introvertsalt air – coffeeshop
The verdict
“coffeeshop delivers a sun-soaked synth pop anthem that bottles the freedom of youth, friendship and endless summer days”
salt air opens with the physical shift every city dweller knows: urban pressure giving way to the coast, lungs filling with something cleaner. and what a vibe it is, the track builds around packed cars, backseat laughter, bare feet and boardwalk stops. there's no major destination here, and the song knows that's the point. the drive, the company, the impulse to keep the day going a little longer, that's where the weight sits. musically it's bouncy pop at its best, and the animated video from eli lev extends the feeling through scenes of friends, coast roads and golden light. it's a wonderfully effervescent listen, built for june but good any time.
coffeeshop is the project of italian producer and musician giacomo alloesio, now based in new york. over six years he's built a catalogue that balances dancefloor energy with genuine warmth, backed by labels including trap nation, magic music and soave records, and now partnered with rob aster's iDreamology. that run has brought more than 500 thousand monthly listeners on spotify and millions of streams worldwide. 'salt air' sits naturally alongside his earlier single 'california summer dream', the two forming a loose pair around youth, friendship and escape. it's bags of fun, and it should do really well.
thank u for making this coffeeshop 🌊
pastell – witte
The verdict
“witte craft a pastel-soft indie pop moment that lingers like a half-remembered dream, all atmosphere and synth-kissed ache”
pastell opens with synths that feel close, almost humid, before a vocal line arrives that sits right at the centre of the mix. the track builds around small emotional turns: a phrase held too long, a melody that pulls back when you expect it to push. it's great electronic pop with a handmade quality, polished but never clinical. the german lyrics carry their own weight even before you catch the meaning, vowels stretched into something melancholic. i love the synth work and there's real restraint here that makes the moments of release hit harder. the production leaves space for the voice to do the work, and it does. a wonderfully warm single, and one that rewards repeat plays.
witte are a duo from hamburg, germany, making music that sits between intimate songwriting and contemporary electronic production. their sound pulls from german indie tradition but doesn't stay there. there's enough modern sheen to keep it moving. this is a band building something ambitious, track by track. the emotional honesty in their writing is what keeps it landing; nothing here feels borrowed or performed. we're very keen to hear more from witte.
thank u for making this witte 🌸
make us pay for it. – 50mething
The verdict
“50mething delivers a brilliant, funk-laced takedown of corporate food manipulation with a serious groove and real teeth”
'make us pay for it.' opens with a groove that pulls you in before the message lands. the track lays out its target clearly: an industry built on addiction by design, loading products with sugar, salt and additives engineered to keep consumers coming back. 50mething wraps the critique in alternative r&b warmth and funk-driven hooks, but there's real bite underneath. the writing connects the dots between deliberate overconsumption and the long-term health costs that follow, from chronic illness to rising cancer rates. it's the latest target in 50mething's impressive run this year; a brilliant, necessary gut-punch.
50mething is a solo artist from ealing, england, making music at 58 after careers as a dancer and garden builder. a cancer diagnosis in 2024 became the push to finally release what had been sitting on hard drives for years. their debut single 'slowly through the night' arrived in january, drawing directly from that experience. with 70 tracks waiting and a deal with ditto, the releases are rolling out steadily now. the name is pronounced fifty something, which tells you exactly where they're at. i can't imagine this guy slowing down any time soon, so we hope the musical vault keeps producing bangers like this.
thank u for making this 50mething 🎤
the city where you´re living – apg
The verdict
“apg delivers a brilliantly ambitious orchestral pop single, all sweeping strings and aching transatlantic longing”
'the city where you're living' tells the story of a partner who left for new york, chasing a career while the one left behind keeps circling the same rooms. the arrangement does all the heavy lifting: strings build in waves, brass arrives when the emotional stakes peak, and the whole thing feels like it belongs in the final scene of something that i would 100% d cry at. apg recorded and arranged every part himself, layering instruments until the track sounds less like a bedroom project and more like a full studio production. there's a tiny hint of the blue nile in here, which is more than good enough for me. the string writing is genuinely ambitious, and it pays off in how physical the longing feels. it's bold, aching pop with real scale.
apg is a 45-year-old multi-instrumentalist from lahti, finland, working entirely alone from his home studio. he's been releasing original material since 2018, playing every instrument and handling all the production himself using cubase and a rack of arturia and ik multimedia plugins. 80s pop runs through his sound, with nik kershaw a clear reference point, but the orchestral scope here is something different entirely. he plays live across finland regularly, and this kind of ambition on a self-produced single is seriously impressive. a real gem this autumn.
thank u for making this apg 🎻