One of our favourite Singaporean artists – check out our previous articles – released a magnificent album “Check-Hook” in 2018 and it’s actually hard to pick just one track off it. Some would choose “Welcome Home“, others the newest video “Circles“, we are addicted most of all to “Zero-Sum”.
We wrote about this indie rock group two years ago, when they released their “Untitled” first album. They planned to also make it their last one but… somehow it didn’t work, and good for us. Titled “Blue“, it brings 10 more tracks placed on the crossing of psychedelia, dream-pop and lo-fi, actually somewhere between blue and green.
A spectacular experiment – and a result of 8-month explorations in Malaysia – Fauxe’s new albm “Ikhlas” (“Sincerity”) is nothing you might have heard not just in the last year. Samples of Tamil and Malay songs, chants and dances have been combined with hip-hop beats and effects. But no words can describe the atmosphere this mixture has produced, try this track and then listen to the whole thing.
FAUXE on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud.
The very first album released in 2019? That might be Forest’s second effort, cheerfully titled “Spending Eternity in a Japanese Convenience Store”. But before it came out, we’d already heard the opening track “Kawaii Hawaii”. Just like on their previous album, this math/emo/whatever-rock trio continues to transcend genres and is clearly having loads of fun doing that. Don’t stop.
For his debut album “Commune”, the “ambient boy from Singapore” (now London-based) Kin Leonn prepared a divice that can bend time, and this device is called piano. With this device, days “are seconds, they are years, they are forevermore”. This LP should be listened as a whole, but in this double-track live video you’ll not only hear but also see how the time-bending machine works.
Kin Leonn on Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud.
In 2018, singer-songwriter LEW gave us a new 6-track EP called “There’s Something in My Eye” (listen here). It was no less emotional and naive than his previous works, which you might already know from our previous list. And we know for some of you that’s the strongest encouragement we can offer. If you like short stories long, this one’s for you.
Even with the multitude of good pop songs 2018 offered us, this one seems just too perfect to be true. It’s immediate but not obvious, beautiful but not candy-sweet, modern and classic at the same time. Three years after the unforgettable single “Sticky Leaves”, Linying goes “farther and farther” without losing what distinguishes her from the multitude.
Linying on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud.
Although it’s been producer by the Tokyo-based soundmaker LLLL, we mention this song because its allure comes as much from the ethereal vocals of Yeule. We mentioned her own EP “Coma” last year, where she also mixed electronic music with her whispery vocals. But thanks to LLLL, she seems at the same delicate and powerful.
LLLL on Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter. Yeule on Facebook, Instagram, Soundcloud.
Since their first singles, Riot !n Magenta have always sounded professional and powerful, as its members come from a number of acclaimed groups. But it was balanced by Eugenia Yip’s alluring and airy vocals. That’s also true about R!M’s long-awaited debut album. Start with these “Five” minutes, and then be sure to check out the entire thing.
Sobs is a Singapore’s trio indie pop band. In 2017, they debuted with EP “Catflap”, with fantastic vocals of Celine Autumn, excellent melodies and arrangements. In June 2018, they finally released their debut full-length called “Telltale Signs“. The eponymous single from this album is a splendid track, full of good vibes and especially recommended for any road trip.
Working with the Japanese-Singaporean publishing house Kitchen. Label., the award-winning pianist sonicbrat (Darren Ng) explores the quiet territories of modern classical. In March, he released a two-track EP “Circle / Stasis” for the Piano Day 2018. He calls it “a quiet contemplation about stillness, while the mind and the world around remain in constant motion.
sonicbrat on Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, www.
Veterans of the Singapore experimental rock music, The Observatory recently released a split LP with the legendary Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (“1 continent, 2 bands, 42 musicians!”). A few months earlier, we heard their collaboration with Norwegian outfit MoE. Called “Shadows“, it “explores a hauntology of sounds, a melange of evocative synths, disembodying voices, percussion, and a ton of guitars from the most rancorous to the more profound.”
The Observatory on Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Facebook, Twitter.