Tag: Sam Ostler

Marie Chain’s “Holy Water” Is A Multinational Musical Ritual.

Marie Chain and "Holy Water" come at a time when the lines between styles of music are becoming less natural. For more than ten years, the Berlin-based artist has been making what she calls "Global Soul," and her newest song shows why that term is so perfect. The track's origin story reads like something from a travel journal. Chain conceived the melody during a summer hike...

The Soul-Rattling Power of Near Death Experience’s “Shake”

Near Death Experience's single, "Shake," arrived not so much as music, but as a sudden, urgent insistence. It’s London psych-rock-soul alright, but brewed with something fiercely immediate, demanding attention like a ringing telephone in an empty room. The core quartet – Ian Whiteling guiding the trip with vocals and guitar fuzz, Joshua Van Ness laying down a heartbeat that feels both frantic and locked-in,...

The Unwavering Resolve of Sam Ostler’s “Lights”

Sam Ostler’s new single, “Lights,” then. It unfolds less like a sudden, intrusive glare and more like the slow, determined burn of a really...