We’ve got quite the international set of tunes for you this week! The artists featured on this list hail from places including Japan, The Netherlands, and South Korea. While the tunes cover a lot of geographic space, they cover an even more vast stretch of the genre map, from drone metal to funky hip-hop. Yet that’s the great thing about music — you can learn about all these different places, sounds, and styles, and no need for a valid passport.
10. Cubicolor feat. Tim Digby-Bell – “Mirror Play”
The Netherlands’ Ariaan Olieroock and Peter Kriek joined forces just over two year ago as Cubicolor, and the duo quickly started climbing the evocative deep progressive ranks. After being championed by Pete Tong as an “Artist To Watch” in 2015, Olieroock and Kriek saw massive support from the genre’s mainstage closers and garnered 2.5 million Spotify streams for their “Falling” single alongside Duologue’s Tim Digby-Bell. The trio has once again united for “Mirror Play”, where Digby-Bell’s haunting vocals pierce the producers’ dominant atmospheric low-end and subtle key/acoustic guitar interplay. The single is set for release this spring via Above & Beyond’s aurally expansive Anjunadeep imprint. –Derek Staples
And courtesy of our friends at Soundstage Direct, you can get discounted vinyl with the code: CS12
09. Jackie Lynn – “Alien Love”
When I first heard news about Jackie Lynn, I wondered whether the secret of her identity would be kept throughout her album’s release. The new alter ego of Circuit Des Yeux’s Haley Fohr appears in press photos with a red wig, cowboy hat, and ventilator face mask, and the rollout included a detailed backstory of an outlaw cocaine dealer on the run with her partner in crime, Tom Strong. But duh: With that unique voice, there’s no way you could keep that secret. Luckily, Fohr’s voice is expansive and expressive enough to convey an entirely separate identity on her first single as Jackie Lynn, the propulsive “Alien Love”. Along with some limber bass, retro synths, and a tinny drum machine loop, Fohr does her magic, specifically letting her resonant voice color in the empty spaces with evocative detail. For more of this impeccable character work, Jackie Lynn will be available June 10 on Thrill Jockey Records. —Adam Kivel
