Weekly5

Today's selection brings you a mixed bag of emotions and genres. You might enjoy the urgent neo-soul from South London or a hymn to love and Diego Maradona. But there are also dreamy and smooth tunes—electronic and acoustic.

Jake Isaac – Start Again

London's Jake Isaac, a soul singer and songwriter, returns after two years of silence with the frantic Start Again. Isaac combines soul's sensitivity with a contemporary flavour—accompanied by a pressing beat that facilitates the track’s fascinating and raw urgency despite its relatively constraint composition.

Adna – Darkness Born in Youth (Gryr Remix)

Undoubtedly, Adna's Darkness Born in Youth is amongst the saddest songs I know. However, the Swedish producer Gryr has now dressed this fragile ballad in a smooth yet vast electronic outfit. Although the remix loses some of the original's intimate qualities, it also transforms the track from a painful state of mind to a thoughtful reflection.

Darkness Born in Youth (Gryr Remix), by Adna

track by Adna

AdnaBandcamp New & Notable Jan 26, 2021

Josienne Clarke – The Tangled Tree

Unearthing earlier songwriting back home on the Scottish Isle of Bute, Josienne Clarke's upcoming record, Onliness, promises to be one of the more exciting releases of 2023. The soothing single, The Tangled Tree, gives a beautiful first impression—meandering between folk noir and a chamber-like interpretation of singer-songwriter artistry.

The Tangled Tree, by Josienne Clarke

from the album Onliness (songs of solitude & singularity)

Josienne Clarkemaz2

Juri Volta – Diego Maradona

As Florian Summer, he charted with a bit cheesy Swiss german pop songs like Machu Picchu. But now, as Juri Volta, the Swiss musician reinvented himself spectacularly as a philosophic guttersnipe, a poet of everyday life. With its mixture of pop melody, stadium rock vibes, and sprinkles of Neue Deutsche Welle and Schlager, Diego Maradona stays in your ears.

King Tuff – Pebbles In A Stream

Kyle Thomas, aka King Tuff, released his latest album, Smalltown Stardust, on Friday. It's a beautiful collection of brilliant American songwriting—somewhat rough yet shimmering in acoustic beauty. Pebbles In A Stream represents the record perfectly with its layered composition of jangly guitars, nostalgic stings, and playful piano highlights.

Smalltown Stardust, by King Tuff

11 track album

King TuffCharlie Moonbeam

In this week's edition, you can expect a vast range of different genres and shades. From dark alt-pop to light synth-driven grooves, from dangerous hip-hop to nostalgia-inducing indie-rock.

Nono Punch feat. Xaverama – Somebody

The collaboration between Nono Punch and Xaverama for Somebody results in a sinister hymn about loneliness and psychological abuse, underlined by altered voices and a thunderous beat. Somebody is overwhelming and juxtaposing the vocal vulnerability with the violent sound—only escaping the dark swirl in its climax.

Jungle by Night – In De Steek

Returning to Weekly5 after E17 Snack in 2021, the Dutch nine-piece wonder bag Jungle by Night presents In De Steek. The lofty composition is all you can hope for in a laid-back yet grooving synth-pop track with jazzy influences and shy brass interjections. In De Steek shines warm, and for a moment, you might forget the Winter’s cold outside.

Jamee Cornelia feat. Sonko, Sahtyre – Same Difference

Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, rapper Jamee Cornelia dropped their third record, Art School Dropout, with the exceptional track Same Difference—a collaboration with Sonko and Sahtyre. The song sounds dangerous, featuring an uncomfortably wonky hook but an irresistible flow from which you can’t withdraw yourself.

🎵 Buy this track on Bandcamp

Red Telephone – Waiting For Your Good Days

Cardiff’s newcomers Red Telephone fuze together indie-rock, dream pop, new wave, and post-punk with astounding precision. Waiting For Your Good Days is the only single announcing their debut record coming in March, and it's a captivating song that shines in its lush composition. But most of all, the vibrato in the singer's performance adds spice.

