Dance Music News

Sometimes here at Your EDM, we like to check out the borderlands of electronic music for a while to see how this universe is creating itself at its edges. Sort of a musical Slab City, if you will. Sometimes in that fringe yet endlessly creative space, artists dwell that are excellent but possibly not quite electronic enough for YEDM, but we watch them nonetheless. Post punk/art rock band Cosmopolis is one of those acts who were just on that leading edge of electronica who, with their latest indu

Austin blues rock band Name Sayers is one of those not-so-well-kept secrets that indie fans discover and fall in love with at the ancillary gigs around Austin City Limits or SXSW. As smoky and bluesy as a Lord Huron or a Hozier but with a decidedly grungy bent to keep them from being lumped in with the the sometimes-too-contrived indie folk genre, Name Sayers area local gem in a city full of local gems. That said, we here at EDM are willing to bet no one saw Name Sayer frontman Devin James Fry b

With a luscious discography that dates back to 2013, Fabels (yes, we’re spelling that right) could likely have started the return to shoegaze and experimental art rock trend the electronic world is seeing swell nowadays. With their first two albums, 2013’s Zimmer and 2016’s Hi dabbling in Bauhaus-cum-Sonic Youth-cum-Ride experimental krautrock vibes, by 2018 the duo had added electronic elements and more wall of sound guitars a’la Catherine Wheel or Th’Faith Healers. Now with their third album, 

Many musical artists nowadays shy away from political stances, either for fear of hurting their careers or simply for the fact that they see their jobs as a necessary distraction from the depression and discourse that can come with serious issues. With 2022 bringing war via Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, there was an initial outpouring of support for Ukraine with artist contributing to loads of charity albums and shows, as the war has rolled on and the repercussions of speaking out have

Already prolific on the New York City Scene for her dance, choreography and films, Andrea Ward has been working on being a quadruple threat by recently displaying her talent for music. Already a multi-instrumentalist and singer, Ward has released a series of tracks in the run up to the release of her debut album, Ribbon of Water, due out in late January. Inspired by Nordic folk and experimental pop artists like Bjork and Glass Animals, her sound is rich and genre-neutral. But is it electronic?

Apparently at one time, Chicago-based group The Color of Cyan were a more vox-forward outfit, but the seem to have deigned to wipe past work from memory. Now the focus is on two things: pitch-perfect guitars and beautiful ambient production work. The result is their, for all intents and purposes, debut album, Agape, and with the level of mastery displayed on this LP, it’s hard to imagine they were doing anything else. Since the Google slate has been wiped of any previous work, it’s hard to spec

There’s an interesting spoken word phenomenon in the UK that many stateside punters may not be aware of; a combination of the classic, stream of consciousness-style poetry and traditional hip hop-style rap that’s been quite popular in Blighty but never had much of a toehold in North America. Aside from the TikTok famous Louis Theroux jape, “My money don’t jiggle; it folds,” there really aren’t too many modern examples of this mashup on either side of the pond, but it was quite popular in the 90s

Electronic/instrumental artist James Freeman might be fairly new to releasing, but he’s already put out an impressive number of releases since he creatied the “flexicble musical entity” that is Gem FM. Since 2021, he’s released four full albums and a smattering of singles under the moniker. With a basis in blues guitar and a Ratatat-like composition style of merging analog and digital sounds, his new Sonic Boom album shows him stepping up the electonic aspect of his style, with some interesting

Michael Baker is certainly not a new artist. He’s not even new to Your EDM, as we’ve featured his group Head Fake and their new wave style previously. Baker’s new solo project, Hasten Mercy, is new, however, and more EDM-focused. With the first EP, These Things laced with Happy Mondays-style rave pop, heavier, future bass/dubstep vibes and loads of ambient sound design and synth work, it sounds like Baker’s testing the waters for his breakout solo style. With a clear love for early electronica

Formed in 2017, Black Bouquet aren’t exactly a “new artist,” but neither are their influences. With their first single, “Until You’re Gone” appearing on Spotify in 2020, they already had an extremely well-formed sound, comprised of Joy Division-era post punk synths, goth and art rock drums and arrangements, Cure-inspired guitars and Killers-emo-era everything else, even in the early stages all the members of Black Bouquet were at the top of their game. This “new” sound made up of all the best pa

With the vocals of Chris Cornell, the synths of the Starland Vocal Band and a composition style the like of Yes, pianist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Costoso’s style could be seen as a mixed back to say the least, especially when you throw in his jazz background. It’s an interesting way in which Cos deigns to mix all these styles; progressive rock, adult contempo and electronica don’t always make the best of bedfellows. With his third album, Grace, however, Cos seems to have found hi

There’s been a rash of extra-cool, electronically-infused post punk-esque artists coming seemingly from all over the globe lately, and we are YEDM are here for it. With lofi beats, an offshoot of trip hop, being so popular the last few years, it’s only stands to reason that some artists would bring in the lowest of lofi, the maudlin melodies. Post punk artists like Nick Cave or Joy Division, for those who will recall, actually depended quite heavily on synthesizers in their heyday. While we now

Marc-E’s style has certainly changed since his first drop in 2015, a track he created with hip hop group The X Presidents called “One Soul.” After that largely acoustic track, Marc-E started adding production and sound design into his early work, and six years later he’s released his third full-length and fully psybient album, titled “Catharsis.” From his discography, it seems to have been quite a journey. As soon as his first album Here Again released on Bandcamp, Marc-E started injecting ambi

