Weekly5

The following recap features some of our favourite tracks from the past couple of Weekly5 editions.

From intricate indie-rock tunes by J Mahon and the post-punk of Boston's innovative True Faith to Lxandra's incredible voice and captivating beats by Moyka and Julien Bracht. There's something for any shade of taste.

—Best, Janosch

J Mahon – Deadstar

Jarred Mahon from Townsville, Australia, moved to Berlin in 2019 and spent the following two years composing an impressive total of 230 songs. Formerly known as Emerson Snowe, he now goes by J Mahon, ready to embark on a new chapter in his career. Deadstar is a thought-provoking reflection on how musicians often romanticize self-destructive behaviour and the «live-fast-die-young» mentality. Despite its complex nature, this indie-rock track is skilfully crafted and will undoubtedly linger in your mind long after you've experienced it.

True Faith – In Vain

Hailing from Boston since their debut EP in 2021, True Faith's sound is classic post-punk and coldwave at its core. However, their single In Vain is a picture book example of their innovative spirit, with the melancholic piano melody accompanying the driven foundation and juxtaposing Travis Benson's brash vocals. And when the saxophone starts dancing, In Vain becomes ungodly great.

Lxandra – Let It Be Hope

Finnish singer Lxandra first and foremost engrained herself into my all-time heavy rotation with the incredible 2020 single Glide. The 27-year-old artist is gifted with an outstanding voice, the centrepiece in the latest release, Let It Be Hope, only relying on a touching piano and intimate vocal performance. And when her voice is multiplied to a one-woman choir, Lxandra gets larger than life, and one doesn't have to shy away from comparisons to some of the greatest singers.

Julien Bracht – Walking Alone

Techno producer Julien Bracht was featured a few times in Weekly5 and has steadily released tracks over the past months. However, with Walking Alone, the German artist outdid himself so far. The beat is unyielding, stomping, jack-hammering, loosely accompanied by a detached lyrical sample, and the synthesizers howl through the night like sirens demanding immediate attention.

Moyka – Already Gone

In 2021, Norwegian artist Monika Engeseth, aka Moyka, was featured with captivating hymns like Stay. She returns with her undeniably Nordic approach to electronic pop music this year, releasing the second single. Already, Gone is driven by a deep, dark beat over which Moyka layers her meandering, crystalline vocals. When the melodic synthesizer enters the stage, Already Gone transforms from a thoughtful, dreamy composition to an exuberant manifesto of strength—underpinned by choirs.

You can look forward to today's carefully selected curation of new music. Weekly5 is all about breaking free from algorithm-picked more of the same and bringing you truly human-to-human recommendations.

My goal is to transport you to a world of music that is not just entertaining but also meaningful. A world that pushes the boundaries of what we perceive as «good music» and challenges us to expand our horizons.

Experience an exquisite range of innovative sounds that push the envelope, question the «rockstar image», and immerse you in thickly layered compositions.

Hak Baker – Doolally

What's the common thing in post-punk, brit pop, roots reggae, funk, and indie folk? The answer is Hak Baker. The East London artist's sonic innovation is vivacious, resulting in eclectic tracks like Doolally. Here, Baker embarks on a frantic, breathless, Mike Skinner-styled storytelling, mixing cockney dialect with Jamaican Patois, accompanied by an escalating composition of groovy funk guitars, howling brass, and nervous drums—perfectly rounding the notion of Doolally, slang for «out of one's mind», delving into the messy haze of East London's nightlife.

Moyka – Already Gone

In 2021, Norwegian artist Monika Engeseth, aka Moyka, was featured with captivating hymns like Stay. She returns with her undeniably Nordic approach to electronic pop music this year, releasing the second single. Already, Gone is driven by a deep, dark beat over which Moyka layers her meandering, crystalline vocals. When the melodic synthesizer enters the stage, Already Gone transforms from a thoughtful, dreamy composition to an exuberant manifesto of strength—underpinned by choirs.

J Mahon – Deadstar

Jarred Mahon, hailing from Townsville, Australia, made a bold move to Berlin in 2019 and spent the following two years composing an impressive total of 230 songs. Formerly known as Emerson Snowe, he now proudly goes by J Mahon, ready to embark on a new chapter in his career. His song Deadstar is a thought-provoking reflection on how musicians often romanticize self-destructive behaviour and the "live-fast-die-young" mentality. Despite its intricate nature, this indie-rock track is skilfully crafted and will undoubtedly linger in your mind long after you've experienced it.

