On November 23rd, 2023, Jamie Irrepressible and his seven-piece band The Irrepressibles releasedyet another haunting single, ‘Will I Ever Find a Home?’, via Of Naked Design. The Manchester-based vocalist and composer, Jamie, started The Irrepressibles back in 2002. They have since built a discography of three critically-acclaimed albums. Collectively amassing over three billion streams, he has also collaborated with industry icons like Røyksopp, Rex The Dog, and Ionalee. More recently, The Irrepressiblesperformed the Self Love & AcceptanceEP to sold-out shows in churches and concert halls across the UK, such as St Mark’s in Edinburgh, London’s St Luke’s, and Oxford’s St Barnabas’.
Following the release of his latest EP, Self Love & Acceptance, ‘Will I Ever Find a Home?’ is a delicate piano ballad, exploring themes of loneliness and yearning for somebody to love. Jamie’s voice is tender but brimming with powerful emotion, carried gently by the reverb-soaked, minimal instrumental arrangement. Strings swell as Jamie’s voice tentatively but bravely sings of hope for one day finding a home in someone.
Jamie Irrepressible revealed: “’Will I Ever Find A Home?’ expresses the longing to find that someone as a gay man or queer person in these times of fleeting affairs and commercialism where the sense of home with someone to love becomes all too elusive.”
TTeo is the pseudonym of Matteo Capreoli – singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer with a rich musical heritage. In 1970, his father, Fernando Antonio Capreoli, left Salento for Germany, before forming the disco-funk-rock outfit Lovexpress. They toured Norway, Sweden, and Denmark from 1974 to 1979. Now, in 2023, Matteo pays soulful homage to his father’s funk outfit, with the help of some old tapes – the bygone band’s only known recordings. Signed to Sonar Kollektiv in 2020, TTeo’s compositions are high energy and full of heart. Read our interview and listen to Loveexpress 77 below:
Walk through your creative process for us.
Something in my mind overcomes me. It’s difficult to explain. And it’s always different, never the same.
What has been the most defining moment of your musical career?
10 years ago I was the musical director for a festival in Hamburg called Soul im Park. Where I coordinated one band for a lot of artists and their songs for the whole day. It was a big success and extremely beautiful. After that night I realized that I love collaborating with other artists a lot. From then on I started to concentrate more and more on productions/composition for and with other artists.
What equipment or software did you enjoy writing with the most?
I use Logic. And mostly I love to have just a good upright piano.
What’s your performance setup looking like? Are there any differences between your live and studio kits?
Extremely different. My studio is full of instruments. Drums, percussions, pianos, synthesizers, guitars, mics and so on. My live setup is stripped down to a Maschine from drums and samples, a little Roland J6 synth, one mic, and a MIDI twister for effects. All runs through Ableton.
Give us a brief dive into the inspiration for the EP’s samples and themes.
My samples for the album LOVEXPRESS77 are recordings of my dad’s band Loveexpress from the 70s. They played dance music in clubs and recorded some of their live sets on tape. That’s where the samples and the inspiration for the album come from.
What is your favorite sample from your dad’s old Lovexpress tapes?
Two of them, are from the song ‘Follow Me’, and ‘Lovecircus’. Especially in ‘Lovecircus’, the sample was a song that came out through some jams during their concerts, my dad said. And the vocals are sung by the bass player Leo in that case, in an invented language. Culturally they were super mixed as a band.
How did you find the collaborators who appear on the LP?
Owen Ross is a good friend and an incredible musician. We just met for a hang out in the Studio and then it happened that we worked together on ‘Samba’
Same with Kristine Bogan. I met her through Concord Publishing. It was our 2nd time in the studio together and we put her love and lyrics into the ‘Follow Me’ chorus.
What’s your favorite way to pass the time when you aren’t playing, or listening to funky bops?
I love nature a lot. Living at the beach in Salento I spend a lot of time outside, doing sports, climbing, cooking, and gardening. But to be honest, most of the time I do music.
What’s next for TTeo? Any notable events or plans for collaborations coming up?
I did some beautiful remixes for some artists and stayed in the Lovexpress-Soundworld, so there might be something coming next. On the 1st of December, I am playing a show in Berlin at Stranger Funk before I leave for Costa Rica, for a live set in the jungle.
In anticipation of his upcoming beat-driven LP entitled ‘no time to waste’, Oklahoma-based lofi producer coldbrew shared his third single, ‘because of you’. Unveiled to the world on 15 November, the new track showcases a gorgeous smorgasbord of jazz, hip hop, and all-round chilled-out vibes. This latest gem boasts an atmosphere of rich nostalgia whilst a delicately uplifting piano line runs throughout. coldbrew maintains his rugged, lofi hip hop roots with a trademark face-smacking crunchy percussion. Stream the single and the other freshly released tracks below:
Featuring as closer for the ‘no time to waste’ album, this triumphant hit was created to express the immense gratitude coldbrew has for his loyal fan base. Without regular touring, bedroom beat-makers aren’t usually privy to their audience’s reactions. However, this uplifting artist’s following got creative with their support eaarlier this year.
coldbrew shared, “This track is dedicated to the fans of my creations. I have been making and releasing beats for nearly 5 years [but] my social following has been a very small percentage of that. Until recently that is. In January 2023 I posted a video of me waving, with text that said “I made this song” (with my song ‘simple.’ playing). [I was] flooded with fans telling me their experiences with the track and memories they have made to it. I feel so damn lucky, and it’s all because of you”.
Right off the heels of their nationwide tour, popular electronic-dance-rock duo BoomBox dropped their new album Dangerous Waters on 10 November. This wildly enjoyable offering refuses to decide between “dance” or “lounge.” BoomBox was founded in 2004 by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Zion Rock Godchaux, who for this release tapped Kinsman MacKay in for his slick beats. Stream the featured single, ‘Beunas Noches’ and the rest of the new album here:
Opening track ‘Black Linens’ leads with a firey bass line that pairs oh so well with the exuberant bongo percussions. Forming an undeniably danceable groove. The featured single ‘Buenas Noches’ comprises of a floating vocal track and hard-hitting drums, reminiscent of the Gorillaz.
‘Taut Thriller’ keeps the party going strong with an infectious groove, led by a gritty synth bass line. Godchaux described his intention for the LP; “The sound is about pulling from anything that you’d hear coming out of a boombox and distilling it into a distinctive style”. The second single ‘Searching’ takes this level of experimentation even further. Resulting in a banger of a chillout track. BoomBox discussed their new album: ‘Dangerous Waters’ is the first album [we] as brothers have made together. Its sounds are both digital and analog, and we feel it’s a further refinement of the BoomBox sound.” Godchaux candidly mentioned, “There’s a special kind of chemistry between two brothers playing music together.”
