Having just had her very first placement earlier this year with her song “Dandylion” on CW’s “Charmed”, things […]

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Featured Release: “Landlady”

Having just authored the definitive guide on how to write your own bio and then five days later getting a piece he wrote published in the New York Times, it seemed only fitting that this week’s update is guest-written by the brilliant Adam Schatz. We just added in some hyperlinks and corrected the typos. Please enjoy! Landlady’s newest album is called “Landlady”, and it could not arrive at a better time! That’s because Landlady’s chief songwriter and executive director Adam Schatz has absolutely no other work at the moment, so he can put his full body-weight into promoting the new album, their self-determined most mature album to date that continues to tackle the evergreen topics of loss, joy, and the cosmic anchor that can be latched onto by a seemingly simple act of playing in a band. “Landlady” the album is a capture of the magic that can come from […]

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Call Me Ace – “Out Of Office”

Ace Patterson is a double agent. A white-collar employee by day hacking away at spreadsheets, but come nighttime he transforms into Call Me Ace. Occasionally his Jamaican side emerges in the form of his double-entendred alter-ego High Grade. Balancing all these different versions of himself is a common theme in his music. An astonishingly prolific writer, Ace’s brand new record “Out Of Office” is his THIRD album released during the pandemic. Where does the man find the time? Covering a myriad of socio-cultural topics drawn from his own life experiences, “Out Of Office” addresses the lack of diversity and equity in the workplace, mental health problems, the first-generation immigrant’s dilemma and the challenges of building generational wealth. The cutting first line of the opening track says it all: Less than 8 percent get the jobAnd out of that3 percent of ‘em sort of look like me2 percent from the same […]

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The Familiar – “Shelter”

The Familiar’s music often sounds ominous, but nothing bad really ever happens. Just the glow of slow-burning embers softly illuminating the darkness. Out this week, their debut full-length album “Shelter” is itself a long-form crescendo. Starting with the dark and brooding “Spectre”, the record slowly unfolds into the light culminating with the ethereal release of the lead single, “Everything”. The song’s vivid imagery romanticizes life in a remote, frigid landscape where the complications of city life are rendered numb by the cold: Rawest simple thingsBread, water, museMagical and undefinedSparkling the faint daylight Simpler herePhone frozen unusedWatching bus headlightsTrained on snowy hues Since their chance encounter above the Arctic Circle in Norway, the transatlantic duo has taken their time to meticulously craft their music exactly the way they want it. Ruth Mirsky’s sultry vocals provide a perfect complement to the dark, pulsating synthesizers and cinematic orchestral elements of Tromsø-born producer Mads […]

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Chris Mann – “NOISE”

As covered in a recent LA Times feature, Chris Mann is an impressively multifaceted talent. You might remember him from his stint on “The Voice”, or perhaps his starring role in Phantom Of The Opera, or most recently from his viral parody videos which entertained millions worldwide. But none of that holds a candle to Chris’s amazing new Pop/R&B record “Noise”. “I was inspired to create a new sound for “Noise” that really encompasses what I love most about pop music— classic, hooky melodies, urban beats, vintage horns, and honest lyrics that speak to where I am right now in life, love, and the times.” Working with a cadre of incredible talent including Ca$h Clay Beats, India.Arie, Ian Barter, Willy Beaman and Thomas Daniel, this album blends a healthy dose of 90’s throwback R&B a la Justin Timberlake with a ton of other influences pulled from Mann’s diverse musical experiences. […]

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TruRebel Migs – “Lust, Love & War – Detox & Quarantine | Part 1”

Like so many kids growing up poor in the NYC projects, two clear options were laid before Miguel Cespedes, better known as TruRebel Migs. Pursue a life of crime in the streets, or plan an escape route through music. And it was the latter which brought this brilliant young rapper out to Los Angeles to record his EP “Lust, Love & War – Detox & Quarantine | Part 1”. From the very first hit of the opening track “Needs” you immediately get drawn into a dark, swirling vortex with a bit of a menacing vibe. With lyrical themes of sex, drugs, violence and street life, it’s very much what you’d expect from a rap record. But Migs delivers real emotion in his voice that you can really feel. His elevated sense of phrasing, melody, wordplay and imagery set him apart from most rappers. The production on the record is notable […]

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