Deadstar, by J Mahon

track by J Mahon

J MahonBandcamp New & Notable Jul 21, 2022

Hannah Jadagu – Lose

The album Aperture by Hannah Jadagu is an impressive mix of various genres, ranging from indie rock to soul-inspired tunes. This 20-year-old, NYC-based artist from Texas showcases her immense talent through songs that convey a sense of growing up without resorting to typical clichés. One such song, Lose, highlights Jadagu's reflective style, contrasting her smooth, pure voice and the background's heavy bass and distorted guitars. You should definitely give a go to the whole record.

Aperture, by Hannah Jadagu

12 track album

Hannah Jadagumadsharrop

Walter Frosch – New Dawn

One of Switzerland's most promising offers regarding an amalgamation of post-punk and synth-driven wave: Walter Frosch. After their 2022 album Under A Spell, Mike Saxer and Rune Dahl Hansen don't stop releasing new music. New Dawn feels delirious, almost psychedelic, flogged by a dark-tainted bassline and enlighted by sparkling synth clinks, but primarily because of their sonic signature: a finished mix that emphasizes the overwhelming composition, further drowning Hansen's already muffled voice. As a result, New Dawn submerges the listeners deep into an impenetrable layer of sound.

New Dawn, by Walter Frosch

track by Walter Frosch

Walter FroschBandcamp Album of the Day May 11, 2023

Curious how Walter Frosch perform live on stage? Read our concert review here.

Welcome to the 84th handpicked selection of new music from Switzerland and around the globe. The following curation of five fresh finds contrasts smooth sounds with rebellious and thrilling beats.

LACODA – Fear No Ghost

Announcing her upcoming debut album, title track Fear No Ghost by 33-year-old LACODA highlights the Berlin-based artist's deep and sonorous voice. It evokes an almost mysterious, sinister atmosphere yet is juxtaposed with an eclectic and layered composition full of shiny guitar escapades and captivating pop beats.

Jessiquoi – Jessiwhat

Versatile Swiss artist Jessiquoi long established herself as a landmark of avant-garde pop music with quirky electronically dominated tracks like The Addict or Popstar. With Jessiwhat, she returns ferociously, slapping us with an apocalyptic beat back alive. The track is full of unexpected twists, turns, and exciting shifts.

Fiasko Leitmotiv – Judas Cradle

Fiasko Leitmotiv, an ominous band with little known about its background, made a splash with synth-driven songs reminiscent of dark wave and post-punk tracks like Hanako. Their latest EP, A Noiseless Patient Spider, features dreamy sounds and angry, gurgling attacks like Judas Cradle—a wild, no-bullshit contemporary punk song.

Chloe Gallardo – There Will Be Blood

Based in Los Angeles, Chloe Gallardo creates dreamy indie pop compositions with a stunningly calming effect. Defamator, her latest album, and especially the song There Will Be Blood, are emblematic of Gallardo’s qualities. Combining her soothing vocal performance with a reverbing guitar, There Will Be Blood is something to behold.

Julien Bracht – Walking Alone

Techno producer Julien Bracht was featured a few times in Weekly5 and had been steadily releasing tracks. But with Walking Alone, the German artist outdid himself so far. The uncompromising beat hammer, a detached lyrical sample, the synthesizers howling through the night like sirens demanding immediate attention.

Walking Alone, by Julien Bracht

track by Julien Bracht

System RecordsBandcamp New & Notable Apr 10, 2023

One week you struggle to find enough songs; the next one, you painfully have to choose. For today's curation, a couple of captivating tracks were left behind.

However, you'll find that the following selection is tied together through tenderness, goosebumps-provoking voices, and soothing melodies. And there's one ballad that stands above it all with its haunting beauty.

Lxandra – Let It Be Hope

Finnish singer Lxandra first and foremost engrained herself into my all-time heavy rotation with the incredible 2020 single Glide. The 27-year-old artist is gifted with an exceptional voice, the centrepiece in the latest release, Let It Be Hope, only relying on a touching piano and intimate vocal performance. And when her voice is multiplied to a one-woman-choir, Lxandra gets larger than life, and one doesn't have to shy away from comparisons to Adele.

Let It Be Hope, by Lxandra

track by Lxandra

LxandraBandcamp New & Notable Sep 6, 2019

Odd Beholder & Long Tall Jefferson – Self-Checkout

It's an unlikely combination but one that works incredibly well. Daniela Weinmann, aka Odd Beholder, whose 2021 album Sunny Bay is a beautiful kaleidoscope of soft electronica, and folk troubadour Long Tall Jefferson collaborated on the EP Lost In Communication. Five tracks draw from a fusion of the Swiss artists' talents, especially Self-Checkout, leaning on the astounding duett of their soothing voices, spreading a longing Americana feeling.

