Gem Club

The minimal dream pop coming from Somerville , Massachusetts, in the form of Gem Club is beyond arresting. With the success of their EP ‘Acid and Everything’, Gem Club made waves amongst music publications but this didn’t prepare us for the follow-up, by any means. With the release of their debut LP ‘Breakers’, they have crept up on us with their hauntingly, reflective sound that is lets the piano lead the audience on a ethereal journey, encouraging moments of static calm that remain charged, full of electric emotion. The duo, Christopher Barnes (piano) and Kristen Drymala (cello), have just released the video that accompanies new single ‘I heard The Party’ and it is a truly sobering affair.

Discover these guys now. The album is available now on Hardly Art 

 Gem Club Website 

Jessie Ware

Having already made a name for herself in 2012 with single ‘Running’, Jessie Ware’s vocals have already been praised by many of us, unknowingly so. She has featured alongside artists such as Sampah and SBTRKT but it is as a solo artist that the British singer-songwriter is going to let us know what she is really capable. Being hailed as England’s answer to Aaliya, Jessie Ware’s soulful vocals are being welcomed out of a scene that can, sometimes, feel awash with female vocalists using dubstep beats to make a name for themselves. Jessie Ware, however, is creating urban beats that certainly lend a hand to funk and soul. The latest cut from her upcoming debut album, Devotion, is a smooth ballad that doesn’t have to shout to make itself heard, no; ‘Wildest Moment’s is a sultry take on r’n’b and it is Jessie’s voice that really separates her from the rest.

 

Explore her music below. ‘Wildest Moment’ is released on August 13th 2012 on PMR Records  

 Jessie Ware Facebook

Trails & Ways

Bossa nova dream pop, that’s how Oakland, CA’s, outfit, Trails & Ways have been describing their sound since the release of their first EP back in May 2011. It wasn’t until May 2012 that the band released their first, official single, ‘Nunca’, a sun kissed slice of beach pop with rhythms that recall Brazilian carnivals and cool surf kids in slow mo’. ‘Nunca’ has just had its video premiere and uses found film to give those free feeling vibes an extra boost, using footage of skaters, surfers and everything else you’d rather be doing then sitting at a desk. There is no talk of when their forthcoming LP ‘Trilingual’ will be released yet but, with ‘Nunca’ doing the rounds, hopefully we won’t have to wait long.

Trails & Ways Facebook

Museum of Bella Artes

Museum of Bella Artes, Leonard Öhman, Alice Luther Näsholm and Joanna Herskovits, first caught our attention back in 2009 when they covered Sapphires 1964 hit, ‘Who Do You Love’, giving it a breezy electronic dance pop style that could be likened to Saint Etienne. A couple of singles and an EP later, Museum of Bella Artes (MoBA) are back with their new single, ‘Bear Cubs’; an irresistible Florence and the Machine-esque electronic pop song that bounces its way through the forest and into the sunlight. MoBA are not just another one of your Swedish electro-pop outfits, these guys are able to create a pop song that appeals to the masses but it is their instrumentation and layering that sets them apart, giving them a certain edge that can sometimes feel saturated. There are rumours of a forth coming LP, but these are to be confirmed.

 

MoBA’s single ‘Bear Cubs’ is available on Force Majeure

 Museum of Bella Artes Facebook  

Rioux

Find The Reason (feat. Thurmon Green)

by Rioux

Rioux (ree-yoo), the last name of electronic/pshchedelic Brooklyn-based songwrtier/producer Eric Rioux, isn’t actually that new to the scene but it is the new direction that he has taken with ‘Find the Reason’ that has made the first track, off the forthcoming ‘Come on all you Ghosts’ EP (due out July 17), stand out from his other work. Taking on a poppier edge than some of his earlier releases, the influences behind ‘Find the Reason’, which features the vocal talents of Thurmon Green, are cited during his time spent Berlin and the city’s club scene. As an artist, Rioux has already experimental with the concept of audiovisual with the album ‘Everything You Need is Right Here’ (2011) and it is with his new release that we will see this chap making waves during Summer 2012.

For more about Rioux, check out the links below.

Rioux Website

If these sounds have got you hungry for more, check out what we selected in June

Written by Ben Taylor