Rising star Emanuel shares the powerful new visuals for his latest single, ‘Black Woman’, out now on Universal Music Canada.
Shining a light on Black women, the Jamar Harding-directed video in Los Angeles features women of various ages, shades and lifestyles, as the resilience, beauty and uniqueness of the Black woman’s spirit is portrayed.
Emanuel explains,
“‘Black Woman’ is about reconciliation and also celebration – celebrating how strong our women are and how they hold us up,” says Emanuel. “People might think this song was written as a response to the moment right now but it’s saying the exact same thing it was saying when it was written a year ago – ‘I see you, I recognize you, I appreciate you and I love you’.”
It forms part of Emanuel’s “I AM BLACK WOMXN” portrait series, creatively directed by Ashley McKenzie-Barnes, that puts five influential Black women from Toronto’s artistic and advocacy communities in the spotlight. View the portrait series and vignettes HERE.
Sounds like: John Legend, Dylan Sinclair, Son Little, Michael Kiwanuka
Very much a leftfield psychedelic visual and auditorial journey, former Jamie T guitarist Attawalpa shares the timeless hand-painted visuals for ‘Done Hanging On’, by modern visionaries Alex Gamsu Jenkins and Joe Taylor.
Sounds like: Jude Shuma, Alfie Templeman, Muck Spreader, Leonard Cohen
Strongly influenced by 90’s French touch and techno, two French characters from Annecy, namely Low Bird (vocals) and Jimmy Q (guitars, synthesizers, production) – aka Caspian Pool, blast their contagious electronic cold wave in ‘Special Way Reloaded’.
Sounds like: FFO: Nimmo, The Chemical Brothers, Hercules & Love Affair, Goldfrapp, Joe Goddard, Chvrches, Digitalism, Holy Ghost!, Boys Noize, Little Dragon, Cut Copy, Icona Pop
The dreamy ‘Forever Forget’ is taken from Lucia & The Best Boys‘ new EP, ‘The State of Things’, and is a generous nod to the 80’s queens, Pat Benatar and Stevie Nicks.
Toronto R&B artist and songwriter Emanuel shares his new single ‘Black Woman’. Written a year ago, the message hasn’t changed – it’s a healing, celebratory ode to the resilience of Black women.
Sounds like: John Legend, Dylan Sinclair, Son Little, Michael Kiwanuka
Swiss sibling collective Sirens of Lesbos gear up to release their album, with the release of new single, ‘Pala’. It’s turned-on pop for a new psychedelic age.
South-African songwriter-producer Julia Church shares catchy pop gem ‘Don’t Really Care What We Call It’, a song about navigating those awkward feelings in a new relationship.
British singer-songwriter Lissy Taylor shares her alluring single, ‘High’. Echoes of Lana Del Rey ooze from untamed Lissy, amongst the soft guitar riffs, driving rock percussions, and jangling tambourine.
German multi-instrumentalist turned producer, Felix Räuber‘s bold new video aims to turn the preconceptions surrounding autism on its head, as it tells the story of an autistic character, deemed to be an outsider.
Sounds like: Aquilo, Solomon Grey, Son Lux, Nils Frahm, Ulrich Schnauss
German artist Jinka shares her explosive new single ‘U Bit My <3'.
Channelling emo and urban vibes with a playful way with wonky arpeggios of synthesized steel drums and piano samples that intertwine with a trap-leaning beat.
DAD (aka bedroom pop singer/songwriter Kei Wells) shares her new single ‘Fresher’.
DAD has teamed up with Grammy-nominated Austrian producer, artist and pianist Yakob. Our favourite of hers to date, this declaration of independence is the ultimate single girl’s anthem, with electrified pop sequences infused with synth-pop juice.
Wrabel and Gallant will feature on her forthcoming EP.
We’re super excited about the sounds of Norwegian artist Jon Olav.
His new single ‘I Am The Thing’ opens with sparse piano chords (we instantly think James Blake), and bubbles into itself with deliciously sinister pop hooks and crystalline vocals as Olav looks inward to contemplate the pluses and minuses of attention.
Approachable Members Of Your Local Community – Small Change
With the best name we’ve seen for a long while, Approachable Members Of Your Local Community (let’s call them AMOYLC for short) releases the catchy ‘Small Change’.
The quartet – who met at school – fuse elements of indie, electro, funk and disco into their unapologetically spirited sound. But their new single ‘Small Change’ has a serious message. Dedicated to the firefighters and communities affected by the Australian fires, “it’s clear that small change can have a big impact.”
Self-made art creator and songwriter Molina shares her bold single, ‘Vanilla Shell’, the title track taken from her new EP.
The sparse and inventive song weaves textured vocals with a fluttering flute and fretless bass into a psychedlic trip about love and youth, with captivating nods to the eras of 1960, 70 and 80.
Gold Member is a three-piece of producers and singer/songwriters.
Crossing genres between funk, soul and pop, their new single ‘Stay On’ is an easy, breezy piece of charge-soaked, soulful pop with a topical headline about Indigenous identity in white Australia, and the struggles of living in a system of cultural oppression.
What an anthem – ‘Not Ok!’ by Nashville based pop lothario Chaz Cardigan, released on Capitol Records/Loud Robot.
The track is an infectious tune about human imperfection, which sees Cardigan laid bare, both lyrically and visually. The Al Kalyk-directed video also features an astonishing number of gummy bears…
A daydream about endless summer days, it’s the perfect antidote for a wet and cold January. The song was crafted early one morning using a drum loop and an oberheim synthesizer and is a call to a honeycoated time of romance and yearning.
Circa Waves is a four-piece band from Liverpool, England. The band consists of Kieran Shudall, Sian Plummer, Sam Rourke and Joe Falconer.
They today release the video to their new single, ‘Fossils’.
The video, directed by LA based Adam Powell (Jamie T, Michael Kiwanuka), was shot during the band’s recent European tour with The Libertines.
Describing the making of the video, Powell said: ” The boys and I bonded over a game of ping pong. The video was more of an ethos than anything particularly planned or thought out, we just wanted to get into Berlin and lose our minds. I slept in the bunk on the tour bus with the super 8mm camera, lost track of my shoes during our 48hour sleepless stay in Berlin and the whole thing was fucking amazing ”
UK Tour Dates in April:
8th Riverside, Newcastle
9th Garage, Glasgow
10th Leadmill, Sheffield
11th Academy, Liverpool
13th Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
14th Library at the Institute, Birmingham
16th Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
17th Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
18th Ritz, Manchester
