Top Tunes To Blog About 17
It is amazing how Sweden has established and maintained itself as the provincial home of respectable pop music. There is no end to the barrage of talent that filters through the snow capped pine forests and cosmopolitan Nordic urbanities, across cyber-planes and video screens into our homes. The likes of Lykke Li, Niki And The Dove et al, continually churn out daring and forward-thinking music and this nature of producing hasn't been lost when it comes to the Swedish duo of Stefan Storm and Oskar Gullstrand. The Sound Of Arrows guys are back with yet another impeccably pristine and well overdue slice of electro-pop goodness.
Stefan and Oskar have been honing the debut album "Voyage" for the best part of a year and all the minuscule factors and fine details of their work have been meticulously sifted through to create the album. They have produced what can only be described as a resolutely and utterly stunning collection of audio delights. This pair know how to make music, the passion and expertise is in their blood and the latest offering "Wonders" shows all the hallmarks of their unique musical ethic and distinctive sound.
There is no denying that "Wonders" sounds like a quintessentially typical track from the Swedish maestros, leading on neatly from their previous smash "Nova". There is an unmistakable smoothness to those giddy electro updrafts and overwhelmingly sensual and emotively laden introductions. The opening sequence tactfully deploys its charm, gently caressing the ear canal and generating a sense of relaxed blissfulness. "Wonders" layered and polished metallic synthesising over tentative keyboard strokes delivers a picturesque array of glistening electro summits and galactic bass-line fluxes. The sheer scale of the introduction is truly epic. The enchanting feel of the vast electro plateaus gives the music an almost anthropomorphic quality; the music itself seems to feel independent emotions generated each time by the previous note and effecting the next note thereafter; utterly inspiring. The majestic keying and mellow beats create a vivid and thoughtful astrological sense of depth and dimensional openness that strengthens the song. Storm's Pet Shop Boys-esque vocals bring a much desired human presence that draws together the diverse elements of the song with dynamic verve. The eighties-style vocoding undulates through the instrumentals with accomplished diligence. The emotive tone and lyrics provide an ethereal quality that is captivating in nature and spurs the song into a momentous waterfall of silky electro sweeps, soaring keys and impending beats. "Wonders" bounds forward with trepidation; stimulating a visceral sense of haecceity; a pure moment of beautiful nowness from beginning to end. These Swedish natives create perfected dreamscape electro-pop with absolute ease and "Wonders" should easily appeal on all levels and send these two rocketing up the charts in no time at all.
Check out the spectacular music video below and show these guys some love by checking out their Facebook/Youtube/Myspace accounts.
QUEEN OF HEARTS - "BLACK STAR"
Queen Of Hearts is the moniker chosen by this mysterious and relatively unknown British female solo artist. Her real name remains an enigma, wishing to go by the exclusive title as "Queen Of Hearts". This decision in itself is already alluring and captivating but can someone who chooses to distance themselves from connecting with a prospective listenership by dismissing first name terms and holding the "air of mystery" card true to form really be worth a listen. The answer has unquestionably got to be a yes where this lady is concerned.
Hailing from London, Queen Of Hearts is a fresh faced and forward-thinking young lady who has slowly been making headway on the blogosphere for sometime now. She has a marketable concept in herself as an artist; her musical direction, fashion and attitude. They all piece together to form a truly entrancing and dynamic musician with entrepreneurial flair and a professional mindset. Working on her EP "The Arrival", she has collaborated with the supremely charismatic The Sound Of Arrows, the electro behemoth that is Monarchy and Beactrice Hatherley who has worked with the delightful Kylie Minogue. Queen Of Hearts has cleverly done her homework and scoured the breadth of musical talent within the industry to help achieve and produce her unique and fascinating sound. Envisage this British starlet as if she was like a torn up photograph, once you arrange together all the random pieces, you get that significant final image, the final perfected product; Queen Of Hearts.
"Black Star" is a dramatic and musically diverse thoroughfare; colliding variant sounds and genres together into a powerful package. Queen Of Hearts fuses darker electro zorbs with punchy alternative vocals, loaded lyrical tenacity and bass-heavy techno blasts that ultimately creates a refreshing sound. She undoubtedly draw scomparisons to Goldfrapp, Little Boots, Bjork, The Golden Filter and a much darker Kylie Minogue-Claire Maguire hybrid. Starting off as a whomping eclectic array of thumps, thunderous bass-lines and seismically frenetic electro synth tremors, "Black Star" bounds forth with vigor and brash dominance. Entangled together, the various instrumental elements shift skittishly around to produce a foreboding almost unnatural sense of distortion and surrealism. The introduction of Queen Of Hearts' vocals truly cements the song and finalises it's behaviour as a rambunctious genre-blending carousel ride. The drastically vocoded voice of this elegant black swan is seductive, evoking a a kind of sexual tempestuousness that echoes through the almost laboured vocals and fevered lyrics. This nature of intertwining murky vocals with abyssal-esque electro troughs and mystical bleeps adds a dark twist to "Black Star", providing it with a salubrious injection of energy and passion. As the chorus sweeps forwards it brings together all the unique elements of a Queen Of Hearts song and funnels it through with precision and applied finesse. This perfectly allows the sublime electronica and booming techno stabs to work together solidly over the dexterous vocal maps this charming British songstress so easily manifests. As "Black Star" powers on it maintains a constant speed and weight; keeping the listener fulfilled and entranced by the overall package; complex, mythical and dark. This single showcases the musical prowess of Queen Of Hearts, but can she win over the hearts of the many possible listeners out there? Only time will tell.
Check out Queen Of Hearts' Facebook/Youtube/Myspace pages and show this lovely girl some online love.
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