The Friday Dispatch
Jazmin Bean, Blue Bendy, Rostam, Jalen Ngonda and Isaac Dunbar
Rising future-pop artist Jazmin Bean tells Best Fit about the terrors and triumphs of creating their first body of work – and the role of shame in the process – for this week’s digital cover
Born and raised by two musician parents in North London – Fluffy drummer Angie and Wildhearts guitarist Ginger – Jazmin Bean found their way to music through film. Transfixed by the scores that would play throughout Tim Burton’s films, Bean connected the power of visuals and music together and, as a film student, quickly realised they could explore creating visuals alongside their artistry.
“Corpse Bride was my favourite,” Bean says, turning to their mother to ask if they could recall the exact story that resonated with them as a child. It would be the film’s titular character Emily, the Corpse Bride herself, that Bean connected with. “I feel like people don’t appreciate it enough and people don’t always understand it. She is misunderstood — she just wants love and no one gets it.”
Trying to better understand things — experiences, emotions, themselves — is what all of Bean’s work orbits around. At 16, they released their debut single "Worldwide Torture" independently on YouTube. While that record was steeped in nu metal and heavy electropop, new album Traumatic Livelihood is much more pop-leaning and even radio-friendly at times. Fans of their earlier work who are metal diehards might take issue with the direction Bean is taking — with some already stating their debut is a ‘softer’ version of them — but this was a needed change. “The sound is incredibly different,” Bean says. “I wanted it to sound very different. I love when albums have different sounds yet you still know they are the same artist. The artists I loved when I was younger were all able to shift and evolve but they're still really identifiable.”
The two worlds are as different visually in Bean’s mind as they are sonically. Rather than viewing them in the same cinematic universe, they see the two albums as two “very separate, very different” entities instead of one continuing cinematic story. Traumatic Livelihood leans into the theatrics Bean loves so much, showcasing their knack for weaving introspective lyrics with grander pop soundscapes. Trading in the harsher, grittier sounds of electropop for strings was an active decision — something Bean opted to do to ensure the album sounded as timeless as possible. “For Traumatic Livelihood, I was aiming for that timelessness,” they explain. “I wanted people to look back and think, ‘I still really love this’ rather than making it crazily niche to the point where it’s identifiable by a date.”
Read the full interview with Kelsey Barnes now over on Best Fit
Blue Bendy are on the rise
Things are moving fast for Blue Bendy. With their debut album So Medieval set for release on 12 April, the band are preparing to escape mouldy kitchen ceilings as they set their sights confidently on a new chapter. “It’s all kicked up a notch since our album announcement back in January,” Nash smiles. “We’ve had lots of coverage which has helped us reach even America. It’s all been very exciting.”
Ruminating on their recent album listening party, the band agree that it was strange and a little uncomfortable for everyone involved, but ultimately good fun. “I don’t know what they’re traditionally like,” says Nash, “but we just played the album really loud in an empty room. Wait, no, not empty!” he backtracks, “there were definitely people in it, it was just a big shell of a room!”
“And Arthur made us all line up!” Morgan jumps in. As the band argue about how long they stood in front of the crowd – Nash adamant it was only a minute, Morgan convinced it was a lot longer – Nolan laughs: “it was kind of like being at an afters and making everyone come into your bedroom to listen to your SoundCloud.”
The band always seem to be standing together – Blue Bendy united like one great entity. “People often say we look like we’re in different bands, or that we shouldn’t be together, but it’s a very collective experience,” Nolan adds.
Just as important as the band’s music is the band’s philosophy. “The name Blue Bendy grew on me,” explains Nolan. “It sounds silly. We didn’t want to take ourselves too seriously, and let the music do the serious talking for us. There's silliness in the seriousness of it.” The band giggle while considering their other name ideas – most of them too “horrible” or “grotesque”, even, to share.
Mia Smith
Rostam on “Let’s Ride” by Q-Tip
I loved this song since the first time I heard it, but the more that I learned about it - I didn’t realise it sampled “Giant Steps”, which was written by John Coltrane - the more important it became to me, because it feels like this unique confluence of pop music, rap music and bebop. And at the same time, it’s a song that you could play for your little cousin and they could love it.
That was really inspiring to me, this idea that you could make something that captures the soul of a lot of different music and eras of music but is also fundamentally a pop song. I think that’s what I’m into as a producer and as an artist. I don’t want to use the word ‘weird’ in the wrong way, but maybe 'weird' is the only word that works! (laughs). What are the most disparate elements that you can put together in one place and still at the same time make something that anybody, no matter how old they are, can be into? To me that’s the ultimate challenge.
I studied classical music in college, and I considered writing - for lack of a better word - contemporary classical music for the rest of my life. I considered that being the community in which my music went out into, but I decided I really didn’t want that. I wanted to make music that anybody could love. But at the same time I feel I owe it to myself to use what I’ve learned and to be constantly learning about music that I don’t know as much as I’d like to know about, and to redefine myself from doing that.
