Let's Go See Some New Music!

Next week we will finally go to Brighton, England, for The Great Escape Festival. This marks the first out-of-town festival since the pandemic, so we are super excited. We are looking forward to discovering new artists – most of the lineup is new to us – and seeing a few old favorites, such as the German/Australian singer/songwriter Hachiku. Also, this will be an opportunity to personally meet some of the publicists we have been emailing with for years.

While Elke traveled all over the British Isles in the late 80s, all I had been to was London for a few days here and there. So I’m excited to see a bit more of the country. We have heard only good things about Brighton as an open, vibrant beach town, so we hope to have also a relaxing time while we are there.

Celebrate Album Releases

Our album release calendar is back! While everyone’s relationship with albums constantly changes, it is still the primary form of releasing music for most artists. Our list is relatively short and limited to albums we had a chance to listen to – either with a press preview or because a sufficient number of tracks have already been released. We hope we can revive some of the excitement of Release Friday, when the public can hear so much new music for the first time.

Speaking of which: The Ringer, a Spotify publication, claims that September 24, 1991, was the biggest release day in history – if history started in the 1990s. From the albums released that day, two ring a special bell: Nirvana's debut Nevermind, which was indeed everywhere, and Red Hot Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magic, which we bought and listened to on repeat. They bring sort of a scientific method to their claim, which you may agree with or not.

Critique the Critic

The dream yacht pop band Tennis calls it quits with their final album “Face Down in the Garden”. But the husband and wife duo hoped for a better send-off by music blog Pitchfork and voiced their disappointment in an Instagram post.

The general advice for artists is to take the high road and simply ignore negative critiques. On the other hand, Pitchfork deserves to be called out from time to time for its pretentious 100-point album rating.

We don't do album reviews here at glamglare anymore. But when we did, we only reviewed albums we liked. Because, honestly, there are only two ratings you can give for a piece of music: “I like it” or “not for me”. Pretending you can rate the quality of albums relatively against each other with any objectivity is just – sometimes entertaining – hubris.

glamglare favorites

Listen to glamglare favorites on Spotify, Apple Music, or below on YouTube.

While we hardly know any emerging bands performing during The Great Escape Festival, we’ve been listening to the festival playlist and discovered several artists whose songs we’ve added to this playlist. Here are five more whom we’re hoping to catch while in Brighton:

1. Total Tommy (Australia) - “REAL”
2. Peter Xan (UK) - “Nicotine”
3. Jazzygold (Faroe Islands) - “gold”
4. Home Counties (UK) - “Uptight”
5. Ziyad Al-Samman (UK) - “Ya Habibi”

Song Pick of the Day

Listen to/watch all seven songs on YouTube. Follow our daily updated playlists on YouTube, Apple Music, or Spotify for the 50 latest Song Pick of the Day features, or subscribe here to receive them in your mailbox in real-time. Thank you for following us and sharing the excitement.

• “Laugh Now Cry Later" is the "saddest" song on Mareux’s second album, "Nonstop Romance," out on June 27. Will it become more romantic from here?
• The Nashville singer/producer Mel Denisse released her second single, "Like a Fiend," a show-stopping dark-wave banger not to be missed.
• “Ice Cream is here to soothe your overworked soul with soft-serve synths and sickly-sweet nostalgia," say Super Market about their new song "Ice Cream". Bring it on!
• dalloway delivers “Split,” a swirling pop song about the "mental compartmentalization" at the end of a relationship, delivered with her signature sass.
• The Amsterdam synth-pop trio Pip Blom announces a new EP for June 6 with the bop, “Ring."
• It is no secret that we are huge fans of Yndling. She released the next single, “Even If It’s a Lie (I Don’t Mind),” from her second album, due out this summer.
• Josienne Clarke celebrates freedom in her new song "Tiny Little Bird's Lament." There will be a new album accompanied by a short film this fall.

Nine Photos

On Wednesday, we ventured out very early to Central Park, where we were invited by the WCS to join a Migratory Bird Walk. After a brief introduction about bird migration and the perils song birds face, we headed to Central Park’s The Ramble and enjoyed the brightness and tranquility, plus the bird songs, of a crisp spring morning. We heard more birds than we saw, but the experience was nevertheless joyful and exhilarating. Find her a few impressions, and if you’re a fellow bird lover, let us know. Maybe we can go on a walk together?