An Empty Bliss (2024)

05/01/2023

We're back from our long hiatus with our list of favorite songs and albums of 2022.

Returning from our three months plus hiatus, we’ve put together a list of our favorite albums and songs of 2022. It’s definitely been a generous year, so give them a listen and tell us …

13/09/2022

Here is our monthly Currents retrospective, featuring Magdalena Bay, Oliver Sim, Kailee Morgue, Ava Max, William Orbit, Cryalot and art by Anna Magruder.

August was a crowded month, and this retrospective arriving almost 2 weeks later than usual is a result of that (we’ve stretched the interval over the first weeks of September in order to compensate, and we’ll forget we did that over the next retro). So much happened in music, film, and especial...

11/09/2022

Vlad looks back at what August meant to him: NSK, Bjork, Hudson Mohawke, The Movies, Hacks, American Horror Stories, Julie Curtiss and Nicki Minaj @ the VMAs.

FEAST ON SCRAPS – AUGUST 2022 It’s never too late to look back to greatness. TWO SONGS__________________________ NSK – Un Momento Por Favor (Live In Lisabona) [2000] NSK (Natural Soft Killers) is one of the most inventive groups in Romanian Electronic Music, bringing together three genre pione...

06/09/2022

Today's feature is all about Tegan and Sara, a boundary-pushing Canadian indie-pop duo with a shapeshifting career spanning over two decades.

Tegan and Sara are an influential Canadian indie-pop duo with a unique approach to songwriting. They each write their song separately and begin the collaborative process only when they’re in the studio to record the album, by adding harmonies and often giving each other (hilarious) feedback. Durin...

28/08/2022

Today's news brings you the latest from Alexander Ludwig, DJ Khaled, IZZY SPEARS, Stella Donnely, Lolahol, David Guetta & Bebe Rexha, and Elton John & Britney Spears.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/08/28/music-news-aug-28-2022-alexander-ludwig-dj-khaled-izzy-spears-stella-donnelly-lolahol-david-guetta-bebe-rexha-elton-john-britney-spears/

Alexander Ludwig – Highway 99 Most of us know him from Vikings, The Hunger Games and more recently from Heels. Alexander is making Country Music as delicious as you can hear anywhere in Nashville. With a self-titled EP already launched last year on BBR/BMG, Ludwig is really busy this summer with a...

23/08/2022

Today's Lost Gems is focused on Oriol's incredible 2010 album, Night and Day.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/08/23/lost-gems-oriol-night-and-day-2010/

This sounds like ideal s*x to me. It makes me tremble with joy for finally hearing such well-textured imagery materialized! It’s like hearing your dreams to me. I never heard something of this nature done better before. Many did it before, many did it after… But this is definitely my favorite of...

20/08/2022

Our latest news roundup focuses on the latest releases from First Aid Kit, Sylvan Esso, Thelma Plum, ALMA, Tink, and SOHN.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/08/20/music-news-aug-20-2022-first-aid-kit-sylvan-esso-thelma-plum-alma-tink-sohn/

First Aid Kit – Out of My Head Words hung heavy upon my shoulders Slowly drowning in the sound Every door just flew open Praying I’d stay tethered to the ground The second single from the new album Palomino planned for November. I missed them so much! These two Swedish ladies really know how t...

10/08/2022

Our first news post in more than three months features Calvin Harris, ELIO, NewJeans, Omar Apollo, Aeneh x Bucky, Banoffee, Fawn, and POOLCLVB & Woodes.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/08/10/music-news-aug-10-2022-calvin-harris-elio-newjeans-omar-apollo-aeneh-x-bucky-banoffee-fawn-poolclvb-woodes

We return with our first news post in more than three months (but we promise we’ll make it a frequent habit from now on). Here’s what we’ve been listening to over the past week(s): Calvin Harris – Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 2 marks Harris’s first album in five years! It ...

06/08/2022

Music to fall in love with: lost gems by The Stills, Kiss Me Deadly, Levy, The Innocence Mission, Dilermando Reis & Kelly De Martino.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/08/06/lost-gems-the-stills-kiss-me-deadly-levy-the-innocence-mission-dilermando-reis-kelly-de-martino/

Music I can’t forget, music to fall in love with. The Stills – Logic Will Break Your Heart [2003] Winter itself. It’s so intense and grand, smooth, intimate like no other… Empty and looking forward to a new tomorrow with vague hopes… Crying love… From the record’s title, sublime in ...

04/08/2022

Here's July's Currents retrospective and playlist, featuring favorites from ODESZA, Brooke Annibale, Ada Rook and Ash Nerve, Kuedo, King Princess, Simina Oprescu, Sandunes, Krewella, Ouri, Spirit of the Beehive, introducing the Shape platform, Rokolectiv and the art of Jay Perry (most likely the first artist we've featured who also has a Github page).

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/08/03/currents-july-2022-playlist-retrospective/

The Currents retrospective continues the trend solidified so far, in which I discuss my findings and thoughts about music and other music-related areas mainly having to do with image and/or moving images. Currents is not a real playlist, it’s a place of music discovery taking many detours, morphin...

