Cool New Singles & Hot New Artists From The Independent Music Underground - July 28th, 2023

Prince Enoki & Jocelyn Barth - Love is Everywhere RMX (Magic Messenger)

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This is a fine slice of twisted, spiritual, leftfield nu-jazz that starts off innocently enough with Barth's accomplished vocals before Enoki slowly adds classic sci-fi B-movie synths, changes rhythmic tack to a reggae lilt when he feels like it & generally leaches positively vibrating, deviant fusion frequencies into the cosmic ether for the greater sonic good.
Find it at home in the Slow Jazz Playlist.

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xeuphoria - Haunted By You (Self Release)

Top drawer Ambient Pop has been a bit thin on the ground in July, but more than making up for it is this (inter)stellar slice of perfectly produced, magically mixed, beatless dream pop; where the abstract ambient world of Xeuphoria & her more socially acceptable vocals swirl around each other in perfect harmony, untroubled by the rigid frame of an over enthusiastic drummer. Find it in the Ambient Pop Playlist.

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Agnest Aleesy - harp song (Self Release)

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A classically trained multi-instrumentalist blessed with equally impressively vocals, Aleesy  shrugs off climate dread & the weight of the world to reveal an adventurously arranged, perfectly executed slice of lush, celestial soul that eases the pain & encourages you to dream of better days.
Find her sounding wonderful in the Slow Soul Playlist.

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Hidden Orchestra - Skylarks (Lone Figures)

Pretty amazingly Hidden Orchestra is a one man band - apart from the live shows when a host of musicians, including two drummers, are hired to replicate the deep, dense, driving, painstakingly layered, electronic jazz rocking studio creations. So take a plunge into the swirling sonic waters & let them sweep you along to who knows where?

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carm Macarenhas - Fields Of Green (BBE)

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Paul Hillery is one of the UK's top, global stone turning, diggers of rare records, not to mention a fellow Northamptonian; which wouldn't mean a lot if his compilation series for BBE records wasn't unfailingly as brilliant as it is consistently obscure. Get a taste of volume III with this incredibly deep slice of spiritual folk jazz from 1970s India that oozes hippy trail, Manali Black & unspoilt Goan beaches. Find it in the Slow Balearic Playlist.

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McKenzie Stubbert - Err (Curious Music)

Using a 70 year old piano with "character", lends this somewhat sombre, neoclassical ambient tune from Stubbert with its pleasantly unsettling video a perfect imperfection & childlike quality that rather like a naughty friend, slyly persuades you into its paranormal folds, before you realise that perhaps you shouldn't be there, but are uneasily glad you went for the ride anyway.
Find it in the Slow Neoclassical Playlist.

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Upstairs Open - Blue Damage (Self Release)

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Oddly after many years of avoiding mainstream, accessible music & leaning more towards listenable experimentalism, I'm warming to some easier listening singer songwriting of late. This return to recorded output from Upstairs Open - after a bit of a hiatus, fits my new bill & is a welcome addition to the pleasingly melodic singer songwriter joys & acoustic instrumentation of the Slow Indie Folk Playlist.

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Peter martin - Not The Same (PeterMartinIsReleased)

Another cultured slice of Indie-Folkish singer songwriting driven by Martin's plaintive vocals. It starts off quite minimally before slowly adding more instrumental & production layers to fine, gently evolving, engulfing, but never overwhelming effect. Find this somewhat melancholic slice of singer songwriting also in the Slow Indie-Folk Playlist.

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Fellow Hollow - Smokies (Self Released)

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To finish off today's folky triptych is the well arranged & well rounded, most modern slice of roots music from Fellow Hollow, that fills the soundstage with all sorts of sonic interest whilst effortlessly walking the tightrope between augmentation & saturation. Listen to this might fine, forward looking folk tune in the Slow Folk Playlist.

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