“Our current reality [is] a huge mess that is systematically broken, but not entirely lost.” So say abracadabra, an Oakland-based duo you’ll be hearing more from very soon in the form of their second album, shapes & colors, which was announced a few weeks ago with the lead single ‘in a photo.’ You’ve got about two months to wait for that LP, but in the meantime we’re getting another new single. Following on from 2020’s self-titled debut, the thesis statement of Hannah Skelton and Chris Niles’s second album is borne out by the disco-tinged grooves of ‘talk talk,’ a song all about differing views and the importance of listening. Per the band: “These days it seems all-too-easy to develop an opinion and then close yourself off from listening to and exchanging with others. ‘talk talk’ is brimming with hope for humanity and our ability to unite through our humanness and cultivate a genuine empathy and relationship via communication. It is the optimistic reminder to ourselves and the listener alike that we have the ability to do better even despite the pitfalls that modern technology presents.” The single arrives with a Rainbow Tunnel–directed video, which is essentially a performance clip by a stand-in nine-piece band. It’s great fun in a way that mirrors the (real) band’s approach to making music. [via FLOOD]

Soulful pop artist Ela Ozturk has just released her new poetic single ‘Roots.’ This stripped-back and truthful song is full of unique instrumentation and passionate vocals that will strike the hearts of listeners while encouraging them to be their authentic selves. “‘Roots’ focuses on rebuilding yourself after someone has broken your connection with who you are,” says Ela Ozturk on the deeper meaning of the song. Her inspiring message influences the audience to take control of their lives and build the person they want to be after losing their way. “The lyrics describe a comeback story,” explains Ozturk. Lyrics such as, “I’m coming back to my roots, the me before you, the calm before your storm, the light before your darkness. I’m returning, I’m returning, back to my roots, I’m coming back, I’m coming back, I’m coming back.” Ozturk describes the adventure of finding yourself after trials and tribulations. Combining powerful vocals with lively instrumentation, Ozturk has made a perfect track to help shine light after dark times and rejoice in the feeling of falling back into your own person after feeling lost.

Released back in June, Maya Yenn‘s third single ‘Better Luck Next Time’ has elevated her within the London music scene. Now she’s revealed a video to accompany it. The video has a lovely aesthetic surrounding it, with the intro suggesting it’ll be a black and white affair to compliment the darker tones. It’s then the track bursts into colour with the palate feeling like you’re in the late 80’s with it’s soft pastel colours. The video was written and directed by Maya. [via It’s All Indie]

amy michelle has shared a brand new track, ‘patience’. After a debut EP drop earlier this year, amy michelle is back with another helping of ethereal vocals and existential drums. On the track, amy says: “The song deals with trying to navigate a difficult friendship or relationship between two people. Despite the unconditional love they have for each other, they are both reflecting a bewildered frustration of unresolved issues within themselves onto one another, causing immense hurt & pain. It questions; perhaps you are my person, but now just isn’t the right time? You have hurt me so much, maybe I need to leave here alone? I have hurt you so much, maybe I should let you go? Perhaps with a bit of trust & patience, our paths will cross again? I wrote and recorded this song during the night about a year ago, in my room back home. It’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written.” amy has also released an official video for the track, enlisting the help of the puppet Eko. [via Dork]

With a self-proclaimed bohemian streak, Polish-born London-based artist Malenka has a wealth of experience to draw from. After an unconventional upbringing surrounded by colourful characters, the star-on-the-rise left Warsaw for the British capital, living in what she describes as “a series of dodgy flat shares” as she tried her hand at beekeeping and beer-selling alongside studying psychology and pursuing music. Taken from her debut EP Creature of Devotion ‘Pain Makes You Present’ is a raw and honest exploration of heartbreak and an in depth-discussion of post-breakup clarity born from the pain. Reflecting on the track, Malenka explains “I wrote it when everything in my life was going wrong. But it felt like the pain of it all gave me clarity about where I was and where I wanted to be (not eating cornflakes)!” Since then her luck has certainly changed, with the singer-songwriter garnering comparisons to the likes of Lorde and Billie Eilish — it’s safe to say we predict big things from Malenka. [via Wonderland]