31/07/2022

Vlad reflects on what he listened to and watched in July in his new, unmissable Feast on Scraps section.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/07/31/feast-on-scraps-july-2022/

Here is my portion of things I listened to or watched obsessively this past month. Out of fascination or curiosity, I spent days on the following: ONE SONG__________________________ Fennec – bnb [2022] Bossa nova as religion, exotically melancholic and somewhere between Earl Sweatshirt, J Dilla an...

27/07/2022

We have compiled a playlist of our favorite artists performing at this year’s edition of Bigsound in Brisbane, Australia.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/07/27/bigsound-2022-spotlight-playlist/

Bigsound is Australia’s leading new music festival and conference, with a massive lineup comprised of emerging musicians, as well as talks aimed at solving today’s big issues and shaping the future of music. Bigsound has been the launching pad for innovative acts like Flume and Courtney Barnett,...

24/07/2022

"Boat Club is the eternal music of the beaches. Boat Club recalls one of the most refined forms of audio disconnection you can afford in these frozen times of social, political fog, you name it… Airy, dreamy, whispered vocals, with echoes, drum imitations dressed-up in bongos, synths to leave all your worries aside and grab your suitcase, a hesitant bass, like an “I love you” in a coffee shop, and the downright divine guitar that Magnus knows terribly well to master, by which it seems to sanctify the breaking of the waves against the rocks where only the seagulls are rulers."

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/07/23/lost-gems-boat-club-caught-the-breeze-2007/

On a beach. With the setting sun. I will anchor here… in the Sound. The friendly wind loses me at sea. Seagulls away. The sand is green, and your dreams may be purple. You have Boat Club in your ears and you are looking for yourself. Silent. We all know the Balearic Beats from the mid-90s, when th...

21/07/2022

Today's Discover post is about Natalie Walker, a musician best known in the trip-hop/downtempo world for her two albums, Urban Angel and With You, offering listeners a distinctive, unforgettable flavor of melancholic, cinematic electronica.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/07/21/discover-natalie-walker/

Natalie Walker is an Indiana-born musician best known in the trip-hop/downtempo world for her two albums, Urban Angel and With You, offering listeners a distinctive, unforgettable flavor of melancholic, cinematic electronica. Having been part of the group Daughter Darling, Walker released Urban Ange...

20/07/2022

We welcome Romanian music blogger Vlad Stoian of Warmer Climes to the team as he shares one of his favorite lost gems: Cossus Snufsigalonica by Fear of Tigers.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/07/20/lost-gems-fear-of-tigers-cossus-snufsigalonica-2010/

Either I was a perfect fit to assimilate him, or this collection of electro is the finest of 2010, as I screamed for the first time more than a decade ago. It’s shocking and hurried like hell. It’s the kind of record that makes me say “close your eyes and see the sounds!” It’s a trip to Co...

19/07/2022

Today's post is about Japanese electronic artist immi (Mayu Nakazawa).

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/07/19/discover-immi-mayu-nakazawa/

[This article is a second version of a 2021 post I made about immi, with a lot of corrections] immi (Mayu Nakazawa) is a Japanese electronic artist who made her debut in 2007 with the single Cosmic Pink. immi takes listeners on a musical journey through a mix of genres – tech house, electro-funk, ...

05/07/2022

Time for our monthly retrospective for June and the collected playlist, all accompanied by the awesome art of Yuko Shimizu.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/07/05/june-2022-playlist-retrospective/

We were in music discovery mode in June, and alongside the many great albums and EPs released in the past month, from artists like 070 Shake, Empress Of, The Range, Mr. Little Jeans and Purity Ring, there were also a lot of music video and visual album releases which surprised us. In addition, we en...

30/06/2022

Today's post is about German electronic producer Sublab and the '00s MTV Dancefloor Chart nostalgia combined with the art of Margaret Morales.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/06/30/discover-sublab-mtv-dancefloor-chart-playlist/

Around the year 2000, what really brightened up my Friday evenings was MTV’s Dancefloor Chart, an all-club-music selection show mostly consisting of house, trance and “dance-pop” music (but with Eurodance, Britpop, Italo disco and tekfunk also present). The best among a slew of MTV Europe “d...

29/06/2022

We wrote a short article about ALTER, the platform for innovative horror short films, and the amazing art of Dom Bittner.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/06/29/discover-alter-the-platform-for-unconventional-horror/

ALTER is a platform (together with website and Youtube channel) which focuses on innovative horror short films. In their own words: “reaching passionate horror fans across all social channels and a linear free-to-view OTT channel, ALTER gives the next generation of horror a rabid and global audien...

22/06/2022

Today we have a look at Netflix's Ghost In The Shell SAC_2045, the sequel to the seminal Standalone Complex anime, discuss the music and the philosophy and provide our first ever "ending explained".