🎵 Buy this track on Bandcamp

Amoa and us & sparkles – We Succeed

Silver Linings, the stunning collaborative effort of Swiss artists us & sparkles and Amoa, is an atmospheric opus to behold. Featuring seven sprawling compositions, the record wraps around your soul. We Succeed is a perfect example of us & sparkles' emotive soundscapes, above which Amoa’s ethereal voice meanders. It's a dream cast in music.

👋 A warm welcome to the first official edition in 2023.

Weekly5 returns for its third year, and for the first time, this carefully curated selection of music is only available to paid subscribers. A big thank you for your support!

Before diving into the songs, I want to highlight a slight change: The descriptions will be slightly shorter than before, as they weren’t perceived as essential in the end-of-year survey.

Also, a short reminder is that the curated tracks are now available as a YouTube music playlist. You can find all the playlist links below.

And now, with no further ado, here are the first five tracks for this year.

Kaufmann Frust – Pausenraum

The German band Kaufmann Frust return with their first single since 2019. Pausenraum, a beautifully balanced indie rock track with post-punk vibes, is fueled by poetic nostalgia and the contrast between its smooth flow and the raw vocal performance.

7ONA LEE – Again

A satirical take on the absurdity of texting. 7ONA LEE’s Again, an ambassador for his debut album, features an addictive groove. But inside this relaxed tune, LEE demonstrates his playfulness as he sprinkles tiny variations and soundbites in the composition.

Frittenbude – Vorbei

Frittenbude have been a staple of German indie music since 2006. Usually profoundly rooted in the melting pot of electropunk and rap, Vorbei is a pretty fast-paced track about the transience, reminiscent of post-punk and indie rock, dominated by an acoustic guitar.

M. ilune – hide

The upcoming Swiss-American LGBTQ+ artist M. ilune has a smooth and evocative voice, which leads us into a universe of beauty, love, and vulnerability. The latest song, hide, is a wonderful and dreamy alt-pop ballad that shimmers and sparkles in the night.

Toushar – Bipolaris (feat. E-L-R)

A dark rumble booms out of Switzerland’s capital: Toushar is a newborn collective from Bern initiated by music veterans Remo Häberli and Philipp Thöni. Bipolaris is a vast and ambient post-metal track that shows its own bipolar nature in the aggressive parts where the voice turns into shouting.

🎵 Buy this song on Bandcamp

The end of 2022 is inbound, so it's time to recap the past year. And a fair warning: This will be more extensive than what you usually get at Weekly5.

Statistics

First, let's take a look at the numbers. The raw data shows 35 editions which equals 175 songs. Two artists (benzii and the Editors) were featured three times, while eight more had two separate entries. In the end, it amounts to 153 different featured artists.

Also, I'm pretty proud of: Out of these 153 artists, 87 have female, trans, or non-binary members—57% of featured artists.

And, as a bit of musical patriotism: 50 artists are based in Switzerland.

Diving deeper using a playlist analyser tool, some interesting statistics arise. For example, I was quite surprised that rock, indie-rock especially, still was the dominating genre in the 2022 curation cycle. I felt that it was way more electronically dominated. The rise of electronic elements in rock music may explain this feeling.

Quite hard to comprehend are the statistics around the playlist moods. This is because they're based on Spotify's music categorisation. However, I'm proud of the low rating in popularity, which means that I managed to find fresh and unknown tunes over the year.

Repeat 2022: An Explanation

After 35 editions, I also set out to choose some of the most compelling. Here's a short explainer of how I went about it.

As explained last year, I'm not a massive fan of best-ofs. Yes, they might provide some valuable overviews about what to discover. However, these best-ofs are also a dusty relict of outdated music journalism that lost all its relevance in the age of digital music consumption.

Moreover, our perception of music is highly subjective—as any art, in fact. I still like most of the songs I've recommended over the past months, but whether I enjoy them depends on my mood.

With that said, I've tried different approaches to recap this year's editions. For example, I again went through every edition and chose only one track. Then, of course, I also played the number game and selected the songs I listened to the most.

