The synthesizer wizard Kebu is back with a second single from his upcoming third studio album “Urban Dreams”. Conceived during a time of lock-downs and people living in isolation in confined spaces, this instrumental album is exploring dreams – both those occurring during sleep and daydreams.

“Fleeting Lights” is a celebration of power ballads and soft rock beats from the eighties – essentially music that surrounded and influenced Kebu when he was young. Instead of being nostalgic or witty about it, Kebu executes the uplifting and optimistic track like the world never moved on past that decade. Again, Kebu is pushing the limits of what can be done with analog synthesizers – similar to Kebu’s earlier releases, this track – and his upcoming album – consist of a sound universe made only with analog synthesizers and analog drum machines. The synths used on “Fleeting Lights” are also featured in the music video. In addition to the original mix, the single contains also a shorter radio edit.

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Indonesian duo Stars & Rabbit have announced their new album ‘On Different Days’. The album will be their first with UK label, Trapped Animal Records.

Arriving June 25, ‘On Different Days’ is an introspective look into the last twelve months, finding the rare gleams of light that crept through the dark. As human contact and the possibility of unloading our problems to others disappeared, we all had to become our own islands tending to our own mental health – lead singer, Elda Suryani celebrates her newfound self-reliance as well as noting the acts of the community that have got us through. With ‘On Different Days’ they create a community resource all of their own.

Though the band are household names in Indonesia, their music has also transcended well beyond those borders; they attract almost 250,000 monthly listeners, they’ve toured the UK and played a prime slot at 2019’s Iceland Airwaves.

Focus track, ‘Pretty Anticipated’ deals with the moments between the ups and downs of life where you can sense that everything always works out one way or another. Somehow it makes you trust what life brings. And that moment is something worth a celebration

Writer and singer said on the track: “Have you had that moment when you realize how far you’ve gone with your life? That is when “Pretty Anticipated” was written down in my journal. Oh man…went through all the ups and downs but still managed to keep my sanity and being able to find joy on the ride is something to appreciate over time. It’s one hell of a life coping skill and I’m taking this opportunity to celebrate it. Also because I feel that within each celebration there’s a cultivated sense of deeply feeling O K. To be or not to be. Two things I found. One, my foundation. Second, all emotions are valuable information of where I am right now and where I want to go.”

April’s single, ‘Merry Alone’, a nod to the interconnectedness Suryani felt when the whole world became lonely overnight – “Lonely people, I can feel you more”, she sings.

Speaking about the track, she said: “At this point in time, have you ever felt irrelevant to the world around you? Disconnected. It left you a little lonely. How about knowing the truth, that you’re not the only one. Will it make a difference? To be able to see, hear and feel the loneliness of others. Will it make you less lonely? By being alone together. Will it spark a smile even a little?”

There was a part of lockdown when the whole world seemed to start playing Animal Crossing. It was as if the trees in full blossom, the golden sand and the shimmering blue of the sea circling the picture-perfect islands provided soothing as the real world imploded. ‘On Different Days’ is its aural equivalent. Suryani sings of beautiful gardens, lavender wilds and ‘roses bigger than my head’, and her partner in crime, Didit Saad concocts soundscapes that adds to the vividness of her lyrics.

When our world is reduced to little more than our bedroom, we have to create worlds of our own. Soon the world Stars & Rabbit created for their own sanity will be ours to lose ourselves in.

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Conjure jazzy ethereal pop on LOST IN YOUR SILENCE ft Lydia Kaye

Taken from new EP LOST IN YOUR SILENCE due 18th June via Fly Beat Music

Warriors of the Dystotheque return to their own label Fly Beat Music for the release of the 1st track from the forthcoming new album, LOST IN YOUR SILENCE features the vocal talents of Lydia Kaye (Kalahara) and has been produced on a remote island off the coast of France by the self proclaimed musical nomad, the legendary HOWIE B (Bjork, Massive Attack, Tricky, U2).

LOST IN YOUR SILENCE see’s WotD return to their jazz influenced broken beat sound and immersive vocals with British singer Lydia Kaye.

Lydia explains: “I was thrilled to team up the Warriors for their new release and had an instant affinity with this track, I was inspired by the jazz tipped style, reminiscent of the music I grew up with, it’s the kind of music I always wanted to make. I felt a real sense of freedom working on this song. It was really fresh and exciting to work with a new palette of sounds alongside an awesome collective of musicians that let me do my thing.”

