Fresh To Death: Best New Music This Friday
Fresh To Death is a series where I write about some of my favourite new music!
Featuring Swordes, Stereo Guy, Goodnight Louisa, Peach PRC, Friendly Fires, Dutch Holly, Olivia Prado, IYAMAH, Olvoxe and UNTER STRØM.
This edition features: a song that sounds like it was written and recorded in a sitting room in Maine on an Autumn afternoon; a song that sounds like glittering electronic pop from candyland, a song that has the euphoric and hopeful quality of mid 2010s indie electronic music, a song that feels like stepping into a magical garden from a Julio Torres project, a song that sounds like something made in a haunted attic in the 1980s, a song that is an ode to being an artist that has the smoothness of an Erykah Badu song, an electronic song that can only be described as being a dark sonic crystal, a song that would not be out of place in the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ soundtrack, a song called Jennifer Aniston and more!
If you have an upcoming release, email me at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com.
Follow the playlist
Fresh To Death: Best New Music This Friday
Goodnight Louisa - Jennifer Aniston
I am drawn to any song where the title is someone’s name, as it instantly communicates something about its inner world.
‘Jennifer Aniston’ is taken from Glasgow-based pop artist’s album ‘Marathon’, which features other stars in the tracklist, such as ‘Drew Barrymore’ and ‘Grace Jones’.
This song unfolds upon your ears like something forbidden. As if within the bewitchingly dark soundscape there is something you shouldn’t know, a quality that makes it thoroughly enchanting.
“I’ve never been to Vegas, but I’ve
Lost all my money
To some stupid motherfucker
And I fell for
The oldest trick in the book”
Continuing with
“Make me feel fantastic that I don’t know how to manage it
I don’t care if it’s plastic
Soon I’ll look like
Jennifer Aniston
And I will never grow old again”
“Soon I’ll look like/Jennifer Aniston/And I will never grow old again” hit me like a wall as it reminded me of the time when I was just about to buy that Vital Proteins collagen powder that is apparently “Jen’s secret” but then realized that my face would still look the same and my hair would also look no different so I closed the tab and continued with my shift at reception.
There is a seductive darkness to this song that I love, and so will you.
Connect with Goodnight Louisa
Instagram | Facebook
Olvoxe - Routine
This sounds like it was written and recorded in a sitting room in Maine on an Autumn afternoon using an old mic and drum machine - the two cats pictured above slumbering in the corner.
This is taken from the upcoming album ‘Endurance’from Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based artist Olvoxe. It is a blend of dreamy bedroom with a touch of the alt-90s. This is a deeply charming listen.
Connect with Olvoxe
Instagram
Peach PRC - Distant Lands
I was home recently to mind my parents' new corgi puppy Otto while they were away. I couldn’t fall asleep, so I put on a video called ‘keeping you company while you fall asleep.’ There was something about the video that not only comforted me as I drifted away, but also, for some reason, reminded me that life is a rich treasure trove to be experienced and thoroughly enjoyed. The next day I discovered that Peach PRC makes music, ‘Distant Lands’ being her newest song. It sounds like glittering electronic pop from candyland where the skies are pink and the trees are made from candyfloss. This is a blast of sugar-coated electronic pop perfection.
Connect with Peach PRC
Website | Instagram | Facebook
Friendly Fires - Lose All Your Friends
There was something euphoric and hopeful about mid 2010s indie electronic music; something I don’t really experience to the same degree anymore. Perhaps this feeling arose because that era was the dawn of all of us being exposed to whole ranges of music from genres and people we have otherwise never heard of, and, as a result, it all felt very fresh and exciting.
‘Lose All Your Friends’ instantly made me feel like I did during that time period. It lifted my spirits immediately. Perhaps this is because the song is doing its own thing and not trying to mimic anything, and because of that it pulses with creativity, life and pure unbridled joy.
