Diving Into the “Wicked Girl Era” With Lateena and Bony Fly
Fresh from Geneva’s ever-innovative Bongo Joe Records comes “Wicked Girl Era”, sing-jay Lateena’s exuberant exploration of queer dancehall, Latin, and Afrobeat vibes alongside producer Bony Fly aka Mateo Echeverria. Fleeing the homophobic and dangerous environment of Jamaica to be granted the status of political refugee in 2019 in Zurich, Lateena Plummer has earned herself a […]
Marius Bear Is Higher Than He’s Supposed to Be
A new EP from Marius Bear, “When We Get There We’ll Know 2.0”, continues where last year’s “When We Get There We’ll Know 1.0” left off. Produced once again by Joe Actill (Benjamin Amaru, Ilira, Heera and many more), the indomitable Bear serves up another selection of classy and eminently hummable pop songs for a […]
Love & Rage With Lilac Attitude
How could you not love a band that has a song called “Childish Brains” in their repertoire! And here it is, right at the end of Lilac Attitude’s debut EP “Love & Rage”. It’s out now on A Tree in a Field Records. Raucously, tenderly and nostalgically post-punky, every one of Lilac Attitude’s songs is […]
Man Machine/Etienne Machine
Newly out on Humus Records (which always means it’s worth investigating!) is a 4-track EP from Lausanne-based five-piece, Etienne Machine, entitled “Every Little Dream”. The art (rock) of the concept is alive and well in the land of Etienne Machine. “Mankind and the machine”, they write, “a duality that reminds us of a well-known melancholy […]
Moictani Driving a Blue Car
A new EP, “Mi Coche Azul” (“My blue car”), after two full-length albums, marks a new stage in French-Swiss/Spanish singer/songwriter Moictani’s celebration of DIY music culture. It was released in early May by Mouthwatering Records. Hailing from Valais originally, now resident on the shores of Lake Geneva in Vevey, Moictani aka Tania Praz uses an […]
iuri Says: “Soon”!
Out now thanks to Mouthwatering Records is “Soon”, the debut album from singer/songwriter iuri aka Juri Schmidhauser. “Soon” is a quietly impressive collection of songs dealing with personal insecurities, hopes and contradictions. Or, as it says in their press blurb: “Small observations evolve into a poetic reckoning with their socialization, leading to an exploration of […]
More Than Zero & One From OG Florin + Melodiesinfonie
“Meh als Null & Eis” is the title of a first collaborative mini-album from cloud rapper OG Florin and Zurich-based producer Melodiesinfonie who defines his aim as “spreading positive vibes and bringing people together”. Deeply laid-back in approach, the duo takes an utterly fearless approach to mixing genres, including bossa nova, easy listening, exotica, chamber […]
Poligone Are Ready for the Storm
Judging from the calm vibe of their elegant synth-chansons, it is difficult to imagine the world of Pauline Bongard and Hugo Dordor would ever be rocked by something as violent as a storm. And yet, here it is, their new EP, entitled „En cas de tempête“ (“In the event of a storm”), out now via […]
Moira Joining Otrava for a Trip to Planet Moirava
They truly are a marriage made in heaven: exuberant singing phenomenon Moira aka Carola Wirth and hydra-headed Balkan-Charleston-Polka fusion dervishes Otrava. You want proof? Here’s their new album, “Planet Moirava”, available via Irascible Records. For the past fifteen years, Wirth, besides releasing a couple of well-received chanson albums, has toured Europe with Zurich’s Balkan-Roma-Jazz band […]
SHAIM Is Feeling “Actif”
Fresh out of Lausanne comes a new album from the French-Swiss rapper SHAIM. Entitled “Actif” it was released last month by the artist’s long-term home, ZRO21 Records. Alongside label founder Santo, with whom he has released several albums and singles as a shared enterprise, SHAIM is one of the most important and original voices of […]