She goes on to add: “The melody came instinctively and led me into this unresolved feeling of unrequited love, We’ve all been there – when the pain of waiting to hear from someone, leaves you in limbo and can have a maddening and numbing effect on your mind. Now having worked on this track with the Warriors we’re gonna do a few more for the forthcoming album, which I’m super excited about.”

In addition to the title track is An Island Affair Ft Abby Oliveira, Abby delivers spoken word over a lush string laden downtempo groove where she reminisces of all the years gone by visiting the White Isle and how we would swap our current lives in lockdown for another trip to the island of Ibiza.

Lost in Your Silence and An Island Affair comes with remixes from Cartin and Ken Fan. Cartin is a 23 year old producer from Derry who has came to the attention of Jonny from WotD due to his successful Acid Flex nights in Derry & Belfast as well as releases on established Belfast label Extended Play, also emerging as 2020’s AVA festival producer & just this month AVA festival have announced the 2021 line up with a live show from Cartin for their live Boiler room.

Ken Fan is no stranger to the Balearic world with his residency at the world famous Cafe del Mar – Ibiza as past 7 years and he has recently taken the sounds of the Island to Radio 1 with the Wind Down show on Saturday mornings. Catch him daily at Cafe del Mar playing his extra long Sunset sessions.

This release is funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s SIAP fund and the University of Atypical.

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FERHAT meldet sich zurück. Nach dem hochgehandelten, zornig-virtuosen Track „Father State“, bringt der frischgebackene Preisträger der Deutschen Popstiftung in der Kategorie „Bester neuer Rock & Popkünstler 2020“ seinen neuen Track

MY ISTANBUL

. Und erneut lässt

FERHAT

keinen Zweifel an seiner Überzeugung: Mit seiner aufsehenerregenden Fusion aus modernem Sound und traditionellen Klängen seiner türkischen Herkunft ergreift er wieder das Wort gegen die Beschränkungen von Liebe, Religion und persönlicher Freiheit. Auch das eindringliche Video der türkischen Szene-Regisseurin Irmak Altiner unterstreicht mit fast schmerzhaft-intimen Close-ups die Beweisführung der Anklage:

A simple salesman in a cheap fashion store went outside to smoke his cigarette – they came and said it‘s Ramadan and beat him down, so he won’t forget

.

My Istanbul, a poisoned breath is inhaling you.

MY ISTANBUL

entstand gemeinsam mit dem syrisch-stämmigen Songwriter Masen Abou Dakn und wurde jüngst für einen German Songwriting Award nominiert, während die Fachwelt kommentiert: „In dem eindringlichen schwarz-weiß Video wird in klaren Worten Istanbul in der Jetztzeit beschrieben. Verzweiflung und Agonie: ‚My Istanbul, a strange wind is blowing through my Istanbul‘. Nach den Demonstrationen auf dem Taksim-Platz und der Veränderung, die die Erdogan-Regierung herbeigeführt hat, wird die Situation durch eine minimalisierte und sehr persönliche Bild- und Klangsprache dargestellt.“ Musikalisch steuern dem drängenden Plädoyer von

MY ISTANBUL

auch Jan Brauer von Brandt Brauer Frick sowie der renommierte DJ Matt Star (u.a. Tresor) starke Remixe bei.

Das Urteil? Der Berliner Musicboard-Stipendiat lässt nicht locker. Mit beeindruckender Leidenschaft und Vehemenz hält

FERHAT

an den Fragen fest, die auch Motor seiner musikalischen Kraft sind: „Warum darf ich nicht alles sein, was ich liebe? Ich rufe zur Versöhnung auf, denn am Ende sind wir einfach Menschen.“

Über

FERHAT

:

Nach der Schauspielausbildung und Rollen u. a. in der ARD-Serie „Mordkommission Istanbul“ wurde der schweizerisch-türkische Künstler an der Popschule Berlin, der Sängerakademie Hamburg sowie der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ausgebildet. Neben Auftritten als Tänzer für Madonna und Robert Miles veröffentlichte er eigene Tracks und performte im Berliner SO36, beim Christopher Street Day in Zürich sowie auf dem M4Music Festival, wo sein Demo in der Kategorie „Best Pop“ nominiert wurde. Sein Track „Pehlivan“ war auf der Compilation „Listen to Berlin“ und für den Publikumspreis nominiert, das dazugehörige Video war in der Auswahl für „Bestes Musikvideo“ des Filmfestivals Basel. Zuletzt war er als Schauspieler in der Amazon-Serie „Für Umme“ zu sehen.

Ferhats Songs entstehen in Berlin, Zürich und Istanbul, er arbeitet regelmäßig mit Kollegen wie Jovanka von Wilsdorf (u.a. Laing, Tim Benzko, Annette Humpe) oder Songwriting-Koryphäe Masen Abou Dakn zusammen.

