“Reykjavik’s most exciting new band” (The Face).
Virgin Orchestra blend brooding post-punk textures with lush classical arrangements, electronic flourishes, and sweeping shoegaze influences. Oh yeah!
Think of a heady mix of My Bloody Valentine, Warpaint, The Cure, and a touch of Portishead’s trip-hop melodrama, and you’re there.
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Vitorino Voador is the solo project of João Gil (SAL, You Can't Win Charlie Brown, Esteves, Mafalda Veiga).
Creating music rooted in Portuguese folk traditions, he blends elements of indie rock and poetic lyricism for an atmospheric and contemporary sound. Melodic, yet experimental, his second LP ‘A Incrível Velocidade do Tempo’ is the first in a series of three albums.
He is currently working on the second album in this series, scheduled for release in 2025.
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Influenced by Tom Waits through to Pearl Jam, coming on like a glitched-up, bluesed-up Bon Iver, Grim17 has released two acclaimed LPs ('Digital Throw Up' & ‘Messing With Your Faith’) on the Lights And Lines label.
Referencing electro, alternative, folk, and Industrial, and mixing it with glitched tribal drumbeats and haunting vocal harmonies, he maintains his own individual style across everything he does.
A variety of singles have followed, as well as a remix album as well as a collection of singles and B-sides.
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Gaston Cereceda’s music spans experimental, DIY electronic, psychedelic pop and alt-rock territories, with a distinct lo-fi edge.
His LP, ‘El Ultimo Testamento de la Heroina’, revels in a raw, homemade aesthetic that favours creative energy over studio polish.
Listeners may be reminded of early Sebadoh or Daniel Johnston (with his DIY ethos and rough-edged charm).
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Radio Cutipa is a band that explores and revives indigenous Bolivian music, using contemporary tools and instruments to deliver modern slices of Boliviana folktronica.
Marked by energetic rhythms, folkloric melodies, and a forward-thinking approach, Radio Cutipa reminded us a little of Manu Chao. Ultimately it is global fusion, folkloric electronica, and modern Latin American experimental.
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The Eclecticians are bace135 and DJ Root, a San Francisco duo making (primarily) hip hop music. They produce fun, creative, and conscious hip hop, with an emphasis on attacking hip hop from different angles and trying new things.
Big Lanterns, their first release, is a creative meandering of different sounds, featuring both samples and synths, chill and energetic vibes, but remains undeniably hip hop throughout - hints of OutKast pervade the LP, as well as old skool hip-hop.
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Think Vazlá. Think latin rhythms, electronica, folk, and psychedelia.
Vazlá’s music is marked by rich layers, a cosmic and earthy vibe, and a deep connection to Mexican and Latin American roots, offering listeners a journey through ancestral and futuristic sonic landscapes.
For fans of Quantic for their approach to electronic Latin fusion, as well as Mexican experimentalists like Sotomayor who also blend folk, psychedelia and electronic textures.
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For this delight, we have to thank last year's Mexican partner, Eliud Fernandes (CIAN) for his recommendation.
The opening mariachi chords hooked us in immediately. But whilst their music draws on these elements of Mexican folk music, it fuses them with 21st century sounds (jazz, rock, electronica) to generate landscapes of a contemporary Mexico.
If you like what you read, please click on the photo above to preview, and the artist link below to listen in full.
Exploring songwriting at the crossroads of contemporary music and experimental jazz, she uses music as a vehicle for psycho-spiritual transformation.
Vocally, you can hear elements of Björk’s emotive experimentalism. Salomé’s music will appeal to fans of experimental/modern jazz.
If you like what you read, please click on the artist link below to listen in full.
Photo: Marie Claude Halde