Oliver Bouchard

Newsletter

Music for Hope

Elke and I went for a walk to the World Trade Center this Monday to shop, so we experienced the Sing For Hope Piano, which happens every Monday and Thursday. I often commute through this space, so I’m familiar with it, but for Elke, it was the first time.

Song Pick of the Day

sandmoon - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings [Video]

The new song "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by the Beirut-based synth-rock band sandmoon is a signal of hope against the backdrop of war. Singer and songwriter Sandra Arslanian took inspiration from the poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar to express the promise of freedom. Sandra

Song Pick of the Day

Valerie June - Joy, Joy [Video]

Valerie June believes in the superpowers of joy, so she made a song about it. Anger and concern melt away when you watch her dancing through the colorful video. And when she launches an exhilarating guitar solo, you are ready to face the next challenge with a smile. Valerie says:

Song Pick of the Day

Michelle Kash - Gravity

The singer/songwriter Michelle Kash lives in LA now, but her new song takes her back to New York City, where she grew up. "Gravity" is a love song – released yesterday on Valentine's Day – albeit abstract, wrapped in an atmospheric, slow-burning pop song that captures the

Song Pick of the Day

Chloe Slater - Sucker [Video]

The Manchester-based indie rocker Chloe Slater has a lot of energy to spare: once you know and follow her, she seems to be everywhere. And that is a good thing, because she has something to say, not in a whiney way, but as matters of fact and with a resolution

Newsletter

Great and Little Escapes

The Great Escape in Brighton has released another batch of 100 performing artists, and – no surprise – we know only a few artists and are seriously excited about Hachiku. This means we need to devote some listening time to our festival preparation. To get this started, we also include some discoveries

Song Pick of the Day

Yndling - It's Almost Like You're Here

"It's almost Like You're Here, I think I caught you care." – slowly growing apart emotionally is a hard form of heartbreak. However, the Norwegian singer/songwriter Yndling uses her signature sweeping dream-pop production to tell the story like a distant moment of reflection. Maybe

Song Pick of the Day

Girl As Wave - Good Enough

Girl As Wave, the NYC-based project of singer/songwriter Marci Elizabeth and producer Jimmy Deer, has found their signature sound in ethereal, slightly 80s-tinged synth-pop. The new song, "Good Enough," brings guitars and shimmering arpeggios for an elevating vibe. Listen to "Good Enough," our Song Pick

Song Pick of the Day

Oklou - endless

The French singer, songwriter, and producer Oklou released her gorgeous second full-length album, choke enough, today. You only need to listen to the opener, "endless," a song that rises like the sun on a glorious morning, to know you are in for a treat. Listen to our Song

Newsletter

The Music Never Ends

On the second weekend, after we moved to New York City, we went to Greenwich Village with a bunch of new friends to visit the jazz club Smalls. Of course, it was packed, and we did not get in. The same happened in other venues around Bleecker Street, so we

Song Pick of the Day

Lucrecia Dalt - cosa rara (ft. David Sylvian)

"cosa rara" is an intricate production between pop experimental electronics. The composer and songwriter Lucrecia Dalt collaborated with British musician David Sylvian, who co-produced the song and contributed to the lyrics. Looking at the previous work of both artists, this is a perfect combination. If you don'

Song Pick of the Day

Momma - I Want You (Fever) [Video]

"I Want You (Fever)" looks at somebody's breakup from the other side: someone is already waiting for them to be free. The Brooklyn-based indie-rock quartet Momma turns this situation into an upbeat celebration of young love. Some lose, some gain, but in the end, everything turns

Song Pick of the Day

Dawn Cadence - girl2GOD

With "girl2GOD," the Montreal singer, songwriter, and producer Dawn Cadence finishes her trilogy sacré coeur about "navigating the realms of spirituality, sexuality, and bodily autonomy." The song intertwines Dawn's expansive vocals with an intricate production to reflect the "reclamation of the divine within.

Song Pick of the Day

Cross Record - Charred Grass

Cross Record, the project of singer/songwriter Emily Cross, has crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Dorset, England. There, she continues to create her distinct style of music: slightly unsettling, haunted folk rock. “Charred Grass” is the first single off her new album Crush Me, and the story behind it

Newsletter

The Copacabana, a Tea Commercials and Sunsets over the Hudson

For the last eight years, we have used Sonos to play sound and music in our home. If you are not familiar with Sonos, it is a wireless speaker system that allows you to select music through a proprietary app on a streaming service of your choosing. Last year, Sonos

Song Pick of the Day

Penelope Trappes - Red Dove [Video]

The bright arpeggios and the soaring synths shine a slight a ray of hope in Penelope Trappes’ premonition of a dark and joyless future. She explains: “I felt like this dream was about humanity becoming numb, stripped of emotion, and completely lost in their pain. Sleepwalking. Swallowing the Bitter Pill.

Song Pick of the Day

The Frixion - Back Where We Started

The Frixion is the UK-based project of singer, songwriter, and producer Gene Serene. Thick layers of synths and Gene's deadpan vocals create a mesmerizing quality for their new song "Back Where We Started," which fits the lyrics, as Gene explains: It’s a prayer essentially – highlighting

Song Pick of the Day

Hannah Cohen - Earthstar [Video]

Upstate New York shines with stunning nature and landscape, so artists from there don't need to do more than snap some footage outdoors for an alluring video. That is the perfect backdrop for the new song "Earthstar" by Catskills-based singer/songwriter Hannah Cohen. Accompanied by gentle

Newsletter

Don’t Make This Mistake

Greetings from icy New York City! It looks like we are up for a cold winter, so we decided to take a break from it come mid-February. We had a few options where it is reasonably warm at this time of year, and in the end, Lisbon appealed to us

Song Pick of the Day

Rebecka Reinhard - Give It Up

The Swedish singer/songwriter Rebecka Reinhard released the second single from her upcoming EP Strange Week. "Give It Up" is "the first of my songs ever to have banjo on it," she says, and that gives this indie rock track a lively playfulness before it drops

Song Pick of the Day

Tessa Rose Jackson - Shadow Song

Last Friday, London-via-Amsterdam artist Tessa Rose Jackson released an EP, A Mirror Sometimes with seven collaborations. Our Song Pick of the Day is a beautiful duet with Nana Adjoa called "Shadow Song." It was renamed at the last minute from the more obvious title, "Wildfire," and

Song Pick of the Day

Carmie - Talk To Me

"Talk to Me." The Danish singer/songwriter Carmie wants to do something to help, even if it is probably beyond her powers. But through the song's melancholy shines hope and the will to never give up. Carmie explains: "I’ve been in that place where

Song Pick of the Day

Yodashe - Lite

London-via-Greece singer/producer Yodashe is back with a new single from her yet-unannounced debut album. "LITE" is a warped pop song – "A darker re-take of Björk's 'All is Full of Love' for the 21st century, perhaps?" – about self-acceptance and hope that picks

Newsletter

January Notes

Every January, we wish the best for a new year, but the devastating fires in LA have put a severe dent into those hopes. We associate fires that destroy large parts of a major city with distant history, like after the earthquakes in Lisbon in 1755 or San Francisco in

Song Pick of the Day

Linying - Blondie

Everything feels right in this moment – the person and the scenery are perfect. However, Linying feels weighed down because she feels that she is not being honest. We don't know how the story ends, but an element of overthinking may be involved. In any case, the LA-via-Singapore made