Best New Indie Music Discoveries (7/18/2021) – “Fastracks” 11

Hi my name is Nosa (same as my music moniker), i’m a singer/songwriter currently based in Los angeles, California. Making melodic Alternative R&B music has always been my favorite since I started in late 2015. My goal is to make people connect with my music on a personal level and make them feel I know exactly what they might be going through in life.

Singer-songwriter Indya Love, daughter of the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, is following in her father’s footsteps after releasing her debut single, “Good Morning”. “Music has always been ever-present in my life, however, I chose to keep my own music and poetry very private.

Around the age of thirteen, I started to pick up the guitar and try to figure out chords, strumming along to songs I loved. Pretty soon I started making up my own melodies and eventually putting lyrics to them. I’ve been inspired by many artists along the way ranging from Bob Dylan, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac to Lana Del Rey, Dolly Parton, and Kacey Musgraves.

I suppose that’s a very eclectic mix but different styles of music can affect me in many ways. My single “Good Morning” is one of the first songs I ever wrote. I was going through an incredibly difficult time mentally and I turned to music as an outlet and a way to express exactly how I felt. My music video was inspired by the photographic works of Man Ray.

I wanted it to be a little surreal and carry with it the feeling I felt whilst writing it. I chose to make a simple monochrome video as I’ve always been drawn towards black and white photography as it seems to speak to me with raw emotion.” – Indya Love Stewart

Los Angeles based KEANA is a multi-talented pop meets electronic music producer, audio engineer, vocalist, and sound designer who envisions a dream world constructed out of melancholic vocals, lush synth landscapes and hard-hitting beats. Having studied jazz music as a teen, KEANA’s vocals reflect a soft and airy, yet sultry tone. With strong mystic lyrics, her production styles range from alternative-electronic dream pop to melodramatic trip hop.

Her original focus was to be a vocalist and songwriter, but she quickly became intrigued on diving deeper and learning electronic production to create her sonic world. KEANA found it difficult to have her vision translated sonically through other producers.

This is when she took interest in producing her own music and having full control, creatively speaking. Once KEANA discovered her sound, it was like everything fell perfectly into place and she knew her life’s purpose, which is to make people tune into their emotions by having an experience and then connecting with themselves on a deeper, intuitive level. This connection deepens every time she expresses herself musically. “Music is a healing gift, a chance for people to connect with others, to think, to feel, to let go, to escape,” confides KEANA.

Her latest single “Lilac” is about feeling the need for escapism through times of hardship and struggle. KEANA confides, “it speaks about wanting to be transported to another world where life stresses and fear do not exist. It is inspired by a dream I had one night I believe when I was living in Boston at the time. In this dream I heard this voice speaking to me.

I felt that it was guiding me to this mysterious place where I could relax in paradise. The only way I could describe this being was a ‘White Phantom,’ this being of light that took me to places of “lilac islands and lavender beaches.” The song features dreamy vocals and layers of rich musical textures over beautifully crafted synth pop soundscapes.

KEANA’s influences include Lana Del Rey, Grimes, Portishead, Massive Attack, and Bjork. KEANA never fails to deliver her ethereal signature sound.

Growing up between the East and West coasts, American singer-songwriter and actor Dante Palminteri matured his musical styling at an early age, drawing inspiration from John Mayer’s poetic mastery of the human psyche and Ed Sheeran’s genre-defying melodies. His lyrics narrate complex compilations about unrequited love, soul mates lost and found, and the growing pains of adulthood. Struck by the lyrical prowess of Americana muses Jason Isbell and The Tallest Man On Earth, Palminteri explores his own roots, weaving personal narratives on the intricacies of falling in love with whimsical acoustic melodies.

An early sufferer of anxiety and dyslexia, Palminteri found solace in the last place one would expect: written word. Dreaming up lyrics on teen heartbreak and defying the status quo, he set his sights on a long-term career in songwriting, eventually strumming his way into Berklee College of Music. He confides, “Growing up I couldn’t relate to using words in an academic setting, but when I discovered how to manipulate them to write my music they became a superpower. I want my music to speak to others and give them a soundtrack to their own lives.”

His latest single “Brunettes” is a song about attraction, love, and how your heart ultimately calls the shots when it comes to romance. Palminteri confides, “the song describes the type of person I have always been attracted to. Someone who takes me out of my comfort zone, and brings me into their world. It’s about being taken on a wild ride with someone, and loving every moment of it.”

Palminteri has bared it all on stages across the Tri-State area, from Feinstein’s 54Below and Arlene’s Grocery, to Rockwood Music Hall and Bethlehem Musikfest. The artist, whose father is the Academy-award nominated actor Chazz Palminteri, is also known for his roles in Sharknado 2 and Orange is the New Black.

Autogramm, the synth-driven, power-pop trio from Chicago and Vancouver have premiered a new video for their latest single via Louder Than War. “I Am A Situation”, created by Berlin film maker and artist Dana Tucker (Peaches/Saskia Hahn) is featured on the band’s sophomore album, No Rules via Nevado Records. The black and white video portrays a Kraftwerk-like, day in the life of actress Kim Kraczon in mid-pandemic Berlin. The video echoes the sentiment of the song’s despondent lyrics. Discussing the video bassist C.C. Voltage admits, “we originally wanted to have friends from all over the globe filming parts in their respective cities, but we ended up asking people to delay their parts due to the virus. We were surprised and delighted that Kim and Dana filmed in Berlin regardless.”

Regarding the message behind the lyrics, drummer The Silo explains “I wrote the lyrics to Situation a little more than a year ago, right at the beginning of the COVID pandemic lockdown. It was perhaps for the first time in a long while seeing myself at a distance. These very unusual events can force us to re-evaluate our lives in a way that life as usual tends to blind us to. I was thinking about how a person’s life can appear from the outside to be so settled, ideal, in the right place, while on the inside they may be struggling, drifting, gone awry. This sort of thing tends to be exacerbated by our suddenly very isolated lives, when all we get to see from our friends and loved ones is an idyllic representation that we’re fed through social media. Not everyone is comfortable sharing their fears and struggles in the public forum. So this song is just an acknowledgement of my own fucked-up-ness at that time, and also a reminder to really check in with your friends, because they may be having a hard time, despite appearances.”