However, there are glaring downsides to these approaches, the biggest one being that it doesn't reflect the diversity of Weekly5. Therefore, I once again chose the best yet most complex way to create a reflective recap of 2022.

Five different categories represent a mixture of mood and style. Each category contains ten songs providing a taste and an opportunity for you to rediscover the tracks. Each track is linked to the original edition, where you find my description. At the end of the post are links to the playlists on Spotify and Apple Music.

You can rediscover all the songs as well in the playlists on Spotify and Apple Music.

mantocliff – ocean

The Swiss band mantocliff reports back with ocean, the first music since the debut album umbilical in 2016. Synthesizers and deep bass create a dense foundation on which singer Nives Onori's voice dances like a figure skater on a frozen lake. The darkness is fragmented by rays of light, the composition's slow creeping contrasted by the vocal playfulness. It's all sloshing like waves.

CATT – I'm The Wind

Berlin-based singer-songwriter and Weekly5 alum CATT reduced for her light breakup song I'm The Wind her usual soundscape. Only an acoustic guitar accompanies her voice, often multiplied to a choir to create an overwhelming feeling regardless of the song's apparent simplicity. CATT's voice skips beautifully across the pitches, almost like the Asian-inspired violin in Lili Haydn's Saddest Sunset.

LIN – Ablution

The threatening booming in the background, combined with German artist LIN's repetitive lyrics, create a fascinating soundtrack to a ritual. Ablution washes away the patriarchal past. By miles less pop-driven than Doubts featured in 2021, Ablution is a thoughtful but gigantic opus, stretching deep down into the sonic gloom but also daring and empowering in its final climax.

I’m The Wind, by CATT

track by CATT

CATTBandcamp New & Notable Nov 12, 2019

Mary Middlefield – Two Thousand One

Two Thousand One is like a flower slowly opening its blossoms with the rising sun: It takes some time but is also a beautiful process to behold. Mary Middlefield, a fresh singer-songwriter from Lausanne, Switzerland, creates a complex composition, slow and meandering at first, gaining ever more speed and drive, adding layers of guitars, drums, and restrained synthesizers expanses.

Two Thousand One, by Mary Middlefield

track by Mary Middlefield

Mary MiddlefieldBandcamp New & Notable Sep 20, 2021

kitsches – attic

Announcing this German band's second album, attic is a wonderfully contemporary take on folky pop music, enhanced with its art-pop elements. The duo kitsches brilliantly balances contemplation and urgency in its first single release, proving that Mathea Pittelkow and Moritz Holstein have a high standard in quality, execution, and sophistication. And attic ticks all the boxes with its dreamy yet stirring composition.

Editors – Kiss (Colyn & Konstantin Sibold Remix)

The Editors added some electronic virtuosity with Benjamin John Power, aka Blanck Mass, who co-produced the latest album, EBM, and joined the band as a full-fledged member. Kiss is a hymnic composition with flickering flavours of an almost disco-like feeling.

However, the remix by Colyn and Konstantin Sibold transforms the song into an incredible captivating technoid track—reminiscent of synthwave, accompanied with hauling, altering synth-hooks and an energetic beat.

Tristesse – Im Taumel

The falsetto voice hovers above a lush composition, breathless and dreaming simultaneously. Tristesse, a German newcomer band, draws inspiration from classic indie-rock, shoegaze and dream pop, adding to the sound's richness.

Their latest single, Im Taumel, tells about a notion of carefreedom, and nonchalance, as singer and songwriter Jannes-Maximilian Priebels explains: "In these three minutes, there aren't any consequences. It's all about euphoria."

Mnevis – Move (Martin Schenker Edit)

Mnevis, a Swiss indie outfit, got another remix—this time by Martin Schenker, whose unconventional work can be admired in formations like Softlander and Alois. Schenker has taken Move—a brilliantly groovy indie-rock track—and given it an electronic twist.

Schenker's edit propels house vibes and a notion of dream-like trance. It's a relaxed tune, warm and sunny like a summer day, maybe even a bit sweaty and sticky like bodies on the dancefloor.

