We Speak Music
SODA BLONDE release angular and broad-shouldered new single “Bad Machine”
“Dream Big”, the second studio album from Irish band Soda Blonde, is far more than a collection of catchy and cathartic pop songs; it’s a mantra – a mission statement from four lifelong friends. It’s their promise to themselves, and a message to all who come along for the ride: A reminder that life is precious, fragile, and fleeting, so we might as well dream big and hold nothing back. Epic in size and intimate in scope, “Dream Big” holds a microscope in one hand and a mirror in the other as our innermost thoughts and feelings get a soundtrack of their very own.
Following two successful introductory EPs (2019’s “Terrible Hands” and 2020’s “Isolation Content”), Soda Blonde released their debut album, “Small Talk”, in 2021. The LP was subsequently nominated for RTÉ’s Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year and received rave reviews from Paste Magazine, Atwood Magazine, and The Irish Times, who called it “a record so articulate and expressive that its title has to be a wry in-joke.”
The band have grown tremendously in the two years since their debut, and it shows. Whereas “Small Talk” was an anxiety-fuelled coming-of-age record about navigating their twenties, “Dream Big” is a mature awakening to the world at large; one that dives deeper and hits harder than its predecessor.
The record’s angular and broad-shouldered lead single “Bad Machine” leans into self-acceptance, but it does not do so unilaterally. “We can be slaves to our own impulses,” says guitarist Adam O’Regan of the turbulent, sonically charged song. “This idea that ‘every part of me is a bad machine breaking everything all the time, every part of me has been wired to repeat, I’ve got a bad desire by design,’ it’s this idea of recognizing that this is just a part of who you are and going with that; but it’s a double-edged sword. Sometimes taking a chance, being spontaneous and taking a risk – they’re not always the safest moves to make, but that propensity to dare is what makes us great. We wouldn’t exist without it.”
Interstellar word-smith Spaceman beams in from somewhere in the cosmos with new single “Think Twice.” Somewhere between vaporwave, the darkly analog synth soundtracks of John Carpenter and abstract boom-bap the off-kilter slap was produced by The Suspect (Allegedly). Spaceman comes with rugged bugged rhymes and enlists fellow lyrical non-conformist Fatboi Sharif for a guest verse.
Speaking on the link-up for this joint, Spaceman relayed “I’ve known Fatboi for a long time. He and his homie (89 the Brainchild) were doing an underground radio show that supported my (then) crew back in the early 2010s. Interestingly enough he didn’t even rap back then. Fatboi makes it known that his style is definitely *not* horrorcore, which I respect, but being the pea-brain I am I still can’t help but associate him with that aesthetic. So, when I was thinking of who could help me sketch out the dark cerebral atmosphere of this record ,his was the name that jumped out.”
Listen to “Think Twice” ft. Fatboi Sharif:
“Think Twice” is part of self-proclaimed “Social Skills” series of singles from Spaceman to drop this year. The title of the series is a nod to the emcee’s willingness to step out of his comfort zone and collaborate with other rappers who he respects (considering Spaceman’s last three projects, which were strictly solo affairs).
The “Social Skills” series kicked off with recent single “Mumblecore” which featured his former Inner City Kids Collective cohorts ABGOHARD and Producer K3Mal (link below).
Listen to “Mumblecore” ft ABGOHARD: https://youtu.be/kQlyWylcrVs?si=IJMmuz-sHved93WS
Prior to these drops Spaceman most recent release was the Annihilation LP which yielded the singles “Law” and “Thrift And Diligence” (links below)
Watch official video for “Law” (Prod by Droo10x): https://youtu.be/TCzOoGMcp9s?si=82cPrf3EbfxTXqSx
Watch official video for “Thrift And Diligence”: https://youtu.be/AIz8sX1BWqw?si=71FrUjzOEm4H2-aX
Releasing music over the past decade solo (and formerly part of the Inner City Kids Collective) Spaceman has collaborated and/or shared stages in the past with such artists asThe Underachievers, Vulkan The Krusader and Gashi. He has also toured the Northeast several times.
More info: Here
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