Stream: Do You Want Me? - The Roosevelts

This one right here is so damn catchy.

Having originally formed in Austin, Texas, with a debut EP released in 2013 and an album in 2016, last year saw The Roosevelts go through some changes. They parted ways with their lead singer and chose to forge a new path. Rebranding with a new direction, a new singer and all new music the result is Do You Want Me?

Singer Mitchell Kilpatrick has brought a more contemporary alt pop feel to the band’s music. There is such an urgency to this track - those pleading vocals, the layered rhythms, the slinky bass line, that falsetto. It’s just a little bit INXS, in a really really good way - the whole thing has this big kick-in-the-pants feel to it. It’s pretty much impossible not to sit up and pay attention and want to seize the moment. The last 90 seconds are just spectacular - just you try and resist it.

Check out Do You Want Me? below:

Video: Keep Me Up - Charlotte Lawrence

Keep Me Up is the latest track from emerging alt-pop musician Charlotte Lawrence.

Initially sounding like a record describing a romance turned sour, Keep Me Up actually details Lawrence’s struggles with anxiety. The track came out of a panic attack the artist experienced during a recording session. The experience almost put a stop to her singing that day, but instead she worked to create Keep Me Up about the experience instead.

There is both helplessness and hope in Keep Me Up. Fear and determination laid bare in a form that must have taken genuine bravery. The result is an honest and brutal portrayal of what it feels like to wrestle with emotional and physical moments of panic, and the general struggle against mental illness.

Describing the record, Charlotte says:

“I've always had anxiety. It's not something we talk about a lot but people are being more open about their mental health. I felt it was important to talk about it in my music and help other people who might be struggling.”

I admire this track for the honesty and vulnerability - engaging fans in a territory people are only just beginning to feel comfortable talking about. Check it out below:

Premiere: Drumline - Lo

Drumline is the second single from Lo, a determined and self-driven Nashville artist focused on creating American bubblegum pop with a hint of K-Pop.

The track itself shines like neon - this is very much the territory of aural lip gloss, neon sun block and glitter in your hair. Lo’s vocals boast sass and confidence against a backdrop of gloriously smooth melodies. And the drumline the song is named after - a rapid scattered rhythm that feels like a halftime marching band playing just for Lo - is one of those perfect pop moments.

Lo’s original calling was one of dance. The first in her family to go to college, she got there on a dance scholarship, and now choreographs all of her live shows. Having felt the pressure to choose something like a safe business career Lo ultimately found the pull of music too much. Having got into publishing she ended up writing for other artists full time.

When it came to making her own music Lo found she couldn’t afford to pay producers to help record her demos, so she instead spend the last $200 in her bank account to buy Logic and taught herself how to produce her own music.

Lo’s experience dancing through college plays directly into the inspiration for Drumline:

“Drumline was heavily inspired by my collegiate dance career in the SEC. One of my all time favorite dance performances was a championship game in a stadium filled with 98,000 people where we danced alongside an actual drumline. Many of the metaphors and imagery of the song were drawn from that magical halftime moment!

“I hope this new single can serve as a bombastic reminder to fully celebrate joy and love when you find it, as we often take them for granted. And... I hope it makes you want to dance!”

Check out Drumline below!

Premiere: Simple - Main

Main, the brother of Aaron Maine, lead singer of Porches, and previous bass player for Frankie Cosmos, is a Brooklyn-based electronic indie artist.

Main chose to forge his own path making music that combines 80s synths with dreamlike melodies and smooth R&B rhythms. The result is the soft-groove-like sounds you can hear on Main’s latest track Simple, the first single from Main’s forthcoming debut solo album.

Simple is the tale of a couple who want to keep their simple no-strings relationship - vocals echoing amongst the soft electronics, seemingly reflecting the intangibility of a relationship wrestling against putting down any roots.

There is an easy-going feel here - the music capturing a sense of a love that you don't want to end, but that you fear wouldn't survive the transition into something more grounded. Main's vocals combine with the Simple's melodies and and male-female vocal harmonies feel like a couple trying to figure out just who they are.

Check out Simple below and look out for Main’s debut album this summer.

Stream: Love You Lately (Roosevelt Remix) - Ariana And The Rose X RKCB

Both Ariana And The Rose and Roosevelt have been firm favourites of mine for a while, so it is no surprise that this new remix of Airana’s heartbreaking track Love You Lately by Roosevelt is already one of my favourite tracks from this year.

The original track is a collaboration between Ariana And The Rose and LA R&B/electro duo RKCB and it is the kind of track that just seems a little too heartfelt to exist. Here is a beautiful pop record about the slow disfunction of a relationship in gradual collapse.

Released in partnership with Kitsuné, this remix by Roosevelt adds a warm Mediterranean sun kissed treatment to the track, and turns it into the kind of heartbreaking house record I just can’t resist. The vocals get an appropriate amount of space whilst Roosevelt focuses on adding a slinky beat and a little of his trademark sparkle. It’s both beautiful and devastating at the same time.