Following a great debut EP in 2021, Melbourne’s Blonde Revolver are set to release their highly anticipated first full length album, Good Girls Go To Heaven, Bad Girls Go Everywhere early next year. Due out February 2 via Rack Off Records (Shove, Future Suck), the sextet previously shared the dizzying punch of ‘The List’ and with the album’s announcement comes ‘Lipstick and Leather,’ a woozy post-punk track that’s heavy on synths and locked in rhythms. Described as a “single babe anthem,” it’s a fun song that’s buzzing with a sort of feminist energy, taking the power away from the male gaze. The songs buzzes and shakes with a steady bounce, swarming guitars, and disoriented synths, from the garage rattled verses to the explosive crescendo. [via Post Trash]

Uhl has released her debut EP, Channels, offering the first complete taste of her enigmatic and cinematic style of art pop. The record finds Uhl occupying a glassy and evocative space, pulling equally from her background in operatic and classical music and from her love for songwriters like Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, and Weyes Blood. ‘Shout’ strikes a gorgeous balance between melancholy and euphoria, with Uhl exploring a liberating joy that always feels just out of reach. She puts her celestial vocal talents front and center, delivering a soaring performance that is lifted higher by thick echoing drum patterns and colorful sax lines courtesy of Jeff Tobias. The result feels at moments like it could be a lost classic from the likes of Kate Bush, yet Uhl also shades the track with her own dreamy and operatic touches, leaving the track as a transportive fantasia of gleaming glassy melodies. Uhl says of the track, “’Shout’ is celebrating liberation from a confined situation, only to discover that freedom from one circumstance opens your awareness to your confinement in another. Life being like Russian nesting dolls, once you break free from one reality you enter another.” [via Under The Radar Mag]

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Jessica Winter will release her new EP Limerence on February 10. It’s a new era for this startling songwriter, who recently returned with her single ‘Choreograph’. Arresting new single ‘Funk This Up’ is online now, with the lyrics presenting a conversation between the songwriter and herself. Ella Margolin directs the final video, which was shot on VHS. Jessica Winter comments… “This song began as a conversation with myself… the verses being in the present and reacting to the choruses where I embody the more deranged temptress luring me into the depths of addiction and chaos. The video captures two versions of the addict, the version that tries to stay balanced and together and the version that falls from the centre. We used different forms of distortion on the face and body and more extreme performance to capture the temptress.” [via Clash]

The Pōneke-based project of Ingrid Saker with Seamus Johnson, Kim Andrews and Scott Maynard, Ingrid and the Ministers have unleashed a new video for their latest single ‘Porcelain God’. Detailing an intensely unglamorous scenario familiar to most late night party-goers at one point or another, the bluesy song’s visual treatment — co-directed by Saker and Kathleen Winter — stars the besuited lead songwriter / guitarist taking to the city streets and writhing around slimy waterways not unlike a Robert Longo artwork, busting out searing solos while looking fairly worse for it in general. The superimposed eels add a poetic touch. [via Under The Radar]

Malian star Fatoumata Diawara has shared ‘Nsera’, the first track taken from her forthcoming album, due out next year. ‘Nsera’ is co-written and co-produced by Damon Albarn, who as worked with Fatoumata previously and whose long history of collaborating with African musicians is well documented. Singing and playing keyboards, Albarn infuses a touch of melancholy and modernity into the song’s Mandinka sound. The partnership, which merges the sounds of London and those of the Malian capital Bamako, led Fatoumata to coin the term ‘Londonko’: an imaginary land, bringing two continents together. ‘Nsera’ is accompanied by a video directed by Gregory Ohrel (Orelsan, Jain, Residente). A journey into the heart of Africa, the video parades the continent’s many sides, its cultural richness and diversity. ‘Nsera’ means ‘destination’ in bambara, the official language of Mali. Born in the Ivory Coast to Malian parents, Fatoumata is still eagerly exploring her roots, her land, her culture and her own destination.

