This week’s roundup is composed of a quintet of artists whose music I might not typically cover. The artists span cultures, states, countries, and genres, although at their core they’re all laden in a nice dose of synths.
Witnesses – Your Time Has Come
Witnesses are an experimental instrumental crew from Vehlinggo’s fine city of New York. They craft pensive, mixed organic-electronic fare that would be as at home at April Base as it would be at the Knitting Factory. It’s haunting, foggy, revelatory, and eminently fascinating. Here is the title cut from their recently released LP.
HundredMillionThousand – “Yalda”
Admittedly, I don’t know much about this artist. Press materials say Filipino-Persian-Canadian producer Noel Jon crafted “Yalda” and the rest of the songs from LP1 as a way to deal with mental illness, which is entirely plausible. Certainly, the vocal melody calls to mine the spirit of Iran. The music reminds me of the darkest tapestries of Massive Attack, or, at very specific moments, even Salem.
Priyya – “Golden Child”
The New Jersey-based Priyya has crafted a haunting downtempo cut with serpentine qualities, and an ode to her Nepalese roots, that slithers amid a landscape of enigma — that culminates in a very bizarre but intriguing ode to Eddie Murphy. You have to experience it to believe it.
Thalab – “Good Swim”
The music of Thalab is, quite frankly, not entirely my cup of tea on most occasions. However, this glassy, downtempo cut hit me hard when I first heard it. The quixotic and laid-back melt might be it. Maybe it’s the organic quality of the composition. Or, maybe, I just dig that they’re Catalan (Some of my best moments in life were spent in Barcelona). I have no idea. I just like the song. Check it out.
Parallels – “Metropolis”
What if Britney were Canadian, read a lot of Philip K. Dick, had a love for vintage synths, and listened to a lot of CHVRCHES and Haerts? Let frontwoman Holly Dodson show you the end result of this rare formula.