As told to Jasmine Cowler
Reeperbahn Festival to stage showcase and networking event at SXSW
VLURE, Stella Rose and Holly Macve will feature on the Reeperbahn Festival showcase at SXSW in Austin, Texas this coming week.
Irish singer-songwriter (and Lana Del Rey collaborator) Holly Macve will deliver her tender elegiac noir-pop, while Glasgow’s VLURE will showcase their post-punk/rave hybrid. Stella Rose – daughter of Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan – is set to perform songs from her new album, set for a May release. Berlin-based South African songwriter Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys, and the melancholic indietronica songs of orbit – a project by German multi-instrumentalist Marcel Heym – complete the line up, giving guests a teaser of what’s to come at this year’s Reeperbahn Festival in September.
Attendees will also have the chance to meet potential business partners from the USA, Canada and the UK at a brand new networking event run by the German festival, which began after founder Alexander Schulz took a trip to SXSW almost 20 years ago.
Three things to get excited about this week
The showcase: If you’re headed down to Austin next week for SXSW, be sure to stop by Swan Dive Patio on Friday, March 15th to catch Best Fit’s annual showcase. Supported by Amuse, our lineup this year will feature HotWax, Lip Critic, Divorce, waterbaby, and DMBK.
The video: This week, Sudanese-Canadian artist Mustafa (previously known as Mustafa the Poet) announced his signing to Jagjaguwar. The announcement coincided with the release of his new song “Imaan,” a striking track that blends Egyptian oud and Sudanese strings with North American folk structures. But most breathtaking was the video that Mustafa dropped in support of “Imaan,” which features creative direction from Ramy Youssef. As Mustafa explains, it follows “two muslims journeying through their love of borderless Western ideology and how it contradicts with the modesty & devotion in which they were raised.”
The song: On Wednesday, Fiona Apple and Iron & Wine dropped “All in Good Time,” a single that will support the latter’s forthcoming record, Light Verse. It’s a comforting sort of track, with simple, tried and true folk fanfare that’s of the sort that you can just disappear into and curl up in for a while. The album will be Sam Beam’s first as Iron & Wine in seven years.
Something Old, Something New
Every week, one of Best Fit's writers or editors share their recommendations of two records they love - one from the past, one from the present. This week, Best Fit writer Laura David on Isaac Dunbar’s evil twin (2021), and Jalen Ngonda’s debut record, Come Around and Love Me (2023).
For Isaac Dunbar, 2024 has gotten off to a strong start. His two latest singles “Apartment A” and “Backseat Girl” are, truly, excellent. Innovative as always, they mark a sharp turn towards 70s-esque soft rock for the one-time poster child of the “DIY bedroom pop.” But as he enters his new era, I wanted to take a moment to return to his excellent 2021 EP evil twin. With evil twin, Dunbar cemented himself as not just a fleeting face of the 2018-2020 indie renaissance, but an emerging, maturing talent to watch. Songs like “intimate moments” showcased Dunbar’s increasing lyrical depth, while infectious “fan behavior” proved his ability to write a true pop hook. But to find Dunbar at his best, listen to “pink party,” which leans into the experimental pop production styles and, well, weirdness that make Dunbar such a treat to listen to.
When Jalen Ngonda’s released his album Come Around and Love Me in September, he cemented his place as a future legend. First and foremost, there’s the simple fact of his voice. The DC-born, UK-based artist has a tone so distinct, so deeply interesting and emotive, that it’s hard not to hear it and stop dead in your tracks. Truly, the first time I heard “If You Don’t Want My Love” I was so awestruck that I stopped walking in the middle of an intersection. And then there are Ngonda’s arrangements, soul-inspired tracks that are more technically sound and complex than much else on the music market today. The simple quality of the sound itself makes one wonder if the album were cut with tape the way they used to do it. The record, put simply, oozes with mastery. In an interview with NME, Ngonda cited his influences as not just soul and R&B but also The Beatles and the Beach Boys. Those latter comparisons have been more than earned on this record. The vocals are as lush and the guitars are crisp, reminiscent the techniques from Pet Sounds. The grooves are, well, groovy, reminiscent of Please Please Me or With The Beatles. If Come Around and Love Me is any indication, we’re about to watch the rise of a great.
Listen to the week in new music by following our Discovery playlist
Dropping at midnight every Thursday, follow our 20-track playlist for a taste of the best new music from the most exciting breaking artists.
These are the songs our editors and writers have on repeat right now, taken from the hundreds of tracks released in the last seven days. Leading the selection this week are new tracks from Good Looks, Zsela, Sui Zhen, Bloomsday and coverstars HONESTY.