Mel Monaco may be new to the likes of YEDM readers, but her smooth, effortless form of jazz pop has been lighting up the airwaves and stages in her native Ontario for nearly a decade. With a bell-clear, pitch perfect voice reminiscent of Ella Fitzgerald, a virtuosic knowledge of jazz guitar and piano, and a fun, pop-tinged songwriting style, Monaco is much-loved both for her music and performances in her part of the world, and now with her latest single, the catchy and radio-ready “Love Tides,”

Mike Masch, rapper name Moment, is an artist we at YEDM really feel stupid for missing all these years. Hardly a new artist, Mash has been releaing huge, boldly-produced chill vibe albums since 2015 (possibly longer; we’re just going by his Bandcamp), but his music career goes back even farther than that. A child prodigy of sorts, Masch was performing piano recitals at the age of five and has a solid base in classics, jazz and blues. After loads of jobs in the music industry from DJ to label own

With a base or early synth pop, the shoegaze concept of wall of sound and a heavy bent towards experimental or progressive electronica, the first single off Millennium Resorts’ shows how far one can take all of those genres. The Austin production/musician duo has technically made two singles out of the first track on their upcoming album, In the Key of David, because they are quite different from each other. If they were a fully EDM outfit, they might have called them an original and a VIP mix,

It’s fun in 2021 to see the spirit and sounds of post punk wending their way into modern electronica and, in addition to their name having a sort of “Spooky Mother Goose” vibe, Mother Ghost is definitely channeling the likes of Ian Curtis and Bauhaus into their debut album, Somnámbulo. With industrial-style synths, experimental composition styles and political, evocative vocals, the album, released last month, deigns to take post punk into the 21st century. But it almost didn’t happen. While si

As one might be able to tell by both his project name and the title of his first single, “Fever Dream,” Ono Kimono brings a tremendous amount of cheek to his work. Started in 2021 by multi-instrumentalist Justin Roll, thus far this solo project is just about as vibrant, colorful and retro as the cover art for said first single. With 80s-style synths, a good handle on oscillators and loads of indie pop cachet, Ono Kimono is set to bring the next wave of rock/electro fusion. Roll says Ono Kimono

Paul Supreme is a somewhat avant garde house, pop and hip hop artist who began releasing in 2020 with his first album, Golden Hour. His first releases in 2020 and 2021 were more conventional pop/EDM crossover, but recently it’s been his more indie-infused tracks that have been well-received on Spotify. Possibly surprising to some fans of traditional EDM, the addition of more raw, rock-inspired vocals seem to have made all the difference. His newest single, “Ninja Sword” released in early June,

Combinator is certainly out to combine a lot of stuff in his latest EP re//combinator, released in June. An actual tornado of whip-fast D&B/industrial snares, analog metal blast beat drums, virtuosic vocals and a surprising dose of slap bass, this rock polisher of a ninth release from the Seattle-based solo project of Sean Fairchild has produced some unlikely gems. We just have to make sense of them. It’s clear from previous releases by Fairchild as Combinator that, despite being a multi-in

Bringing psychedelic and jazz-inspired synths and production into rock or pop music certainly isn’t a new concept. See: the entire 60s, for example. Lately, however, with all the merging of EDM and ambient electronica with pop, there seems to be push more to ravey or hip hoppy styles rather than jazzy or funky. Psychobilly or beach rock has also been making a comeback and leaning heavily on electronica to make those sounds, but generally pop acts don’t pull those jazzy and beachy sounds. At the

It’s wild, really, that the 808 beatmaker, invented in over 40 years and only manfactured for a small window from 1980-1983, still manages to inspire of musicians and producers. Even with all the modern techniques, programming, ease of access, et al., the Roland 808 is still one of music’s most coveted pieces of gear. It’s not just for its rarity, either. The unique sounds of the 808 have simply not been replicated lo these four decades, and the number of ways it can be used in programming and p

On first look, the duo RPxSB give off two definite vibes: Bay Area and MF DOOM. We’re unsure if the latter is an influence on Roddy Picante and Stay-Bizzy, or Rock Plaid and Survive Bullshxt, but the multiple pseudonyms, strong visual aesthetic and versatile style of their recent Creatures album series certainly may remind hip hop fans of the recently passed rap legend. Similarly, the Bay Area (RPxSB hail from San Francisco), is also kown for producing cutting edge artists. The weirder-than-weir

New York-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Frank Cogliano was best known for his film scoring and guitar work, with some pretty cool credits to his name. He worked on a number of series of Vice TV as part of their music department as well as both indie and popular films and TV series and was a featured guitar artist on the HBO Mortal Kombat movies. It’s only since December last year Cogliano decided to start releasing his solo work, and it seems that after two EDM/pop singles, he’s ready

Jason Wann isn’t exactly a new artist, especially around his hometown of Portland where he’s been creating interesting, synth-based  music under a number of monikers and is active as a DJ in the local scene. Clearly well-versed in the ways of the synths, Wann’s work is heady, emotive and laced with classic 80s dancefloor style. His latest project, Sines, was invented specifically to marry his synth-heavy house and techno style with female vocals and blur the lines between EDM and pop. With his n