London duo Alpines releases the emotional slow-tempo tune Alright that comes off their upcoming album. According to the duo it was inspired by the Netflix series The OA. “It is written for our generation. “We all need a reminder and reassurance that it is going to be ok. No one can do this alone. We now live in a world where we have constant awareness and it’s very hard to get relief away from social media and societal pressures.” Comprised of Catherine Pockson and Bob Matthews, they released an album in 2014 and has since built a bit of a cult following in the alternative scene with their soulful R&B tracks. Moreover, the’ve performed alongside with Florence and the Machine and the Maccabees. Additionally, they’ll perform at the Rich Mix in London on November celebrating the album release. Give it a stream.

In 2013, we talked about pop artist Bryce Vine who released an EP and performed shows with Karmin. He went on to perform a iHeartRadio live showcase with Z100 and appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers. Of course this all happened because of his hit song Drew Barrymore which clocked over 80 million streams. At the end of the day, you never can predict a hit. Vine reveals that he never imagined the massive success, “No. I just never wrote songs expecting that. … No, you just try to write good songs and then hope people hear it and then when something explodes, it’s like then you play catch-up.”

Consequently, hits can take minutes to write or months. In Vine’s case, the song was written over many months. Honing on his musical schools, Vine attended Berklee College Of Music which led to a Glee Audition. Sending in an audition tape via Myspace, he made it to the top 12 before being eliminated. After the Glee spectacle is when he released an EP (which we featured), but circumstances changed a bit. “I went through heartbreak and cynicism and stress trying to be like a broke musician in LA like everyone else,” he says. “I hated telling people that I was an artist when I had nothing to show for it. It felt dumb to say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m an artist and I make music, and we should collab.’ I just kept working towards it but it was hard…when you get cynical it’s hard to get out of that.”

Indeed, a hit song can change everything. Zero to hero in a day. With that, he has a new album coming out on Sire Records and will embark on an October tour with MAX.

Artist/producer duo Dom Ford release the track ‘Whatever I Want‘ featuring Lexi Shanley. Nothing much to say here other than the track gets to the chorus quickly and is reminiscence of the 80’s dance hits.  Additionally, the track garnered nearly 100k SoundCloud streams and had over 600 reposts that included The Chainsmokers. I mean, if The Chainsmokers like it, it must be good. Moreover, the Denver based duo consists of Matt Masters and Ryan Griego who first made waves when they won a Spinnin’ Records contest with their track Bare Knuckles.

Mavi Phoenix, an Austrian singer-songwriter is climbing up the ranks with her lo-fi pop tracks. Moreover, she is the do-it-all artist. She sings, raps and produces her own songs. The 22 year old quickly became a beloved tastemaker artist with the release of her debut EP ‘Young Prophet‘ receiving praise from i-D, Nylon, The Line of Best Fit, and The Fader. Even with the support from tastemakers, festival performances, 4.5 million streams on Spotify, Mavi is still fighting to be heard. With an uptick of popularity, she has seen a fair share of criticism. Mavi notes, “Maybe such “big” opinions and jealousy are just part of our digital culture nowadays, and of course part of this business. I won’t stop or change, nobody should. While these “snakes bite me daily” I’m concentrating on creating what I think is good music and empower my fans with the positive energy I feel on this track”. Check out the video for her new single Ibiza which is unapologetically covered in auto-tune.

It’s hard to imagine that Centricity, a small Christian music label based in Nashville has the next Adele, but they do. Her name is Lauren Daigle, and she is hugely popular in the christian circle but virtually unknown in the mainstream.

The Lafayette, Louisiana native, is like an old school vintage painting. Inspired by powerhouses like Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, and Amy Winehouse, the 25 year old admits her love for jazz. Daigle notes, “In South Louisiana, every single thing we do is jazz or zydeco. We grew up going to Randol’s and dancing every Sunday night, going to Frenchman Street in New Orleans, but it really started to come out when I realized I didn’t have it anymore. When I moved to Nashville, it was kind of a devastating blow. I was thinking, “Okay, this is Music City, this is gonna change my life,” and I got up there and the first thing I did was asked all the music people I was surrounded by, “Ok, where’s the jazz?!” They were like, “what are you thinking…” That was when it hit me, like, I just left the greatest place in the world for jazz. I think because of that longing, it grew so much more. So for Christmas, we put out a jazz Christmas record. It definitely has a New Orleans kind of sound.” CONTINUE READING