Back in 2013, Rhye released one of the best albums of the year with their debut “Woman”, a delightful chunk of alternative pop that merged its R&B feel with baroque pop levels of sophistication. The future seemed bright for Rhye – their music followed contemporary trends, but it did so with a pinch of savoir-faire which you rarely encounter in albums of this kind, and Michael Milosh’s instantly distinguishable vocals made it sure that you would never mistake Rhye for any other artist. The album was a critical and popular success, but Rhye’s career suddenly came to a halt after they ended touring “Woman”. We soon found out that Grammy-nominated producer and instrumentalist Robin Hannibal had left the project to pursue his own interests, which means that Rhye is now exclusively a Michael Milosh solo affair. Milosh is not exactly on his own, though – Rhye’s new cast includes a range of different musicians with a pretty strong CV–, but it has still taken him years to record and produce “Blood”, the long-awaited follow-up to “Woman”.

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It’s not hard to see why. “Blood” is an intricate album, featuring classy string arrangements and a slick production style that brings it even closer to baroque pop than its predecessor. For a record that’s mostly comprised of straightforward-ish pop songs, “Blood” is complex and multi-layered, an album that resists being deciphered in a single, superficial run-through. It’s not truly embedded in any particular tradition, though it does take a page or two from pop acts that favour adoring their melodies with elaborate, over-layering arrangements. Michael Milosh has gone to state on several occasions that he holds a soft spot for Radiohead, and you can definitely see the influence that Thom Yorke’s band exerts on Rhye creeping up in some of these tracks. With its subdued drumming, dreamy guitar arpeggios and orchestral arrangements that nonetheless never steal the spotlight from the melodies, “Song For You” could pass off as a mid-career Radiohead song, while “Sinful”, which opens with a persistent acoustic guitar riff that mimics Yorke’s playing style, ends up becoming a colossal art pop song that benefits from its pervasive string arrangements.

Rhye‘s “Blood” is a charming, intricate and intriguing sophomore album

At a more general level, “Blood” touches on the same things that made Rhye’s debut album stand out. Still led by Milosh’s soft, androgynous vocals, the album is sensual and erotic but not lewd, poppy and relatively straightforward but not shallow. Rhye is ultimately something akin to confessional pop music, all about lyrical and musical restraint. It doesn’t matter whether Milosh is trying to express sexual longing (see “Taste” and its multiple sexual innuendos), uncertainty about the future (as anticipated in the opening track “Waste” and its sorrowful, revealing hook) or pure, unmediated love that directly addresses the singer’s lover (“Song For You”) – his feelings always come to the surface in the form of quiet, delicate melodies that are meant to leave you soothed, not shook. By applying that R&B sensibility of which he’s so fond to his slick art-pop songs, Milosh approaches what some might see as worn-out tropes from an unusual perspective, granting them a genuine freshness that turns Rhye into one of the most compelling and interesting pop acts of the decade. Granted, their shtick can come across as excessively sentimental and doe-eyed at times, particularly lyrics-wise, but the gentle, intricate instrumentation makes up for it.

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If there’s something lacking in Rhye’s latest album, it’s Milosh’s ability to write instantly memorable melodies. Not that “Blood” really needs them – this is an album that slowly unfolds itself, drawing the listener to its warm, intimate atmosphere as the songs progressively turn from low, minimalistic ramblings to expansive art pop monuments. “Blood” rewards close, repeated listens, but it’s missing that initial appeal that was definitely present in “Woman”; it awkwardly stands in that shaky middle ground between wanting to be an easy-listening pop album with a bit more depth and going full artsy. Even if it’s not without its flaws, “Blood” is a charming and intriguing album, a worthy follow-up to one of the most interesting alt-pop records of the early 2010s.

In the surrealist and beautiful video of “Daydreaming”, Thom Yorke walks in a series of location and the best part is, of course, the end of the song. It’s amazing and heart touching. Reflects fabulously the tempo of life. Slowed vocals in the cave at the end is the crux of life.

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Sam Sodomsky, from Pitchfork, wrote about the song:

[su_quote]There’s a simple, sad piano motif. Some spooky backmasked vocals; and of course, Thom Yorke’s devastated wheeze floating above it all like an omniscient narrator. The fittingly dramatic orchestral and electronic flourishes that dip and bob throughout its second half create a similarly disorienting effect to staccato strings in “Burn The Witch” but whereas that single was all nervous energy, this one feels more like the calm before the storm.[/su_quote]

If you can’t wait tomorrow for the LP, get “Daydreaming” on iTunes now.

[su_dropcap style=”simple”]A[/su_dropcap]fter more than 3 decades of activity, Radiohead is still able to positively surprise us. Besides their music, whose legacy can’t even be questioned, the band set up itself as a pioneer in music marketing, by proposing original ways of releasing and sharing its music, and by criticizing some new actors of the industry, such as Spotify. “Burn The Witch”, their freshly-released new single which is taken from their upcoming ninth album, doesn’t call into question: the band’s musical and marketing creativity is still on top!

Since January, the band has been teasing the release of a new album, by registering the company “Dawn Chorus LLP”. Some weeks ago, the band mailed (not e-mailed) embossed cards to their fans. The content was mysterious and creepy: “Burn the witch, we know where you live”.

The teasing campaign was launched. Yet, on Sunday, the band literally started to fade out from the internet, to finally completely disappear from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Even their website was suddenly empty. For sure, something was going to happen. Yesterday, 3 strange animated videos, notably featuring singing birds reminding the famous English nursery rhyme “Sing a Song of Sixpence”, were successively added to their Instagram account.

