Swiss band Kodact prove that the art of making a catchy pop song has not been lost and their song “See” duly swirls around inside your head like it belongs there. As they might have said back in the day, this one is airplay fodder.
If you want to get low key grunge mixed into your shoegaze cocktail then you have to go to Finland these days with Lala Salama justifying the price of the flight with their adorably energetic song “Aurinko sulattaa mun pään.”
“Our Home” made think back to the days when folk merged itself into the world of pop songs to make melody seem positively natural and organic. Burr Island might well be fey but in an ear pleasing and rather convincing way.
Kate Clover knows how to give a song some power with “Like A Domino” using up as much 98 octane guitar fuel on its three minute journey as it would to get all the way to Kansas. All the best songs are three minutes long for a reason.
Endearingly direct, For I Am stick to the maximum volume and bad attitude route for their song “Devil Undercover.” The guitars are aggressive, the drums are seismic and kickass female vocals make this one for fast driving.
I like an intellectually motivated pop song as much as the next man and “History Books” is one such song with Kev Bev sinuously weaving a musical spell with the help of a horn section. It’s a cappuccino groove thing baby.
Wistful in a sort of robust kind of way is Alejandra O'Leary and “My Religion” rolls like a sensitive singer songwriter would but with the murky and very nearly trippy arrangement robotically spraying the song with deeper meaning.
This song is undoubtedly of the heart on the sleeve variety but, if anyone can carry off this kind of emotional intensity, then it would be Chiara Berardelli. One for mature tastes, certainly, yet “Little More” will surely make you want more.
As solidly retro rock as you are likely to get, Gary’s Rainbow Shop riff their guitars to the max and put “Red Moon” firmly on track for delivery into the ears of seventies rock fans who weren’t even born then. Play loud and add beer.
Clearly unafraid of burning the intensity candle at both ends, Charlie Risso mixes all the melancholy she can muster into “Alive” whilst adding enough tempo shifting quirkiness on the side to maintain the interest of your ears.
If your ears hanker after some smooth jazz then “Tangerine” by German band Oluma will put you on the path to coffee shop happiness. As you might expect of smooth jazz, the song is both eloquently and elegantly performed with chocolate on top.
With brooding synthesisers overlaid on this emotionally intense yet almost determinedly commercial song, “Erase It” will surely put Gabrielle Vaughn on a course to radio playlists throughout the better parts of this land.
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