Bob Em – Johnie Worker

by Stephan Boissonneault

There’s nothing like some fresh Afro beats to start the morning right. Signed into 3Lions Records, based in the metropolitan city of Lagos Nigeria, Bob Em, has been delivering catchy dancehall and afro beats music for a number of years.

With “Johnie Worker” Bob Em uses this song to pass a strong message about the hustling and bustling of life, and the time one must put aside to unwind. The song is part of Bob Em’s Today’s Ripples album, and the video has already garnered more than 130 thousand views. This Nigerian artist is quickly proving why he’s one to watch.

The fun video has a young mechanic passing out and then envisioning a life of luxury, elegance, and extravagance.

Psych-Rock

Lemon Lemon – Hammock

by Stephan Boissonneault

Feeling a bit like the hazy psych rock of Temples mixed with some jangle pop, Lemon Lemon, is an English-Italian band based out of the United Kingdom and Italy. Gritty guitars and echoey vocals chew the scenery putting you in a daze.

“Hammock” is the lead single off their latest album The Harvest. Below you can see the simple yet effective visualizer of an interstellar hammock being coloured into existence.

Electro / rap

Ooberfuse – “Hard Times ft Snoop Dogg”

by Stephan Boissonneault

Sleeping rough on the streets of London is a hazardous past-time and David Fussell, a homeless film director, has had glass bottles smashed in his face while seeking shelter. That is until Fussell was handed a pop-up tent by street workers concerned for his safety.

With London band Oooberfuse, an East meets West electronic group, Fussell has joined forces with rap royalty’s Snoop Dogg on “Hard Times” to challenge hidden prejudices around homelessness. These prejudices recently erupted in the UK when former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman promised to crack down on tents and said that rough sleeping in a tent is a “lifestyle choice.”

“I lived in a tent for four out of the 10 years that I lived on the streets. I started using a tent after someone threw a glass bottle that smashed in my face and I was lucky only to have a small cut on my forehead. A tent will keep you out of the wind and rain/snow and greatly increases your chances of survival on winter nights.”

pop psychédélique / Psychedelia / Synth-Pop

Lesbian Speed Dating – Slide Inside My Brain

by Stephan Boissonneault

A psychedelic alt-pop band from Montreal, Lesbian Speed Dating, has released a new video for their single “Slide Inside My Brain.” Inspired by the sounds of the 1980s, “Slide Inside My Brain” captures the bold and experimental spirit of The Dandy Warhols and Tame Impala while injecting new energy into this beloved musical genre.

With the enchanting vocals of French singer Lita Kira and the impactful guitar riffs of Stéphane Poncet, guitarist of the French rock band Rêves D’Ivresse, this song promises to be a must-listen for fans of alternative psychedelic music.

The video features a couple dancing and getting to know each other in a scratchy rotoscope style.

Dubtronica / Electronic / Psych-Rock / Psychedelia

Repsublica VON TAZTIKA – Pensee Sale

by Stephan Boissonneault

Originally from Champ d’Pagaille in France, a parallel urban area on the outskirts of Nancy, Respublica VON TAZTIKA operates openly to disseminate its “Poézit Zitoun”—a hybrid musical composition which combines rock, hip-hop, psych, electro, dub influences and a lot more. The lyrics are in French and the music is zany, kind of like a more poppy Frank Zappa or Mothers of Invention.

The single “Pensee Sale,” is equally as weird with rotating eyes, bursts of colour, and a cosmic entity that follows you through out the video.

Watch it below

Alternative / Horror Punk / Post-Punk / Synthwave

Alix Fernz – Muselière

by Louise Jaunet

Noticed at the M for Montreal festival last November, or alongside La Sécurité, Stoylov, and Hippie Hourrah as a touring musician, Alix Fernz is a strange new rebel, emerging straight from the gloomy underground of the Bermuda Triangle. Nominated at the GAMIQ for the best punk album of the year in 2020 with his previous project Blood Skin Atopic, this self-taught singer and multi-instrumentalist is releasing his first solo album Bizou on 19 April via the Montreal label Mothland.

Directed by Annabelle Fournier, the video “Muselière” depicts Alix Fernz in an ambiguous psychic state, oscillating between wakefulness and sleep. With his hair dyed like a super-villain and marked by a deformity that has driven him mad, Alix embodies the malaise of his alter ego on the run by adopting the role of a clumsy, sadistic criminal clown who ends up in the hands of the forces of the law. Like a reflection of his unconscious, this master criminal evokes Alix’s fear and desire for a youthful rebellion against his own alienation, in the context of a coming of age in a cybernetic era. Like a dog barking into the headphones of its muzzle in the face of a well-trained collective mass, psychosocial disorders are perhaps just waiting to burst through the screen. AllO aLLO AllO aLLo…

Alix Fernz will be performing at the Sala Rossa on March 6, opening for the group Omni (Sub Pop).