Just before Halloween, Uhl (née Isabella Uhl, pronounced like “you’ll”), shared the official announcement of Channels, her debut EP, along with the first single ‘Haunted Tune’. On the second single, ‘Fruit,’ Uhl’s (literally) operatic vocals shine –– as on the rest of the record –– leading the way via serpentine melodies and storytelling that cascade in perfectly executed art pop waves, recalling Kate Bush’s The Sensual World or Annie Lennox’s Diva or Weyes Blood’s more recent work. This is really not the kind of thing that works if it’s only halfheartedly executed or if the artist is anything but exceptional. And so here’s Uhl: fully going for it and fullly pulling it off, supported by the acrobatic production of Peter Murray (Alela Diane, Lisa Crawley). The melodies are memorable, the arrangements are spot on, and the dramatic effect is consuming. Fans of Liz Fraser’s and Cindy Sharp’s songs on It’ll End in Tears, brace yourselves. Uhl embodies a different character in each song, “channeling” these narratives. In ‘Fruit,’ the narrator locks into entirely worldly things and their multivalence. The track is, in Uhl’s own words, a challenge to “the way we evaluate other’s realities.” Check out the outrageous and melodramatic video for ‘Fruit,’ directed by Uhl herself. There is a profound and familiar emotional resonance to Channels, but –– as the work of someone exploring a variety of characters –– it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is made plain in this video. There’s definitely a levity present that’s the mark of someone who is playing.

London indie supergroup SUEP announce long-awaited debut album Shop and drop new single ‘In Good Health’ with a poignant and trippily kaleidoscopic-pop video. ‘In Good Health,’ fronted by Georgie Stott, is a darkly euphoric and pleasantly strange meeting of Siouxsie Sioux and Jona Lewie, with a playfully discombobulating mix of 80s jangly guitar, chirpy keyboard, and moody post-punk. The song was written by Georgie following a stay in hospital due to a mental health crisis, and tackles mental health, drug addiction, and the power of friendship. As Georgie expands: “I wanted to write a song that encapsulated how important my relationships with my friends and boyfriend were at that time” she explains “…and one that also felt dark like I did at the time. I couldn’t go outside due to anxiety surrounding my health, so I stayed inside for weeks. People would visit and watch films with me or let me tattoo them or make music with me. My community helped me recover.” The ‘In Good Health’ video taps into the song’s serious subject matter but also the song’s playfulness. It shows Georgie stuck in what its creator Jess Power describes as “An internalised world, imagining a new day and a fresh start. The overly luxurious bedding, super saturated colours and surreal imagery reflect the idea of seeking clarity amongst inner voices that try to deceive you and bring you down.”

Joanie has shared her new single ‘Kerosene’ via Permanent Creeps. ‘Kerosene’ builds on the promise of Joanie’s debut track ‘Schadenfreude’. It’s a cool, pulsing, disco track that has been produced by fellow rising artist Jessica Winter (Jazmine Bean, Walt Disco, Metronomy). Joanie says: “‘Kerosene’ takes inspiration from the dark, salacious world depicted in homoerotic 70’s movie Pink Narcissus. It’s a song about intoxication, obsession and escapism.” The video has been directed by Ash K Halliburton who has previously directed videos for Piers James, Crawlers and Katy B and worked with FKA twigs, Maneskin and Caroline Polachek.

With their debut EP Worldwide Torture already having 400 million streams (and counting), Jazmin Bean is dropping their newest track ‘Carnage’. “’Carnage’ is a song about getting what you want no matter how difficult it may prove to be or what opinions come about in the process,” they explain, “it was really a love letter to my end goal and every day I get closer to that goal.” [via DIY]

The video for Connie Constance’s new single ‘Hurt You’ has been self-directed, offering a chance to ‘live in a fantasy’. “This video is about the four stages of healing/resurrection,” Constance explains. “Stage one being torture, the purge of everything that came before that could be holding me back, stage two is the healing process, stage three is training, I was lucky enough to have my uncle King Kenny train me in this video right in the middle of his own training camp for his upcoming Fight in Texas. And the final stage being the rebirth, the Phoenix risen. My uncle Steve Power has a Pontiac firebird to he brought in the beautiful motor and it played the part of the symbol of transformation. A jump the fence imagination, made by my friends for the world.” [via live4ever]

Montreal-based electro-pop duo Milk & Bone presents ‘Object of Fun,’ an unapologetic single in which the pair denounces the way the male gaze ignores the uniqueness and multitudes of womanhood. Carried by anthemic synths and dense drum machine rhythms, ‘Object of Fun’ explores the weaponization of femininity by the male gaze and the pressure to fit within this idealized version of womanhood; one that isn’t outspoken, doesn’t age, always fits the sample size. “’Object of Fun’ is about the anger we feel when we’re being gaslit into thinking those things are actually encouraged and are then used against us,” explains the pair. [via Canadian Beats]

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