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/06/22/heard-it-on-millennium-parade-secret-ceremony-no-time-to-cast-anchor-ghost-in-the-shell-sac-2045-season-2/

Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045 is a sequel to one of the most influential and beloved anime series of all time, Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex. Kenji Kamiyama’s alternate take on Mamoru Oshii’s seminal 1995 film is, after Serial Experiments Lain, simply one of the most ambitious anime proje...

11/06/2022

Today we focus on electronic pioneer Laurel Halo's King Felix EP, and take the opportunity to discuss post-humanism, AI, Philip K. Dick and star-crossed love.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/06/11/discover-laurel-halo-king-felix-ep-science-ai-post-humanism/

Laurel Halo is our highlight in the Discover series today. She was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is a pioneering electronic artist influenced by the music of Detroit and Berlin. Her first ever release was the King Felix EP in 2010 and hinted a themes such as post-humanism, technology, star-crossed...

10/06/2022

Another round of live performances we recommend, this time it's HANA, Qrion, Soccer Mommy, Daniela Andrade, Caroline Polachek and Ringo Deathstarr.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/06/10/live-performances-hana-qrion-soccer-mommy-daniela-andrade-caroline-polachek-ringo-deathstarr/

Following our original live performances post back when we started this site, here are six more awesome performances for you to enjoy from the comfort of your home: HANA for Femme House Livestream (March 13, 2021) HANA might be best known for collaborating with Grimes on her We Appreciate Power trac...

08/06/2022

"Published by Cemetery Dance, Dissonant Harmonies consists of two novellas, one written by each author and features a unique and musical approach in horror fiction. Thus, The Dead of Winter by Bev Vincent was written to a playlist chosen by Brian Keene, and The Motel at the End of the World was written by Brian Keene to a playlist chosen by Bev Vincent."

We have compiled two playlists for each of the two novellas, and here are Lisa's thoughts after listening to the music and reading the book.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/06/08/dissonant-harmonies-by-bev-vincent-and-brian-keene-the-playlist/

This is Lisa here, and when I am not editing for An Empty Bliss or playing with doggos, my other job is writing book reviews. I was given a copy of Dissonant Harmonies by Bev Vincent and Brian Keene to review – and thought this was a fantastic title to discuss on this site as well. Published by Ce...

01/06/2022

Here is our retrospective for the month of May and our collected playlist.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/06/01/may-2022-playlist-retrospective/

In May we were happy to hear new music from Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood (The Smile), as well as Four Tet under his KH alias. There were a lot of great album releases including Alison Wonderland’s Loner, Flume’s Palaces, Warpaint’s Radiate Like This – to the point where it seemed like a ve...

31/05/2022

We're on Soundcloud! Be sure to check frequently as we repost tracks or albums from artists who are still active on the platform.

https://soundcloud.com/anemptyblissmusicmag

anemptybliss.org - music, visual arts and writing

26/05/2022

Today our focus is on Tinashe, and we have put together a playlist celebrating her incredibly diverse output.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/05/26/spotlight-tinashe/

Tinashe is one of the most prolific artists hailing from the alternative R&B scene. Over the past decade, she has tackled a variety of genres (lo-fi hip-hop, neo-soul, art-pop, twisted R&B and even witch-house or funk among them), collaborated with a host of talented producers – including Ryan Hem...

22/05/2022

Today we discuss Netflix's recent film Along For The Ride, but also W.H. Auden and Yumi Zouma.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/05/22/heard-it-on-yuma-zouma-astral-projection-along-for-the-ride-2022-dir-sofia-alvarez/

Whenever it feels as if a movie has a secret window to our favorite playlist, we’re going to make it our mission to cover that kind of movie. If you’re looking to spend an afternoon with a film full of nostalgic vibes which also has one foot firmly in the present, Along For The Ride, (written an...

19/05/2022

For our latest opinion article, we offer a look back at 2014, one of the best years for electronic music, together with the mandatory giant playlist.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/05/19/opinion-2014-was-one-of-the-best-years-for-electronic-music/

In our previous post, we’ve mentioned how 2014 was a pivotal year, one which saw a growing interest in electronic music and a much more diverse output from amazing electronic artists – both old and new. 2014 was a year filled with great things, and we’ll just pull a few out of our nostalgia ha...

16/05/2022

We wrote about our favorite music magazine and our major influence, Music Is Art.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/05/16/a-tribute-to-music-is-art-our-favorite-moments-part-1/

Without a doubt, Music Is Art (musicisart.ws) will always be my personal favorite music website (and favorite statement about music). Music is Art has been a major source of inspiration and certainly instrumental in the conception of this website Before the phrase “Internet Influencers” became c...

13/05/2022

In our newest Discover article, we focus on Canadian producer Anomalie.

https://anemptybliss.org/2022/05/13/discover-anomalie/

For fans of neo-soul, funk and jazz (think J Dilla, Nujabes, Gramatik, Lauren Desberg, Todd Terje, Portico Quartet or Submotion Orchestra), Anomalie is a Canadian producer making waves, always delivering stellar beats, funky melodies and entrancing piano solos. Nicolas Dupais was born in Montreal an...

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