Self-Checkout, by Odd Beholder & Long Tall Jefferson

from the album Lost In Communication (EP)

Long Tall JeffersonLong Tall Jefferson

Pano – Hang In

Berlin-based newcomer Pano made her first splash with the 2022 EP Water, featuring songs like Ocean, a driven indie-pop track that breaks out in loud guitars. Her latest release, however, Hang In, is a different beast: Powered by a steady groove, the song centres Pano's vocal palette. Sombre yet clear in the verses, she switches gear in the chorus, whispering light as a feather—and it's the addictive melody making the song about "hopelessly not losing hope" genuinely exceptional.

Hayfitz – Music Room

A song so soft and vulnerable, qualities transported by Hayfitz's voice, that the objectively tender strums on the acoustic guitar feel almost violent. Music Room is an overwhelming song and a shimmeringly told story about how the artist fell in love with his fellow musician Sam Cope and how his feelings were unrequited. The queer love story still came to a forgiving end, as Hayfitz and Sam repaired their friendship and created Music Room together.

Music Room, by Hayfitz

track by Hayfitz

HayfitzBandcamp New & Notable May 12, 2020

Braids – Apple

The Montreal-based trio Braids' new album, Euphoric Recall, is an extravagant body of work refusing pop music conventions, indulging in complex structures and creating towering walls of sound, but never losing a sense of intimacy. Apple is a simultaneously quirky and captivating song, spreading an urgency and drive but also expansive wonder and curiosity. A piece that blossoms more and more with each listening.

Apple, by Braids

from the album Euphoric Recall

BraidsMich50glsg

For once, more effort was needed to compile today's curation as remarkably few press releases hit my inbox.

While this initially made me feel somewhat anxious, it's always an opportunity to uncover new things, as simply relying on promo agencies who already pre-select what they send to Weekly5 already creates a bias.

After a successful hunt, I can comfortably present you with a handpicked selection that features melancholic post-punk and shoegaze tunes by Boston innovators True Faith and German newcomers Hyperlilly alongside aggressive songs by HEALTH and ETOCLIT as well as a Marzalla's heavenly hymn.

True Faith – In Vain

Hailing from Boston since their debut EP in 2021, True Faith's sound is at its very core classic post-punk and coldwave. However, their single In Vain is a picture book example of their innovative spirit, with the melancholic piano melody accompanying the driven foundation and juxtaposing Travis Benson’s brash vocals. And when the saxophone starts dancing, In Vain becomes ungodly great.

In Vain, by The True Faith

1 track album

The True FaithThe True Faith

Hyperlilly – Yuma

Düsseldorf's Hyperlilly present their debut single with Yuma, a song about lovers drifting apart. Drawing from indie-pop and shoegaze, the track's impenetrable wall of sounds weighs a thousand tons and reaches sky-high. Moritz Mewes' whispering voice barely stands a chance against this towering wave of vastness. Yuma perfectly translates this feeling of being emotionally overwhelmed into sound.

yuma, by hyperlilly

track by hyperlilly

hyperlillypaperprison

HEALTH – HATEFUL

Unlike their previous Weekly5 entry, THESE DAYS 2.0.2.1., HEALTH's latest release, indeed features the LA trio's signature. HATEFUL awaits with relentless, industrial hammering, reminiscent of Electronic Body Music, carving out the distinct contrast between the violent and aggressive instruments and Jake Duzsik's innocent, almost vulnerable-sounding voice. HATEFUL is angry and unforgiving.

HATEFUL, by HEALTH

track by HEALTH

HEALTHHEALTH

ETOCLIT – micdrop

Hip-hop as a valve to deal with the world's fucked-up state: Female crew ETOCLIT's second single micdrop pushes monumental beats, switches between Bernese dialect and Spanish, and drops razor-sharp lines against mansplaining. The livid, angry vibe of micdrop is addictive, the sound pure and no bullshit, ETOCLIT's flow compelling in its seamless alternation between staccato and gushing delivery.

Marzella – T'ecrire

With T'ecrire, the Swiss duo, consisting of Marzia and Ella, resurrects the grand French hymns. Demonstrating an undeniable and simultaneously irresistible vintage vibe, the song features spoken-word verses underpinned by a sacral composition coined by the spikes of choral samples. No doubt, T'ecrire is pop on epochal steroids, mysterious, preaching, and angelic—and ultimately devilishly good.

Welcome to today's curation of handpicked songs worthy of your attention. We are discovering the more playful expressions of pop music—from the ancient notions of chamber pop to the glowing lights encompassing Italo Disco.