Some hours after, the band was dropping by surprise a new stop-motion video for a single obviously named “Burn The Witch”. The Chris Hopewell-directed work is a homage to the British children’s television programs “Trumptonshire” and to 1973’s horror film “The Wicker Man”. The band already worked with Hopewell in 2003 for the video of “There There“.

Although Thom Yorke publicly lynched Spotify in 2013, calling them “the last desperate fart of a dying corpse”, the track was added straight away on the streaming service. It was also available via Apple Music, Tidal and, contrary to what was previously announced, available for purchase on iTunes the same day.

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It was confessed via Jacknife and Chris Hopewell‘s Instagram account that the video was made in 2 weeks only and was finished only some days before the release!

Radiohead‘s team definitely understands music marketing strategy. In 2007, three years after having left their label EMI, the band already registered “urbia Xendless Ltd” as a company to digitally release their seventh album “In Rainbows” with a “name your price” download. The album was available online for 10 weeks before the traditional physical release. Despite the fact that you could download it for free, their publicist announced the figures of three million purchases via the band’s webstore and almost 2 million physical copies. By outselling the sales figures of their last two LP, it was the proof that a new way of sharing music, without any majors, was possible, more respectful, and lucrative for the artists.

It is a haunting and dark song whose sound differs from their previous LP “The King of the Limbs”. It actually reconnects with what they were doing before and, in any case, it is mesmerizing and beautiful. There is not a lot of electronic arrangement on the instrumental which, by the way, was said by some people to be inspired by Coldplay‘s music (LOL).

The lyrics are dark and sounds like an invitation to withdrawal in this modern area where everything tends to be shared and public despite the fact that everyone is monitored (Big Brother is watching you). Social media, which are probably criticized here, were yet smartly used by the band to create this new buzz.

Some mystery still remains around the yet-untitled ninth album but the release of this single, which is at the same time a musical and marketing success, totally lets us confident. Their social media resurrection might come back with some announcements.

“Burn The Witch” is Radiohead‘s first official single in 5 years. However, they shared their unofficial James Bond‘s theme song “Spectre” for Christmas; a song that was so much better than Sam Smith‘s boring “Writing On the wall”.

All the members of the band came through the UCLA Music System and most of them live in the same apartment complex. But it doesn’t mean they all have the same musical background or tastes. That is probably why their style is so difficult to label.

As one of them wrote us:
[su_quote]We’ve all been independently writing music for many years but as a group we have only been writing together for about 8 months. Our instrumentation and each member’s different perspective on music will make it very difficult for our style to NOT evolve. Carousel is actually one of our earlier written pieces but it gives you a good sense of what the band is all about.[/su_quote]

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“Carousel” is a metaphor of life and is about the merry-go-rounds that everyone will know during his existence. The Nynne Mors-directed video particularly captures this existential whirlpool while the song smartly alternates between sweetness and intensity.

The band is going to tour in the LA area through the coming months and normally, they should release their debut album in July. As states Nick Valentini, singer and keyboardist in the band:

[su_quote]“The upcoming album is inspired by the beauty of experimentation and the eagerness to explore endless possibilities through voice and music. There is opportunity to grow as people and individuals by simply trying new things”[/su_quote]

If like us you wanna have more information about us, we suggest you to follow them on Facebook or to directly check their website.

– Frontwoman of Speedy Ortiz Sadie Dupuis shared the demo of their Christmas song. You can download this demo for free, following the Soundcloud link

– Even after their break-up in 2011, LCD Soundsystem shared a Christmas song. According to James Murphy, he has been singing this record for 8 years now and “feels like something that could only have happened a very, very long time ago”.

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– Grimes shared an unreleased track taken from the period of her 2010 album “Halifaxa”

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– Miley Cyrus shared a Christmas song recorded with The Flaming Lips. You can check the artwork below

– Singer of Radiohead Thom Yorke shared the song that was supposed to be the track of the last James Bond. Finally Sam Smith made the official, but you can now listen to the Radiohead track. You can also download the track for free following the Soundcloud link

– Lauryn Hill shared a cover that she made of the amazing 60s track of Nat King Cole called “A Cradle in Bethlehem”.

– Timbaland shared a mixtape where he collaborated with Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, Tink, 2 Chainz, PC Tweezie and many others. There is also an unreleased track with Aaliyah. You can listen to it here and watch the artwork below

– Hudson Mohawke shared an interpretation of John Carpenter‘s Escape From New York theme as part of LuckyMe Advent Calendar. The track is called “Escape” and you can download it for free following the Soundcloud link. You can also check DJ Paypal track called “No One Else” shared for the same campaign that you can also download for free

– Aphex Twin shared two new tracks on his Soundcloud account. One called “pianopkupt1 [norm]” that you can download for free and another one called “T17 Phase Out”. You can listen to both track below [UPDATE :] Aphex Twin has deleted every track from his Soundcloud Account

– Kendrick Lamar shared a 7 minutes long video featuring two tracks of his last album “To Pimp A Butterfly” called “u” and “For Sale”. The video is called “God Is Gangsta” and it was filmed by Jack Begert for the “u” side and the “For Sale?” part, directed by PANAMÆRA.

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– After the release of his track “Monstruosidad“, Arca shared another new track for free called “Urchin”

– Pusha T shared the video for “M.P.A.” taken from his last album “King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude”. Directed by Shomy Patwary, the video features A$AP Rocky and The-Dream
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– Kanye West shared a new track during New Years Eve called “Facts”. It reminds the release of “Only One” release during the 2015’s Eve. You can also check the artwork below