Maggie Rogers – Alaska

All this month buzz has been building for “Alaska,” a folk/dance hybrid by young NYU student Maggie Rogers. Now the finished version of the track is out there, and it’s a gorgeous thing to behold: thumping acoustic guitar figures, a crisply minimal disco drum beat, eerie background noise, thunderous bass, and twinkling pianos, all topped off by Grimes-reminiscent high-end vocal work.

Read the rest of this article at Stereogum

BIRTHDAY is a great name for a band. It’s also a fitting one for this duo, who met at a show at Dalston venue Birthdays way back in 2014. The group, who are comprised of Fake Laugh’s Kamran and producer Luka, have already released two tracks – “Do It All The Time” and “We Need to Talk”. Here though is their latest, the absolutely sublime and gorgeous “NIGHT RIDER”, which is half part electronica, and half part woozy guitar music. In other words, it’s a perfect slice of dream pop.

Read the rest of this article at Vice

Sylvan Esso – Radio

Sylvan Esso — the electro-pop duo made up of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn — has proven surprisingly durable in the years since the release of their 2014 self-titled debut, becoming a reliable part of festival lineups and even making some in-roads in more mainstream circles, which probably came as a bit of a shock for two musicians who got their start in more outsider folk groups. (Side note: Will we ever get another Mountain Man album?! Please?) Their new single, “Radio,” addresses some of the anxieties that come from being foisted into the spotlight. “Do you got the moves to make it stick? To get the clicks?” Meath asks in her characteristically acrobatic voice over one of the group’s more pressing beats. “Can you keep ‘em coming? What can we do to get you on the news?” It’s an examination and near-condemnation of the publicity-focused side of the music industry that’s packaged in Sylvan Esso’s most unrelentingly catchy song yet.

Read the rest of this article at Stereogum

Tee Mango, aka Millionhands’ founder Tom Mangan, has shared “Break of Dawn”. Lifted from his from his debut LP IMPERFECTIONS Vol 1, it’s an expansive and soulful jam. Laden with samples, it will have you low-key shuffling your feet within seconds. There’s lightness to Tee Mango’s beat making, a spontaneity that is often hard to capture in electronica.

IMPERFECTIONS Vol 1 is the first in a series of planned releases, a “celebration of pleasantly discordant musical mistakes.”

Tom founded Millionhands in 2009, building a brand that has gone on to collaborate with the likes of R&S records, Permanent Vacation, Hivern Discs, Hercules & Love Affair, Phantasy and Planet E.

IMPERFECTIONS Vol.1 drops on 23 September 2016 via Millionhands BLK

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The most engaging parts of the new single “3AM” from Bad Wave aren’t the video arcade synths that make Tucker Tota and Patrick Hart sound like they’re dancing a Space Invaders jig. It’s the drunk-as-hell lyrics that find singer Tota recounting a night out with a certain somebody: “We’re in a bathroom and it’s 3AM / I can’t remember if I came with friends / But I can see you clearly.” It’s the latest space-disco ditty from the L.A. duo, which shimmies merrily along until the 2:50 mark, when the synths melt down and, his head obviously swirling, Tota tries to get a grip on things: “Right now I feel a bit used / By myself and a little by you / Right now I need to forget / That you never really were a brunette / What are we doing? / What are we doing at this guy’s house / Is that a dog or a really big mouse?” File under: Synth-pop most likely to give you a hangover.

Read the rest of this article at Buzzbands