Alternative / Indie Folk / Psych-Folk

Alex Southey – God’s Green Earth

by Stephan Boissonneault

Building off his cerebral and soothing folk singer-songwriter stylings, Toronto’s, Alex Southey, has released his final single “God’s Green Earth” off his upcoming album, Entertainers Bring May Flowers.

The new track puts the listener into a strange trance, as they follow Southey’s voice, which at times sounds a bit stitched together with a tape echo delay, or multiple voice recordings. The backup vocals sometimes feel off-centre or out of time, but purposefully so, as if Southey is interrupting himself in a zen, yet manic state.

Thematically the track is about the world burning, but also feeling slightly apathetic to constant madness. The light acoustic guitar and mellotron add to the psychedelic flair, a bit shoegaze-y at times like something from Slowdive.

The chorus will be stuck in your mind hours after your first listen. Finally, the music video made by one Don River, features a vintage pop-up art collage style that slowly reacts to the words of the song, sometimes going completely off the rails, but pleasantly so.

Get lost in God’s Green Earth here:

Jazz Fusion / jazz-hop / math rock

Waxamillion – Steezy

by Stephan Boissonneault

For those craving the guitar pop riff madness of CHON or Polyphia, Austria’s Waxamillion is happy to oblige. On the single track “Steezy” we are taken on an incredibly rich, complex journey of math rock and lo-fi instrumental hip hop. These kinds of artists always aggravate me due to their skill. You just have to shake your head at how insane it is… There is some rigorous palm muting and tapping skill here and the full album Random Notes. The “Steezy” single is accompanied by a bonkers music video of cubic psychedelic images and rotating shapes, a perfect accompaniment to the hysteria.

Electronic

Igloofest : (re)discover The Blaze in 5 videos

by Elsa Fortant

For the final weekend of Igloofest 2024, we invite you to immerse yourself in the spellbinding world of French electronic duo The Blaze, made up of cousins Guillaume and Jonathan Alric.

Their music blends electronic sounds with world music influences, creating an immersive, emotional, almost mystical atmosphere. .

To discover the extent of their talent and prepare for Igloofest, here are five must-have tracks.

This Thursday, February 8 at Igloofest, 9:30pm, INFO HERE

crédit photo: Peter Ryaux-Larsen

Virile (2016)

Territory (2017)

Queens (2018)

Dreamer (2023)

Madly (2023)

Alternative Rock / Experimental Dream Pop / Post-Punk

Sunglaciers – Cursed

by Stephan Boissonneault

“Cursed” is a new single from Calgary’s alternative post-punks, Sunglaciers, announcing their full-length follow-up to 2022’s Subterranea album, Regular Nature (Out on March 29th via Mothland.)

Caught somewhere in between a dream and astral projection, this track might be Sunglaciers at their most melancholic, a song about longing for something lost and being plagued by only fleeting memories. The rhythmic bass and tumbling synth leave room for the hazy vocals and quiet deluge of fuzzy guitars. The music video, by Sunglaciers Evan Resnik, follows a woman (Denice Olivares) being pulled out of and plunged into the waking and sleeping world. Though the music is light and airy, there’s still something unnerving about the landscape shifting form—kind of something from Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Subterranea is a tough album to follow, but based on our initial impressions it’s the perfect passing of the sonic torch.

Alternative Rock / Experimental / Contemporary / Post-Punk

Hotel du Globe – Strange Vision

by Stephan Boissonneault

Hotel du Globe is an 80s alternative rock band from Belgium that called it quits in 1987, but after the pandemic, almost three decades later, decided to give it another go with a new lineup, especially the wonderous, warm and encapsulating voice of Louise Floss.

They now offer “Strange Vision” a song with a Pink Floyd-esque beginning that morphs into a more Joy Division post-punk ballad about the human race, slowly killing and fixing the Earth. Much of the video has black-and-white footage of the Pripyat disaster and nuclear meltdown as shots of the band playing are interspersed throughout. “Strange Vision” is the opening single of the band’s late 2023 EP INTROSPECTION

Electro / Electronic / Instrumental

CØLIBRI – Kuujjuaq

by Stephan Boissonneault

Kuujjuaq is an isolated Northern village in Quebec. Accessible only by plane, this isolated place has the largest open-air landfill in northern Quebec: 82,700m3 of polluting waste. An exception in Canadian law authorizes the burning of certain waste, with the resulting health and ecological consequences. France electro artist, CØLIBRI, has made a soundscape to accompany the mini-documentary about the Kuujjuaq landfill and it is breathtaking. Feeling a bit like a lo-fi hip-hop beat at times that morphs into a powerful and orchestral beat, “Kuujjuaq” is worth every second of listening. The video is also gorgeous, featuring bird’s eye view drone footage and topographic shots of the landscape. Watch below.