Avalon Kane - Hole Song

ambient 

Stretching her notes out like the vast expanse of the outback, Avalon Kane proceeds to mystify her audience with gentle and heavenly music on "Hole Song", a recent single from the Kaurna Country, Adelaide-based artist. Sounding like a possessed Enya, Kane reaches the more subdued crevices of the psyches netherworld on this comforting piece; this is not unintentional. According to the artist, "Hole Song is a song about finding comfort in our darkness. The darkness wraps us when we cannot find the strength to step out into the light." This investigative approach yields a sanative balm. By hinting at the bitter-sweet beauty of melancholia, a for-better-or-worse depth of feeling, Kane prods her audience the revelatory fact that the mysterious essence of being makes being bearable. The track's five-plus-minutes are a welcome audio accompaniment to the day, to those currently in a hole or otherwise, never twisting towards more ominous or upsetting frequencies, resting on the ethereal.

Taxidermy - Today 

post-punk

Danish art-rockers Taxidermy have recently shared the second single from their upcoming EP, Coin, with "Today", a blistering single full of hyper-focused energy and experimental flair. Deadpan vocals lamenting on the bleakness of life in late-stage capitalism, kick-in-face-riffs that ascend towards mountainous heights, and jerky shifts in rhythm all culminate in a veritable stimulant sure to perk up even the most sleep-deprived of ye netizens. If it gets too dark or intense for yer ears, I implore ye to hold out for the sick outro. 

Vini De Groove - Boi da Resiliência

instrumental

Troubadour musicologist Vini De Groove has spent the last ten years traversing the Brazilian landscape, picking up musical languages along the way. Originally from an undisclosed location in North America, the musician appears to have fully immersed himself in the culture of Brazil, as evidenced by his recent single, "Boi da Resiliência". It may be acoustically centric, but there's a certain spirit of rock music in the rhythmically fun arrangement and propensity towards a somewhat sinister air (perhaps due to De Groove's history in rock and jazz bands). The rhythms used on "Boi da Resiliência" are Bumba-Meu-Boi, which originated in the northern state of Maranhão, and the popular rhythm of Chorinho. The result is a polyrhythmic cornucopia of thoughtful instrumentation and joie de vivre playing styles that compel the spirit to dance along with it.

La Vie Sauvage - Ecstasy

electronic 

Netherlands producer La Vie Sauvage unapologetically employs techno-brutalism in his track "Ecstasy", and all the better for it. The garish instrumentation may be distorted, reeking of early 00s VSTs and 90s club drum breaks, but there's an airy quality to the balance of this nostalgic cut. Wordless vocal samples aside, everything is spread out to where it belongs, and the pieces come together in a tightly-knit tapestry of electronic music that cuts straight to the point. There's hardly a dull moment here, with La Vie Sauvage keeping the ear amused by yo-yo-ing sonics for just over two and a half minutes.   

Josephine - Stop Chasing Flower Girls!

hyperpop

There's an instant kick to "Stop Chasing Flower Girls!", the dark and rousing new single from Californian-based artist Josephine. When No Transmission reviewed her single "Sounds Wrong" last year, we noted its gentle yet innocuous tone. Since then, Josephine seems to have become edgier, roughening out her smoothness, though this slick cut is anything but rough around the edges. Billed as a "self-discovery anthem", this song doesn't require much context to be fully enjoyed, and it gets by on its charming desire to hook the listener. The single also comes with a many-splendored video directed by Nick Deliberto, which shows Josephine and someone dressed as a daffodil psychedelically marching around bucolic scenes. It's a fitting video for a song so luminescent in its energy and intention.