musomusofm on the radar playlist #63 - Emmi Maaria, RHY, Pizza Crunch and more....
Back from a week’s holiday inter-railing around Europe, I thought it was time I got my backside into gear and release another playlist for you to enjoy.
Today may well be the hottest day of the year in the UK so why not check out some chilled tunes to bring your temperature down a little?
You can read more about our featured acts below the embedded playlist, you’ll also see their social media sites listed, if you have time, please give them a click and learn more about them.
See you on the other side.
Emmi Maaria
Emmi Maaria is a London-based singer, violist and composer with broad experience in both classical and contemporary music. She was introduced to music at the age of six when she started violin lessons in Finland.
Later Emmi Maaria studied music and singing in Freiburg, Germany at the University of Arts and Applied Sciences. In spring 2020 she received a grant from The Finnish Cultural Foundation to support her studies in London. She finished her MA at the The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in 2021 with distinction and was offered a creative coaching opportunity from film score composer Julian Marshall.
During her studies in London Emmi Maaria found a completely new way to write and compose music. With her current work she hopes to connect with people who enjoy the alternative sounds and classical elements and who share the aims and values of the project. Her compositions have been praised as highly creative and with a sense of originality. Her first single 'I move deeper wading into the waters' was released in April 2022.
’I am the whisper of blood’ is the second single to be released by Emmi Maaria. The song is the second release of a larger three-part work that reflects on her research on the use of Finnish literature in forming a universal female narrative.
Emmi Maaria combines a remarkable musical and lyrical prowess with a strongly emergent, personal compositional voice.
'I am the whisper of blood' was inspired by Edith Södergran's poem Vierge Moderne (modern virgin) that took part to the conversation of women's rights to study without any limitations based on their gender in 19th century Finland.
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RHY
After striking up promising momentum around his music in 2021 and then much more recently, with his latest track ‘For Real’, Perth songwriter and musician RHY now comes through with his debut EP, DUMB FUNK.
Peppered with strong indie-pop sounds, not to mention clever funk and R&B stylings that can turn anyone’s ear, the DUMB FUNK project is RHY in a nutshell: not tethered to any one particular style of sound, instead following where his piqued interest will take him. And as the EP proves, these forays can often end up in exciting and vibrant places.
Recorded and engineered by himself out of his home studio in Perth, RHY worked on the DUMB FUNK EP with James Newhouse (Lamb Chop) on final mastering. The end result: glossy and addictive music that will be a perfect hit of new sounds for fans of BENEE, Remi Wolf, The Jungle Giants and Billy Davis.
RHY says of the EP, “DUMB FUNK has been a chance for me to explore my sound as an artist and despite it being pretty diverse sonically, the end product feels cohesive as a whole. The EP’s been recorded and produced across three home studios, as I’ve moved house three times in the process of making it. As much as I look forward to co-writing and collaborating on future projects, I felt it was important to define RHY myself before inviting others in. I also fully suck at team work, so I’m looking forward to getting better at it!”
Featuring lead single ‘For Real’, as well as 2021’s ‘I Just Don’t Get It’, ‘Right In Front Of Me’ and ‘Full Grown’, the DUMB FUNK record plays with light and shade in a clever way. Strip the lyrics of their vibrant production and arrangements, and you can hear RHY tap into some more vulnerable territory. EP tracks like ‘Ten Minutes’ and title track ‘Dumb Funk’ further explores the artist’s own approach to life and as he describes, the EP as a whole can be viewed as a little sneak peek into his brain.
“DUMB FUNK is pretty much my brain in EP form. Mainly focused on confronting the frustrating parts of my personality, DUMB FUNK deconstructs my thoughts and what makes me tick as well as what ticks me off. It’s about overthinking, overcommitting, under thinking and under committing, but in the same breath acknowledging the struggle and being cool with it. I’ve always had an interesting relationship with the D-word (dumb, not death) and lyrically this EP is quite vulnerable, but I think making these songs fun and feel-good is my way of disarming it.”
The EP is available now to stream on all popular platforms and with strong support from Triple J Unearthed, Altitude and Auspop, what more proof do you need that this is an artist well worth exploring further!
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Pizza Crunch
Glasgow indie quartet PIZZA CRUNCH is made up of Ewan Hearns (Guitar and vocals), Nathan Stokoe (Guitar), Craig McDermott (Bass) and Ewan Nicholson (Drums). They released the next single from their new project ‘Wilting Youth’ on July 8th which is the follow up to ‘Young Excitement’ released earlier this year.
The band are excited to release this track, having played it live at a sold-out King Tuts as well as at the Left of the Dial festival in Rotterdam and Stockton Calling. This release is the second of a plethora that will be unveiled this summer.
Pizza Crunch have recently put the final touches to a year and a half long project. ‘Wilting Youth’ joins ‘Young Excitement’ as the initial taste of this upcoming body of work. The song, similarly to ‘Young Excitement’, revolves around the idea of fading juvenility. Unlike the reflective tone of ‘Young Excitement’, however, ‘Wilting Youth’ arrives from a more conceited tone, as the lyrics openly admit that the bright, vibrant days of the past have vanished and they aren’t returning.
Lyricist Ewan Hearns said the following when talking about the song: “I remember actually putting pen to paper for this track a lot more vividly than others. I was sitting in the park on a sunny day during summer, the day was ending and so was my time at university (I also feared a relationship might be ending). I think all these changes meant that I’d kind of accepted the days I sing about fondly in Young Excitement were gone, and instead of searching for their return I’d come to terms with the fact that they’d dissolved. Once I’d written the lyrics I sat with a guitar and figured out the chords before later writing the bridge on the piano. This was a fun one to put together in the studio, the structure was all there so we had plenty of time to fuck around with guitar parts and tones, backing vocals and a little sentimental piano line to match the tender intent of the song.”
The track was produced, mixed and mastered by Chris Marshall (Baby Strange, Gerry Cinnamon and Declan Welsh and the Decadent West) at Castle of Doom Studios.
Hailing from different ends of Scotland, Pizza Crunch couple an '80s post-punk strut with glimpses of noughties nonchalance. Infectious guitar riffs and a relentless rhythm section accentuate lyricism, which moves between the obnoxiously wry and the potently gloomy.
After only a brief time together, the band have released several tracks that have all received increasingly laudative attention from blogs, radio stations and promoters, with the groups' music finding itself on BBC Introducing, BBC Radio 6 Music as Steve Lamacq’s spotlight artist and Amazing Radio.
Prompt lyrical commentary that veers from the elucidation of sombre hedonism to trivialising the emotionally painful, along with distinct, novel guitar lines and a driving rhythm section, make Pizza Crunch one of Glasgow's most exciting exports.
The group are playing a colourful array of dates this summer, including headline shows in Manchester, Inverness, London, Newcastle and King Tuts Theatre in Glasgow, they would love to see you there!
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SO there you have it folks, another 9 awesome tracks for you to get your ears around. If you liked any of them, please hit them up on the socials and tell them, mention that you heard them on the musomusofm on the radar playlist and they might even buy me a cookie if our paths ever cross!
Please take a moment to spread the word on social media, it’s on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, just head to musomusouk on either platform and give it a LIKE, SHARE, THUMBS UP or whatever you can!
Until next time…..