For a first single, "Do You Love Me" is one strong debut indeed. ÖZ is a producer based in Montreal whose influences cited include Jamie xx & London Grammar.
"Do You Love Me" was inspired by a bad breakup, with ÖZ trying to imagine it from the perspective of his ex-girlfriend. It's a strong pop song, with an electronic pop style that is very current sounding, the sort of song that one could imagine realistically being a top 40 hit if it had a massive record company or money behind it. That it is a 1st single bodes well for ÖZ's musical endeavors going forward.
Today's artist and song comes highly recommended from Robin of our favourite non-us music blog, Breaking More Waves, who put it at #1 in his favourite songs of 2016, although given the artist in question has been so highly tipped on many "Ones To Watch" lists, it may end up cropping up on quite a few 2017 lists as well in 12 months time.
Maggie Rogers is a Maryland singer/songwriter who started out as a folk musician, but eventually started to explore dance music following a sojourn to France, the capital of repetitive beats. She then eventually won over "Give It To Me" hit-maker Pharrell Williams, before spending the rest of the year winning over just about everyone else with her sophisticated pop sound. She's on the BBC Sound of 2017 longlist, and although at the time of writing the top 5 haven't been announced, her name is very likely to feature.
But let's get straight to the song in question, the song that shares its name with a state that many people erroneously believe that your humble captain spent a year living in, "Alaska".* It is a song in which you can hear how the synthesis of folksy origins melds with the more electronic elements with a certain level of grace. It calls to mind the music or Lorde, albeit with a more organic sound. She's made a video for the song as well, which is pretty engaging.
Although "Alaska" hasn't grabbed us at first as much the hype may have suggested, it's still a rather nice song, and there's no doubt we will be hearing quite a bit from Maggie Rogers in 2017.
*As touched upon fleetingly on this blog before, prior to starting this blog, I spent a year living in the state of Nebraska. However, whenever I tell anyone of this fact, the first question I always get asked is "isn't it cold up there"? At this point, I normally have to point out that Alaska and Nebraska are in fact two separate states about three thousand miles away from each. Although how much of this is down to ignorance to the existence of Nebraska and how much of it is due to my refined Belfast accents' mangling of American state names is not something I have yet tested to date.
Whilst it's a shame that Mike & Ruth Aicken have now officially put their wonderful folk group The Jepettos on hiatus, it's fair to say that their new music project, New Portals, has been going down a storm. Their songs have got airplay on both Radio 1 and Radio Ulster, been picked up for a popular playlist on Spotify, and their live show got a positive, yet under-researched review in The Huffington Post (brother & sister? The Japettos?).
So what better time to drop a new single on us than now. "Groove Boy" takes its inspiration from acts like Oh Wonder & Broods, and is a heavenly slice of electro-pop, with its dreamy xylophone lines, sleek synthetic production, and of course, the luscious harmony vocals that this husband and wife duo have become known for under their various different guises.
New Portals have hit upon a sound that is very much in vogue at the moment, yet the imbue it with just enough originality and personality to set it apart from its peers. It's their most mainstream sounding single to date, and alongside other local acts like Loris, could see them at the forefront of the Northern Ireland's burgeoning electro-pop movement.
With our recent love of chiptune sounding pop increasing by the day ever since TeamRKT released their most recent E.P, it's great to come across another duo doing such fun things with bleeps and bloops. In this case, it is Battery Operated Orchestra. Battery Operated Orchestra are a Brighton based husband and wife duo, originally from Glasgow and Tasmania respectively. They've got a debut album out next week, and to give you a slice of what to expect, here's "Fluoro Sushi", a chirpy, analogue powered electro-pop tune that sounds like a fun, childlike version of Chvrches, full of fun and devoid of irony.
Their album, "Incomplete Until Broken", is released on September 10th.
The debut single from Newry based 5 piece Viola Dust, "The Big Hop", seemingly came out of nowhere to blow us away, with its sleek electro-pop sound sounding absolutely incredible for a band's opening salvo. Unsurprisingly, it picked up a lot of love, gaining airplay on 6music and XFM, as well getting a lot of blog lovin' along the way. Surprisingly, even in the wake of all this attention, the band have been somewhat hesitant to give us more information about themselves online, bar the basics, although it is our understanding that some of the members were formerly involved in the band Elspeth (whom we featured on the blog a few years back). Perhaps they just prefer to let the music do the talking?
The band have now released their second song, "You're Mine", a song that proves that their last song was not a fluke. The song's a lot more R&B inflected than their debut, but there's also elements of acts such as Prince and Passion Pit chucked into the glorious mix, creating a sleek track of electro-pop goodness. If Viola Dust are happy enough to let their music do the talking, then you'd better believe that we're happy enough to listen.
