This weeks mid-week round-up of all the latest singles out now.
1. Martin Gore releases new track ‘Mandrill’
MARTIN GORE, songwriter and founding member of Depeche Mode, releases an exhilarating new track ‘Mandrill’ on 17 November 2020 on Mute, taken from the forthcoming 5-track instrumental EP The Third Chimpanzee out 29 January 2021.
‘Mandrill’ is a ferocious slice of electro, and, like the four other tracks, has Martin Gore’s hugely atmospheric musical trademark stamped all over them. ‘Mandrill’ was produced and written by Martin and recorded this year at Electric Ladyboy in Santa Barbara, California.
The accompanying visual is a cosmic trip through the jungle.
2. Kulick releases new single ‘Just Be Friends’
Kulick released his first album “Yelling In A Quiet Neighborhood’ in October. He was on tour with Andy Black end of last year.
This is the new single: “Just Be Friends” which is featured on Spotify’s New Alt and New Noise playlists as well as Amazon’s Alt Scene playlist.
He’s used music as a respite from the bullying he received growing up due to being 50% deaf, and it’s brilliant how he’s overcome that disability.
3. Natalie Shay releases video to ‘Naked’
The new music video from London’s Natalie Shay. Entitled “Naked”, the video illustrates the breakdown in a relationship, knowing you have interest elsewhere but struggling to let go for the fear of being alone.
To date she has collectively amassed hundreds of thousands of streams, with her music being placed in Spotify’s New Music Friday playlist in ten countries. Shay has garnered acclaim from the likes of Billboard, American Songwriter, Hollywood Life, The Line of Best Fit, Clash, Earmilk and LADYGUNN to name a few.
4. Salem Ilese releases latest single ‘Coke and Mentos’
21-year-old pop singer and songwriter Salem Ilese drops her latest single “Coke & Mentos,” out now via 10K Projects/Homemade Projects/EMI Records. Zane Lowe premiered “Coke & Mentos” on his Apple Music 1 show. The new single follows up the breakout success of her August 2020 hit, “Mad At Disney.”
Gaining significant momentum on TikTok, “Mad At Disney” has sparked the creation of over 3M videos, has been streamed 236.5M times globally and has been featured on Spotify’s Today’s Top Hits playlist for over 10 weeks. “Coke & Mentos” shares some of the same addictive qualities as her breakout hit: memorable lyrics and melodic ear worms, as well as a unique take on love. Salem wisely discusses how often moments of intense exhilaration (in all aspects of life) are inevitably short lived.
5. MARTHAGUNN share new single + video ‘Nowhere To Run’
MarthaGunn have returned with their new single and video ‘Nowhere To Run’, out now via Communion. Stream here.
The Brighton group’s new single builds on the lush soundscapes of 2020’s debut EP ‘Caught Up & Confused’, illuminating their glimmering euphoric indie pop and beautifully introspective songwriting more so than ever before. The expansive sound is echoed by the stunning video that sees MarthaGunn meld into vivid experimental visuals, bursting with colour.
About the new track front woman Abi Woodman says “It’s beautiful and heartbreaking how lives can intertwine and fall apart. I think about lives as lines being drawn – sometimes you are parallel, and then you divert, maybe you crossover again, maybe you don’t.”
6. KIAN releases new single ‘Sunbeam’
KIAN has channeled his youthful sincerity into music that captures how it feels to be young, vulnerable and in touch with your emotions. New cut ‘Sunbeam’, out now via Polydor Records, is a euphoric song about finding someone that brightens up your life, all while making you want to dance.
‘Sunbeam’ is Kian’s follow up to his recent single ‘Every Hour’ and his 2019 debut EP BLISS which generated over 100 million streams globally. ‘Sunbeam’ follows largely in the footsteps of ‘Every Hour’ with its powerful vocals, dreamy melodies and vivid lyrics.
He uses songwriting to tackle everything from love and happiness to deconstructing masculinity in his songs. Bringing it all to life is a multi-dimensional sound that fuses alternative-pop with R&B elements and KIAN’s soulful vocals.
7. Civic Green release their new track ‘City Streets’
Civic Green return with their new single ‘City Streets’, which was released on the 13th of November following the incredible response for debut single ‘There Is Always A Light’.
Loud, melodic and anthemic 4-piece indie rock n roll band hailing from South Yorkshire. Civic Green are a band on the rise after revealing their debut single ‘There Is Always a Light’ which attracted worldwide radio airplay.
The band are setting a precedent for big anthemic singalong tunes with explosive choruses that will surely be at one with big festival crowds.
8. Vera Blue strips it back for ‘Lie To Me’
Vera Blue releases today the video to her acoustic version of her current single ‘Lie To Me’. Filmed at The Grounds in Alexandria in Sydney Australia, the video performance shines a spotlight on Vera Blue’s seemingly endless vocal range and follows her surprise release last month of a stripped back version of the original single.
The new video comes off the back of Vera Blue’s intimate Sydney show for Great Southern Nights where the electro pop-powerhouse transported her fans to a whole new world performing her songs for the first time with a string section.
9. Florence Arman releases ‘Home’
For Florence Arman home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling she carries and holds close wherever she ends up. On her third single titled “Home” she delivers a cathartic message to herself and it’s one that continues to heal wounds, old and new.
“Home”, Florence’s third single, was written in a reflective moment on her bedroom floor when the singer/songwriter found herself in another new home in another new city. Uprooted again. It was an all too familiar feeling for the artist who spent her childhood split between the UK and Germany, before a stint as an au pair in Amsterdam before settling (at least for now) in Vienna.
10. Julia Bardo shares new single and video ‘It’s Okay (To Not Be Okay)’
Manchester-via-Italy singer, songwriter and guitarist Julia Bardo has shared new single and video It’s Okay (To Not Be Okay), which follows her recently released covers EP The Raw via Wichita Recordings.
Strangely fitting to current events, It’s Okay (To Not Be Okay) is a contemplative song about survival, self-acceptance and positivity; it’s a song for everyone. The video, directed by Hannah Cobb, is raw and introspective with 90’s retro-tinged visuals starring Julia herself. She says;
“‘It’s Okay (To Not Be Okay)’ is about a journey of the self. It can be hard to accept a certain situation we’re living through, to accept ourselves and to appreciate who we are. Sometimes we feel stuck in the same circle of negative thoughts. It’s okay to not be perfect. It’s okay to not feel good. It’s okay to be ‘different. It’s okay to be who we are.”