Sofia Portanet – My Time

The intro of My Time, Sofia Portanet's latest single release, is already filled with anticipation. The German artist strikes the perfect balance of her roots in extraordinary chamber pop and more contemporary elements demonstrated in previous pieces like Real Face or Mi Amor. So My Time becomes an anthem of self-empowerment, emphasised with epic strings, driven by a constant beat.

Luca Vasta – L'amore

L'amore gets by with little suspense, but a continuous flow spreads a warm glow of Italian summer nights spent bathing in the lights on the dancefloor. Luca Vasta, a German-Italian singer, coins her sound "spaghetti pop"—an amalgamation of synth-pop and Italo Disco that synchronises heartbeats and invites excitement, but without cheap effects.

Lael Neale – If I Had No Wings

Star Eaters Delight, the latest record of Lael Neale, is a homage to long-gone USA songwriting artistry. Born in rural Virginia, Lael Neale sounds like a combination of Nico and Feist. If I Had No Wings is a minimalistic, rustling lullaby with a slightly psychedelic tilt in its almost gospel-like organ play. But the instruments always remain in the background, letting Neale's haunting voice open a window to the past.

If I Had No Wings, by Lael Neale

from the album Star Eaters Delight

Lael Nealemalfunction54

Illeist Collective – Our Room

Swedish-Swiss trio Illeist Collective returns after a 7-year-long pause. Our Room is "old school synthesisers making love with analogue tape machines," as they describe it themselves. It is a slow, tender electro-pop track with a dark twist, grand ambience, and intricate details. Our Room is one of those lulling songs that drag you entirely in their sound and don't let you go.

Our Room, by illeist collective

track by illeist collective

illeist collectiveBandcamp New & Notable Apr 1, 2020

District Five – A Sunday

A musical poem—A Sunday. Yet, a touching, maybe even a sad one. Tapiva Svosve, multi-instrumentalist and singer of Zurich's District Five, tells the beginning and end of his first love, accompanied by a meandering soundscape that underlines the song's vulnerability with a sense of compassion and empathy. It is not an easy nor a conventional song but a unique expression of emotion through words, instrumental rock and jazz.

A Sunday, by District Five

track by District Five

District FiveBandcamp New & Notable Dec 14, 2021

In today’s selection, I’ll do a bit of a wrap-up of the past weeks, featuring catchy tunes but quite edgy ones. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.

TOMPAUL – Porto

Switzerland's brass-infused electro-pop trio TOMPAUL released the EP Aurora last week—containing the breathtaking track Porto. Launching full of anticipating brass waves carried throughout the verses by Tom Paul Fischer's longing voice, Porto switches into a different gear in its instrumental parts with a dark and mysterious synth hook and a deep beat.

Beharie – Oh My God

Beharie, the Norwegian indie troubadour with a flair for soul music, celebrates the simplicity in his latest single, Oh My God. Reduced to its bare bones and with the 28-year-old's soulful voice, Oh My God seems cute and harmless. However, the song's more opulent, bass-heavy, distorted chorus stands in stark contrast and gains overwhelming weight. It's a short yet surprising and memorable burst of energy.

Elio Ricca – CFH

Written during the sessions for their 2022 album Luna Park, the song CFH didn't make it onto the record as its quirkiness felt out of place. However, Swiss duo Elio Ricca—featured last year with Rainbow—now publishes this flickering, fuzzy, slightly psychedelic escalation as a single. Reminiscent of the great indie rock wave of the 2000s, CFH is proof that the genre is still alive and well.

CFH, by Elio Ricca

track by Elio Ricca

Elio RiccaElio Ricca

Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys – Undress

In their fifth studio album, Heaving, Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys assemble a set of acoustically accompanied stories. The borderline-spoken word storytelling almost detaches from the meandering soundscapes, creating a refreshing yet not easily accessible experience. Undress, taken here as an example, is as slow and dreamy as sombre, thoughtful, and beautiful in its expanse.

Undress, by Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys

from the album Heaving

Lucy Kruger & The Lost BoysMendula Marigosa

Elischa Heller – Crumble Towards a Centre

The uncompromising essence of Zurich's Elischa Heller is shockingly exciting. Crumble Towards a Centre, the first track of his new album Unsere Zeiten Sind Unsere Körper starts without any introduction—0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. After a minute, the track fades into a recording of a jackhammer and then slowly comes back in a new facet. Experimental electronic music that's definitely not for everybody.

Crumble Towards A Centre, by Elischa Heller

from the album Unsere Zeiten Sind Unsere Körper

Elischa HellerBandcamp New & Notable Apr 6, 2023