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Richard Laurence is a composer of neoclassical and ambient piano music with a colourful background in post-rock and electronic studio projects.

Having already garnered more than 35 million Spotify streams on ‘Kind of Love’, their first collaboration together, award-winning producers Rat City and Isak Heim have proven to be a strong team when it comes to creating catchy pop songs. They now return with summer banger ‘Rather Be’. Out on all platforms Friday June 4th.

The track was created last summer, but there’s no negative vibes from the pandemic here. It all started on a zoom session with the Canada-based songwriter Faouzia (John Legend, David Guetta, Kelly Clarkson etc.), followed by several online sessions with the songwriter Autumn Rowe (Dua Lipa, Ava Max, Pitbull, Leona Lewis etc.) before Isak Heim added the final touches and a killer lead vocal. This was Rat City’s first time starting a track via Zoom, something that became a necessity for many writers over the last 18 months, and they describe the process as “unique, and surprisingly a lot of fun!”.

Rat City produced Dagny’s track ‘Somebody’ which won her both Track of the Year at P3 Gull 2020 (P3 is equivalent to BBC Radio 1) and was nominated for Song of the Year at Spellemann 2020 (the Norwegian Grammys). Their debut artist single ‘Kind of Love’ catapulted to ​#1 on Shazam ​and #1 on Norwegian radio for 7 ​consecutive ​weeks. Crossing well over 50 million combined streams, and spending ​20 weeks on Spotify’s top 20 chart​. The band has also collaborated with major talents ​such as Kiesza and Tungevaag​, and Rick the Kid.

Based in Norway, Rat City are completing work on their debut album which is expected to be released prior to the end of the year.

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Waves Rush In aka Sam Branson is a singer/songwriter based in Oxfordshire. His music takes influence from nature, love, loss and life experience, resulting in relatable music with a universal message – something we all need during these days of internal and external struggle. The storyteller who has social justice, collective wellness and spirituality at the core of his art, has recently dropped his latest single ‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’ and had his first radio play on BBC Introducing Oxfordshire with previous single ‘Let It Bruise’.

As its title suggests, the track tells a story of personal growth, through a journey of healing and self-acceptance. Musically, the rich acoustic-based instrumentation is anchored around a simple string arrangement. The highlight is the beautiful interplay between a male and female vocal – fittingly Sam is joined on vocals by his wife Isabella, who adds to the purity of the message at hand. This vocal duality echoes the sentiment of lending a hand to someone in need of emotional support. Sam explains further:

“We all have a tendency to give ourselves a hard time but when we are going through challenges, what we really need is to give ourselves a hug. Having been there for each other, through the good times and the bad, I feel honoured to have my wife Isabella singing with me on the record.”
‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’ follows previous singles ‘Let It Bruise’, ‘Colours Fade’ and ‘It’s Cool To Be Kind’, all of which have helped the newcomer reach some impressive stream numbers that includes over 155K Spotify streams and over 245K streams on all platforms. The video for ‘It’s Cool To Be Kind’ premiered with Tap The Feed and reached over 62K views in its first two weeks.

‘Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself’ is available now on all DSPs – it’s the fourth single taken from Waves Rush In’s debut EP which drops 23rd July.

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Chain of Islands has premiered the official music video for their latest ballad track “Shelter” exclusively on CLOUT. The pop duo – made up of Nick Goins and Derek Vautrinot – have creatively crafted a video that not only offers fans a beautiful performance of the track, but gives a sense of nostalgia with its black and white film elements reminiscent of old-Hollywood film. The duo’s performance in the visual is an emotional reflection of the song’s meaning of healing, and having faith in one’s own strength.

“The video for ‘Shelter’ is an effort to capture the feeling of self reflection throughout the times. An isolated moment on the couch when you can take an honest look inward to reflect on who you are and where you’re going, and how the feeling must have felt in any era, past to future.” – Chain of Islands

Chain of Islands is a pop duo originally formed in Boston, MA and currently split between Orange County, CA and Providence, RI. Nick and Derek both met through playing in heavier rock acts (Lions Lions and Que Sera) from the New England area. After years of heavily touring the rock/hardcore scene, both members decided to collaborate and pursue new creative avenues leading to the birth of Chain of Islands. The band is excited to release their debut EP slated for release this summer.

Stream the sultry follow up “Shelter” across DSPs today here: https://fanlink.to/ShelterCOI and watch the video on Chain of Island’s official YouTube channel here.

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