A good Radar week should move around a bit, and this one definitely does.
We’ve got Latin-leaning R&B, scrappy punk, deep house, woozy indie pop and a few genuinely strange little gems in between.
Here’s what’s caught our ears.
A VANT GUARD ARTS – ‘NO HOME’
This is so damn good. Brisbane’s A VANT GUARD ARTS – BOHEMIAN and Yung Deity – push into properly experimental territory on ‘NO HOME’, where hip-hop, electronics and atmosphere blur into something closer to their own idea of “Audio Cinema”.
Lab Animals – ‘Camper Van’
Salt Lake City duo Lab Animals keep ‘Camper Van’ wiry, restless and fun. Dance-punk with enough grit in it to sound like it would go off particularly well in a small, sweaty room.
Hartman, John – ‘When it was Real’
There’s something instantly charming about ‘When it was Real’. Hartman, John keeps things beautifully human, with handmade recording textures and a Elliot Smith-ish melody that is all kinds of perfect.
The Outcharms – ‘The Weight’
Very nice indeed. Doncaster’s The Outcharms pair jangling guitars with a properly big chorus on ‘The Weight’, landing somewhere between classic UK indie and something made for a much bigger room.
New Casino – ‘harmonica’
‘harmonica’ has that lovely slightly-left-of-centre quality we’re always happy to stumble across on Radar. Easygoing , but enough there going on underneath the surface to keep pulling you back in.
Keiba – ‘NO REASON TO LIE’
Perth artist Keiba brings a full Latin mood to ‘NO REASON TO LIE’, folding vocal effects, R&B and hip-hop into a slick reggaeton pulse. His Afro-Peruvian roots run through it without the track ever feeling stuck in one place.
The Moving Principle – ‘Clinically Lame’
Wait for those drums to kick in. ‘Clinically Lame’ has a bit of B-52’s weirdness, a bit of Black Flag bite and plenty of Central Coast punk chaos holding the whole thing together.
Tono – ‘pretty eyes’
Taking things down a notch, Belgian artist Tono delivers one hell of a croon on ‘pretty eyes’. Warm, intimate and beautifully put together – this one got us pretty quickly.
Vietto – ‘Hell (part I and II)’
Lifted from Ascension, ‘Hell (part I and II)’ gives Atlanta rapper Vietto plenty of room to flex his flow and off-centre wordplay. Solid, confident stuff.
Matell – ‘Shadow Dancing’
Total mood. Matell takes ‘Shadow Dancing’ back to the dancefloor with a glossy house-pop treatment that makes a pretty convincing case for dancing like the old days.
Crash Through The Floor – ‘Cake!’
Texas outfit Crash Through The Floor bring some Avril Lavigne energy to ‘Cake!’, which, to be honest, is something most days could use a little more of. More alt-rock than straight pop-punk, but the hooks are absolutely there.
Bobby Soy – ‘Checkpoint’
Oof, this. Bobby Soy’s ‘Checkpoint’ is deep house built for disappearing into for a few minutes – hypnotic, clean and very easy to keep on repeat.
Oddcolours – ‘fractuals’
Greensboro instrumental project Oddcolours gets wonderfully strange on ‘fractuals’. Lead bass and atmospheric guitars drift across each other in a gem of an experimental and indie-pop crossover.
emospacebird. – ‘My Own Medicine’
‘My Own Medicine’ sits nicely between indie-funk and neo-soul, with Erin Dillard’s vocals and electric ukulele giving it plenty of personality. Groovy, a little odd and all the better for it.
Chuck New Indie Music: Happy’s Mixtape a follow. Updated every week with emerging indie, rock and alt artists picked by Happy Mag.