Connect with Friendly Fires
Instagram | X
Stereo Guy - Inochi no Ki (命の木)
I came across this dreamscape on Bandcamp. ‘Inochi no Ki (命の木)’ is taken from the album ‘Sonido Garden’ by Mexico-based artist Stereo Guy.
The opening of this sounds like stepping into a magical garden from a Julio Torres project, the artefacts and scattered objects tinkling and shimmering off each other in this land of imagination. It descends into the dreamiest, most slinky smooth beat I have heard in a long time, the soundscape glittering around the vocals, drawing you into its crystalline world. Utterly divine.
Connect with Stereo Guy
Instagram | X
Olivia Prado - Dirty In The Sand
Photo Credit: Jordan Naheesi
This has some GFunk touches (a genre we need more of!!!) and would not be out of place in the ‘Grand Theft Auto’ soundtrack. Taken from the EP of the same name, on which the artist shares: “‘Dirty In The Sand’ isn't just a cheeky innuendo—it's about getting messy with life. Attraction, connection, doubt, heartbreak. Letting yourself fully experience it all. The project starts off flirty, playful, and adventurous before becoming self-conscious, introspective, worried, yearning, and heart-wrenching. By the end, it's left asking one simple question: 'Am I enough?'”
This sounds like driving into the violet and pink skies of Vice City with the car top down, embarking on an evening of debauchery and pleasure. It is also as addictive as a song from an early 2000s Ciara CD.
Connect with Olivia Prado
Instagram | Facebook
Dutch Holly - Funny Girl (11th Anniversary Edition)
Photo Credit: Jordan Naheesi
This sounds like something made in a haunted attic in the 1980s, and I love it.
I love how strange and beautiful the opening of this is; a wave of electronic textures with ghostly vocals floating over it. If rag doll alternative pop was a genre, then this would be it. This is mesmerizing in a way I can’t fully describe.
Connect with Dutch Holly
Website | Instagram | Facebook
IYAMAH - nomad
This has the smoothness of an Erykah Badu song (it actually made me feel like I did when I listened to Honey and a few of her other songs for the first time).
“You’re a 9 to 5, I’m creative
You tread the straight path, I’m wadin
You’re comfortable, me - audacious
Courageous, no patience”
These are the opening lyrics of the song; the last two lines really hitting me. I think when you are doing something creative, there is the idea that it will all happen quickly, and from there it will be just be momentum constantly building, but, in actuality, it takes a huge amount of patience, because it takes a long time for anything to happen, and in that waiting I find that you can start to think that you are better doing something less unchartered.
If you, like me, have been feeling like this, then ‘nomad’ will keep you company when you start to doubt yourself. I love vocals and the old Hollywood-style strings soaring in the chorus. This is a blast of sunshine through and through, and an ode to the paths still to be forged.
Connect with IYAMAH
Website | Instagram | Facebook | X
UNTER STRØM - Stumbling
This is the final single from the electronic duo's debut EP ‘Between Forms’.
The soundscape of ‘ Stumbling’ (out via Breathing Records) is one of vastness, one of darkness. Heavenly vocals soar over this backdrop, the results being something hypnotic and slightly eerie.
Overall, it feels like it could be from a club scene in a movie where it is almost always nighttime (perhaps The Matrix, or that club scene from The Batman). There is something about it that also feels like cumulonimbus clouds building in the distance over the forests before the storm hits.
Connect with UNTER STRØM
Instagram
Swordes - Eat Ur Heart Out
I came across this dark sonic crystal on YouTube. ‘Eat Ur Heart Out’ is hypnotic, sounding as if it is playing in the club in a dream-like dimension somewhere. The vocals are ethereal and witchy, the production top-tier. This is a song to lose yourself to.
Connect with Swordes
Bandcamp | Instagram
Follow the playlist
About Eimear O Sullivan
Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)
Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com
In this blog section we host new music releases, artist features and handpicked playlists by the Musicngear staff.
Interested in a music feature, writing a story as a guest or joining the Musicngear team as a Contributing Author? Contact us at info+blog@musicngear.com