Move (Martin Schenker Edit), by Mnevis

track by Mnevis

MnevisBandcamp New & Notable Sep 20, 2022

Frank Popp Ensemble & Lucy Kruger – Drifting

Drifting brings up musical memories of a long-gone era of slightly psychedelic and symphonic rock tunes à la The Moody Blues. It's a beautifully balanced composition, a stunning collaboration of the Frank Popp Ensemble's instrumental sophistication and the dreamy, whispering voice of Lucy Kruger.

The vintage patina on Drifting lets you slip away from reality for a little while. It's a short escape from the everyday grey into a kaleidoscope of colours.

Karies – Coming of Age

Hailing from Stuttgart, Germany, since 2012, Karies refined their blend of post-punk, noise, and indie-pop in the past decade. Coming of Age, their latest single release, is a restrained song with a distinctly post-punky vibe—hinted by the steady, thin drumbeat—but sonically expands into an almost space-pop-like territory.

Compared to their most famous track, Holly, the vast synthesizers in the backdrop of Coming of Age give the tune an expanding and dense atmosphere—but still contrasted by the characteristic choppy vocal delivery.

Bethan Lloyd – Cutting Circuits

Welsh artist Bethan Lloyd abducts body and mind into ecstatic hypnosis. Cutting Circuits is tearing through the darkness of the void with its gritty and technoid experimental pop, while Lloyd's trance-inducing vocals induce an almost mystical ambience.

The explosive but sturdy composition is in stark contrast to the free-roaming voice. It perfectly represents the song's message about relinquishing internal and external control.

Cutting Circuits, by Bethan Lloyd

track by Bethan Lloyd

Bethan LloydBethan Lloyd

Circa Waves – Carry You Home

The rush unleashed by Liverpool-bred Circa Waves is utterly breathtaking. Just shy of a decade, the quartet, whose biggest hit remains T-Shirt Weather, proved, again and again, their ability to create undying and captivating indie-rock hymns.

And so Carry You Home pushes forward in a spree of 80s-styled synths and poppy guitars, accompanied by Kieran Shudall's borderline nostalgic voice. It's an undeniably danceable thing, suited to sparkle excitement on stage.

Moreno itf – BERKIN

Born in Dominica and raised in the Bronx, Moreno ITF is right at the intersection of Afro-Caribbean culture and the steaming Bronx drill music scene. His freshly released debut EP, Gangoso World, is packed with short bursts of thick beats and Latin influences, synthesised to something that sounds as fresh as dangerous.

BERKIN tells the tale of his own gangster love story—delivered in an eruptive flow, contrasted with a sacral vocal loop adding a sprinkle of uneasy darkness. It's clear: Moreno ITF cements himself as a beacon for the New York drill scene.

Loupe – Lonely Dance

Loupe, the Amsterdam-based indie-pop quartet, announce their debut record with the sweet-sunny Lonely Dance. Featured last year with their track Leave Me There, the latest single sounds more upbeat yet with a hint of thoughtfulness.

The song about defining one's life features a summery groove and a relaxed and warm vibe. However, in the chorus, Loupe suddenly and surprisingly tear around the composition, and Lonely Dance becomes a dreamy, expansive, and somewhat self-doubting beauty.

Lonely Dance, by Loupe

track by Loupe

LoupeBandcamp New & Notable Sep 20, 2021

The Beauty of Gemina – River (Ensemble Version)

It's been two years since The Beauty of Gemina, the Swiss band that melts darkwave with country, jazz, and blues elements, released new material. Mastermind Michael Sele rearranged and rerecorded River from the 2018 Flying with the Owl.

While the original version is an atmospheric acoustic wave pearl, the newly released Ensemble Version focuses on Sele's evocative voice, supported by a present piano and soft strings, accentuated by rare drum beats. It's darker but more profound, and you must listen behind the voice to discover the classical nuances in the background.

River (Ensemble Version), by The Beauty of Gemina

track by The Beauty of Gemina

The Beauty of GeminaBandcamp New & Notable Sep 20, 2021