Written by Kevin Flick, and curated with Jonathan Chiu.
Alex Siegel – Beauty Fades
Alex Siegel is a California songwriter who pulls from a number of influences: jazz, bossa nova, pop, folk. In his latest single, Beauty Fades, Siegel has a really nice bedroom pop sound with subtle folk and jazz influences running throughout. The song opens with chords played on a saturated Fender Rhodes, and a laidback beat kicks in, with bass played on a synth. Clean guitar melodies come in, with his vocals running through what sounds like a spring reverb. It’s a really nice mix that is elevated by a video filmed on a Super 8. Beauty Fades is his third single this year, plus a Daft Punk cover, and an unplugged video. Beauty Fades was released with Answer on Bandcamp, which makes for a really nice pairing.
Alex Siegel links:
Bed Scene – Honeymoon
Bed Scene is a dreampop project from Nick Aponte of Miami, Florida, mixing new wave and psychedelic pop. Honeymoon, opens with a driving drum loop that sounds like it might be from an 80s drum machine. Chorus-rich pads come in with warping tape saturation, making this song so endearing. With the exception of the bass, this song is a lo-fi synth-driven song that we were instantly drawn to. Nick is making beautiful cassette-ready songs that you’ll enjoy.
Bed Scene links:
Adolescentes Sin Edad – Fuego de Noche
Adolescentes Sin Edad is a new wave band from Chile that draw from DIIV and The Cure. Their name means Ageless Teenager, which they borrowed from a Virus song (the reference is found in Mirada Speed), an 80’s Argentinian band. We’re really enjoying their song Fuego de Noche, which means Night Fire, but all of the songs they’ve released in 2020 and late 2019 will sweep you back to the 80’s (we’ve included a music video for their song Sunset).
You can hear The Cure influenced guitars, thick with reverb and chorus. Their vocals are laid back, sung almost in a whisper that you’ll find in the shoegaze genre, layered, slightly panned apart, with a light chorus tremolo effect added. This Chilean four-piece is great, and I’m confident you’ll benefit by digging into their catalog.
Adolescentes Sin Edad links:
Sebastian Mayor – Same Air
Sebastian Mayor is a British artist who mixes bedroom pop with indie R&B sounds in his new single, Same Air. This is a clean sounding song, less dream and instruments that are present and close up. This song is light-hearted with happy vocal melodies. His blues-influenced guitar work is great, and his vocals lock in with the rhythm (drawing from John Mayer). You can hear his heritage in this song, which he describes, “Mediterranean Blood, raised under Portuguese sun, was a teenager in South America.” Excuse the cheese, but this is a sunny song you’ll want to roll the windows down and drive to.
Sebastian Mayor links: