‘We’re on TikTok? What’s TikTok?’ The forgotten bands going supersonic thanks to gen Z

Ageing acts that can’t even get radio time are going viral – and finding themselves playing arenas or even soundtracking Ukrainian resistance. But how do you follow up a hit no one can explain?

Like most musicians, Ryan Guldemond of the Canadian indie band Mother Mother had an extremely quiet 2020. Towards the end of the year, however, the frontman noticed that songs from the band’s 2008 album O My Heart were suddenly spiking on streaming platforms. Day after day, the numbers continued to rise. Something strange was happening. “We were able to track it to TikTok and it was like, ‘Well, what’s TikTok?’” Guldemond recalls. “There was this whole alternate universe of people enjoying Mother Mother songs written long ago.”

In 2008, Guldemond says, Mother Mother couldn’t get a song on the radio or build a significant international following: “There’s a thing called the Canadian curse where you can do well in Canada but you can’t break out.” They grew used to operating at a modest level. Now, thanks to TikTok, they have 8 million monthly listeners on Spotify – almost double that of their more lauded Canadian contemporaries Arcade Fire. Hayloft, an oddball tale of rural violence, has surpassed 400m streams — more than any song by, say, REM (bar Losing My Religion). In February, five years after they played to 350 people at London’s 100 Club, Mother Mother will headline the 12,500-capacity Wembley Arena.

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by Dorian Lynskey via Electronic music | The Guardian

‘Like brushing my teeth’: how Michiru Aoyama writes, records and releases an album every day

For two years, the Kyoto musician has risen at five, watched football, then made an eight-track album of super-deep ambient music – while fitting in a two-hour walk. And 200,000 fans are listening

When you’re interviewing a musician, it’s considered a good idea to have digested a decent amount of their art. Having said that, Michiru Aoyama, a Ryuichi Sakamoto fan and resident of Kyoto, has released a new album every single day since at least 31 December 2021 – so despite a fortnight of almost non-stop listening, I’ve barely scratched the surface.

I say at least because Aoyama has so many releases that if you scroll down on his Spotify page, the system basically groans and gives up. Today’s album is called Xyo, yesterday’s was Card, the day before that Moriko; they stretch on and on in their hundreds.

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by Rob Fitzpatrick via Electronic music | The Guardian

The 20 best songs of 2023

Voted on by over 30 Guardian music writers, we celebrate the year’s best tracks from Boygenius to Blur and beyond

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by Aneesa Ahmed, Ben Beaumont-Thomas and Laura Snapes via Electronic music | The Guardian

‘Euphoric’, ‘opalescent’, ‘perfect pop confection’: Australia’s best new music for December

Each month our critics pick 20 new songs for our Spotify playlist. Read about 10 of our favourites here, including Thelma Plum, The Native Cats and Holiday Sidewinder

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For fans of: 80s Madonna, Prince, Ladyhawke, Liz Phair

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by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen, Michael Sun, Shaad D'Souza, Andrew Stafford and Isabella Trimboli via Electronic music | The Guardian

Love Minus Zero: L’Ecstasy review – Tiga and Hudson Mohawke unite on a high

(Love Minus Communications)
The Canadian and Scottish producers’ on-off partnership comes to fruition on this aptly titled, category-defying clubland set

Collaborative tracks made by the unlikely duo of electronic producers Hudson Mohawke (Glasgow) and Tiga (Montreal) have been trickling out slowly since a banging rave track called Love Minus Zero first appeared in 2020 (a Bob Dylan song of the same name is not an obvious reference point). Despite being very different creatures – the younger HudMo is a famed maximalist, while cult figure Tiga is a rave veteran with a sleeker aesthetic – the two clicked. “No apology, no cynicism, no irony, no winking,” is their mission statement of sorts. This 16-track collaboration, pointedly called L’Ecstasy, functions a bit like a less in-your-face version of the Skrillex/Fred Again/Four Tet juggernaut sweeping clubland. Here, bleary, ecstatic passages break up the squelchier, ravier and occasionally more punishing highs.

The odd track out is the best: In Order 2, a melancholic wallow in goth chords whose heartbreak theme is unexpectedly disrupted by a glorious saxophone line (Wolfgang Tillmans loved it so much he provided the LP’s powdery artwork). BuyBuySell is another crisp workout defying easy classification. But there is precisely nothing wrong with the rubbery techno of Duro, or superb guest features by Channel Tres on Feel the Rush, or Jesse Boykins III on Silence of Love, either.

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by Kitty Empire via Electronic music | The Guardian

Bespoke retro-futuristic synthesisers – in pictures

As a boy, Love Hultén used to tear electronics apart trying to understand their insides. Now, the Swedish audiovisual artist creates bespoke retro-futuristic synthesisers; his clients include Eminem, A$AP Rocky, Danger Mouse and Michael B Jordan. “I love analogue synths: learning how to manipulate sounds using hands-on controls and tactile waypoints is very intuitive and fun,” says Hultén. Unlike the touchscreens the music industry now tends to favour, his handmade synths are encased in wood, resulting in visually striking, high-concept objects. “I try to present alternatives to today’s tech. Commercial products go through strict processes that in my opinion kill the product. I’m a small-scale, one-man studio, unaffected by corporate principles, and I don’t need to compromise.”

See more at lovehulten.com

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by Kathryn Bromwich via Electronic music | The Guardian