‘Left-field’ music these days is a label used for those artists whose songwriting (and often, delivery) does not necessarily abide by ‘the standard’ pop guidelines or norms, if you will. Often, such artists wouldn’t want it any other way, and, again, that often costs them a wider acceptance, limiting them to a cult fan base.
Will Oldham, aka Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, and Bill Callahan, who also worked under the moniker of Smog are such two artists. Yet, both remain true to their musical concepts, whether wider acceptance catches them or not. Even when it seems that it will, for example, Oldham was covered by Johnny Cash (singing with the legend too), and his song was included for the latest ‘True Detective’ series, they don’t care much for it.
At one of his concerts, when a new song received an excellent response from the crowd, he commented: “You like this one? Ok, so I won’t include it on the next album.” But whatever the case, their music should receive wider notice, particularly when, as these two did, they join forces.
Spurts - Easy For You
These Oakland guys use a nice melodic touch to comment on the possibilities of a relatively unknown band making it in any shape or form. Maybe this tongue-in-cheek song will do it for them.
R E L - Intuition
R E L might be up and coming, yet that did not prevent her from already gathering some 20 million streams, something that she will probably add to with this modern pop ballad.
NAYAN - Rock N Roll Ruined My Life
NAYAN took its band name from the band’s frontman Nayan Bhula, going a bit subtle and quiet with this one with a nifty sax touch, even with the rock ‘n’ roll in the song’s title. Still, it works quite well.
Atomic Life - Hit Me First
From the first notes of this one, you end up in the world of hardcore and post-punk, after all, these guys (and a girl) are a sort of a supergroup of NYC’s hardcore bands like Dillinger Escape Plan, and it shows.
Sylo - Fall Into Me
Sylo, a Korean-Canadian artist is on the modern R&B side of things, and listening to this one, you surely hear that he feels like a fish in the water there with this slice of a modern R&B ballad.
Green River Ordinance - Tough Love
The modern Americana genre is getting a bit crowded with quality music these days, and Green River Ordinance is no exception in that respect, and they shouldn’t be, as this is a single that should do them well.
EMMI IIDA - Moment
At the time of its heights in the late nineties, critics thought that trip-hop and its all variants would not last long. Yet, the genre is still around (in all its shapes and forms too) and EMMI IIDA proves it with this one.
Bleachers - Me Before You
Maybe it was the Taylor Swift connection that was throwing a bit of flak on Jack Antonoff and his Bleachers, but his and the band’s latest album from which this is the first single proves them wrong.
Pan-American & Kramer - The Miner’s Pale Child
Producer extraordinaire Kramer seems to have a magic touch to whatever he applies his talents to and he adds that touch of shimmering psychedelia to ambient masters Pan-American here.
Sun Atoms - Ceiling Tiles
Portland’s Sun Atoms also likes their music to be on the psych side of things, but they prefer to have that pop element in there too, with all the modern touches they can muster here.
Adeem the Artist - One Night Stand
Adeem the Artist (they/them) is a proponent of what has been dubbed ‘queer country’ and with this one, whatever someone might think of this new sub-genre, a good country melody always wins, no matter what.
Neptune’s Core - Box
This all-girl quartet (two sets of sisters, actually) from Chicago, shows some excellent melody lines and even better vocal interaction here, with that sister connection proving to be quite an asset.
Dennis Ellsworth - Money Ramble
This Canadian artist made quite an impression with his independently released ‘Modern Hope’ album so much so that the album is now being re-released on ‘a proper’ label. This one shows why.
Leona Naess - Karma’s Comet
Going for a big sound and production can sometimes bury the artist, but this is definitely not the case with Naess and this, her latest single where the excellent arrangement and production play their part.
The Ghost Club - If I Fell (Don’t Wait Here For Me)
There is nothing wrong with working within the ‘straightforward’ indie rock, but you really have to do it well to stand out there, and the way these Pittsburgh guys do it, they just might as well make it.
Josh Garrels - Watchman
Garrels is one of those singer-songwriters who doesn’t shy away from being deeply personal with his music. That can be a double-edged sword, but in this case, it works for Garrels.
The Commoners - Too Soon to Know You
This Canadian quartet likes their roots music on the country soul side of things with some lofty shoes there to step into, but those shoes seem to fit them quite nicely though.
Lindsey Lomis - Long Way Down
Is there anything wrong with just pure pop? Absolutely not if it is any good, and it seems Lomis knows how to hit the right pop notes here, and with ease at that.
Phillip Lammonds - Love Is Love
Being something of an old hand is no distraction for Lammonds, who obviously has enough knowledge and experience to come up with a great country tune, here with the help of Darius Rucker.
Sammy Volkov & Dana Wylie - Secret Subway Conversations
A good duet is a staple in country music and Volkov and Wylie prove it here, with a great song and some ‘true country’ lyrics to go along with their excellent dual vocals.